Ethan Menard, Saskatoon Berries Catcher/First Baseman | Good Sports EP10

Welcome to Good Sports! Sit down with Ryan Flaherty as he discusses this week in Saskatoon's exciting sports scene! Our feature interview for episode ten is the Allstar MVP sensation from Louisiana, Ethan Menard!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Whatever makes you happy, what gets you out of bed,
whatever kicks the cop website, you'll join it instead.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Of victorious day dream Don't glory of fame Gods by
me all on the same team is the name of
the game.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hello everyone, and thank you as always to Sean Karpenka
for that excellent theme song, and thank you for joining
me here on episode ten of Good Sports. Yes, we've
reached double digits. I'm told that means that they cannot
officially cancel us anymore. Once you hit the double digits,
it's up to you to decide when you're done, So

(00:55):
you're stuck with me for a long haul. My name
is Ryan Flaherty. I'm glad to be here with you
once again this week, coming to you from the Dufferin
Avenue Media Network mothership here in the heart of the
Bridge City. This is your number one destination for all
things local sports here in Saskatoon and area. And this
week on the show, we've got a great guest. We

(01:16):
always have a great guest, another one for you this week,
certainly the guest so far I think that we've had
on the show that comes from the furthest away from Saskatoon.
But you say this is a local sports show. How
can that be the only plays for the Saskatoon Berries.
His name is Ethan Minard and he loves to hit dingers.

(01:38):
He is going to be right here in the hot
seat in a few minutes time, fresh off an All
Star Game MVP appearance, and fresh off is eleventh league
leading eleventh home run of the season in a win
on Tuesday night. So as recording this show, he's leading
the WCBL and both batting average and home runs and

(01:59):
he is so certainly a candidate for MVP of the
league this year, and very grateful that he is going
to give us some of his time on and off
day in a busy baseball season for the Saskatoon Berry.
So stick around for a great chat with Ethan Minard.
But of course, well actually you know, before I get
to what's going on, I should remind you as well
that you can follow the show on Instagram at good

(02:21):
Sports three oh six. Love to share some of our
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treats as well. You also keep you locked in on
what else is going on around the local sports scene,
some news and things as well. On that account, you
can also follow me at Ryan F sports Guy on
Instagram as well as we got Maggie her official ambassador

(02:42):
for the show. She's getting a little vocal here in
the studio today, but that's okay. We appreciate the support
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so yes at Ryan F sports Guy on Instagram. But
also most of the show content is on at good
Sports three oh six. And if you want to get
in touch with with me, maybe you want to get

(03:03):
in involved on the sponsorship side, would love to hear
from you, or maybe you just have an idea for
a guest you'd like to see on the show, Send
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touch with yours truly in any way or on any
theme that you might wish to communicate with me about.

(03:25):
All right, there's the logistics out of the way. Now
it's time for what's going on.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
Damn.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
And what is going on this week? Well, we've got
a Saskatoon berry as our guest, so let's start right
there with the Saskatoon berries. The wagon that is the
Saskatoon berrys. I've been saying it for the last few weeks.
As long as they keep winning, they're gonna keep lead
off the show here and what's going on now sitting
as we record this episode at thirty seven and seven

(04:07):
on the year, that is thirty seven wins and just
seven losses, and that comes at the end of a
lengthy road trip. Eight straight games they played on the road,
pretty much all of them on one long trip that
was interrupted in the middle by the Western Canadian Baseball
League All Star Game. More on that in just a second.
But as for the Barries themselves, as we record, they're

(04:30):
riding a three game win streak, a very modest win
streak by their standards this season, but that comes off
two wins in a double header sweep in Weyburn against
the Beavers, winning by scores of nine to two and
fourteen to two. And then just on Monday, or rather
Tuesday night, excuse me, at Swift Current they came away

(04:50):
with an eleven to four victory that pushed the record.
As I mentioned to thirty seven and seven, they are
ten and a half games clear of the second place
Medicine at Mavericks in the East Division, and that means
within the next couple of games potentially by the time
this episode goes live, they may have clinched first place

(05:12):
in the East Division, or they're they're going to do
it here within By the end of the weekend, I'm
almost guaranteed they will have locked up first place in
the East. They've already clinched a playoff spot, they did
that like two weeks ago. But first obviously means you
get home field advantage at least throughout the first two
rounds of the playoffs, and given their record as the

(05:33):
best record in the league, they can finish first overall.
They'd also get home field advantage should they get all
the way to the league championship series. So finishing in
first is a big deal. Uh, And that's the next
task on the checklist for the Berries. I mentioned the
All Star Game. It was just this past weekend in
Okatok's Alberta beautiful Semen Stadium, sort of the crown jewel

(05:55):
of the Western CANADIANASSEBA League and maybe maybe all of
Canadian amateur baseball for that matter. It was an East
Division victory, an emphatic one in a rain shortened six
inning affair, ten to three, the East beating the West,
and our guest this week Ethan Minard. He was named
the All Star Game MVP. He hit a home run
in that game, was the only home run of the game,

(06:16):
and that earned him the MVP accolades. So that's the
second straight year, by the way, that a Saskatoon Berry
has been the All Star Game MVP. Last year in
their first year in the league, it was Carter Beck,
who has also been on the show. We booked nothing
but All Star Game MVPs on this show, folks. That's
just how we roll. Ethan Minard a great job by

(06:37):
him and he's having a great season. A well deserved
honor for him in that All Star Game. He also
participated in the home Run Derby, hit seven home runs
in the opening round. Did not advance to the final,
but still very solid showing. The derby was actually won
by a guy named Matt Rhodes who plays for the
Fort McMurray Giants. Just on the home Run Derby front.

(07:00):
And one last note speaking of the All Star Game,
as the announcement coming out on All Star weekend in
Okatok's that next year's All Star Game will be played
right here in Saskatoon next gen patch at Karen's Field.
So the Barry's Brass working hard to get that All
Star Game in year three. They actually initially thought about
trying to get it this year, but decided that with

(07:22):
all the work that goes into that, that they wanted
an extra year to really get things squared away. And
I'm sure it's gonna be a great show, and it
sounds like it's going to be a two day affair
next year. These last few years has just been one
day on the schedule for both the Derby and the
All Star Game. Teams like the Berries played league games
on the day before and the day after, but this

(07:43):
is going to be a two day thing with the
Derby one night and then the All Star Game the
next day. So it's gonna be a proper All Star
weekend right here in Saskatoon next year. So that's very
exciting news as well on the Berries front. That's what's
going on in the WCBL and with the Saskatoon Berries.
Let's move to the heart hardwood. What's going on with
the Saskatchwan Ratlers, Well, pretty much the opposite of what's

(08:04):
going on with the Saskatoon Berries, as they just continue
to struggle and now have officially been eliminated from playoff
contention with still six games left in their regular season.
That's due to a combination of their failure to win
games and also the fact that their division or their
conference rivals just keep winning and talking about the teams

(08:26):
they're chasing to try to get into the playoffs, Well,
they're not chasing them anymore. The gap has become too
wide and the Rattlers will not be making the CEBO
playoffs this year, so they'll be playing off the string
just basically for pride for the final half dozen games.
They lost twice last week. In fact, one of those
games was actually just prior to the release of our

(08:48):
last episode. It was a one oh three to eighty
one loss to the Calgary Surge. Now there was some
silver lining in that loss in that the Rattlers top
player this season, Nate Pierre Louis, did as I predicted,
very very confidently on last week's show. He did, in
fact break the single season CEBL record for assists, breaking

(09:11):
the old mark of one twenty six, which was held
by Corey Davis Junior. He said that last year with
the Calgary Surge, Davis is actually playing for Vancouver this season,
but Nate Pierre luis getting clear of one twenty six.
I don't have his full total sitting in front of
me right now, but I believe he's up to one
thirty now. On the year, he did that in seventeen games,

(09:33):
so even though the season was expanded from twenty to
twenty four games this year, there will be no asterisks
on that record as he certainly did it in under
twenty games before actually sitting out the next game for Vancouver.
Not aware of his status when it comes to whether
there's an injury or anything like that, but he is.
For those who are curious, yes, he is still with

(09:53):
the team. So no, he did not go break the
record and then say see you later. But he did
sit out the following game in Vancouver, which was a
one hundred to seventy nine loss. Alex Garcia, though newest
member of the team in just his third professional game,
actually led the Ratlers in scoring in that loss in
Vancouver with twenty five points, and Tevian Jones, who was

(10:17):
playing his second game as a Rattler after being signed
following his release from the Winnipeg se Bears, he had
twenty one points in that loss of Vancouver. He actually
had thirty one in his Rattler's debut in the loss
to Calgary the game before when Nate Pierre Louis set
the assist record. So a couple of nice milestones in there,
but unfortunately the Rattlers just not enough wins this season

(10:39):
now four and fourteen. Jordan Bowden just another lineup note
who set the team record for three pointers in a
game just prior to leaving for three games. He is
back and we'll finish out the season as expected, to
play the final six games with the Rattlers after attending
a family event and missing three games on the schedule.

(11:00):
So that's good news for the Rattlers who might have
a you know, they have probably their best lineup now.
Unfortunately it's too late for them to make a push
to the playoffs, but hoping to give their fans at
least something to cheer about here down the stretch that
you have just one game coming up this week. It's
on the road and it is against I don't actually,
oh there, It is against the Ottawa Blackjacks on Saturday,

(11:21):
July twenty sixth. That continues a stretch of four straight
road games. The Rattlers won't be back home until August
sixth when they host the Edmonton Stingers. So that's what's
going on with the Saskatchewan Rattlers. Let's move to the
racetrack now. The NASCAR Canada Series made its annual stop
in the Bridge City last week. It's no longer the

(11:43):
NASCAR Pinty Series NASCAR Canada Series. It was the Leland
Industries two fifty running here on July sixteenth, and Sutherland
Automotive Speedway and Kevin Lacroix, a veteran on that circuit,
took the checkered flag from the pole position. But there
were a couple of local faces in the mix as well,
and in the eleven car field for that Leland Industries

(12:04):
to fifty. Both Matthew Shirley and Rob Naismith both competed
in that race. Now, as for Matthew Shirley, he is
a part time NASCAR Canada Series driver. I think the
Saskatoon race was his sixth on that circuit over the
last two or three years. He also raced in the

(12:25):
Edmonton stop earlier this season. As far as I know,
those are the only two that he's racing in this
year in that series. He's also the leader of the
Pro super Late Models.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
There we go division here at Southerland Automotive for the season.
So he's one of the top drivers in the area
and he ended up placing tenth in the Leland Industries
to fifty after qualifying in ninth position. And Rob Naismith,
the other local, he qualified last and finished last, but

(12:59):
both drive finished the race, which is a big deal.
Their cars are intact and they were able to get
through the entire race. Shirley also was named the Rookie
of the race, so that was a nice bit of
accomplishment for him as well as Shirley, as I mentioned,
he leads the Pro Late Model division standings here at
home this season. So a good showing and more to

(13:21):
come for a driver in Matthew Shirley who's just kind
of on the early phase of getting into that NASCAR
Canadas series and so I'm sure he'll keep on tackling
that as the years go by. So that's what's going
on on the racetrack. Let's head out to the golf
course now. Last week was also a big one for
Saskatchewan golfers, as the Humboldt Golf Course was host to

(13:46):
the provincial Men's and Women's Amateur championships. Luke Kote from
Regina at the ripe old age of twenty, taking the
Saskatchewan Men's Amateur crown his first. He's a former provincial
junior champion back in twenty twenty three. He had a
five shot lead going into the fourth and final round

(14:07):
of play after is sizzling sixty five a seven hundred
and sixty five in round three, and that was an
important five shot cushion because he ended up taking the
tournament by two strokes over Corey Bailey, who made a
pretty good push in the final round, Kote shooting a
final round seventy three, his only round over par in

(14:27):
the tournament, to finish with finish at eleven under par
two shots. As I mentioned ahead of Corey Bailey. Kote
is the first member of the Royal Regina Golf Club
to win the men's Amateur since nineteen sixty eight, if
you can believe that. Obviously, there's a lot of golf
horses and clubs around the province, but that's a one
of the bigger ones, and to not have a provincial

(14:49):
men's champion from there in almost seven decades is mind boggling.
But that drought is now over with Kote's win. I
mentioned Corey Bailey from Swift Current, who came second in
the men's Ama well, because he is twenty five or over,
he did win the men's mid Amateur Championship and so
he claimed that by two strokes after finishing second in

(15:11):
the Amateur championship and over. On the women's side, Chloe
Wills of Kyle, Saskatchewan claiming the Saskatchewan Women's Amateur title
her first as well. She shot a final round seventy
two even par to win by one shot over former
champion I believe twenty twenty one champion yes Ella Kozak

(15:32):
of Yorkton. Chloe Wills' final the Women's Amateur is a
three round tournament. Her final score was one under par.
She was the only golfer obviously in red numbers. You
can figure that out based on the fact that she
won the tournament at one under Kozak finishing at even
par for the tournament as the runner up. So Wills

(15:53):
takes the Women's Amateur and the mid Amateur title on
the women's side going to an out of province player
because yes, they're the provincial championships, but in and can
enter them. If they meet the qualification standards, and so
Charmaine Hayden of Winnipeg taking the women's mid Amateur title
with a three round total ten over par. And again
that mid Amateur is for golfers twenty five and over,

(16:17):
So congratulations to all those winners. Some of them, if
not all, will be headed off to Ottawa in September
to represent Saskatchewan at the National Amateur Championships which will
be played at Royal Ottawa Golf Club. So that'll be
exciting for those players. I know for some of them,
like Chloe Wills for example, I think there's some school
issues that may prevent her from going. But that's why

(16:40):
I don't want to list off the golfers who are going,
but there will be up to six I believe, three
men and three women potentially going to Ottawa for those
National Championships as well in September, So congrests to all them.
That's what's going on on the golf course. And finally,
what's going on with the Saskatchewan Junior a SWAT Well,
if you've been watching this show regularly, you know it's

(17:02):
been a tough slog for them again this year. Their
season officially coming to a close this past weekend as
they were swept out of the Rocky Mountain Lacross League
Junior A semi finals by the Junior A Raiders out
of Okatoke's Slash Calgary. The final scores in Game three
ten to four and Game four twelve to two, as

(17:23):
the Raiders win that best of seven series four nothing.
So the SWAT combined record from the regular season and
playoffs this year oh to nineteen. Not great, obviously, But
again I keep banging on this drum. They've showed a
lot more progress this year, and a lot more signs
that they're getting closer to turning the ship around and

(17:44):
starting to pick up some wins. Again, they're just gonna
have to wait till next season just to see if
that bears any fruit. But I like the lot what
I saw. I get a front row seat to the SWAT.
I get to call all their games on playfullscreen dot Com.
So trust me when I tell you from a first
hand perspective, the team is better than the record would suggest.

(18:05):
They have three very good other teams in their league
that they have to get past, and so it's gonna
be at least another year before they can find get
over that hump, but the season officially over. The Raiders, meanwhile,
are awaiting the winner of the other semi final between
the Calgary Mountaineers and the Edmonton Miners, and of course
that will be the RMLL Championship series. The amounties leading

(18:27):
that other series three games to one, with Game five
scheduled for Friday night, and I believe that one is
in Calgary, if I'm not mistaken. So that's what's going
on with the Saskatchewan swat, and that's what's going on
this week. Good's fine, all right, Well, very excited to
be joined by our next guest, and I think, so far,

(18:47):
this being episode ten, this is our guest who comes
from the furthest away from the mothership here in Saskatoon.
But of course he's an adopted Sasketonian. Some may have
even referred to him as the Mayor of Saskatoon. I
don't know how he feels about that, but we can
tell you he's currently as of recording this show, leading
the Western Canadian Baseball League and both batting average and

(19:08):
home runs just sucked at Diingner number eleven on the
air last night, and coming off an All Star Game
MVP performance as well, it's Ethan Minard. Welcome, thank you,
thank you for having me. That's a lot of accolades.
Year two with the Barrys. I want to start with
the last thing I mentioned, which is the All Star game,
because that just happened for you. Just how how was

(19:29):
the experience overall for you?

Speaker 5 (19:31):
It's fun getting to be with a bunch of guys
that you're normally having to go at and really grind against.
So it's fun having those guys on the same side
of you. You know, just a lot of talent on
the same team going and trying to have one.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
Common goal beating the West. So it's fun.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
It does. And even if you're not from here, which
you know, as I mentioned, I didn't say where you're from.
I said, you're from far away from Saskatoon, but apa
Lusis Louisiana. But you now you're second year in the league,
you really adopted this like us against them WCBL mentality,
haven't you.

Speaker 4 (20:05):
Oh yeah, I mean it's it's hard not to fall into.

Speaker 5 (20:07):
They give you every reason and not really like them,
so just finding ways to kind of get at you
and get under your skin. So it's it's fun going
up there and really just giving it to them in
an All Star game.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Well, and especially in that ballpark, I imagine too, right,
because as we know, Okatok's is kind of the they're
like the Yankees of the WCBL, Right, is that a
Is that a fair parallel comparison? Yeah? So, and they
have a great ballpark, so it probably feels even that
much better to go in and it'll win hit a
home run in that park, you know, make a statement
against those Dogs members of the Dogs, right, a team

(20:41):
that you may well be facing at some point in
the playoffs here of course, they're first in the West.
You guys are first in the East. Right now, Just
take me briefly, although we're not here to talk too
much about this season, but how you I mean, you
guys are thirty seven and seven as we're recording this interview.
It's just been a tremendous year for you guys, not
to individually but as a team as well. Just what's

(21:02):
been the what's been the secret sauce this year?

Speaker 5 (21:05):
I mean, just a bunch of really good talent, because
Joe did a really good job with that this year.
I mean, even necessarily on short notice, is a second year,
but still somewhat short notice.

Speaker 4 (21:15):
Just finding guys to.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
Come in here and really build on what we did
last year and just come in here and grind away
baseball games.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
It's it's tough, not a lot of off days, a
lot of a lot of games. Uh, not a lot
of leagues have this many games in this many days.

Speaker 5 (21:29):
So just getting a group of guys that are that
will come in here, build a chemistry and really work
off that and not get satisfied. It's just been a
big thing for us. Just going in there with every game,
every every time you go out there.

Speaker 4 (21:44):
Having a lot of confidence.

Speaker 5 (21:45):
And I mean you might not always have it every day,
but going in there with almost a cockiness of you're
gonna be better than the other team.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
That'll get you through a lot of games even when
you don't have it. So, I mean that's been a
big thing.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
And you guys clearly have a lot of fun too.
And I always hear about, you know, sports and general
baseball in particular, that you gotta have fun in a
grinder sport like baseball where you're playing every day. If
you're not having fun, what's the point, right.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, I mean it's a kid's game.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
So if you're not having fun, it's not gonna work
out for you too well, because.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
I mean, any kid that's playing balls having fun.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
So you just gotta going into it that mentality of
find a way to make this game fun. It might
be it might be tough, you might be ready to
go home, you might be hurting, but I mean you're
out there for a couple hours.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Might as well have some fun with it. You know.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
You mentioned the schedule of how packed the schedule is.
Is that an appeal for you?

Speaker 4 (22:39):
Me personally? I like it. So my last two years
at ut Tyler, I was a DH would have loved to.

Speaker 5 (22:46):
Play defense, but I was just struggling a lot. So
coming up here and getting to prove time and time
again that I can still do it on the defensive
side of the ball was fun for me.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
So that was cool.

Speaker 5 (22:55):
And then I mean, the more games you have, the
less you have to get into a slump. I mean,
you go through a two game slump and it's like,
all right, well, i's that have fifty four of them.

Speaker 4 (23:04):
So it's nice.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
It does put that at a little bit perspective. You
mentioned the defensive side. I know, like you look on
a lot of the information online and you look at
the stats and you're everywhere you're listed as a catcher,
but you've been playing a lot of first base, Yes,
with the barriers in particular. Obviously, that's a pretty common combination.
A lot of guys in power hittering type guys that
catch and play first base. So how do the two compare?

(23:28):
And how do you like playing out in the field
like that?

Speaker 4 (23:32):
I personally love playing in the field.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
You know, dhent is very tough, even though it may
not seem like it, like you only have one job
to do, but sitting in that dugout between at bats
can be rough. Now, I will say our lineup does
a good job of getting you back into the box,
like not waiting three innings every time to get at bat.
But it can be tough. So playing defense is really nice.

(23:56):
I would love to catch more, but I need say otherwise,
So that and stuff. And then we also have two
studs behind the play Balin and Rudy, So that's really
nice to have.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
I mean, I'm sure our pitchers love it.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
I'm not the best with the glove works, so it
gets them really excited whenever those two guys behind the plate.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
And then a first base.

Speaker 5 (24:13):
I didn't always play first base, played it a little
bit growing up, going into high school and stuff, But
whenever I got to college my sophomore year I played
it a good bit and then at Tyler it was
something I practiced a lot. But going in the Northwest,
I'm actually going to be looking to play left field.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
So okay, a little change.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
And we see that too. You know that's not an
uncommon positional progression, right I think? So what do you
have to kind of focus on it when you're getting
ready to make a switch like that? What's the operation?

Speaker 5 (24:41):
Like for me, it's always just been keep swinging and
I'll find a way in the lineup. So go make
routine plays. Don't do anything extra. I mean, if a
cool play comes, a cool play comes. If not, just
catch the ball when it's hit to you and throw
the ball where it's supposed to go. I mean it,
it's a game of percentages. Like if you make the
routine plays and have less errors a lot of time,

(25:04):
you're gonna win the game.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
An Yeah, like you said, when you hit the way
you have, then coaches are gonna want to get you
in that lineup regardless of find a place for you right,
So as long as you can say it's sort of
like replacement level defending, then the coach will have the
confidence to put you in there. Pencilly in that lineup
night in and out, day in, day out. I mentioned

(25:27):
off the top, you're hitting for twelve eleven home runs
as of again this recording where but you might have
a couple more by the time we get this out
on Thursday. Well, who knows the way you've been hitting it?
But is it infection? Like you hear about all the
contagiousness of hitting, and there's so many good hitters in
this Barry's lineup. How much of that is a factor
in the numbers that you're putting on. You put up

(25:48):
ptty good numbers last year too, but they're even more
impressive this year.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
I mean, it's big.

Speaker 5 (25:54):
Not having pressure on you at the plate is such
a huge thing, and like some guys thriving pressure, but
it's different like the pressure you put on yourself to
like make it competitive in the like whenever we get
up big or something versus like hey, if I don't
get to hit this at bat, like, it might bite
us in the long run later in the game.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
So I mean having guys like quarterback.

Speaker 5 (26:16):
Corey Waters, Ethan Murdoch mayling swords and it's it's really nice,
like just going in that box.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
Hey, I might strike out this at bet.

Speaker 5 (26:24):
Oh, well, somebody's gonna pick me up and if they don't,
they'll give me the next time around. Like it, it's
just two completely different ball games whenever you're playing like that.
And it's just been so much easier this year, like
having guys that you know are gonna get on base
and help you get that RBI, even if you don't
have the double that you needed, Like they're gonna steal
a bag, steal another bag and then you hit a

(26:46):
sack fly whenever, like you started the bat you needed
a double.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Or something to score them. It's it's really nice.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
Uh, what what first drew you to the to the league?
You know, because you're obviously not from anywhere near Western
Canada and there's word of mouth, but there's I'm sure
there's you know, agents and things like that, and we're
coaches who know you. Like, so, how did you first
hear about the league and what what led you sort
of take the leap to come here? Last year, we.

Speaker 5 (27:13):
Were sitting in the locker room one day at Tyler
and our pitching coach came in asking a few pictures
if what they thought about coming.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
Up to Canada, and I'd overheard him. I said that
I thought that.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
Was a pretty cool opportunity because a lot of us hunt,
and you know, like a hunting up here is insane.
So it was always like, oh, man, come make a
few connections. You never know, come back for hunting season.
And then, uh, our our head coach actually played in
Regina whenever he was or in Wayburn. Sorry, he played
in Wayburn whenever we whatever he was playing, so he

(27:45):
said it was a cool league, like good experience, and
then you know it was I had a mixed feelings, uh,
run with a summer ball team after my freshman season,
so it was kind of like back and forth for me.
Then I talked to coach Joe, and I mean just
the way he made it sound about how they were
gonna take care of us made it really appealing. And

(28:06):
then I mean coming back a second year because of
the way they treated us and made sure that everything
was okay with us, like day in, day out, it
was really nice, just making sure that we were always
gonna be taken care of So.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
That's saying I was just gonna ask because clearly, you know,
if you're coming back for another year, then it wasn't
just about how it went on the field, but the
whole package, right, like what yew, how what has the
team done? How has the organization allow allowed you to
kind of feel at home so far away from home?

Speaker 5 (28:37):
I mean it it's really just everything the support of Hey,
if you need this, we're gonna help you. Like, like
I said earlier, my knees give me problems, They've like
no hesitation, made sure that if I need to get
in with a chiropractor or a physical therapist, like, hey,

(28:57):
get this scheduled.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Like today I had one.

Speaker 5 (28:59):
It was just to check up to get some dry
needling done. It was just something something that like a
lot of teams don't do.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
And don't realize helps. And then we have little machines
like Norma techs that.

Speaker 5 (29:12):
Just get the blood flow in that like the little
things that help really get that going. I mean, they
take care of us food wise, like I've I don't
think I've ever caught myself being hungry after after a game,
before a game.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
It's nice.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
It's just the little things that travels nice, always have
a nice bus, always.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
In a good hotel.

Speaker 5 (29:30):
So just something that like a lot of teams don't
realize help winning teams.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
It's said in the margins, right, it's all those little
creature comforts and things like that. And I mean, I
think it probably helps that, you know, Barry's ownership already
had plenty of experience running sports organizations. Maybe it was
their first foray into baseball, but having you know, run
a junior hockey team and a professional lacrosse team, like

(29:56):
they understand what goes into it. And I think some
of these other team ownership apps of teams where that's
really their only thing. This maybe just doesn't come to mind,
but when you're in the in the business of sports,
you kind of understand what what players need to be
at their best. We'll just walk about the community. What
how has it I guess most reminded you of home?
And what's been the most different between Saskatoon and Opelousas.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
The most The thing I would find most like back
home would be the like just how welcoming it is.
The fans are amazing, like die hard.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
For the team.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
It's kind of like back home, like lsu Per se
like die hard fans for LSU.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
If you're L. Shue fan, you're an L. Shue fan.
And if you're a Berries fan, you're a Berries fan.
Like there's no like, oh yeah, I like the Berries,
but I also like this team. It's a go for
the berries.

Speaker 5 (30:44):
And then I would say the only really big difference
I noticed from back home would be the food, Like
not necessarily in a bad ways, just I'm a big
spice guy. We have a lot of different flavors spices
back home, But I mean it's the food's still really
good in its own way. Like it's just like the
barriers actually do a good job of that, like mixing
in the berry jam with the foods and all that

(31:07):
of the concession. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
I did. I was looking, I was did the looked
at the Wikipedia page for your hometown. I didn't note
it was known for being a spice capital, right is
that the nickname or or something like that, like yeah, so.
And it's funny because I went to look because I
was gonna recommend a place a restaurant for you, But
as I googled it, I discovered it closed about three
years ago. But there was a Cajun creole restaurant run

(31:30):
by a Cajun fella who had moved up here, just
in a town just outside the city. But I guess
apparently it closed like two three years ago, and unbknownst
to me, he's moved out west to to b C.
I think to run another restaurant, which is too bad
because we have one in town here. But I don't
I'm not sure. I'm not going to get you to
get you to weigh in on Moon tomp Cafe on
here because we might want them as a sponsor one day,
and I don't know. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't,

(31:51):
maybe you haven't tried it. I don't know. Let's let's
talk a little bit about college ball, because obviously, you guys,
you're here during in between seas you're getting ready to
change move to another program this coming upcoming season a
little closer to home. Tell me a bit about that
and how that all kind of came about.

Speaker 5 (32:11):
So the coach at Northwestern actually coached at Tyler, my
old school.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
For several years before, like I.

Speaker 5 (32:19):
Was into college and everything, and so they knew our
coaches very well. They're all good friends to go like
hunting and stuff together. So whenever I entered the portal.
He was in close contact a school that I was
also interested in because it was winning program, a place
that I felt like I could go and compete for
a conference championship because at the end of the day,

(32:40):
like you got to know that coming from a mid major,
it's tough to get to Omaha, So you go in
look to win a conference championship and have omahall as
like the back of your mind, but still what you're
going for. So I thought that was something that fit
me really well. The coaching staff would fit me really well,
and I just like his coaching style really really aggressive

(33:03):
on the offensive side.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
Of the ball. That's how I play the game. So
it was something I really look forward to.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
So it's Northwestern Louisiana University's north Northwestern State State University.
Thank you the Diablos, And I mentioned that because as
we were talking before we started recording, there's actually a
local connection to that program as well. And Logan Hoffman,
a may drafted pitcher from a few years back, was
from Munster, just about an hour and a bit east
of the city here, So I had heard of the

(33:27):
program before because I'm not going to sit here and
pretend I'm an expert on college baseball. There's so many
schools of programs. But that must be also a really
nice opportunity for you to get a little closer to
home as well, after playing out of state for the
last couple of years, albeit not terribly far away, but
what happened but twice is close now.

Speaker 5 (33:45):
Yes, sir, Yeah, it's nice really getting to experience that
last year with like family and friends that'll be able
to come watch and stuff who hadn't really been able
to make it out for the last year. So and
plus wherever I was at Tyler, all our games are
conference games. There's like twelve teams in the conference, so
we just play them all year, and we're the farthest
East team, so it was always really far travel out west,

(34:08):
so it was just moving further and further away from
Louisiana as we went.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
So it's nice to be back home. All my games
are gonna be televised this year, so it's it's nice.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Like when you're staying telling as you're talking, like all
the way across Texas kind of thing, like.

Speaker 5 (34:22):
Yes, sir, Like we we had one trip, I want
to say it was nine hours on the bus, So
I mean it it makes it normal. It's normally a
little longer, but I mean it's just a it's a
ways out, that's a hall.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
That's a hall, Yeah for sure, because that was a
lone star conference. So what conferences?

Speaker 4 (34:38):
Northwestern stated they're in the Southlandland Conference.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Yes, sir, and so it was like, where are we
talking about now?

Speaker 5 (34:44):
That will be playing teams in Louisiana and Texas. Uh,
but like even the Texas travel there's two teams that
are pretty far. But like there's Lamar who's like two
hours away from home, so whenever we play there, it'll
be nice, Like family can still go out. Southeastern is
an hour and a half from my house, so that

(35:06):
my parents will be able to go watch there.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
I've had buddies who play there.

Speaker 5 (35:09):
And still play there, and so like it's it's nice,
Like my dad knows a lot.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Of the people.

Speaker 5 (35:16):
Within the conference so well, like everywhere he goes, he'll
have somewhere they're like, oh, hey, we can go hang
out with them whenever you're not playing.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
So very nice. It's that. Yeah, It's it's remarkable to me, Like,
I mean there's such a obviously there's so many more
people in the US obviously, but like the thing that
you I don't think a lot of people really appreciate
unless you're actually travel through the States. Just how many
colleges and universities and community juticos and just everywhere you
go seems to be some kind of college town. So

(35:43):
it's like, you know, I still am hearing about schools
that I had never previously heard about. When you say
a new player comes to a team, it may even
be baseball, maybe basketball or something else, and go, oh,
where's that place? You look it up and go, okay, right,
So it's a pretty cool call college sports culture. We
don't really have that type of thing here because everything's

(36:04):
so spread out. Yes, you mentioned the family being able
to watch. I think I saw your he had some
family here recently. Are they still here.

Speaker 5 (36:12):
Or yes, sir, my dad and them we're up in Edmonton,
like just traveling and stuff.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
And then surprised me at the All Star Game, so
I was right on.

Speaker 5 (36:20):
Yeah, I didn't get to see my siblings in a while,
and even whenever I was home for a little bit
between the World Series and my time to come up here,
I hadn't really got to spend much time with my
little siblings who I'm really close with, So it was
really cool like for them to come up here and
get take experience all this because even my little siblings, like,
they didn't get to come watch this at the World Series,

(36:41):
so they they've never really got to see me play
in front of a big crowd.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
So it was cool.

Speaker 5 (36:45):
They're excited to come up to Saskatoon and they're coming
out Thursday and then potentially come watching Swift Friday.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Oh awesome? And how old are they? How many? What
are we talking here?

Speaker 5 (36:55):
I have two little brothers, ones eleven and one's five,
and they have two little sisters, one is nine and
the other one seven.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Oh wow, So you really are They must really look
up to you then too. Yeah, that's not only for
them to come here, but to surprise you like that.
What was what was the reaction? What was your reaction
to that? You're trying to play out like where did
they show up at the ballpark or like, pake the
picture for me here.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
So we were getting ready for the home run derby
and I was just sitting in the locker room hanging
out with some of the guys and Carter Beck comes
up to me and was like, hey, they need you
to do an interview outside something about your jersey.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
And I was like okay. So I walk outside.

Speaker 5 (37:36):
And we're walking up the little like uh hill at
Okatok's and my dad and them were sitting like on
the pavilion or whatever you want to call it, up
in left field, and so I'm like looking around and
as I'm walking up, my little siblings all jump out
and surprise me.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
So it was just like pure shock.

Speaker 5 (37:57):
I had no clue that they were coming, and my
dad mentioned that he was going to Edmonton, so I
was like, oh, cool, maybe it'll stop by. I had
no clue that the family was going, because I mean,
that's a whole It was like twenty nine straight hours
because they made a little trip to Colorado, stopped, and
then drove twenty nine hours straight.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
So they did. They drove up. Oh yeah, wow, that
is cool. Were you rattled all the like stepping in
for the derby or had you had your had you
had you settled back down by the Oh?

Speaker 5 (38:22):
I mean I'm not one that really gets nervous, So
it was it was funny like they were they were
giving me a bunch of uh like crap about like, oh,
you better do good. We're here, you better do good.
And it was actually cool.

Speaker 4 (38:36):
My little brother caught the first home run I hit
in the derby, so it was it was like movie made.
It was just awesome.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
That is that. I mean. I had a it's not
just even compared, but what I had one of my brothers.
They both live out of town, and one one flew
in to surprise me on my fortieth birthday a few
years ago when we had a big gathering out during COVID.
We were out in a park and he just owed
up and that was that was pretty cool. So I
can only imagine what what that was to have your

(39:04):
whole family pretty much there and that far to come
that far, that's just that. That's that's family support right there.
Did you then, So did you drive up yourself as well?

Speaker 4 (39:15):
No? I did not.

Speaker 5 (39:16):
Me and Balin had planned on driving up if our
seasons ended around the same time. Uh, they ended up
not getting a bid to Regional, and we ended up
making it farther then, not farther than we hoped, but
farther than we.

Speaker 4 (39:29):
Expected to I would expected two still.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
Wrong, but I mean we made it to the World Series,
so it was. It just didn't work out to where
we could drive up together. But uh, we ended up
just flying up here.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
But I was gonna say, cause that'd be one that's
a that's a fun road trip. It would be a
fun road trip, I imagine. I haven't been to Louisiana,
but I did drive through close. As I've been was
like northeastern Mississippi last year on my way on to Florida.
And just I've always wanted to visit Louisiana, especially because
I'm intrigued by like the geography of the state and
everything something And I want to ask you a bit

(40:00):
about that as well, because it's obviously a lot different
than up here. What's like it just I mean, give me,
give me a give me a picture of sort of
growing up in Opelousas. What what's what's the what's the environment? Like,
what do you do for fun?

Speaker 5 (40:14):
Like it's a lot of hunting, fishing and good bit
of dirt roads. Uh, I mean a lot of crawlfish fields. Uh,
that's what That's what a lot of people don't realize
is like for miles on end, you'll be driving through
the through Louisiana, like on the Interstate and it's just

(40:34):
crawfish field after crawlfish field after crawfish field, small town,
crawlfish field.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
It's just a lot of stuff to see.

Speaker 5 (40:40):
It honestly reminds me of like being up here on
travel days and stuff, just like you'll go for miles
and it's just like pretty pretty land and so it
it's nice, but uh, you gotta go certain places like
the big cities to really find stuff to do.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Sure, sure, yeah, make your own fun, right, Yeah. So
a crawfish field like what is that, like a marsher,
like a sw.

Speaker 5 (41:05):
So it's like four like dirt walls with rice and
water in the middle, and then they put like little
crawfish traps every so often in there, and about a
week or so you'll you'll pick up the crawfish traps
m dum, put new bait in them, and then just
all that for crawfish season.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
Sorry, I'm getting a phone call here while is all
we're doing this show. I should have good thing I
did my ringer on there. Yeah, that was certainly. Crawfish
is certainly one of the first things I would think
of when I would try to sort of come up
with associations for Louisiana. I have this is maybe a
really dumb question, I'm gonna ask it anyways. What's the
difference between to buy you in a swamp?

Speaker 4 (41:44):
Is there a difference or like not really? Uh?

Speaker 5 (41:48):
A boy, you, I would say, is more like when
you think like water and fishing, and the swamp would
be more like, oh man, it's gonna be tough to
get in there, like and it's not necessarily as deep
versus I could buy you Like it's more of like
a open water still go fishing and all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
Okay, but like a swimming hole kind of thing or
like like a like a lagoon or or yeah, we
call them.

Speaker 4 (42:13):
Slews around here.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
There we go. I'm picking it up now. What so
you mentioned a lot of hunting, a lot of fishing.
What are you hunting down there?

Speaker 5 (42:23):
Me and my dad are big on ducks, and then
I mean, growing up being such a big duck hunter,
I would go with my uncle deer hunting a lot,
and that was almost like a treat. So now they're
like I have my family land on my mom's side
and then opportunity to go duck hunting my dad's side.
It's more just whatever's hot, like if the duck hunting's
good that weekend, I'll go with my dad, go my
buddies go duck hunting.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
If it's not gonna be a good duck hunting.

Speaker 5 (42:46):
Day, I go out, try to shoot a deer, maybe
some hogs something like that.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
You know, just really whatever you can get to and
you get.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Do you have Do you have to get tags for
ducks or like?

Speaker 5 (42:55):
So for ducks you have to get like a duck
stamp license and and just it. You don't have to
get like tags or anything. But for deer and stuff
you have to get tags.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
Yeah, okay, okay, I personally have never hunted a single
thing in my life, so it's all foreign to me.
No matter what you're what you're going after. I saw
a story that you you know, told about about gators
as well while hunting ducks. I'm not going to ask
you to retell that story, but I mean, I just
find it interesting that you live in a place where
alligators are just around as sort of a way of life.

(43:28):
You know. I think for those of us who aren't
around animals like that, we think, you know, keep your distance,
but it sounds like you guys kind of just treat
them like like like a rodent or something that's just
kind of around that you kind of just got to
accept or like, what's the deal livin like alongside you know,
reptiles like that.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
They're not they're not that bad.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
Whenever it's cold out, they're pretty much dormant. You don't
mess with them, they won't mess with you. And then
even whenever it's hot out and stuff. I mean you
it's almost just a like you come accustomed to it,
to just staying away from them and like staying of
places that will get you in trouble with them, So
stay out of places where they might.

Speaker 4 (44:03):
Be eating a lot or anything like that.

Speaker 5 (44:05):
And uh, it's just kind of a normal thing, you know,
just oh, a gator, Like it's just there.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
See. For me, I was like, like I said, I
was out of Florida last year, and obviously I was.
I was spending time in city, so I wasn't really
but I was still was kind of annoyed that I
didn't see now here while I was down there. I
was like, geez, like you the one thing I didn't
get to see while I was all the way drapll
that way for not no alligators, but yeah, cause here
like I mean the sort of the the animals that

(44:35):
you want to keep your distance from. They're all quite
clearly prominent and large, and you don't see them that often,
like your bears or your coyotes or whatnot, and it
just kind of like it's it's a it's an event
when you see one. You don't get used to seeing
them all. Right back to baseball a little bit here.
You know, you come up here your second year, what
what were you Did you have any concept of Canadian

(44:58):
baseball before coming up and what's your impressions over the
last two summers.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
I had really no idea what I was coming up for.

Speaker 5 (45:06):
Coach Joe tried giving me a little like visual of
it over the phone, but it was just like coming
up here and gonna have to grind out some baseball
games and try to get a ring. And we came
up a little short of that last year, but it
was it was fun.

Speaker 4 (45:23):
Like my first impression for sure was that it's aggressive,
but at the.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
Same time, laid back baseball, like go out there, do
what you gotta do, find a way to win the game.
Just gritty baseball, and that's something I grew up a.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
Lot with, so it was. It was awesome to see that.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
I think it's not all like especially because baseball is, like,
you know, America's pastime. So I think as Canadians players
have always felt like underdogs, even if they're you know,
Larry Walker, you know in the Hall of Fame or
you know, justin Mortal or or someone like that. But
there's always that underdog because we're the vast minority, you know,
at the higher levels. So I think there's a humility

(46:01):
that comes with that, but also a quiet confidence, I think.
And then there's the western part of it is Western
Canada and Eastern Canada to very different, very different things.
There's more than just West and East, but Western Canada
especially kind of has its own kind of cultural identity too.
I think that feeds into what you're talking about there.

(46:22):
You know, we talked about the fact that you're moving
to Northwestern State, but you also got a chance, as
you briefly touched on, to go to U D two
College World Series. Where did that experience sort of rank
for you in your baseball career.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
I mean, that's as as as high as they come.

Speaker 5 (46:39):
I mean, getting to play on any platform like that,
whether it's Division one, Division.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
Two, Juco D three in Ai. It's it's awesome.

Speaker 5 (46:48):
Getting to go and represent your school on a stage
like that. It's just it means everything to you because
that's what you grow up as a kid. It may
be you imagine it in Omaha, but I mean as
you grow up, like you learn like not everything works
out picture perfect. But getting to go there and really
represent and then have everybody from your hometown to your

(47:09):
college town rooting you on.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
It really means a lot. So it was awesome getting
to go.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
There and that was and where was that played?

Speaker 4 (47:15):
Then?

Speaker 5 (47:15):
That was in North Carolina, North Carolina, Yes, sir, And
I've heard some.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
Pretty good things about what the fans are out there too.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
Yeah, it was awesome like having our fans, having the
other schools fans come out there, and then just like
local people that know that, hey, every every year this
time World Series, let's go watch. So it was awesome,
like getting to play in front of a big crowd
on a beautiful field that they have out there.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
So so you also mentioned the crowd sort of at
the Ulcar game in Okatok's like you strike me as
a guy who kind of gets up for the big game,
the big moment, that sort of thing, like where does
that come from?

Speaker 5 (47:53):
I mean just growing up small town, small team, playing
in front of the bigger teams, like on the bigger stages.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
It was just like a man, this is awesome.

Speaker 5 (48:05):
Like noticing it but not necessarily letting it change the
way you play is one thing I think for me,
like that'll get me going a little bit more, give
me a little more amped up, but not necessarily take
me out of the mentality I need to be at
to perform my best.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
And then there's a whole talk about that hitting contagiousness too.
And I'm sure the crowd, the energy of a crowd
can have that effect. Yeah, growing up in Louisiana, like
there's no major league team in that state. To you,
how do you kind of come Is baseball just like
something you come to as a kid or what? How
do you get got to get into this sport initially

(48:42):
when maybe you don't have a local big league team
that might draw you in initially. A lot of kids
get into it because you know, they grew up cheering
for what was it a college then where.

Speaker 5 (48:54):
Well, my my great grandfather on my dad on my
mom's side, sorry, played ball played like professional ball and everything,
so that was a big thing, Like it was already
in my family. My dad played college ball and then
had me, so I had to get cut off a
little short. So it was just one thing that's always
been in my family was baseball. And then, I mean
down South is a big it's a big football thing now,

(49:16):
like sports in general, just big, but really big into football.

Speaker 4 (49:19):
I've just I was a really good football player, but
not as good as I am with baseball.

Speaker 5 (49:24):
So it was just one thing that always stuck with me,
you know, through the good and bad.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
Times, baseball was gonna be there.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
Baseball was a way that felt like I could express
myself without really having to like think about things and
really over analyze stuff in my life.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
So it was always just really big for me to
be able to go.

Speaker 5 (49:42):
Out practice, play and just not worry about the things
that are outside of the field.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
What position did you play in football?

Speaker 5 (49:50):
I was moving around a lot as it whenever I
was really young, like quarterback, running back.

Speaker 4 (49:56):
Then whenever I got.

Speaker 5 (49:57):
To high school, I started off like and back, wide receiver, linebacker.
Then whenever I transferred my freshman year to my new
school's kind of linebacker for the next two and a
half years, and then my senior year got switched a
full back and really just took off from there.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
And coming from the town or a city, I guess,
I say town, you got you guys say town and
Saskatchewppeleousis would be like the fourth largest city in the province,
I think, or something like that. It's about the same
size as Weber, and you mention Webern as I think,
I think population wise, you're kind of similar there. But
because it's a pretty small town and you know, you play,

(50:35):
you know, fairly prominent program like do you get that?
Are you like you get the small town star kind
of treatment back home.

Speaker 5 (50:42):
Or every now and again, you'll I'll get it, uh,
like people see me and recognize me and then all
they want to talk about sports and stuff. So it's
it's funny going back home, like people you'll be like, oh,
I saw your mom or dad's Facebook post.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
I saw like coach whoever posted about you.

Speaker 5 (50:59):
So it's cool, Like I'll get to see people and
they'll recognize me from that or remember me like oh yeah,
he played baseball. They want to state championship his senior
year like stuff like that. You know, it's just it's cool.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
It probably keeps you on the straight and narrow to
a little bit too, because you know, there's a lot
of eyeballs on you. Well, you know, I want to
I want to get to some some sort of fun
I mean, this is all fun stuff and some some
sort of like baseball and baseball adjacent questions here to
sort of get a little dos to like who Ethermnard is?

(51:32):
You know, a little bit even more, dig a little
bit more into the psyche here. I said, we did
this with Carter Beck, and I called it quick hits,
but I was just saying that's not really a baseball phrase.
Hits is, but quick hits is. So we're gonna call
them inside fastballs, which it seems like you do pretty well.
You handle inside fastballs, not to not too badly. So
if you're game for this, I'm gonna fire some sort
of rapid fire type stuff at you. But I might

(51:53):
have some follow ups too. We started we talked about
you played a couple different positions, but give me, like
if you had to pick one catch her first base,
like good knees, you know, regardless of your knee situation,
what's your preference there?

Speaker 5 (52:07):
I love catching getting the ball in your hand the
most often, So I love having the ball in my hand.

Speaker 4 (52:12):
If I could, if I could still be a pitcher,
I would be a pitcher. It's awesome.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
What was your best pitch or what is your best
pitch now?

Speaker 4 (52:19):
It would be my knuckleball. That's all I throw now,
Like whenever I'm warming.

Speaker 5 (52:23):
Up and stuff, all that throws knuckleballs is just having fun.
Find a little wayte to have fun.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
Every guy who is a former pitcher doesn't pitch anymore.
It's like, that's the pitch, that's the thing. Actually, you
know what's funny. I was actually the other day I
was I was wearing an R A Dicky Blue Jays
jersey over at family event, and I was always really
just liked his story. And my dad's mother in law

(52:48):
was like, she's British, She's like, Dickie, why was it
say Dickie on YOURR sweater? And I had to tell
her the whole story about the knuckleball, and he's like
all this kind of stuff. He's like, he's one of
the only guys who actually pitched the knuckleball. You know,
in the major leagues, can you hit a knuckleball?

Speaker 5 (53:04):
Never had to, thankfully, but uh, I'd like to imagine
I could put it in play.

Speaker 4 (53:09):
I wouldn't say I drive it, but I could. I
could probably put it in.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
I missed that there there aren't any true knucklers left
in the show anymore. It was always cool to have
one or two of those guys kicking around.

Speaker 4 (53:20):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Maybe maybe you know baseball goes through these like cycles
of evolution.

Speaker 5 (53:24):
So I was about to say, it's starting to it's
starting to kind of come back a little bit here
and there. You're starting to see more and more of it,
just because if you don't have high V law, you
gotta find some way to get people out. So if
you're gonna throw a knuckleball, I mean it's hard, it's
hard to practice against. You can't really just set up
a pitcher machine to throw knuckleballs every day.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
So it's the knuckle curve now, right, That's where we're
here about the like, man, I missed the old days
of there's five pitches. Now everything's a hybrid is something else.
We got the sweeper, but then the slider, the sweeper
and then this and that and the whole man. Oh man,
Like I don't know, that's people probably why I didn't
play baseball too too well because I had of trouble
with three pitches let alone. However many there are now,

(54:02):
So from the catcher's perspective, what's uh, well, half of
this is the catcher's perpective. What's more fun? Stealing a
base or throwing out a potential base stealer.

Speaker 5 (54:13):
I like stealing bases just because people look at me,
don't think that I'm gonna steal many bases.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
Full back is not gonna steal a base, eh.

Speaker 5 (54:20):
But I love throwing people out because that was one
thing I grew up with, was like I had a
stronger arm than a lot of kids. So it was
always just fun getting to show that off and like
behind the plate, like it just keeps you like something
else to do, something else to have fun with, Like
try to try to throw this guy out.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
He's trying to steal something. Don't let him. So it
was fun doing that. But I like stealing bags a
little more just because people don't expect me to.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
The surprise steal. What about the pickoff, the backpick like
the first.

Speaker 4 (54:48):
Or I loved backpicking just because like.

Speaker 5 (54:52):
You almost have to like time it out because if
you do it too early in a game, you might
not be able to steal it out later in the
game when you really need it. If you do too late,
then they might have already done their damage by then.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
But it's also just a way that like catchers will really.

Speaker 5 (55:07):
Get on the good side of pictures, like, oh, you
just stole me in out, thank gosh, like it's awesome.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
I never thought about that whole, like you gotta be
you don't want to burn it, you know, that makes
total sense. I hadn't considered that that aspect of it
from first. Have you ever tried the hidden ball trick?

Speaker 4 (55:24):
Uh? Many times?

Speaker 3 (55:25):
Have you successfully pulled it off?

Speaker 4 (55:27):
Once? Once? I have? Yeah, I think it was in
high school.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
We did it once, Like I was just playing first
base or third base, and like the pictures, always.

Speaker 4 (55:37):
Knew like, hey, I'm gonna try something, you.

Speaker 5 (55:39):
Know, if an easy out is easy out, like especially
if they're free.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
So just trying something like that and it ended up
working maybe once or twice.

Speaker 5 (55:47):
And it's always just been something that like, hey, they're
probably gonna do it, expect it, but you never really
think about it on the basis so you can get a.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
Free when you get a free one.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
There's so many more like routine type situations you're probably
going psche laying through and that that's another one where
I feel like, especially now with in the replay era,
we might see a little bit more of with like
as soon as the guy's a little bit off the bag,
like oh yeah, holding tags, we're doing things like that.
So I could see the hidden ball trick pop because
I haven't seen anyone try in the majors for a

(56:16):
long time, and that's always fun for Lacrosse is a
sport that also has a hidden ball trick. I don't
know if you're familiar at all, but there's a there's
a sequence of the guys are bringing the ball up
the floor and they'll pretend to flip it to the
other guy. And it's so obvious when you're like brought
when you're watching the game from afar, but I can
understand how they could fool guys with that. It's like
it's a good one when it works, all right. You

(56:39):
mentioned sort of some of the food differences back home
and compared to hear, what's maybe one maybe ballpark food
or even just food in general. If you had to
pick one thing that you wish was was available up here.
What would it be? Uh?

Speaker 5 (56:55):
I'm big on like rice and gravy or like gumbo
back home, so I wish that that was something I
could just have, which it's not that hard to make,
but just something that like on the road a lot
or even wheneverywhere at home, just trying to relax, like
I haven't really like gotten to making.

Speaker 4 (57:09):
So that'd be one thing I wish was up here.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Maybe all right, all right, a good gumbo. Well we'll
get the berries. Maybe get that on the menu for
the next season. We'll see what's the best dugout snack
or like thing to keep your mouth occupied.

Speaker 5 (57:26):
I'm I'm big on like a pub and j maybe
or even just like an orange.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
I really love oranges super food.

Speaker 5 (57:33):
So actually a Canadian guy, Kyle Freelik, that I played with,
that Tyler and actually played at the school I'm going
to Northwestern. He's from Saskatoon, so he got me big
on into oranges and stuff.

Speaker 4 (57:45):
So that's one that I try to always.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Car during games.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
You try, I tried to just like try to eat
a little snacks, you know, just something, but not always
if I'm like d H and I'll definitely sneak something down.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
The tunnel for a dog. Uh, seeds are gum.

Speaker 4 (58:02):
Uh gum. Probably all right.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
I see some guys that go through like a whole
bucket of that double bubble in a in a double header.
Uh Otani or Judge Otani? Okay, the double threat though, Yeah, yeah,
you just hit his fifth in as many games today too.
In that I was mentioning that Dodgers Twins game earlier
today that I.

Speaker 5 (58:22):
Always wanted to be a lefty too, so it makes
me jealous that he can swing it like he does
from the left side.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
Uh. And man, he was because he started he started
the night before and they were talking about how his
numbers uh the day after starts were were down, and
then he hit another home R. I was like, the
guy's unreal, what about this? Because I said Otani or Judge.
There's a big debate right now in the American League
between Judge of cal Rawley in terms of the in

(58:48):
terms of the MVP race here, So are you already
are you going to weigh in on that one.

Speaker 5 (58:53):
I'm also wanted to be a switch hitter growing up.
Did it till high school? Just because it was like
from the left side don't have as much like contact ability,
but I still had to pop. So it's honestly respectable
what he's doing being behind the plate and switch hitting.
I mean, it's also tough because Judge is just so
consistently good.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
So I'd have to go Raleigh just because he's a
catcher and switch hitter. But I mean, it's it's crazy
what they both do.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
It is nuts. I would lean to also because Judge
already has MVPs, He's gonna have more. This is like
an out of body season. Like hel Rally's a very
good player, but like what he's done to this point
in the season.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
It's almost unhuman, not even just for a catcher, just.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
In general, like switch hitter that Homer total like just
crazy stuff. So I just think, like, if not this year,
like when when are you gonna give someone else that? Right,
Judge is gonna be in the mix every year, one
would expect. Right, So, all right, who's the best chatter
chirper or talker in the Berry's dugout? And what's the
best chirp.

Speaker 4 (59:56):
Oh, We've got a lot of them.

Speaker 5 (59:58):
We've got some guys that love to just say funny
stuff every time.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
They open their mouth. DQ is one.

Speaker 5 (01:00:07):
Of them that says a lot of funny stuff. Balen
says a lot of funny stuff. Abia Medina says some
funny stuff. It's hard to understand sometimes, but he does
have some funny chirps.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
And Rudy Gonzalez a new guy that just every time
he opens his mouth, that's something funny.

Speaker 4 (01:00:29):
We have a lot of just guys that are characters.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
Characters. Well, how much does the the dugout chatter? How
much can that help you or hurt you? Like, is
there is there a vibe like a level that is
like maybe a marker of a good team or like
cause you know, you have to hear guys keep it
loose and that sort of thing. But you can go
too far down.

Speaker 5 (01:00:51):
Yeah, I mean, whenever you have guys start to take
it like too serious or like are really getting at
the other teams and not necessarily worrying about us, that's
where I think it crosses the line a little bit.
But like we'll have guys like for me example, like
guys that I'm closer with, like Balin or Nathan Houston
or quarterback, like if somebody blows a fastball by him

(01:01:13):
in like a non fastball game, sorry, in a non
fastball count. Now, like I'll say, like doors are like
blew it by you catch it out front. And then,
for example, the other day in Swift Current, I took
a fastball in they say, hey, party out front one time,
just joking cause I just hit a home run. So

(01:01:33):
they're like, what else are you looking for? And then
the dude throws a fastball up in a way and
I swing at it's not even close, and the pitcher
starts chirping like at me, saying, oh yeah, catch it
out front, and I'm just laughing at him because it's
like we're up ten and you're gonna talk to me
like come on, man. So it's just like finding ways
to have fun with your team in games like that
so you don't get lasadaysical. So like in the big games,

(01:01:57):
it's you have to have that or you're just gonna
let other teams catch up to you.

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
And in the small games, not taking things too.

Speaker 5 (01:02:04):
Serious yet not getting like not realizing that all right,
this is a moment, like hey, let's let's go win
this moment.

Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
Let's go win this inning, because it does seem pretty light,
but it is.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
It is like you said, it keeps you engaged. Yep,
you're locked into what's going on on the field. It's
not just idle chatter. I think that's one of the
things that you really don't get an appreciation for unless
you go to the park, because that's something that doesn't
really translate on a broadcast or a stream. Might here
little bits in the background, but it's like for anyone
who hasn't been to a game, like it's constant, this

(01:02:35):
constant chatter going like pretty much through the whole game.
I think is a really cool piece of bait of
baseball that that you really don't get to experience unless
you're actually at the ballpark. All right, what's your favorite berry?

Speaker 4 (01:02:49):
I'm a big BlackBerry guy.

Speaker 3 (01:02:50):
Okay, And you got the jersey to mad Is that
the that's the new look? The newest look is that?
Where would you rank that among the berries?

Speaker 5 (01:02:57):
I love our Baby Blues or Carolina Blues, whatever you
want to call him.

Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
But I mean, it's hard to beat this. I love
a blackout jersey.

Speaker 3 (01:03:04):
It's pretty good. It's pretty good. I like the Blacks
are coming back because we had a whole thing in
the nineties. But then, like all sports where it's like
so many teams went to black alternate jerseys or primary
jersey and it got to be too much.

Speaker 4 (01:03:15):
Yeah, it was almost like the rock theme of it,
like it was you n W A kind of going
on there for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
Which we're gonna talk wrestling in just a second here,
because that's good. That's very timely. I asked Carter Beck
this as well, so ask you too. And this is
maybe a bit wan'll put you on the spot. But
favorite berry non fruit division.

Speaker 4 (01:03:31):
Oh oh, man, I have no clue.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
In place or thing. Yeah, I'm all that over. Maybe
we'll circle back to that favorite walk up song that
isn't yours.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
I really like Balen Sorenson's man. I like Nathan Houston's
a lot, and I would probably be my favorite.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
Though what is that?

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
Man, I'm trying to think.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
We'll have to look it up. Yeah, we'll have to
look it up, all right, So the Houston song? All right,
you mention, we're talking about sort of looking for things
to do. Back up, what is the best thing to
do on a Friday night in opelousis that is not
baseball related?

Speaker 4 (01:04:15):
Honestly, probably just go watching the local high school football game.

Speaker 5 (01:04:19):
There's a lot of good talent out there. Kean Coleman
from the Bills. Me and him went to school together
growing up, and he was at the.

Speaker 4 (01:04:24):
Local high school and Oppolusis So it was a lot
of young talent that's still come out of there. So
it probably go catch a football game. It would be the.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
Best I did see. There's a pretty number of number
of NFL guys that are from there, Devrey Henderson, Yes, receivers,
seems like.

Speaker 5 (01:04:41):
And then we also have a guy who's at Liberty
right now who has a really good chance of going
and doing big things, Bridlin Green.

Speaker 4 (01:04:47):
I grew up playing baseball with too.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
So so then are you a Saints fan? Is that
your football team? Okay?

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Is that?

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:04:52):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
And then Lsu second? Or how does that? Is he
a Joe Burrow guy? Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:04:57):
Huge fan?

Speaker 3 (01:04:59):
Yeah? All right. Maybe teach me one Cajun expression or
slang term that I should know that I can use
in my day to day life.

Speaker 5 (01:05:11):
Man, One that I say a lot that I don't
realize I say is like shat s h a And
it means like just something's like really cute, or like
like shat baby, like it's cute baby, or something like
that it's just something I don't even realize I say
a lot, and people will be like, what is that?

Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
What is that?

Speaker 5 (01:05:27):
What are you talking about? So that's just one that
I say a lot. That's really small, but a lot
of people.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Say and that it's like commonly used back shot, so
in a sentence you want to say, that's a shot
like or just a shot or just like an It's
almost like a like a full expression in one word.

Speaker 5 (01:05:42):
Yeah. So like you're getting shown a video of like
a puppy or something, or like a cute animal video
and you're like, shah, that's so cute, and it's just
like a full expression, but like you still say it's cute.

Speaker 4 (01:05:54):
On the side of it, it's.

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
Just I got you, I got YOUA are you saying
a A lot yet You've been here two summers now
it picked up any.

Speaker 4 (01:06:00):
Me and Balen say it a lot jokingly, but like
it's almost like a.

Speaker 5 (01:06:07):
It's just like I'll catch myself saying I'm like, wow,
I didn't even realize I said it, and then uh, yeah, no, sorry.
Is when I catch myself saying too, like I didn't
realize I was saying it, And then I'll be like
oh wow.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
Yeah no or the no yeah, that's a that's a yeah.
That's a big one too for sure. Uh I mentioned wrestling. Uh,
you guys are having a wrestling promotional night coming up
on Saturday. Uh, there's a wrestling there's there's a wrestling
card before the baseball game. I think it's four thirty
for the wrestling, six o'clock for the ball game. Are
you a big wrestling fan? Are you?

Speaker 5 (01:06:40):
I wasn't growing up, but like we would joke around
in Tyler and like on our off days are after
like a Sunday game because we'd play early, we would
uh we would like jokingly wrestle around and stuff. So
it's fun like having that and getting to see that.
And then Tanner Hasik was a state champion, two times
state champion wrestling or so I'm excited to see how

(01:07:01):
he's gonna do.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
Oh is he gonna I didn't know that he was
gonna be getting out on the mat there too. Uh
if you had if you were a wrestler, what would
your pro wrestling persona or theme kind of be?

Speaker 4 (01:07:14):
My nicknames just kind of turned into a Nard dog,
So I guess I'd have to roll with that. Something
along those lines, maybe like a dog mask or something.

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
All right, all right, I like it. I like it.
You guys also have a promo coming up next week
and all you can Eat night at the ballpark. That's
I've got that one circledon. I'm gonna be there. How
many hot dogs could you house in nine innings?

Speaker 4 (01:07:36):
I mean it depends if if I'm going just for
hot dogs, I think I could put a few down
I can eat. I'd probably say around.

Speaker 3 (01:07:45):
Mid teens, like, ohh.

Speaker 4 (01:07:47):
I think I could put a few downs.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
He's gotta like a potential future Joey Chestnut on our
hands here, right, Yeah, well, I'm gonna see I got
my my potentially are our friend John Fraser, who was
sitting here a couple of weeks ago. I think if
you can get his sons to get on board, we're
gonna go and see how many how many dogs we
can we can put back on Tuesday. That's Tuesday, next
Tuesday night with I think it's Swift Current in Town.

(01:08:10):
I want to say no wayburn wayburn Intown for that
game Swift on the weekend. All right, I'll wrap up,
wrap this up here, because we talked a lot about
your your where you're from. Uh So, if I'm gonna
go on a road trip, I'm gonna come down Louisiana.
Give me two or three things that I should absolutely
must do. Outside obviously going to Martyro, I mean that's

(01:08:30):
obvious one. But places to go, things to do, what
should be on my Louisiana bucket list.

Speaker 5 (01:08:38):
New Orleans is a big one, just the city in general,
Bourbon Streets, historic over there. It's like a miniature New York,
New York and with like a Louisiana flavor, and they
just do a lot of big things down there. I mean,
any l s U sporting event is a must. It's
the fans are uh if sporting events are really good,

(01:09:03):
it's just a really good culture to be around. Then
in Lafayette, there's a lot of new, up and coming things.
But I mean Lafayette would be almost like you're not
gonna be as busy if you want to go, like
find little things to do.

Speaker 4 (01:09:18):
Food's really good.

Speaker 5 (01:09:21):
But yeah, I would say, like any LSU sporting event,
and then anything you can go find.

Speaker 4 (01:09:26):
To do in New Orleans is really fun.

Speaker 3 (01:09:27):
New Orleans is definitely near the top of my list
of cities that I would I would like to visit
for sure. And now' here you're you're an adopted Saskatonian
as well. We're glad to have you here, Ethan. Uh,
thanks so much for doing this. And you've got a
couple weeks left in the season. But you guys are
really as we rounded out here coming back around to
the home stretch. Just how are you feeling about your prospects.

(01:09:51):
I know you guys got you know, almost to the
Championship series last year, but this team has been quite
the wagon. How do you know, how do you feel
about the next few weeks that are coming up here?

Speaker 4 (01:10:00):
Really good? Our team's really locked in.

Speaker 5 (01:10:02):
Nobody's really getting satisfied with the work we're putting in,
and I think everybody's really bought into the common goal
of hey, we're not done until like they get the
last out, Like it's going to be a fight, Like
every team's going to show up and fight hard for
the playoffs. Like last year we somewhat got satisfied whenever

(01:10:23):
we beat med Hat and Mousdall.

Speaker 4 (01:10:25):
Came in and kind of whooped us, and it's like,
all right.

Speaker 5 (01:10:28):
Let's go in this year like with almost a vengeance
and even the new guys have bought into that, like
the non returners are really like ready to get after
it and show what we have.

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
So and just to reiterate, what's something that I mentioned
in the opening segment is by the time this show,
this episode goes live, you may well have also clinched
first place in the East, because you're only a win
or two away from doing that as well. It's been
an incredible season so far, both for you personally but
also for the team. So keep it up, good luck
the rest the way, and enjoy the rest of this season.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
Man you sir, thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
Good spun, another great, great chat, another great guest. We've
been hitting home runs part in the pund I think
pretty much every week here on this show, and really
grateful to have Ethan Minard give us some of his
precious time on a rare off day, so we thank him.
But he did say he caught up on his sleep
after that road trip, you know, earlier in the day,
so I think we got him in the right at

(01:11:25):
the right time here, so hopefully you enjoyed that. Of course,
before we go, we got to salute our good sport
of the week and this week it's a double salute,
not a double bird salute. That's a different double salute.
But it's two members of the Huskies women's basketball program,

(01:11:45):
both representing Team Canada in two different events. First off,
Husky's assistant coach and former star player Laura Dally, fresh
off a stint with Team Canada as the Team Canada
is under nineteen squad that competed at the FOEBA U
nineteen Women's World Cup. They came away with a fourth

(01:12:07):
place finish, just missed out on a medal, losing that
bronze medal game to Spain seventy to sixty eight. So
it was a very very close game. Really, the difference
is that the Spanish team just shot the ball better.
Most of the stats were pretty even, but Spain outshot
Canada by like fifteen percentage points or something like that,

(01:12:29):
but still a very good showing. Canada has never made
the final at that event. They have won bronze twice before,
including the last time two years ago. This it happens
every two years, so they won bronze in twenty twenty three.
They also won it back in twenty seventeen, but losing
by two to a Spanish team that actually was the
runner up a silver medalist in twenty twenty three against
the United States. Certainly nothing to sneeze at. A very

(01:12:52):
impressive accomplishment. You know, these teams get together and they
only have a couple weeks together to prep and they
come from all across the country, and so we want
to salute Laura Daly as one of the assistant coaches
on that Canadian team for a very good showing at
that event. And I'm sure there'll be more opportunities for
Laura to get on the bench with Team Canada down

(01:13:15):
the road, so that's very cool stuff. Of course, she's
the lead assistant for the Huskies, so she's just kind
of getting her coaching career going and already getting tapped
by the national program. That's a good sign for future opportunities.
So salute to Laura Dally for that. And our other
good Sport of the Week is someone who's been a
guest on this show. It is Gauge Grassic, the national

(01:13:37):
women's player of the year. Of course, in a national
championship with the Huskies this past season. She is currently
in Chile playing some three x three basketball for Team
Canada at the It is the FOBA three x three
U twenty three Nations League, and they're in one of
two America's conferences. It is a very convoluted setup, so

(01:13:59):
I'm not to try to really break it down, but
essentially the important thing here is they play basically over
the course of a week. They're playing six one day,
three game tournaments in a pool, and so they say
sometimes play the same opponent. They're going to play some
of the same opponents over the course of these six days,
and based on those results, there are standings, and the

(01:14:22):
winner on the top team in the standings at the
end of the week essentially earns a berth in the
world the U twenty three FEBA three x three World Cup.
So Canada is up against it because they're in a
pool with the United States, but they've already had some
pretty good showings. It's the tournaments running all week long.
Is too many scores. I'm not going to just list
off all the scores, but suffice to say the day

(01:14:44):
that we're recording this episode, Gage Grassik knockdown sixteen points,
which is just a crazy number in three x three
when the games go only as high as twenty one.
Sixteen points in a win over Argentina earlier today, So
she's certainly putting her stamp on the three x three map,
as in the team Canada Jersey and so again, just

(01:15:08):
one of the best basketball players in the country, just
doing her thing on another stage. And you know, when
she was here with us a couple of months ago,
she mentioned kind of off air that she might be
get an opportunity to play some three x three. She's
only got one year left in university. I wonder if
there's gonna be a chance for her to get on
that world tour down down down the road as well.
Certainly getting her feet wet. Her first three extra experience

(01:15:30):
seems to be going pretty well. Shouldn't be shocked, of course,
based on her great all around game and that's what
you need. As Michael Link later told us here last
week on the show, to be good at three x three.
Just to round up the rest of their group, I
mentioned the USA is in their group, Chile, Argentina and
the Cayman Islands. So those are the teams they've been playing.
And yes, the top team in the standings will qualify

(01:15:51):
for the three x three U twenty three World Cup
in China, which is in September, so we'll see if
there's other back doors in, you know, as it looks
like USA will probably win or to get the qualification
qualifying spot, but there's usually other secondary qualification roots for
these SARTs of events. So I'm curious to know if
Canada has any other opportunities to get into that World Cup.

(01:16:13):
And if they do get into that World Cup, would
Gauge Grassic be potentially in the mix, Because again, it
is a U twenty three tournament. So like Page crows
on our other tremendous three x three player from this
neck of the woods, she can't play you twenty three.
She's too well to play you twenty three, so she
would not be part of that roster potentially down the road.
So we'll be interesting to see how that all develops
over the next couple of months. But for their accomplishments

(01:16:36):
over the last weekend current continuing into the coming weekend
on the Team Canada front, we want to salute both
Laura Dally and Gauge Gras our Good Sports of the
week and that wraps up this week's show. Episode ten
is in the books and don't forget you can follow
along at Good Sports three ZH six on Instagram and again,

(01:16:56):
if you're interested in getting on board as a sponsor
or you'd like to see you have an idea for
something you want to someone you want to see on
the show, or a sport you'd like to see covered more. Please,
by all means, send me a note an email at
Good Sports three oh six at gmail dot com. That's
good Sports Rio six at gmail dot com. My name

(01:17:18):
is Ryan. Thanks for watching. We'll see you here next week.
And don't forget be a good sport.

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
Whatever makes you happy, what gets you out of bed,
whatever kicks the cop webs, you'll join in instead.

Speaker 2 (01:17:39):
Of victorious day dream, don't swe glory or fame by
me all on the same team.

Speaker 3 (01:17:49):
It's the name of the game.