The Bill Riley Show 6-28-24

The Bill Riley Show 6-28-24

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
You got ucking wow. Here hegoes to the outside, written com you
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(00:28):
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home run pick up clip. Idon't believe when I hurt Paw. I
don't believe what I cut Paw.Russell won't get down a half book,
stuck to bunch of three. Shestuck to sends the Utah yessity and Sinles

(00:56):
Robbie Russell now with a chance tosend RSL home as Cup champions sad on
his line. Russell approaches and twothousand is dot Champions sapient Zer PERSA site

(01:19):
is The Bill Riley Show, presentedby Les Schwab Tires doing the White Thing
since nineteen fifty two. Here's thethree time Utah Sports Broadcaster of the Year
and Voice of the US, BillRiley on Utah's number one sports talk ESPN
seven hundred. Hey Bill, congratsfrom a new job. Thank you for
everything that you've done for sports inthe state of Utah. Couldn't happen to

(01:42):
a better guy. Sushi on me. Bill Riley at Bowlder May, congratulations
on your move up with the youth, with the Big twelve come changes and
some really great opportunity awaits for you. Your midday show on seven hundred was
top. You'll be met. Iwish you nothing but the best with the
you. Hey Bill, what's up? This is slack? Hey man,
I just want to say thank you. Your radio show is absolutely amazing.

(02:06):
I've learned so many things over thesepast few years and all credit to you.
Man. I appreciate you. I'mexcited for this new chapter in your
life. Go get it. HeyBill, It's Andy Larson from the Pelly
Commune. I grew up listening toyou as a kid and I'll miss you
on the airwaves every day. ManLo. Congrats on this awesome the next
step in your career, Billy boy, your direction, example, and of
course the platform you've provided has changedmy life for the better. Nothing but

(02:30):
the best to you, and whatis a perfect pairing on the hill.
Now goodbye, we'll just bid adfor now. Thanks Bill, Bill Riley,
J Nawlly, You're one of thebest in the business. I'm honored
to have called you a partner anda mentor for many teaments since we all
felt lake. You've had an incrediblecareer at ESPN seven hundred with your achievements
and if we are excited and lookforward to the team what you can do

(02:52):
at the University of Utah. Bestof luck, Bill, We're all written
for you here. Hey, Bill, Congratulations, this is Scott Mitchell.
I'm so excited for you in thisnew new opportunity. I can't think of
another person better suited for this jobthan you. All my best you always
consider you a great friend and veryvery nicely done. Bill James Peterson really
going to miss your radio show man, but we're excited to continue to have

(03:14):
you on the station as voice ofthe utes. Thank you for all you've
done for the station, and Iwant to personally thank you for taking a
chance on me. Good luck withyour new position at the You go kill
it, Bill, Congratulations on alegendary ESPN seventy radio career. Your light
will always shine brightly. Thanks forbeing an incredible radio partner and frend.
It's been so much goodness that you'vegiven to me over the years. Peace

(03:38):
out, have a great time andyou do in Denver, and no doub'
pigguring about you. Thanks for everything, Gordon shiates him, Well, that
wasn't what I was expecting to beginthe show with today. But good morning,
and welcome in to the Bill RileyShow one more time here on the

(04:00):
ESPN seven hundred, and thank youto all my friends and former co workers
and current co workers and everybody thatsent a nice message along. Wow.
Uh, the foscet got turned onearly here today in the show. I
was expecting the water works later on, but not so much in the first
five minutes of the show. Howdo you guys doing today? I hope
you're having a good Friday wherever youmight be. This is the finale for

(04:24):
now of the show. As manyof you guys know, I'll be heading
on to a new endeavor at theUniversity of Utah's their director of Broadcasting,
but still will be part of theextended ESPN seven hundred family. You'll hear
me on game days here, you'llhear me on Spence's show, You'll hear
me in this midday show. Andby the way, speaking of this midday
show, in about an hour orso, I can't look over in that

(04:46):
booth because I'm gonna start crying becauseeverybody over there smiling at me. In
about an hour or so, we'regonna we're gonna introduce the guy that's gonna
sit in this chair now and fieldthe Easy eleven two airwaves here on ESPN
seven And I think you guys willbe really excited. And I think because
I am. I you know,as much as I hate leaving this chair,

(05:10):
I am so excited about my newopportunity, but I wanted to make
sure as much as I possibly couldin working with the staff here, that
the person that sits in this chairhas the same passion for this radio station
and for you guys the audience thatI do. And we'll introduce him coming

(05:30):
up here a little bit after noontimetoday here on ESPN seven hundred, Craig
Bowler. Jack's gonna join me today, although he just joined us a second
ago. I wanted to have onemore ballin with Bowler episode today and speaking
to Ballin, Brandon Carlson, thenewest member of the Toronto Raptors, is
going to join us for a fewminutes today. Brandon got a two way
deal done with the Raptors yesterday.So a couple of former Raptors now in

(05:55):
Toronto. There are a couple offormer Utes now in Toronto with the Raptors.
Obviously Yaka pertl is there as well. So we'll talk to Brandon today
on the program. And I'm justI'm gonna have I'm gonna have a lot
of thank you today at different pointsin the show. I I don't have.
I don't know how this is gonnago. We're gonna have some fun
today. We're not gonna We're notgonna get too too crazy with stuff.

(06:16):
We'll talk a little bit about football, a little bit about the NHL draft,
a little bit about the Jazz andtheir draft. And I'd love to
hear from you guys today as wellhere on ESPN seven hunderd two. So
just hit me up with the textline anything you guys like to talk about
today, if you want to say, hey, give me a thought on
a memory. Somebody asked me yesterday, uh to you know what my favorite

(06:39):
shows that have done of all time? And I have done so many shows.
You're talking about twenty years and fivedays a week. That's a lot
of shows. But I do havesome that's stuck out so I'll kind of
share a list there and if youguys have anything you want to say today,
anything you want to share today,it'll be kind of a free for
all here in our number one andour number three today. We've got some

(06:59):
guest scheduled in number two, sowe'll kind of do that a little bit
today as well. Eight seven seventhree five three zero seven hundred is your
text line, the dish Pros textline. Sarah Baylor was just in the
other room a minute ago. Iwanted to say hi to Sarah. Thanks
Sarah. She was one of theones that was going to make me cry.
She was taking some pictures leave's producingtoday. James is not here.

(07:20):
James is down in Las Vegas.He's getting ready for the NHL Draft tonight
and tomorrow he'll have lots of coverage. He'll be popping on. Hi,
Sarah, thank you. I justwant to say thank you for doing that,
and thanks for turning on the waterworks a little bit early here today.
Sarah is one of the best.If you've ever come to Broadway media.
She sits up at the front,but she's one of those utility players.

(07:43):
They could pretty much do anything shewould want to do. Here at
the radio station, so very valuable. And she's on my broadcast team too
on game days. She helps usout on the broadcast up there. And
she's actually a heck of a singertoo from what I understand. So thank
you, Sarah. That was sweetof you. I'll see you in a
little while anyway. Sixty two daysuntil kickoff today, that's where we are.

(08:05):
We're inside of nine weeks to go. You'll hear me on that broadcast
along with Scott Mitchell, along withSly and our whole broadcast team. So
we'll mix it a little football todayas well. Jazz, NBA Draft,
NHL Draft tonight, that's what Imentioned. James is down there. We'll
have lots of coverage of it upon the website. He'll be jumping on
the afternoon show today as well andgetting you all the information on what the

(08:26):
Utah Hockey Club does tonight at numbersix and of course throughout the rest of
the day. Today and tomorrow isseven round draft, and we'll of course
have plenty of that stuff coming upon the website of ESPN seven hundred sports
dot com. I think he's goingto be doing some stuff on Sports Saturday
tomorrow, and of course stuff onthe afternoon show as well, So we've
got the hockey draft covered a littlebit later on today in Las Vegas,

(08:48):
not so good stuff from the USmen's national team from last night, and
some other stuff as well. Soanything and everything fair game today here on
The Bill Riley Show. And againit's the final show, so I've got
a you guess scheduled in. I'vegot time for you today. I've got
plenty of thank yous to say beforeI get out of here today. It's
I've been thinking about this for acouple of weeks now, ever since the

(09:11):
announcement was made, and I musthave had a trillion people come up to
me and say, you know,what are you gonna do? What are
you gonna say on your last show? And I'm as much as I prepare
for a lot of different things,I'm an uber prepared. I over prepare
for everything. I'm not one ofthese people that likes to script a lot
of things out. So this showis just gonna go where it goes today,

(09:33):
and we'll have a little bit offun today and try to keep it
as light harden as possible. I'msure I'll get choked up in a couple
of different points today as well,But just bear with me. Here's what
I've learned in my older age.The older you get, the more things
impact you, the more you thinkabout your your life and others' lives and
things like that, and you knowyou're a little you get a little bit

(09:56):
softer. The older people in theaudience know what I'm talking about. So
anyway, if I have a pauserto today, please excuse it on the
final day on the air on theprogram. So that's where we're at today.
And again the dish pros text line, if there's anything you'd like to
talk about today on the program withme is open to you at eight seven
seven three five three zero seven hundredand again, I'm gonna sprinkle thank yous

(10:18):
in throughout the day today. I'vegot a long list. I wrote a
lot of stuff down today because Ididn't want to forget people. I didn't
script a lot of stuff out today. But there's a lot of people that
have played a very important role inmy career since I moved here twenty three
years ago, and I want tomake sure I thank those people and make

(10:39):
sure that they get their due justa little bit too, because I couldn't
have done this job the way I'vedone it for twenty three years both here
in the KSL without great support fromco workers and mentors and supervisors and bosses
and all that stuff. So they'llbe thank you kind of splattered throughout the

(11:01):
day today on the program, andwe'll just kind of go within that direction,
see how it goes, and kindof carry on in that way today.
I'm just curious if you're a Jazzfan today, the Jazz, for
back to back years now have takenthree caunem three rookie draft picks. Last
year they took the three players,they took Hendricks, they took George,

(11:22):
they took Sensible. Okay, you'rein a rebuild there, kind of makes
sense. This year they take CodyWilliams, they take Isaiah Collier, and
they take Kyle Philipowski from Duke.That's six rookies in two years for the
Utah Jazz. Does this signal adirection the team might be going? And

(11:43):
I guess the question I would havefor Jazz fans today is are you preparing
for the possibility of a tear itdown to the studs rebuild with this Utah
basketball team? I'm not saying that'swhat's gonna happen, but Tony Jones definitely
told us yesterday that what's in thenext week or so, and whatever happens

(12:05):
in the next week or so coulddefinitely tell the direction. I think it
may have begun yesterday and the daybefore. When you draft three rookies on
top of three rookies the year before, that's a lot of young players.
That's a lot of young talents.It's hard to win with six rookies in

(12:26):
two years. So I'm just wonderingif that might be a direction the Jazz
are going. Signaling a direction theJazz might be going, and if you're
a jazz fan, are you readyfor that? Should that be the direction?
I don't mind it. My onlyquestion is why are you waiting till
year three, after you've Delta WayDarren Donovan, Mitchell and Rudy Gobert to

(12:52):
make that move? Why did youwait this long? I don't mind the
idea of tearing it to the studsand rebuilding it from scratch and using all
those draft picks you amassed and allthe equity you have. I just I
just kind of wonder why you waitedthree years or two and a half years

(13:13):
to do it. And as aJazz fan, would you ask the same
question, are you okay if that'sthe direction they decide to take. So
we could talk about that today onthe program as well at eight seven seven
three five three zero seven hundred.The good news is, and I kind
of joked about this a couple ofweeks ago when we were talking about it
on the air, a few ofyou guys texted it and said, the

(13:35):
hockey team may win a Stanley Cupbefore the basketball team wins an NBA championship.
And you might be right about that. The form of the team formerly
known as the Coyotes that's now theUtah Hockey Club has got a lot of
good young talent in the pipeline.They've got a lot of draft picks,
and they've got a lot of caproom this year just to get to where
they need to get. And thegood news with the NHL, well is

(14:00):
it's a hard cap league. Soif you've got a good front office and
you've got good talent evaluators, it'sthe same of the It's the same as
the NFL. You can rebuild prettyquickly and if the owner decides he wants
to spend some money. We'll seewhat happens there too. But anyway,
I got to laugh that off acouple of weeks ago. But if the

(14:22):
Jazz do go in that direction totear to the studs and then rebuild with
young talent and try to really hithome runs with the draft picks they've got
over the next three, four,five, six, seven years, maybe
the hockey team will be better.Maybe the hockey team will win a championship.
First. Hard to say. Theynever won one in Arizona and they
were there twenty seven years, solet's not get ahead of ourselves there.

(14:45):
Nobody in Canada's won one in thirtyone years, so again, but they
are set up for success right now. And again, the hard cap league
helps out an awful lot because youhave to spend wisely, you have to
draft wise, you have to evaluatetalent wisely, you have to manage a
cap. You just can't get outof checkbook and say let's go. Now.

(15:07):
I know the NBA. You knowthere's penalties in the NBA too for
doing that. But if you're somebodythat just wants to spend, like say
Joe Lakeup did all those years withthe Golden State Warriors. They didn't care
about luxury tax. They just wantedto put a winner on the floor and
they did. You can like it, you can hate it, but they
played within the rule. Same thingin baseball. If you're the LA Dodgers,

(15:30):
or you're the New York Yankees,or you're the Chicago Cubs Atlanta Break,
you can spend. Are there taximplications? Sure there are, But
if you want to build a winnerthrough your checkbook, you can do that
in baseball too. Football doesn't letyou do it, and either does hockey.

(15:52):
And we can't even really talk aboutsoccer because I'm never quite sure what
MLS is doing with their salary cap. They're always changed the rules to benefit
somebody new coming into the league.So anyway, Jazz fans, you tell
me your thoughts on that. We'llgo in that direction today as well.
By the way, speaking of soccer, just real quick, a bunch of
you said yesterday on the text line, hey, the US should beat Panama

(16:15):
today. Yeah, they should havebeat Panama. On paper, they're better
than Panama. But guess what happened? They played stupid soccer yesterday. Tim
Waya got a yellow in the redin the seventeenth minute. They defended poorly
inside the box and their manager onceagain showed a real lack of adjustments and

(16:37):
tactics. Greg Berhalter's run with theUS men's national team might end this weekend.
That's how bad it was yesterday losingto Panama. Now they can still
advance out of the group stage ifthey beat Uruguay or Panama on Bolivia draw,
which is not likely by the way, because Bolivia is terrible, But

(17:00):
they still have a chance to advance. They've just simply made it much more
difficult on themselves in doing so.But it's really an embarrassment. And it's
again why I can't understand why GregBerhalter, who didn't succeed his first time
through as manager, was brought backagain. What's the definition of insanity doing
the same thing over and over againand hoping to get different results. I'm

(17:22):
not quite sure. With all theresources and all the money US Soccer has,
why they continue to bring back aguy that's just okay. So anyway,
they'll play Uruguay to try to getout of the group stage if they
If you don't get out of thegroup stage against a group that includes Bolivia
and Panama and you're playing on yourhome soil. That says something about where

(17:47):
the state of the team is.And then you've got two years to get
ready for the World Cup, whichis right here in the United States and
in Canada and in Mexico, NorthAmerica. So anyway, we'll note from
yesterday eight seven seven three five threezero seven hundred. If you want to
get on board today anything fair gamefree for all Friday. If you want
to say hello and goodbye for thelast time, I would love to hear

(18:11):
from you guys on that you wantto talk a little bit about the jazz
and the direction they're going. Thiswill be the last time we have to
talk about it, at least onthe air. If you guys see me
out and about at dinner or atlunch or at a ball game somewhere,
yeah, I'll be happy to talkto you. I love doing that stuff,
but this will be the last timewe have a chance to talk about
it on the air, or atleast until I get my own text line
up with the U and then wecan have our daily text messages. Just

(18:34):
kidding text message, Bill, thanksfor such a great show. I've only
missed a few of them. Thelast couple of years. You don't get
enough credit for your excellent bump music. Are you kidding me? I'm gonna
miss your daily insights and you'd coverage, but excited to see your new stuff.
Any chance you'll do a weekly podcast? Thanks, MB Maybe maybe at

(19:00):
some point in time. I've justlike I've told a lot of people,
I've got a really big, biglift in front of me. I'm working
with a great team at the U, but we have got a lot of
work to do over the next coupleof months to get this digital platform up
and rolling by the time Fall sportsroll around. So at some point in
time, I would love to doa daily or at least at two or

(19:22):
three time a week podcast. Andmaybe it's Utah Athletics, maybe it's a
mix of everything, but for rightnow, probably not, at least not
till I kind of get my newroutine down, if that makes sense.
Text message Hey Bill, I'm superbummed I won't hear you every day anymore.
Moved to Salt Lake City in twothousand and five for college fresh out
of high school, not knowing asoul. One to twelve hundred miles from

(19:45):
home. I found your show sometime after and have listened ever since.
You made the transition just a littlebit easier having that constant I could go
to. It's rare for a localpersonality to be able to talk about local
sports and be so tapped into otherregional and national sports as well. You're
so talented and I'll miss you onthe radio. I'm sure you'll crush it

(20:06):
in your new role. Best wishes. Thank you for that. I appreciate
that text her. I love whatI do, and I've got a real
passion for what i do, andI feel like I always feel like I
would let the listeners down if Ididn't come in every single day prepared and
ready to go. I know noteverybody in my business does that, but
I just I couldn't. I couldn'tdo that to myself, much less you

(20:30):
guys. So I hope you guysfeel like I've been prepared just about every
day. I mean everybody, Isay this all the time. Not not
every shows a home run. Sometimesyou hit that little opposite field, you
know, seeing eye single. Sometimesyou pop out into foul territory. But
I I you know, ninety ninepoint five percent of the time, I
always felt like I was in hereprepared and ready to go for you guys.

(20:52):
So I hope that translated through textmessage. Hey Bill, I've been
an avid listener for the last,yes, forever. I greatly appreciate all
the sports information, the guests you'vehad on and everything that goes along with
a job. We're lucky to haveyou on our airwaves for this long.
Not much, not much could doit better. Thank you for that.
I appreciate it. Love you,Bill, and thanks for all the fun

(21:15):
over the years. Well, thankyou too. You guys are the reason
I do this. I mean,otherwise I'm just kind of talking to myself.
So thank you guys for listening overthe years, whether it was a
KSL or whether it was here atseven hundred or both places. Some of
you listened both places. This one'sin from Grant, he says, Hey
Bill, thanks for the memories.Your show was the best on the airwaves.

(21:37):
Thanks for all you do for theutes. All my best, Grant.
Well, hopefully it'll shill be thebest for another two and a half
hours. Text message. Whoever's ideawas to play that opening must have had
the under on how long until Billcries yep, they were probably exchanging money

(21:59):
out in and the canteena outside there. Text message, Hey Bill, I'm
happy for you, but sad forme. I've enjoyed your show for several
years now, but you'll be missed. Well. Hopefully you'll still hear me,
because I think in forty five minutesor a little less than that,
when I announce who's in this chairand I can tell you I will be
on that show on a regular basis, and Spence's show too. Hopefully you

(22:22):
miss me a little bit, butnot too much. Text message, Hey
Bill, much love, leaving ahuge hole in my radio heart. You'll
really be missed, but excited tohear that next chapter. You've got a
friend in me. Well, thanksTexter. I appreciate that. It's a
good song too. By the way, text message, thank you Bill,
You're the best. Watching the USAir Force Thunderbirds practice. Can't wait to

(22:48):
see the flyover for football. That'llbe fun. One more text and we'll
grab a break and we'll come back. Read a few more. Get a
few more thoughts on the sports world. Hey Bill, I started crying too
with that intro. Looking at mein a weird way at work. Best
of luck, buddy, I knowyou'll kill it go ut side J.
Thanks Jay oh Man, I'm gladI'm not alone in that today. Thanks

(23:11):
Jay, I really appreciate that.We'll keep reading some text messages today.
As I said, we're gonna introducethe new host of this show. By
the way, the name will change. It will no longer be it'd be
weird if it was still the BillRiley Show. We'll do that a little
bit after twelve o'clock, Craig Bowler, Jack. We'll do a little balling
with Bowler, a couple of KansasCity guys one more time, and then

(23:33):
we'll have Brandon Carlson on and thenmy final hour will be a lot of
thank yous and other things, buta big thank you to you guys for
listening for all this time, whetheryou listen for five minutes a day or
whether you listen for all three hoursevery day podcast or otherwise. I wouldn't
been able to have this great runwithout you, So thanks for doing that.
And by the way, thanks aswell to our friends at ALVRMANI they

(23:56):
can restore your confidence and your hairline. Doctor Craig barton alvr MONI would love
to see you if you're thinking aboutgetting that hair restoration or that hair transplant
or kind of reinstalling that hairline onceagain to where you once work. Go
to Alvrmani dot com to set upthat consultation to see doctor Barton right here
in downtown Salt Lake City. Quicktime out. Bill Riley Show continues on

(24:18):
the other side for a final timeon a Friday here on e Welcome back
to the Valley Collision Studio and theMill Riley Show on few times number one
Sports Doc ESPN seven hundred. FridayRolling here, Bill Riley Show, ESPN

(24:41):
seven hundred. Got a lot ofwell wishes coming in with from friends on
my phone phone. I want tothank a few people. Russ from Jersey
Mikes, John from Jersey Mikes.They've become friends, but they're also great
partners of ours here at ESPN sevenhundred, partners of mine. They asked
me about five years ago, sixyears ago to be a spokesman for their

(25:03):
restaurants as they were growing here inthe state, and I said, sure,
your your sub sandwiches are awesome,awesome, I can absolutely get on
board with doing that. And sincethen their business has grown and it's been
a great partnership. So John andRuss and Jersey Mike's thank you guys for

(25:25):
your partnership and hopefully we can continuethings. I'm still gonna be around,
so I know some of some ofthese folks that we work with are they
I'm gonna stay with them, andyou'll hear me doing commercials and making appearances
on shows. But I want toI want to thank them, and I
want to thank Braiden Chipman as wellfrom Chipman Roofing. Met Braiden a few
years ago and he had listened tome for a long long time. He

(25:47):
told me and he wanted me todo endorsements and commercials for him. And
you know, I have this rule. I like to meet the folks before
I do it. And I wantto meet the people that I'm gonna be
talking about, because I I don'twant to send you guys someplace where I
wouldn't go. And whenever you hearme do these commercials over the years,

(26:07):
whether it's for a Chipman Roofing ora Jersey Mics or someplace like that,
and I'll say some thanks to otherfolks along the way here, just know
that I've met them and I wouldn'tsend you there if I didn't believe in
the work they did, and ShipmanRoofing has been one of those great companies
too. So Braden, thank youfor your your partnership and your patronage,
and let's try to keep some thingsrolling here as I will no longer be

(26:30):
a part of the immediate family,but I'll be part of the extended family
here at ESPN seven hundred. I'llbe that weird cousin that comes and visits
a Christmas time and Thanksgiving that everybodydoesn't necessarily look forward to seeing, but
can tolerate a couple of times ayear. So that'll be my role now
here. He is being seven hundredeight seven seven three five three zero seven

(26:51):
hundred bowler in about an hour.The new host of the midday slot eleven
to two, coming up at abouta half hour or so, will introduce
the guy that we sitting in thisair chair Monday through Friday, and Brandon
Carlson will join us as well.A little bit later on BC got a
new deal member of the Toronto Raptorsorganization got a two way deal. So
those are good. I mean thatbasically says they want you. You may

(27:15):
not be with the big club allthe time, but you're gonna be Paige,
You're gonna be playing basketball and achance to develop. So really happy
for BC as well as he willbe heading to the North along with Yaka
Pertl who's already there. Text message, Jay Bill, thanks for the show.
Thanks for the show. My favoritememory was listening to your show on
the way to the PAC twelve Championshipgame in twenty twenty one, getting us

(27:37):
hyped for the game. Looking forwardto hearing more about your position with Utah
Athletics and go Utes. Well,if you're a Utah fan, and I
know a lot of you guys arethat are listening in here today, It's
never been in a requirement, butI know there's a lot of you that
are. I am taking a joband a lot of you know this already,
but I'm taking a job that's directorof broadcasting for Utah Athletics, and

(28:00):
I'm gonna be joining what's already afantastic team up there in that athletic departments.
And uh, part of the newBig twelve deal is well new for
Utah, but it hasn't been newfor these other for these other schools that
are already in it. The BigTwelve schools have to produce for ESPN and
the ESPN Plus digital platform broadcasts andprogramming. So that's gonna be my job

(28:22):
working with others too, not justme. I'm joining a team that's already
working on that. In creating thisdigital platform where you'll watch you know,
women's basketball, some men's basketball,soccer, gymnastics, volleyball. We're gonna
we're gonna be doing fifty events inyear one, which which sounds like a
lot, and then you hear thatwe have to do one hundred and year

(28:45):
two, and that's thankfully that's ayear from now. But anyway, it's
gonna be a lot of fun toreally create something that has a lasting impact.
And then I'll be working a lotwith the creative teams that are up
there and all that, all thosegreat videos and things, helping to create
content not just for the digital platform, but for a lot of the social
channels as well, and still teachingmy class and hoping to create a curriculum

(29:07):
that will allow students to jump intoa broadcast department in the near future.
So anyway, that's the new positionthat I'm taking up at University of Utah,
but still the voice of the Utesstill doing football games on game day,
still doing basketball games, still doingcoaches shows, and you'll see me
on the digital platform doing some eventsas well. So that's kind of what

(29:30):
the description is. Eight seven seventhree five three zero seven hundred. Hey
Bell, I'm a diehard Gator fan, so don't really even care about the
utes. But you did such agreat job. I've enjoyed listening for years.
Gonna miss your man. Best ofluck, go Gators. Thanks,
I appreciate that. One of thereal treats of my career before I got

(29:52):
to Salt Lake City was working inJacksonville, Florida for six and a half
years and getting to cover Steve Spurrier'sGators and Bobby Bowden seminals. So you
know, I was a big partof the Jaguars broadcast team. I hosted
the pre and post game shows anddid a lot of stuff around that.
But on Saturdays, when they weren'ton the road, we weren't traveling,

(30:15):
I would go to Gainesville or Iwould go to Tallahassee wherever the better game
was. And there were always goodgames because those were the Spurrier and Bowden
years and they were never not inthe top five. That was just great
football and getting to cover games atthe Swamp. And I know a lot
of you guys went last year,went to the Swamp. It's just it's

(30:37):
a different experience. And getting tocover Steve Spurrier and Danny Warful and Doug
Johnson and the Bachelor himself, JessePalmer. It was pretty exciting. It
was pretty fun. So thanks forlistening. Gator Fan eight seven seven three
five three zero seven hundred Texter fourfour zero nine. The final Bill Riley

(31:00):
Show, the Midday will never bethe same. I've been listening to your
daily show and gameplay by play foryears, for many years, and was
lucky enough to call you a goodfriend. Best of luck with your new
opportunity. We all know you'll killit. Thanks for being so informative and
entertaining every day. You'll be missed. Well, thank you for saying that.

(31:25):
But friends are friends forever, andwhether a radio friend or an in
person friend, friendships don't end.And I'm not saying goodbye today, just
kind of so long for now,if that makes sense. But thank you,
Texter. That means more than you'llknow. Text message, Bill,

(31:48):
thanks for everything you've brought to ESPNseven hundred over the years. I would
love to go to lunch with youand hear some stories from you. Well,
I never turned out a free lunch, so maybe, just maybe,
at some point in time, maybewe gather kind of a listener lunch together,
tell some stories that could be fun. Howdie Ryles, Hey, I

(32:14):
thought i'd share my experience with youtoday. I've been listening since I believe
around two thousand and seven. You'vebeen part of my afternoon and Spence in
the evening, and of course thetwo of you together for a minute.
It was actually more than a minute. You know, Spence and I were
together for about three years. Itdidn't become the Bill and Spence show for
about six to nine months, butwe were together for about three years.

(32:37):
I'll say it, guys, Isaid before, and I'll say it again.
He and I have the best twoshows in this market, him in
the afternoon and me here in themiddays. Numbers say it the whole thing,
But when he and I worked together, we had so much fun.
So anyway, back to the text, I've never had a chance to meet

(32:58):
you personally, but I feel likeI've known you forever. Anyway, Thanks
for the entertainment of knowledge you've shared. Now miss our text conversations. Even
though we've never had a chance tomeet, it still felt personal. Congrats
and good luck. Well. Iwon't be doing as many remotes anymore,
but if you can get to theSmith's tailgate ten on game days, or

(33:20):
you just happen to bump into meout and about here in Utah, I'm
like I've said this before and I'llsay it again. I'm kind of like
Deon Sanders. I'm not hard tofind. I'll be around, so maybe,
just maybe one of these days bumpinto me. We'll tell some stories
that'd be great. Eight seven seventhree five three zero seven hundred. Hey,
Bill will certainly miss on the DailyShow. You've always made my day

(33:42):
as a listener. I hope nothingbut the best for you moving forward.
All good things come to an end. It's just bitter when it's one of
the best. Thank you for that, Thank you for that. Hmm.
Somebody asked me yesterday about my favoriteshows I've done, and it's so hard

(34:04):
when you've done well. I've donea talk show just about every day for
the last thirty years. It beganin Wichita, Kansas in nineteen ninety four.
Yes, I know some of youweren't born yet, some of you
were still in junior higher elementary school, but yeah, it was ninety four.
I had never done a talk showbefore, so I did Sports Night

(34:28):
on KNSS Radio in Wichita an hourevery night. And I thought it was
hard because we didn't the internet wasnot a big thing. Al Gore had
just barely invented it. So Iwas like clipping newspapers and stuff like that
and taping story. I told Leafthis story. I used to clip newspapers
and put all my stories on sheetsand be looking at them. But I
thought an hour was a long time. I could do an hour in my

(34:51):
sleep now. But anyway, sofor like thirty years and here in this
market twenty years. So it's hardto recall specific show if that was,
if that makes sense, but someof my favorite shows that I've done,
Like I was talking about this beforethe day that the PAC twelve announcement took

(35:12):
place up at the Capitol and wewent live from there that day, back
in what was it twenty ten,That was a cool day. I don't
know if you guys remember when wedid a show, a very brief show
with Carl Malone called Through My Eyes. It was an unmitigated disaster, but

(35:36):
it was funny as hell. Carlhalf the time wasn't here. I think
he came in studio. This iswhen we our studios were out at the
Clear Channel building at Decker Lake.But it was called Through My Eyes Carl
Malone, Through My Eyes, Andthere were billboards with just Carl Malone.
There were a couple of billboards aroundtown that just had Carl Malone's eyes up

(35:58):
and Carl. Here was the problem. Carl wanted to do a show,
but he lived in Louisiana, sowe bought radio equipment and shipped it to
his house in Louisiana. But hewas supposed to be in like once or
twice a month because he had businessthat he would do up here. We
did the show for about two anda half months. I think he came

(36:21):
in studio like twice. But henever wanted to talk about basketball. People
wanted to hear him tell stories,but he never wanted. He wanted to
talk about like whales and whale huntingin Alaska and shooting bears and fishing and
things like that, which okay,but that's not really why you guys want

(36:42):
to hear Carl Malone. People wantto hear about playoff games and rivalries and
fights. But it was through myeyes. And that show lasted about two
and a half months, and itwas just weird and wild and crazy.
And then it took it took liketwo years for Carl to ship radio equipment
we bought back to us. Sothose were fun. And then some of

(37:05):
the most fun shows I've had havekind of been around like Utah football.
I mentioned the other day the goingto Michigan. That first time Utah went
up to Michigan in eight not thefirst the first time they went to Michigan,
I want to say was ye threeor four, maybe two when Mac
was still coaching, maybe Max lastyear. I wasn't on that trip,

(37:28):
but the trip to Michigan and doingmy show from the lobby of the hotel
and getting just to meet all theUtah fans. I was shocked at how
many people came to that game.And then obviously Bowl game shows, the
ones we did down in Tempe forthe Fiesta Bowl at Gordon bersh all week
long, the ones we did aroundthe Sugar Bowl, those were Spence and

(37:50):
I. Spence and I did thosearound the Sugar Bowl at at Deeny's Seafood
in the quarter. Hundreds and hundredsand hundreds of you came in for that.
Shows around the Rose Bulls that wedid down in La those were just
fun because those were the shows everybodywanted to jump on and be a part
of. So those are some ofmy favorite shows down through the years.

(38:13):
If that helps you out with thingseight seven seven three five three zero seven
hundred. If you've got a favoritememory of a show, maybe you'll jog
my memory on it, because I'vegot a good memory, but I guess
that I've just done a lot ofthem. Text before the break, Hey
Bill resident BYU fan again here.Like I said previously, good luck with
a new job. I really dohope to run into you someday in the

(38:36):
future. I'm not going anywhere.I'll be here. Maybe you see me
at a Jersey Mike's. Maybe yousee me at beer bar downtown, Maybe
you see me at Clearwater Distilling.Maybe you see me, I don't know,
at About Time Pub and Grub.I like those About Times too.
They've been good partners of ours aswell. Here on the ESPN seven hundred

(38:58):
and I want to shout out RichDuncan and the entire crew down at Beer
Bar. We were down there yesterday, had a great time. Those guys
have always been great as well,so I appreciate them partnering up with us
and serving my riled up red.Also thank you to Proper Brewing Company Andrew
and his crew. Those guys werekind enough a year ago to surprise me

(39:22):
and brew a beer that turned outto be pretty good, and we've appreciated
their partnership down through the years aswell. NHL Draft tonight, James Peterson
covering it for us. He'll havelots of content on the website. ESPN
seven hundred Sports dot Com be joiningthe shows and his show tomorrow, so
don't forget the overall number six pickfor Utah, likely going with defense.

(39:46):
Pretty good upfront, likely going withdefense coverage by the way, at ESPN
seven hundred sports dot Com. Alsotonight at ESPN and ESPN Plus from Las
Vegas, go grab a time out. Will come on the other side,
we're going to introduce the newest memberof the ESPN seven hundred family who will
sit in this chair. Moving forwardin about twenty minutes, Bill Riley,

(40:14):
Ship, you were two year.Take Utah's best midde sports show, the
Bill Riley Show. If you're sayingit by leshwib Tires right who are home
up at East ESPN seven hundred saidour one almost done here on a Friday

(40:37):
Bill Riley Show, ESPN seven hundred. Thanks again, Chipman Roofing. I
mentioned Brayden earlier. If you guysare in the business of needing a new
roof, a reroof, or maybesomething done on you roof, Maybe you
want to put a deck upstairs.A lot of people are doing that too.
They could do the decking as well, all of it right there at
Chipman Roofing. Again, you've heardme talk about braid now. The one

(41:00):
thing I like about Braidon is onehe's a great guy, but his roofing
company's not going anywhere summer fly bynight. They are they just they are.
I grew up in a roofing family. I heard roofing and roofer's stories
for years from my dad who wasin the business for like fifty years.
But that's not breading shipm and ChipmanRoofing. They're salt Lake based, salt
Lake folks. The decades of experienceon every one of their crews. They're

(41:21):
not going anywhere. They back upevery job they do with a one hundred
percent satisfaction guarantee. They give youa free quote, a fair price,
and a fifty year warranty on newroofs too, So if you're thinking you
need one, at least have Braidoncome out and give you that free estimate
and kind of go over what's goingon with your roof. It's Chipman Roofing.
Find them online at Chipmanrooofing dot com. Their phone numbers right there,

(41:42):
and of course you can also scheduleyour schedule, your your consultation with him
with his phone number right there onthe website at Chipman Roofing. And in
one other company I want to shoutout to here is our friends at Advanced
Window Products. That's Nate Orchard andhis crew. Nate and Jake and Day
and Janitha and that whole crew overthere. They've been so good to us

(42:02):
as well. I've known Nate sincehe was a freshman in college. Now
to see him running his own businessis fantastic. They're great partners of ours
here. They did great work forme at my house, so I appreciate
them. And of course if youneed new windows right now. They've got
twenty five hundred dollars off ten windowsor more Advanced Window products, so fight
them online at Advanced Windows USA dotcom. Affordable Windows guaranteed at Advanced Window

(42:27):
Products. Yeah, we'll be announcingthe new host of the midday show here
coming up in a few minutes.Jazz related, hey Bill should have torn
it down completely two years ago.But if there's a time for us to
do it since then, it's now. With the depth that's in the next
draft that are supposed to have,they need to commit. Well, they

(42:49):
just need to figure it out becauseI feel like they've had one foot in,
one foot out, one foot in, one foot out, and again.
If they commit to that, that'sfine. The only question I would
ask is why did you wait almostthree years to do it? Why not
have done it two years ago?That's it, hey Bill. My favorite
call of yours is a tie betweenCovey's punt return and Parker Van Dyke's buzzer

(43:14):
beater. You always gave us theenergy of the moment. Hopefully more moments
like that are on the way.You're my favorite host, said a mighty
high bar. Good luck with anew job. The show will be missed.
Well, thank you still doing thegame though, still gonna bring that
energy on game day. You don'thave to worry about that. Eight seven
seven three five three zero seven hundred, Hey Bill. Do you think that

(43:35):
the US Soccer Federation could back upto bring Struck to get Jorgen Klop?
I would try. I mean,what does it hurt the Burhalter deal?
I just I don't get it.He wasn't very good the first time around,
and yet you brought him back again. Even if they advance, there's
there's questions to be answered. You'vegot two years. If you bring somebody

(43:59):
in now, you might get somethingout of it. But again, it
just I don't know how much moneythe United States Soccer Federation has, but
I know that they can afford Theycan afford it. Eight seven seven three
five three zero seven hundred, HeyBill, First time, long time,

(44:22):
thank you for being part of ourlives with your professionalism and knowledge. I'm
a lifelong Royals fan, and asmuch as it sucks being in a small
market, you have to build throughthe draft solid veterans and when it's time
to go all the way in andmake deals at the trade deadline, you
do it. I feel like theJazz have had one foot in, one
foot out. Yeah, I justsaid that last three years doing the fans
of dis service. Side note,Royals may sneak into the playoffs this year

(44:44):
future bright. I felt better aboutthat a couple of weeks ago. They
need to make a couple of deals, they need a corner outfielder, and
they need probably a little bit morerelief pitching. But they did beat the
Guardians last night, who are verygood. So I'm here's the deal.
If you're a longtime Royals fan likeI am, you're just happy that we're
sitting here and it's almost July andthe Royals are still relevant. I mean,

(45:08):
seriously, I could count lots oftimes in my lifetime and it's a
long time I've been a Royals fanwhere they were out of it by the
end of April. So yeah,this has been fun. Eight seven seven
three five three zero seven hundred.Hey, Bill, Salt Lake Market is
losing its best radio show. You'vealways been cordial in person, text,

(45:28):
Twitter, message, whatever. Thanksfor everything, best of luck of the
youth. Thanks. I'm glad I'vebeen cordial because you don't want to be
label to Larry David. You know, Larry David was not able to be
cordial, and it cost him thatappearance in Atlanta. Okay, if it's
your last broadcast on this radio show, I'd like your opinion on something.

(45:52):
With everything that goes on in prosports, when do you think they'll let
Pete Rose Charlie Hustle, mister Baseballinto the Hall of Fame. Played thirty
five hundred and sixty two games,fourteen fifty three at bats, two hundred
and fifty six hit, switch hittergoing up the hill, Hop on,
throttle up, brother, you rocket, love you man. I'll miss your

(46:13):
show. Catch you on the flipside later. Okay. I don't know
if they'll ever let Pete in.They should let Pete in, but Pete
is Pete's own worst enemy. Hejust is. Had Pete ever shown contrition,
had Pete ever admitted to his sinsearly on, that might have happened.
But he dug in, and hedug in, and he dug in,

(46:34):
and he did you know what youcouldn't do. I will say this,
and I've always believed this, hadBart Giamatti not died suddenly, I
mean, I don't know if youguys. Remember Bart Giamatti, who was
the Commission Baseball at the time whenhe levied that suspension against Pete. Bart
Giamatti was a baseball fan through andthrough. I always got the sense that

(46:58):
Giamatti, had he lived, wouldhave probably revisited with a more open mind
the Pete Roads sentence because it washis. I always got the sense that
Fay Vincent, who was Bargiamatti's righthand man, kind of had a little
bit of a Napoleon complex and wasalways was never going to forget forgive Pete
Rose. The bottom line is heshould be in the Hall of Fame.

(47:20):
The Hall of Fame is a museum. That's what it is. It's a
museum, and the fact that someof the greatest players in the history of
the game aren't in there now issilly. Half of what Pete Rose did
in his life and in his careerare in that museum already. I just
feel like you should be in atleast as a player. Now. Did
he gamble as a player, Well, of course he did. They don't

(47:43):
have any proof of that, thoughthey have him gambling as a manager.
They could have removed him from baseball. Basically said, you can never have
anything to do with baseball again andput him in. That could have been
a good punishment, but it justseems like a little bit too much right
now. Eight seven seven. Andby the way, he's got the greatest

(48:05):
quote of all time. Pete Rosehas the greatest quote of all time.
And he did love baseball. Hedid love playing baseball. He said,
I would have worn a gasoline suitthrough hell just to be able to suit
up and play baseball. That's agreat quote. Eight seven seven three five

(48:30):
three zero seven hundred. Get youin and on board today here on the
Bill Riley Show. Hey, Bill, thanks for putting on a great show
all these years. I always appreciatedyour knowledge across sports landscape. As Gordy
says, peace out, well thanksfor that. I'll miss my peace outs
with Gordy. And that about threwme over the edge this morning. When

(48:52):
if you guys missed the beginning ofthe show today, you'll catch it in
the podcast later. But my producerJames Peterson, who's not here today he's
down covering the NHL Draft force inVegas, put together a nice little reel
of my friends and colleagues wishing methe best of luck and I did not
know that was coming, and needlessto say, it kind of caught me

(49:13):
off guard in the best kind ofway, but it definitely caught me off
guard. Hey Bill, thanks foryour show. I left Utah for the
military right out of high school,and I could always count on your show
to provide a small sampling of homeno matter how far away I was.

(49:38):
To this day, one of myfavorite memories was listening to your call two
am from Baghdad. Cheers and bestof luck. Well, first of all,
thank you for your service. Secondof all, thank you for that.

(50:00):
If I was able to bring asmile to your face and a little
bit of home to you halfway aroundthe world, that's great. Keep those
text messages coming in this stuff issome of them are to read. I
appreciate every single one of them.Will continue to get some of those in

(50:20):
as we go here today on theprogram. But in about five or six
minutes here we're going to introduce thenewest member of the ESPN seven hundred family,
a guy that will sit in thischair from eleven to two every day,
and a guy I'm very happy tobe able to pass the baton two.

(50:42):
We thank a couple of more sponsorshere on the Bill Riley Show that
have been partners with me for along long time are friends at Leshwap Tires.
They've been awesome. Those guys havetaken care of my cars for the
last year or so. And Ican tell you whether you're you know,
just cruising around town or going ona long trip, whether it's an oil

(51:02):
changed, tire struts, whatever mighthappen to be. They are friendly,
they are efficient, and they getyou in and out of there really quickly.
And Steve and his guys over theRedwood twenty first in Redwood location have
been my go to in the Leschwadfamily. So thanks to Steve and all
those guys over there. And Ialso want to thank Valley Collision, Dan

(51:24):
and that crew for being great partnersof ours here on the ESPN seven hundred.
So thank you. I appreciate allof it, and just continue to
soldier on. This station is ina great place. You always want to
leave something better than you found it. And twenty years ago when I found

(51:45):
this station, it wasn't in greatshape. It was kind of all over
the place. But we as ateam here have really put in the work
over these years in the last twoor three years in particular, we have
been so dialed in and this stationis in such great shape, and it's
gonna continue to be the home ofthe Utes and the NBA and the NHL

(52:08):
and all of that good stuff.And you're gonna get great local programming.
You're gonna get Dan Patrick, you'regonna get ESPN and everything that goes along
with it. So I feel reallygood about if I've got to go,
and I'm excited about my new opportunityto I feel really good about who's gonna
be kind of keeping that towards burning. So anyway, thank you guys for

(52:32):
all of that. We'll grab atam time out. Hour one is done,
only two more to go. Wow, gonna introduce the newest member of
the family next right here at theend, Bill Riley's got you covered on
all things sports. This is theBill Riley Show from the Valley Commission Studio.
Let's get back to Phil because numberone Sports got and seven hundred final

(52:59):
fry here on the Bill Riley Show. Good to be with you, noontime
Hour two, one hour down,two hours to go, and then I'm
gonna have to leave the light onfor you. That's what Tom Bodett used
to stay at Motel six. Butuh, I'm gonna have to leave the
light on for somebody else to dothis. Moving forward, after twenty years
here at ESPN seven hundred, I'mmoving on. Got a great opportunity,

(53:21):
really looking forward to my opportunity atthe University of Utah to be their director
of broadcasting and really dig in andand and help build something amazing up there
and continue on his voice of theUtes as well. So I hate to
vacate this chair because I've been herefor twenty years, but I knew that
if I went, I'd have tohelp my bosses here find somebody that that

(53:42):
would that would fill this chair withthe same type love for radio and the
station and the market and the stateand and just you guys too, that
that we've had for so many yearshere. And there was there were there
were a bunch of people that cameto mind, but one guy we we
zero in on pretty quickly. We'llbe taking over this slot from eleven until

(54:04):
two. He's a name that manyof you know already. He's he's a
Salt Lake native and he's ironically enough, been on this radio station too.
And it's funny how life sometimes comesfull circle. The new host of the
midday show beginning Monday here on ESPNseven hundred is none other than my good
friend Sean O'Connell oc. How areyou. I'm doing great, but how

(54:29):
are you doing? How are youholding up? On the last Friday?
Not so good at times. I'vebeen surprised by a couple of things today,
Needless to say, the faucet's beenturned on a couple of times,
may get turned on again later,but all in all, hanging in there.
So welcome back to the family.Yeah, thanks very much. I

(54:49):
can't tell you how excited I am, obviously, you know. I love
the Salt Lake market, like yousaid, I love the sports culture we
have in Utah. I love ESPNseven hundreds, close ties with my alma
mater, and I'm over the moonto be taken over and hopefully you know,

(55:10):
doing justice to the audience that you'vebuilt. Well. I don't have
any doubts you could do that.And for those who don't know, you
know, it's not like you haven'tbeen on Salt Lake Radio hosting a show
on a regular basis. You've beenguesting on this station for a long time.
But you've been You've been. Theradio game has not been something you've
been away from for a long time, has it. No. I've been

(55:31):
doing a daily show on Sirius XMfor the last I guess about five and
a half years on their PAC twelvenetwork, and obviously the death of the
PAC twelve conference put me into asituation where I had to find something else.
And you know, we're going tohear from my co host, Jeff
Schwartz on that show. He's goingto join me to talk a lot of

(55:53):
NFL and national college football stuff.But that's what that's what it's been like,
just covering things on the national andconference level on the daily basis,
And now I get to focus backin on the hometown, which is which
is awesome. By the way,is he like you've you've already hired a

(56:15):
big ten Duck insider to come onthe program. I have. Yes,
he's my uh my NFL insider,my Kansas City Chiefs especially insider. Yes,
that's definitely a Ducks insider and justa great friend of mine and a
guy who I had a real joydoing a show with him for so long.

(56:36):
And you know, our great producersover there and you know, similar
to you, it was something thatyou don't want to necessarily see end different
circumstances. Obviously, you're having thisgreat opportunity at the university, and we're
happy for you. Wasn't happy tosee the pack Twell thing go away,
But man, I thought, Ithought maybe I was going to take another

(56:58):
swing at radio and I would hopefullybe on like the MMA channel or something.
So I can't tell you how overjoyedI was when this unexpected chance to
get back to ESPN seven hundred cameup. And I owe a lot to
you for keeping my name tip ofthe tongue for that. It's interesting because
you know Sean does the radio thing. But for those of you that are

(57:21):
fight fans too, you obviously knowof his background as a fighter last couple
of years. You're this is youknow, you're you're kind of like me,
multiple jobs. In fact, Ithink you're probably back east getting ready
for a fight right now, doingTV. Right I'm in Sue Falls,
South Dakota. We're on ESPN tonight. The main card will be on ESPN
at eight o'clock in sallt Lake,No. Nine o'clock in Sall Lake.

(57:43):
So yeah, that's that's what I'vebeen doing as well. After I won
the first PFL Light Heavy eight season, they made me their play by play
guy and we've been distributed on ESPNever since, and that's been a real
joy. I worked alongside Randy Kotor, who was a hero of mine when
I got into the game, andnow I can call him a good friend.

(58:04):
Tyland Woodley is on the call withme, and Dan Hardy is my
co host quite frequently, so it'spretty surreal. I have to pinch myself
sometimes, but now I'm going tohave two dream jobs and can't be mad
at that. Nope, I knowexactly how you feel because I have the
same thing. Sean O'Connell, thenew host of the Midday Show. Here,
by the way, if you comeup, if you come up with
a name, I mean, Imean, if you want to keep the

(58:25):
Bill Riley Show, it's a prettygood brand. It will be awkward,
but it's a pretty good brand.But unless you've got something else that you'd
like to throw in there, Iknow you would love that, Bill,
but we're going to have to gowith something wildly creative and completely outside of
the box. I think we're goingto go with the Sean O'Connell Show instead,
So people are gonna have to getused to that. It's got a
decent ring to it. It's gota decent ring to it, and it'd

(58:47):
probably grow on me a little bit. So yeah, Shaan O'Connell Show beginning
Monday, you love it at tworight here on ESPN seven hundred. I
mean, everybody's show is going tobe a little bit different. I know
you're going to keep a lot ofthe same hallmarks where the home of the
Utes. You're a former Ute,you're very close with that coaching staff up
there, so I know there's gonnabe a lot of utah. But but
you know, for those that missedyou the first time around or new to

(59:09):
the market, what you know,it's a show that they know will evolve.
But what what do you want todo with it? Well, look,
we're gonna we're gonna concentrate heavily onthe Utes and the Big Twelve at
the conference level. I'm very excitedto have the in state rivalry back,
the Holy War being relevant again asa conference game. So we'll talk a
lot of Utes, we'll talk alittle BYU, we'll talk you know,

(59:31):
some Baylor Bears and some Cowboys andand Kansas State Wildcats and all these teams
that are going to be hunting forthe utes. We're going to lean into
NFL because I think that as thesole aid market grows and a lot of
people are moving in from out oftown. You know, there's a huge
group of NFL fans that I thinkwe got to serve with. Talk about

(59:52):
you know, my beloved forty nineErs, Broncos, Seahawks, Chiefs,
and uh, look, we're ahockey town now, Bill. So,
I was born and raised for thefirst half of my life in Minnesota.
On the first half of my childhoodin Minnesota, hockey was religion there.
Hockey is in my blood. Sowe're going to get into some hockey.

(01:00:13):
I've already got a bunch of hockeyinsiders lined up, and we're really going
to lean into the Utah Hockey Club, who I hope ends up being named
the Mammoths. But that's just mythat's just my vote. So yeah,
and obviously we'll have fun with theNBA and the Jazz too. Of the
Jazz are in that rebuild right now, so it'll be fun to follow that.
And for those that might be wondering. We can already tell you now

(01:00:37):
that Gordy will continue on in themid days. He wants to be part
of Sean's show. If Sean willhave him. Gordy Chiasa on a weekly
basis will still be here on theairwaves of ESPN seven hundred. Absolutely he
will. GORDI a man who Ilearned from every time I talk to and
who shares my love of lists.So yes, he is going to be

(01:00:58):
on the show. You and I. Well see, there's the commonality that
will transfer from shows. My loveof list is well known as well.
I've got several lists that I'll begoing over at the end of the show
today that will probably put tears inmy eyes, so I won't get to
them right now. But yes,nothing better than a good list, all
right list for me. The biggestchallenge to Utah this year, the two

(01:01:20):
or three biggest challengers to Utah thisyear in the Pac twelve or the Big
twelve look keeping the team healthy.It was a challenge that we feel like
it was bad luck. They gotsnake bit last year. I remember saying
that about Stanford like five years ago, and they had a three year run
of bad luck. So Keeping theteam healthy is going to be the first
challenge. You got to find theright balance of physicality, keeping the team

(01:01:44):
identity being a Kyle Whittingham team,but also you know, protecting your important
players and making sure that you're keepingammunition in the clip so to speak,
for game days and not just spendingit all in practice. That's a huge
challenge. And then just adapting toa new schedule, new rivalries, teams

(01:02:06):
that already hate you and your fanbase because you're coming in as kind of
the king of the castle. Everybodyis going to give the Utes their best
game the same way that Utah andeveryone else in the Pac twelve gave their
best games to USC and to Oregonand to Washington. Utah is going to
get that from everybody in the Bigtwelve. It's it's one of those dubious

(01:02:30):
honors where it's like, yeah,everyone is chasing what you have built,
but that means they're trying to killyou every single week. You don't have
any off days, and those aresome huge challenges as they head into this
new conference. It took them abouteight or nine years to become the hunted
instead of the hunter in the PACtwelve. I think they step in in
year number one and they're the hunted. I think I think they have the

(01:02:52):
big target on their back. Oneis the newbie, but two with all
the outside noise and hype, rightabsolutely, And you know they've earned thats
not in this Big twelve conference,but they've earned that with the consistency that
they built in identity, in talentroster and obviously the coaching staff. And

(01:03:12):
we're going to go down to BigTwelve Media Days, Bill and that media
poll is gonna come out and it'sgonna be Utah at the top. And
you know, Kansas State is goingto be up there and Oklahoma State is
going to be up there. Butevery one of these died in the wall
Big twelve hardcore fans is going tolook at that pole and they're going to
hear the other coaches speak in thosecomplimentary terms about what Kyle Whittingham is and

(01:03:36):
what he has built, and it'sgoing to boil the blood of players,
fan bases and everybody else who feelslike, hey, this new kid on
the block doesn't get to come inand be prom king, well, you
got to stop them. Then,Yeah, it goes both ways. I
mean, respect is earned but youknow it, you know respect can carry
over. Yet have they done itthe Big Twelve. No they haven't.

(01:03:58):
But it wasn't like they were doingit in the Big Sky or the AAC.
They were doing in the Pac twelve. To be fair, the Pac
twelve was better at the top.The last couple of years of the Big
twelve was you're absolutely right. Imean, you can take a look at
and people have done this, right. You break down Oklahoma State under Mike
Gundhy, and you break down Utahunder Kyle Whittingham, and you break down

(01:04:18):
Kansas State under two great coaches,right, and it's like, Okay,
there's a lot of similarity there.There's a lot of commonality in bowl performance,
in postseason performance and recruiting class performanceand things like that. So if
you're willing to put Oklahoma State inKansas State, which every Big twelve fan
is, they're willing to prop thoseteams up, you have to be willing

(01:04:39):
to do it with the uths justbased on the data, based on the
analytics, based on the evidence.You have to give credit to this Utah
football program. And again, allthat only means so much until you kick
the ball off and you start toplay and you know your physical style.
You hope it translates. The speedof some of these offenses and the way

(01:05:00):
that they like to throw the ballaround and things like that going to be
a challenge for Utah. It's goingto be far from easy. Everyone knows
that though. This is a teamand a culture that has been built through
trial and unfortunately a lot of error. Right they know exactly what it takes
to build from the bottom up andwhen you're at the top, how to
stay on top. So I thinkthat you know, there's a lot of

(01:05:23):
focus on this roster. There's alot of focus among the player personnel,
not just the coaches, and that'sgoing to be key for the use.
Do you agree with my theory Utahis going to throw the ball more this
year than run it? Absolutely,I think. So that's the way the
college football game is trending in thefirst place, and you know, they
finally have the personnel to do sowith that incredibly talented tight end room,

(01:05:45):
with Dorian Singer, with Cam Risingat the quarterback position again, and look,
the running back room is maybe notquite as stacked as it has been
in the past, at least notwith proven talents at the University of Utah.
All of that lends itself to openingup the offense a little bit more
and the old throw game, asKyle Whittingham likes to call it, being

(01:06:05):
a bigger part of the offense.Let's be very clear here, the hashtag
throw game is what we call itwith Kyle Whittingham. So I agree with
you. I think that'll be cominghere soon. All right, my friend,
where can they find you on TV? This we they can find you
on the radio here Monday at eleven? Where can they find you this weekend
on TV? Show's actually gonna startJuly eighth, So no, okay,

(01:06:28):
next Monday, we're gonna we're gonnahit the ground run in the week pack
of Big twelve media days, We'regonna we're gonna really just dial in,
make sure that we've got all thebolts and the nuts and bolts of the
show put together, and then we'regonna really hit the ground running on July
eighth. For now, tune intonight on ESPN. I'll be calling fights,
and we've got featherweights and welterweights huntingfor a million dollar championship. If

(01:06:54):
you don't win tonight, you're notgoing to the playoffs. If you're not
in that playoff tournament, you're notwinning a million bucks. So desperation situation
for twenty fighters tonight, trying toearn those spots, and it really doesn't
get much better than that. Hey, Sean, I'm always here if you
figure out if you want me onthe show, I'm always there for you,
and do me a favor. Haveas much fun over the next twenty

(01:07:15):
years as I had for the lasttwenty years here. Okay, Well,
I can tell people who are lamentingthe loss of Bill Riley. Bill Riley's
going to be on my show everysingle week as long as we can fit
it into his schedule. You're notgonna lose out on the Voice of the
Youths. I promise you we're gonnahave Bill be a big part of the
show with youth football, youth basketball, youth baseball, all of that stuff.

(01:07:40):
So I guess they didn't tell youthat was part of my contract.
But you're committed. Pal Steve Johnsonalready made that very clear. He goes,
I'm not gonna let you go unlessyou promise you'll do this, and
I'm like done, I'm in.Plus, I'm gonna miss talking on the
radio every day, so I'll behappy to do it. He O see,
thank you. I'm really excited foryou. Could not I could not

(01:08:00):
find think of anybody better. Enjoyyour trip this weekend. I'll talk to
you next week. All right.Excited for you too, Bill. I
know you're gonna be emotional, butenjoy it. You've earned it. Take
your flowers, have some fun withthis last show. That's that's the great
shot O'Connell. It will be theSean O'Connell show. Damn man, he
must have thought long and hard aboutthat one coming up here beginning of the

(01:08:21):
eighth of July, right here onESPN seven hundred. See, I'm already
out of the loop. I thoughthe was starting on Monday. See I'm
already out. They don't tell meanything anymore. He used to be the
program director here. What's going on? I'm excited for O see, because
he loves doing radio, and likeI said, for the la he said

(01:08:43):
it too. For the last fiveand a half years he was doing a
serious XM PAC twelve radio show everysingle day, sometimes by himself, mostly
though with Jeff Schwartz, who welove, by the way, too.
Schwartz is my chiefs inside. Hereally played there for a couple of years.
His brother played there longer. ButI like to bounce ideas on text
off of Jeff, so hopefully he'llstill return my text messages eight seven seven

(01:09:05):
three five three zero seven hundred.So for all of you that have been
asking me who's gonna take over there, you go the great shout O'Connor will
be in here a week from Monday, right here on ESPN seven hundred.
Couple of more text messages Bowlers rightaround the corner. Hey, Bill,
been listening for fifteen years. Thanksfor a great show. We'll miss you

(01:09:27):
on the air every day. Youwere great at what you did. I'm
sure you'll be just as great inyour new job. Good luck and thank
you well. I appreciate that it'sgonna be so much fun. It's it's
gonna be just it's hard to explainto folks that aren't in the business,
but just know when you begin seeingevents on ESPN plus that are Utah related,
that's that's kind of part of mynew It's not all of it,

(01:09:48):
but that's a big part of mynew world now. And you'll be able
to see me on some of thatstuff too, So I'll be on the
I'll be in the ESPN Plus worldand obviously on game days with football and
basketball and coaches shows. Two textmessage, Hey, Bill, congrats on
the new gig. You've be thevoice of what will be looked at as

(01:10:10):
the golden era of Utah athletics.That's continuing and your show's been the best
platform for you news and contact.Excited to see what you and your team
develop. At the U sports relatedjash should tear it down, started back
up, move on for the guyswho have any value, and go all
in. As far as men's basketballgoing to show out, you're shocking the
naysayers. They may just do that. I bring this up not that it's

(01:10:34):
the exact comparison, but I remembera year ago at this time, and
I was one of them. Ididn't think BYU would show very well in
their first year in the Big twelve. And guess what, Mark Pope's a
good coach, Craig Smith's a goodcoach. You just have to get buy
in from your players. Now.I don't know what expectations will be.
Maybe they're picked sixteenth and they finishedeleventh, But I do know Craig Smith

(01:10:58):
teams are going to be competitive andthey've added some nice pieces. Now they've
still got two scholarships to fill,but it can happen, no doubt about
it. Hey Bill, I've alwaysbeen in awe of your work ethic.
I could never fathom how excellently youdid your many jobs and responsibilities. You're
a season leader who has thirty plusyears of sports knowledge. Of you as

(01:11:20):
the right person for this awesome taskof building that sports network and broadcast departments.
Thank you for my eleven to twoover the past thirteen years. You'll
be missed well. Thank you forlistening for the past thirteen years. I
can't thank you enough for that textmessage, Bill, Thanks for the many

(01:11:42):
years of great radio. Have lovedyour insight and passion and great guests.
Missed the daily entertainment, but happyfor you and your next opportunity, and
glad you'll continue as my voice ofthe utes. All the best. Yep,
I'm not going anywhere there. Ilove all the things I do.
I love this radio show. I'mjust telling you right now. It would
have just took the perfect opportunity toget me out of this chair. But

(01:12:06):
the fact that I could still comeback on this show and Spence, this
show could still be on here ongame days and coaches shows. Makes it
a little bit easier. One moretext and will break bowlers just around the
corner. Thanks Bill, I'm aBYU fan, still found your show to
be the best on the airwaves,almost enough to convince me to cheer for

(01:12:29):
the utes, almost enjoy the nextphase of your life's journey. Thank you.
I appreciate it, and I willsay this, I've got a list
of thank you so I'm going toget to in the one o'clock hour,
and there are plenty of BYU folksthat go on that list as well.

(01:12:50):
So text message bil. I startedlistening to you when I was eighteen years
old, driving home from work whenyou were with hands. I then switched
careers and started driving a truck.I listened to you every day for the
past fourteen years. The only timesI didn't listen was when I had a
day off. Feels like I'm losinga friend. I'm sad man, but

(01:13:14):
I'm happy for you. Thank you, Bill for the many years. Yeah,
you're not losing a friend that much. I could tell you. I
appreciate your radio friendship for the lastfourteen years. Thank you. Catch me
on game days and when I makemy appearances here on these shows, and
we'll go from there. Eight sevenseven three five three zero seven hundred.

(01:13:44):
If you would, I will holdoff on this. We'll hold off on
this. Craig Bowlerjack, the Voiceof the Jazz, going to join us
next, get some thoughts on thedraft. And then Craig kind of did
the same thing years ago. Heused to host a daily radio show.
We'll talk to him coming up.Kansas City Boy to Kansas City Boy.
Next, you're on the ESPNS ofa number. Buckle up, jazz fans,

(01:14:10):
It's time to go ball in withBowler on the Bill Riley Show,
brought to you by Shipman Ruffing andpowered by clear Water Distilling. The TV
voice of the Utah Jazz, CraigBowler Jack talks jazz, NBA, utes,
and anything else going on in thesports world, both locally and nationally.
Now he's Bill Riley with Bowler onUtah's number one sports talk ESPN seven

(01:14:31):
hundred and ninety two to one af M. When I moved to Salt
Lake City twenty three years ago,Craig Bowler Jack hosted an afternoon drive talk
show and then Creig Bowler. Jackwas presented with a dream opportunity one he
couldn't pass up. That was tobe the play by play voice of the
Utah Jazz. As a result,he had to give up that afternoon drive

(01:14:53):
talk show. I was presented withan unbelievable opportunity to be director of broadcasting
and create some special thing and helpedjoin a great team at University of Utah.
And I couldn't pass up that opportunity. So today's my final day doing
a show I've done for twenty years, and I thought I'd bring Boler on
for one more balling with Bowler hereon the Bill Riley Show. By the
way, thanks for the kind wordsearly that turned the faucet on a little

(01:15:15):
early on the show today. Bill, congrats on the opportunity. And you
know, that's what this business isabout. I know your listeners will miss
you. You know, I thoughttoday when you know we were going to
talk and say, God, thisis real man, he's actually he's Bolton
after putting together such a great,great run of twenty years on local radio,

(01:15:35):
my friends, So congratulations on that. But most importantly, what's ahead
sounds exciting, sounds really exciting.It is, and it's one of those
things where it's kind of a culminationof everything I've done in my career radio,
television, creating content, working withgreat folks. It's just it was
just one of those great opportunities,you know. I mean you were presented

(01:15:57):
that same thing, what nineteen yearsago? Yeah, exactly, going on
twenty with the Jazz. Uh.You know, I left KSL to go
to CBS, same type of opportunity. I love local, you know,
but when opportunities come, you know, that's what you work for to see,
you know, and challenge yourself forsomething new. And I'm excited for
you man, I really am well. And I get to do the game,
you know, and you know,we're all the same we you know,

(01:16:18):
on top of all of it.As long as we get to still
be there on game day and bringthose games to the audience. That's and
the fans, that's that's key too, Yes, it is. You know,
that's the thrill of what we dois uh not knowing the outcome.
And that's the basically, I wouldsay the addiction that we all have and
fans too. You know, youdon't know what's going to happen. And

(01:16:41):
you know, I know it's acliche, but on any given day,
right, I mean, that's whyyou play, and that's the beauty of
sport is because you may get theupset. I thought maybe Dallas would maybe
shock, you know, the NBA, but was not meant to be.
You know, Boston's defense with Stellarand for Zingis in his two games play
made a huge, a huge impactagainst Dallas and what they wanted to do

(01:17:04):
offensively. But yeah, it's timefor a new opportunity. Man, I'm
really excited to have it for you. I'm excited for it too. Our
friend Craig Boulder Jack stopping by fora couple of minutes today here on the
Bill Riley Show. What did youmake in the draft? Back to back
years? Greg? Now three rookies, three rookies a year ago, three

(01:17:24):
rookies this year. Does this signalanything about a direction they may be going
in? Or is that reading toomuch into it? All good questions,
Bill. I think it's an opportunity. As Justin Zanik told me an interview
I had with them on Monday andDanny on Monday as well, they both
kind of echoed the same thing.I asked them straight up, are you

(01:17:45):
going to use all three of thesepicks, because you know they take up
roster spots, correct, But atthe same time they said, look,
it's a chance, and I guessI got my answer that they were going
to use those picks because it's itgives them a chance to find players for
Will Hardy and the system that theywant to run. I think defense is

(01:18:05):
utmost important, you know, Justinsaid straight up, look, we're gonna
look at guards, and they did. They went big as well with Philipowski.
And it's interesting. The Jazz werethe worst defensive team last year,
and so you have to fix thatproblem because you know what wins championships and

(01:18:25):
Danny knows it because he had hisfingerprints all over Boston and so that's the
fingerprints I think he's trying to puton with his franchise obviously. So can
you get some wing defense, canyou get lenked on that edge? Yes?
Can you become more bullish and maybeable to drive the paint and kick
for threes? And that's intriguing aswell. So I think they got two

(01:18:50):
players that maybe they didn't expect tobe there. But the way the draft
happened they dropped and the Jazz gobbledhim up, and then you get a
thirty second pick and you go big. So maybe that's a little wake up
call with Walker, even though youknow Walker is more of a rim protector.
And I think maybe the Jazz arelooking for more spacing on the floor,

(01:19:14):
so maybe that's what they're good aswell. And I can't wait for
Summer League. I'm anxious to seethe roster because I want to know if
Keyante sends a ball and Hendricks allthree will take that opportunity. I would
think they would because of the competitionnow, and that's a competition, as
you know, is always good,and that's the Jazz are going to do
a lot of evaluating evaluations over thenext three weeks once they get through the

(01:19:38):
Salt Lake Summer League, Salt LakeCity Summer League in the Vegas Summer League,
So some of those answers may comelater on exactly what they do have.
And I'm excited to see, likeJazz fans, just to see how
last year's three picks compared to whatthe Jazz picked up this year. Of
course one all three last year werefirst rounders, this year just the second
rounder. So with the other two. So summer League should be fun.

(01:20:01):
Yeah, I think so too.And and to your point, I don't
know that any of those three guysshowed me enough to where they can say,
yeah, I get to opt outof Summer League. Now, maybe
it is an individual decision, butI think if you're if you're Will Hardy,
you're justin Zanik, you're the developmentalstaff. You want as many reps
as you can, and it alsogives you a jump start on playing with

(01:20:21):
these new guys who you probably expectto be at least part of some of
the rotations. So yeah, Iwould be pretty surprised if unless there's injuries,
obviously, but if these guys arehealthy, if all six guys aren't
participating, I'd be stunned. Honestly. I think Keante ought to take the
opportunity sends a ball. I thinkhands down, Will and Taylor should as

(01:20:42):
well. Uh you know, andagain, you all of a sudden,
you wake up one morning and yourealize that, yeah, I was a
first round pick last year. Butthe world moves on, the franchise continues
to evaluate, and I would takeI would take the opportunity to go out
and still show what I've been movedon and then show these new guys,
of course, what I'm about andhow do they blend in with what we're

(01:21:05):
trying to do. So I thinkit's going to be a loaded roster.
Makes us to see what free agencybrings as well, and Danny's got picked.
Jazz have money that they can spend. How crazy or how aggressive would
they be in the free agency inthe free agent market, don't know,

(01:21:26):
but I think the Jazz at leaststill have opportunities to work some deals and
to make movement to make this teambetter, and you know, build the
other part of this equation too.How fast is Ryan want Tom make this
rebuild or retooling happen? Because forthe first time since we've been here,
there's another another kid in town,right the NHL, and so you know,

(01:21:46):
and it's the same ownership group.So what happens when it comes to
rebuilds or retooling and you know,you're actually competing now against yourself in a
way, because there's a down onthat floor. I felt it Wednesday night
when we did our YouTube and JazzPlus three and a half hour draft special.
And I'll tell you it's a wholedifferent vibe in there. So you

(01:22:10):
know you got hockey, you gotMBA, and you want both teams to
win. So maybe the biggest questionfor me is how fast and how aggressive
is Danny Ainge and what direction doesRyan Smith give him? Well, fast
and aggressive can mean two different things. It could mean, you know,
improving or tearing it down and beingaggressive that way too, And I think

(01:22:31):
I think the next seven to sevento ten days might give us an idea
of which one of those directions they'retaking bolder if they're not. If they're
not out, you know, takingswings. If they're out taking swings it
players on the free agent or trademarket, or their names are out there,
that tells you they're being aggressive.If you're not hearing that, or
you're hearing current jazz player names beingtalked about in trades, maybe that gives

(01:22:54):
us an idea they're going the otherway. Either way, They've got to
have that plan because to me,this is the big You've got to commit
this summer. This is a yearkind of three third summer. Since you
dealt the superstars away, you haveto go all the way in on one
direction or the other. Don't youagree? Yeah? I agree. I
think the trigger will be what theydo with lowry market and Bill if they

(01:23:14):
sign him to the to the bigcontract that he's hoping and looking for,
that would trigger that they're going tomove forward faster if they decide to move
him. And then that's the otherthat's an automatic, right that they've decided
to strip it down to the bonesand let the youth get the experience and
bring in maybe a couple of vetsthat can help fill the gaps and play

(01:23:36):
for next season's draft. But youknow drafts, you know, the jazzra
head the number eight pick, theyend up ten. There's no guarantee with
any anything, Atlanta ends up witha number one pick, right, and
you know, even if you failor play to fail or play to lose
however you want to phrase it,and there's still no guarantee that you end

(01:23:58):
up with that number one draft pick. But even though next year many scouts
and general managers believe this one couldbe an ever changing draft, but again,
you never know, and you neverknow who comes out out of this
draft. You mean, yo,Look, Jokich's was a second rounder and
now becomes you know, multiple MVPguy and maybe the best second round probably

(01:24:19):
is the second the best second roundpick of all time, So you never
know what you get and how youknow when you do those interviews. I
think that's one of the most importantthings. What drives you, The personality
that comes with this package of athleticismand who has an alpha personality? You
know as well as I do.Will Hardy talked many times last year,

(01:24:40):
we're still looking for that leadership,the alpha attitude, and it sounds like
on paper that all three of thesenew picks may have that ability to lead.
Now it's hard to do so whenyou're nineteen and twenty, but I'm
anxious again to see the aggressive naturetheir work habits and how they take on

(01:25:00):
new role as an NBA pro.You know, it's funny you talk about
big off seasons. I kind ofthink it's a big off season for Will
Hardy as well because you mentioned itat the very top bowler. They were
the worst defensive team in the NBAlast year. They've got to get better
at that. Now, what theroster looks like remains to be seen,
but you know it's you know,Will Will has been caught kind of in
the in between as well, where'sthis team going? But you can commit

(01:25:24):
to being a good offensive team,but at some point in time, you're
going to have to be you can'tbe the worst defensive team. So I
think it's a big for Will andhis staff this summer. They've got to
figure out a way to get throughto these guys and make them at least
slightly better on defense next year.Have to I think it's the number one
thing they have to concentrate on.They drafted I think for that particular reason

(01:25:45):
as well. And look and theother thing Bill what happened a lot last
year was when the Jazz were strippeddown in both Will's first and second year,
they handed it to the young guysto figure it out, and that's
what they've been going through. Butalso the turnovers that occurred, and Kiante
was just said, go go figurethis thing out. And it's not easy,

(01:26:06):
right to run a franchise at twentyyears of age. But the turnovers
were the other issue where they nevergot back and transition d off a giveaway
and they multiple times shirt themselves.They were competitive but didn't know how to
close games. And also with youthcomes panic, and with panic comes turnovers.

(01:26:27):
And then just watching the team runit to the rim. So I
think those are all the things thathopefully one year in this league will I
guess resonate to Kyante, Senza BonHendricks. And also the three new guys
that are going to be lined uphere real soon. They're gonna have to
figure that out quick, very quick. Bowler, thank you for coming on

(01:26:48):
the show all these years. Thanksfor your your friendship. Play by play
guy to play by play guy,Kansas City guy to Kansas City guy,
albeit a k State to a KUguy. We've buried that hatchet for sure,
and I just I've appreciated I gotto know you when I was back
at KSL in the old days,and it's carried all the way through,

(01:27:10):
and I just I just wanted tosay thanks for all you've done and jumping
on the show and helping me outand doing all that stuff. And I
look forward to us being able togather for lunch a little bit more often
now that I don't have a showin the middle of the day and we
can keep talking Chiefs and Royals andJayhawks and Wildcats. I love it.
Bill, Congratulations, I hope itfeel good about your accomplishments and only fun,

(01:27:34):
more fun as ahead. I lovewhat the opportunity holds. And you
know what go utse right. Imean, it's it's interesting. The Big
twelve BYU. Man. I can'twait Case States coming to Provo. You
know the Cougar Blue. I tellyou what. I'm anxious to see how
college football turns out this year.And Bill, you're right in the middle
of it, man. And again, congratulations, thanks for the great compliments,

(01:27:57):
and lunch will be on me,I promise, Craig, thanks,
so talk to you soon. Allright there, he is Craig Bowler Jack,
my good friend, my fellow KansasCity and he went to Shawne Mission
Northwest. I went to Olea South. He went to k State. I
went to KU. But we canagree on things here in this market.
He's the voice of the jazz.I'm the voice of the utes. And
I'm just happy to be able tocall him a friend and call his son,

(01:28:19):
DJ, who I work with hereat the radio station, a friend
as well. And I'll be workingwith another. I'm leaving a Bowler Jack
here at the radio station. That'sDJ, who's awesome. But I'm reuniting
with DJ's brother Nick, who's partof the great creative team that I'll be
joining up at the University of Utahand I'll have a bowler Jack in my

(01:28:39):
day to day life. Even ifit won't be DJ, it'll be Nick.
So anyway, appreciate those guys forwhat they do and all they do.
Oh, we've got him already,so let's just carry right into it.
We'll take our break in a minute. Here leave the newest member of
the Toronto Raptors family joining another utenorth of the border friend of the program,

(01:29:00):
Brandon Carlson, joining us here todayon the final Brandon, how about
you and I both starting new chaptersin our careers. I'm going full time
with you. You're going to theNBA. How are things? That's great?
I think yours might be a littlemore exciting to use a great place,
So you know, so jealous youguys still be there? Uh,
well that I'm excited, but Iknow you've got to be excited and your

(01:29:23):
family's got to be excited too.Didn't get drafted, but that's okay.
You landed yourself a nice two waycontract. Walk us through it, walk
us through the day yesterday. Iknow you were you're you're probably sitting waiting
for your phone to ring. Eitherabout being drafted or something else. So
how was the day and walk usthrough it? Yeah, I know the
good day was a full of excitementand a lot of nervous energy as well.

(01:29:46):
But yeah, I just I wasat my parents' house just watching it
when the Lakers were about to maketheir pick and I get a call from
my agent saying that the Rafts wantedyou. So you know, it was
just one of those that you whereas great and they're like they kind of
want to know now, and soyou know, it's a great fit for
me. I love the organization andthe people I met there. I had

(01:30:08):
a great workout, and I lovedthe area. So you know, I'm
super excited for this opportunity and youknow it's a it's going to be a
great time for sure. So youdid have a workout with them? Did
you have one or multiple or howdid that go? Yeah? I had
to work out with them in Iwent like middle of June, like June,
around June like tenth or eleventh,I think, And yeah, I

(01:30:31):
went, it went really well played. I played super solid at that workout,
and you know, I had aton of the uh the staff there
and you know, got a nicetour of the facilities and stuff. So
it was great. You know,they're they're great people and you know,
a lot of fun to be around. Uh. I don't know, do
you have any relationship with Yakub atall? I mean, he was he

(01:30:54):
obviously predated you. You were stillin high school when he was playing here.
But have you and he talked?Do you know him at all?
Have you guys ever worked out together. No, So I've only met Yaka
one time, and right when Igot back from my mission, he was
back here in the in the gymworking out with with Tommy Connor, and

(01:31:15):
so I was really like maybe thirtyseconds of exchanging some words and then went
on our way. So that's theonly time I've met and talked with him.
So, you know, it'll beexciting to, you know, get
in touch with him again talk abouthis day at Utah online obviously, so
I'm looking forward to it. Didthe Raptors give you any idea of kind
of what their expectation for you was. I'm sure Summer League is going to

(01:31:39):
lie in there somewhere, but ona two way deal that allows you to
kind of move between the G Leagueand the NBA What's what have they told
you so far? Yeah, soI'm they're expecting me to you know,
play quite a bit this summer league. You know, I got myself in
a good situation, and obviously Istill have to uh go in and and

(01:32:00):
earn and prove that, you know, I deserve to be on this on
this two way. So yeah,I'll get more information as it comes down
with too. I know, Ihead out to Toronto on July first to
start uh some training for the SummerLeague in Vegas. But yeah, so
I'm not for that. I thinkwe'll get more into the expectations about it

(01:32:21):
all when I get out there andstuff and start working with them. But
I know that Summer League is themain priority right now, and just you
know, excited to get to workand you know, kind of show that
showcase my skills with them. Sowell, I mean, you knew you
were going to be playing basketball still, but but the you know, the
NBA is the best of the best, and I'm sure you'll be happy to

(01:32:43):
play basketball wherever you could get,you know, give a chance to play
and make a living. But it'sgot to be so cool, Brandon,
to know that you're going to geta crack at playing at the NBA straight
away, and that there's an NBAfranchise out there that really wants you to
come in and bust your butt.Yeah, it's it's very exciting. I
think my family was giving me ahard time because when I got the call,

(01:33:03):
I didn't seem very excited. Ijust a very straight face, wasn't
smiling too much or anything like that. And I think it's just all like
the roller coaster of emotions I washaving and the shock of it all in
about probably like thirty minutes an hourlater, I finally said it, like,
oh my gosh, you know,this is something I've been working towards

(01:33:23):
and I have a great opportunity righthere in front of me. That's you
know, I'm even a huge stepcloser than what I've been before. So,
like you said, playing with thebest of the best, you know,
I'm really looking forward to continuing tomake my way through. So what's
the what's the next couple of daysor week hold for you? Are you
going up to Toronto? Are youhanging here till summer league? What's what's

(01:33:45):
kind of the plan for you overthe next week or so. Yeah,
So I go to Toronto, flyout there on either the first or on
June thirtieth. It'll fly out andI'm there for like a week, and
then we had to we had toVegas for Summer League, which Summer League
starts on July twelfth and goes tothe twenty second. So yeah, I'm

(01:34:08):
just gonna get it ready for thatand start training with the team. So
that's fantastic. Just a quick thoughton the program. You're leaving the Utah
the Utah program, there's a lotof turnover as always as kind of the
case in college basketball, But giveme a thought on loss and lovering.
And you played with him and bangedwith him in practice. Is he ready
to take that next step and maybebe a bigger role in the program next

(01:34:30):
year? I think so. Imean, last is one of my best
friends and he's a great guy,and I think, you know, he
had a lot he had an injury, pretty serious injuries last year that kept
him out for a little bit,and I think that kind of messed with
him. But I'm really excited forwhat he's going to do. I know
he's he's one of a real hardworker doing up shots all the time,
spends a lot of time in thegym, and so I'm really excited to

(01:34:51):
see what he can do. AndI think he's going to be, you
know, a huge piece for Utahand their success this year. Well,
we'll look forward to seeing that andhow Craig puts that thing together. It
could not be more excited for you. It's been it's been weird for me.
I've been part of your basketball journeyall the way through and now to
see you be able to kind ofcontinue it on the pro level is fantastic.

(01:35:12):
So, uh, thanks for allthe times we did the interviews together.
Brandon, really appreciate that stuff.I'm sure I'll see you around to
you when you're back in town.But go kill it this summer in Toronto
and win yourself a spot on thatteam, all right, all right,
for sure, Thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon. That's
Brandon Carlson with us here on theBill Riley Show today. Newest member of
the Toronto Raptors not drafted by theRaptors, but signed a two way deal

(01:35:35):
with the Raptors that will allow himto play some summer league and earn his
way, if not on the fullroster, certainly with their G League team
and continue to develop there. Ofcourse, another former Utah big man who
was pretty good in his day playingup in Toronto as well, that's Yaka
Pertl. So really really happy forBrandon and everything going on with him.

(01:35:58):
So thanks to Greg Bowler, Jack, and thanks to Brandon Carlson for joining
us here on the final Bill RileyShow. Text line is open to if
you want to join us at eightseven seven three five three zero seven hundred.
I've gotten some nice emails today aswell too, so I appreciate that
I'll read some of those. I'vegot a lot of thank yous to come
up with. In the final houror so of the program, I'll tell

(01:36:19):
you what I'll miss and more onthe way, and again if you have
anything you want to talk about,from the Jazz to hockey draft, to
anything else to a favorite memory ofthis show down through the years. I'm
not going to tell you I hate, I'm not gonna tell you not to
send him because I love reading them. So hit me up eight seven seven

(01:36:39):
three five three zero seven hundred.Bill Riley Show. Es. You were
tuned into The Bill Riley Show fromthe Valley Collision Studios of ESPN seven hundred.
Here's Bill Riley, fast approaching oneo'clock and much like everything when live,

(01:37:01):
when you get older in life,time just flies by, and this
is no exception. Today nearing theend of my run here at ESPN seven
hundred that will end just before twoo'clock today, right here on Utah's number
one sports doc. Don't forget coverageof the NHL Draft. We'll be at
ESPN seven hundred sports dot com,on the website and on the shows today

(01:37:21):
later today with Porter Larsen and tomorrowSports Saturday James Peterson covering the draft for
US down in Las Vegas. Ourdraft coverage being brought to you by the
Silverton Lodge and of course our friendsat Beer Bar Utah Hockey Club. Picks
sixth in the first round. Theyhave seven total rounds. Bunch of picks.

(01:37:43):
Probably gonna focus pretty heavily on defense, but James will have the coverage
of that live from Sin City today, tomorrow and on the website at ESPN
seven hundred Sports dot com. That'sagain ESPN seven hundred Sports dot com.
This message, Hey, Bill,I've been a big fan of the show
for the last forty weeks. I'vea newly fan love for sports broadcasting thanks

(01:38:05):
to you. You're incredibly talent andwe are all fortunate to have you in
our ears. Well, I'm fortunateto have you and everybody else that puts
those earbuds in, that listens onthe app, that listens online, that
listens on ninety two to one FMon seven hundred, all those places.

(01:38:25):
I'm I'm the lucky one. I'mthe fortunate one. You guys have allowed
me to do this for twenty yearshere at ESPN seven hundred, So thank
you, thank you, thank youfor all of that. I've gotten some
really nice emails from people too.Robert Levitt sent this one. Hey,
Bill, I've been a ute fansince I enrolled it to you in nineteen

(01:38:48):
seventy nine. I'd like to sharewith you that since your arrival here in
two thousand and one, nobody hashelped sustain my fanship more than you.
Thank you for supporting, maintaining andenhancing my love of the Utes. You've
been the ring master and my friendfor all these years. Thank you again,

(01:39:10):
Bill, Thanks for listening. Robert. I just love what I do
and I'm glad that it goes andtranslates through and I'm glad that I've been
able to maintain and enhance your loveof the utes, because I've got a
great love there too, And that'sthe only reason I'm leaving the love I

(01:39:33):
have here at the radio station isto enhance that a little bit further up
on the hill beginning next Monday asdirector of Broadcasting. So I really appreciate
that eight seven seven three five threezero seven hundred, hey Bill, been
a listener for seven years, loveyour work, look forward to hearing you
on ESPN Plus. Best of luck. Well, you'll still hear me here.

(01:39:58):
I'll still be doing game day stuffhere and appearing on shows whenever they
want me, and coach the showstoo. But yeah, I will be
part of that ESPN Plus platform thatwe're putting together at the University of Utah
too, the digital stuff. Sobut you'll still be able to hear me
here too. But I'll be doingsome stuff up there as well. Ryles.

(01:40:20):
I've always looked forward to your radioshow each day for many years.
I'll miss your opening intro with AlMichaels, Greg Gumbel and Jack Buck and
you making those memorable calls that introlet us all know good things were upcoming,
and you never disappointed. Glad toknow that we can still listen to

(01:40:43):
your calls with the Utes and lookforward to hearing your voice over the airwaves
on game days. Thanks for allthe great memories. Best of luck in
your new broadcasting adventure. Thanks.I appreciate that. I have no doubt
that Sean will do a good jobhere, but I'll keep bringing it for
you on game days and beyond.Let's get one more in here and then

(01:41:08):
we'll get to the really tough stuffin the final hour of the show.
Maybe Porter will let me do anotherhour. We'll see. I think I'm
still technically programmed director till the endof the day today, so maybe I'll
make an executive decision and just dofour more hours. Just kidding. Hey,
Bill, I've been listening to youand arguing with you for too many

(01:41:29):
years to count. You've always beena good sport and a great dude and
very talented. You'll be missed.Good luck in the next chapter and go
Utes. Hey. I have alwayssaid it wouldn't be a great, compelling,
fun show if we all agreed abouteverything all the time. You know
what I'm saying. I mean,you've got to got to disagree on some

(01:41:53):
things. If you and I agreedon everything, what fun would that be?
Eight seven seven three five three zeroseven hundred Underdog Fantasy. I'm gonna
continue to play because I enjoy it. I did not win last night.

(01:42:14):
The US men's national team let medown last night. I had a couple
of WNBA players last night, anda couple of US Men's national team soccer
players. And let me just say, the WNBA folks came through for me
last night on underdog However, theUS men's national team did not. Underdog
Fantasy is great. It's real timefantasy that allows you to win real money

(01:42:34):
in real time, and all you'redoing is picking a stat. You go
higher or lower on whatever the stathappens to be for that player. Could
be a baseball player, could bea WNBA player, could be a golfer,
could be a soccer player, couldparticipate in in Copa America or the
Euros. You just picked anywhere betweentwo and five or two and eight,

(01:42:56):
and if those picks hit, youcould win up to three hundred and twenty
five times your money at underdog Fantasy. And it's really easy to play.
You get to Underdog Fantasy dot Comand set up your account or do the
app. That's what I do,and then use my promo code when you
set up Bill Riley. That'll giveyou a special mystery pick on your first
pick amentary with your deposit offer.That's the promo code, Bill Riley.

(01:43:17):
When you sign up an Underdog Fantasy, it gives you a special mystery first
pick with your first deposit offer andallows you to play and have some fun.
It's Underdog Fantasy. Don't forget touse that promo code, Bill Riley.
Now terms do apply, and you'vegot to be in a state where
Underdog operates, but you tak isone of those states. You also have
to be eighteen as well. Ifyou're all concerned about your your gaming and

(01:43:42):
your play, call one eight hundredGambler or NCP Gambling dot Org. That's
Underdog Fantasy. Have fun with it. We'll try and have a little fun
with it in the final hour.Hard to believe twenty years comes down to
one hour. We'll do it next. Right here on ESA, you were
listening to a three time Dutahs SportsBroadcaster of the Year who sees the Bill

(01:44:08):
Riley Show. You're sent it byfleschwab Tireswan, Utah's number one sports talk
ESPN seven hundred. Weird to sayit, final hour the Bill Riley Show
right here on ESPN seven hundred.As we head toward two o'clock today,
final show, farewell show here today. I begin my new position at the

(01:44:30):
University of Utah's director of Broadcasting onMonday. Shot O'Connell, if you missed
it an hour ago, will bein this air chair beginning July the eighth.
We'll have some fill in guys nextweek. We'll do a good job
as always, but it'll be theShot O'Connell Show beginning July the eighth,
right here on ESPN seven hundred.So yep, Sean will be sitting in.
We had a good time chatting withhim last hour. Craig Bowler,

(01:44:53):
Jack was on, Brandon Carlson wason as well, And that's that for
now. It's just us for thenext forty five minutes or so, just
going to be you and me doingour thing here on the radio. I've
got a big list of people Iwant to thank, and I don't want
to turn this into a funeral.This is a happy day, This is

(01:45:15):
a great day. I've got agreat opportunity in front of me. I
have looked back this last couple ofweeks and these last couple of shows,
really the last week and a halfsince the announcement was made. It's kaya
you guys know this, that areof certain ages you start to look back
on your life and on your tenureand things you've done, and I have
had. I have been so lucky. I have been so fortunate in my

(01:45:41):
career here, especially the last twentythree years living here in the state of
Utah, from my days at KSLfor those three years where I began coming
over here to what was Hot Ticketsseven hundred, and then it was ESPN
seven hundred, sport No Sports Radioseven hundred, then it was Sports Radio
seven hundred, The Zone, andthen we became ESPN seven hundred about sixteen

(01:46:02):
years ago, and we've never lookedback. I've been so fortunate, and
I've worked with so many good people. I'm gonna thank I'm gonna do a
lot of thank yous here in thefinal forty five minutes of the show.
But it's just caused me to lookback on what an amazing time and career
and opportunities I've been presented with here. I would have never had I not

(01:46:25):
lost my job in Jacksonville, Florida. We had a great thing going in
Jacksonville, Florida. I've probably toldyou guys this story before I was there.
We were the Jaguars flagship station.I was to play by play voice
for Jacksonville University, doing football andbasketball and baseball, and I was getting
to do some TV stuff. Itwas great. And then we were bought
by a company that didn't want torun a sports talk radio station, and

(01:46:46):
I learned my first really hard lessonin radio. You've never really been in
radio until you've been fired. Andwe were fifteen of us lost our jobs
and I was out of work,and luckily I met a consultant that worked
in Jacksonville that we also worked outhere, and he connected me with KSL
and that opened up so many opportunitiesfor me here. I got to do

(01:47:10):
that great sports talk show in theevening at KSL. I did BYU pre
and postgame. I hosted the GaryCroton and Steve Cleveland coaches shows. I
got to meet so many other greatpeople. But that job then presented something
else to me. It presented theopportunity to walk across the street midway through
the two thousand and four season andjoin what was then Hot Ticket seven hundred,

(01:47:33):
that transition from Call seven hundred,and I got to do University of
Utah pre and post game, andI got to do the Urban Meyer Coaches
Show, and I got to workwith Bill Markcroft in his final year as
the play by play man for theUniversity of Utah. And then that presented
opportunities to be the play by playvoice of ray El Salt Lake. Dave

(01:47:55):
Checketts, who I will think verymuch here in a few minutes, took
a chance on me and I gotto do that for eighteen years. I
would have never gotten to do thatif I didn't move to Salt Lake City
eighteen great years. I'm entering mysixteenth years to play by play voice of
University of Utah football, basketball,and baseball, and I'm gonna be taking

(01:48:16):
a great opportunity. There so manythings that presented myself, presented opportunities to
me. The Mountain Network, thePAC twelve Network, I got to do
a bunch of big Sky stuff formy friend Jim Neely. Just so many
things that you think back upon thatyou maybe hadn't thought about for a long
long time. So this is notgoing to be a funeral. This is

(01:48:39):
not a sad day for me.It's a different kind of a day.
There will be some sadness because there'sgonna be people that I don't get to
see on a daily basis anymore.I won't get to talk to you guys
on a daily basis anymore, andthat's a little sad. But I'm still
living in a place where I wantto live, and working for people that
I get to work for, andbeing presented with great work challenges every single

(01:49:00):
day. So that can't be allbad, can it. I don't think
so. So anyway, thank youto you guys, and I'll say thank
you again throughout this hour, butthank you for making me and this radio
station ESPN seven hundred, which I'vepoured a lot of into. I've been
here for twenty years. Nobody elseat the station's been here this long,

(01:49:21):
but it's been something I've loved.It's been a passion project for me.
And thank you guys for tuning into listen to me and to listen to
Spence and to listen to everything we'vedone over the last twenty years, and
I can say with full certainty thatthis place is in great shape and the
forward momentum is spectacular, and I'mgonna love just being a small part of

(01:49:45):
it, not the big part ofit, but I'll be enjoyed being a
small part of it on game daysand whenever they call to ask me on
a show, and maybe to dosome commercials for my friends, like you
know, like Proper Brewing, orlike Jersey Mike's, or like post Net
or like les Schwab tires. Soanyway, not gonna be a funeral.

(01:50:06):
I may get a touch emotional,but that's okay. That's okay. So
I'm not sure if I can getthrough all the text messages this hour,
but I'll get through some of them. But I have a lot of thank
yous to say too, So hitme up if you want to at eight
seven seven three five three zero sevenhundred. That's again eight seven seven three
five three zero seven hundred, orI think my email will still be active

(01:50:29):
for a few days still, soyou can hit me up Bill at ESPN
seven hundred sports dot com. Billat ESPN seven hundred Sports dot com.
Text message, Hey Bill, it'sHarry. Well, what's up. Harry,
never given you my name, butI text in all the time.
Thanks for being so willing to answermy dumb questions. I'll need some info

(01:50:54):
on your broadcasting program. You're theman as always, go Utes. I
you know again, that's part ofthe job here, that's part of having
fun. I'm more plugged in themost people, so when you ask questions,
you're not going to have the samelevel of knowledge as me all the
time, so I'm happy to answer. Thanks Harry. Text message, Hey

(01:51:17):
Bill, I've always loved the show. I'm recalling the best calls you've ever
had over the years. Indeed,my most memorable moment at Recycle Stadium,
the BYU comeback game, the BritonCovey Oregon punt return you lead your show
off with or Among my most memorableexperiences I've had as a student as well
as a red Zone ticket holder,Go Utes. How you fork was the

(01:51:39):
Barnes pass in the Rose Bowl,though. It was pretty amazing and they
basically ran the same play back toback to Dalton kincaid. It was unexpected
too, especially considering that Cam gotinjured, but that was a lot of
fun. Thank you for listening.Appreciated Hey Bill, glad you're still doing

(01:52:00):
the games. You've been my lunchdate nearly every weekday for many a year.
We'll miss you drinking some of yourbeer tonight. Best to you from
a fellow You of you, professor, Thank you, professor. Come introduce
yourself sometime in the UH in thecommschool. I'd love to meet you and
h Thank you again to our friendsat Proper Brewing Company, Andrew and Addis

(01:52:25):
and Steve the brewer, all thoseguys for brewing riled up ret. It's
still available at the brewery and itstores around. I thought it was going
to be just a kind of aone off for football season, and people
actually liked it. So, inaddition to thanking you guys for listening to
me in this station, thanks forbuying the beer they brewed for me.
It's been great. Eight seven seventhree five three zero seven hundred. Hey

(01:52:47):
Bill, left my corporate job intwenty twenty, been door dashing for the
last four years. Listen to youevery day now since the change. Thanks
for all the awesome sports info inthe entertainment. Love the football replay of
games. Hope they keep it upafter you leave. Thanks for making my
days easier, and thanks for thefood, gift cards and concert tickets won
good luck my friend. Well thanksthanks for listening. By the way,

(01:53:11):
that is quite a change leaving thecorporate job for door dashing. So and
yes, I believe they'll still bedoing classic calls in August. And of
course you can listen to the footballbroadcast back on the website. If you're
jonesing for some football as we sitsixty two days out, you can go
to the website and listen to gamesall last season's games at ESPNS. Another

(01:53:32):
sports dot com text message, Hey, Bill, one more thing I'll miss
about your show. Our same tastein music, you too, the Smith,
the Replacements, love the intro.Say it Bill, say it go
Irish. I will say it justfor you. Not a Notre Dame fan,

(01:53:55):
but as I've said many a time, love the Notre Dame experience.
The Notre Dame experience is amazing.By the way, as long as I'm
shouting out people and I'll get mylist out in a few minutes. Leaf
too Lean is producing the show today. I have known Leaf too Lean since

(01:54:16):
he was a young high school studentat Rowland Hall. He approached me many
a year ago about wanting to bean intern, and then he became an
intern, and then he was myson's roommate before COVID struck and ruined everything.
And Leif is one of the hardestworking people I know. He is
always doing something, whether he's teachingtennis lessons or keeping stats for David Locke

(01:54:43):
at Jazz Games or Craig Bowler jackor coming here and running the board,
or doing streaming at Westminster College,or doing whatever. This kid wants to
be in broadcasting, and I'm gonnado whatever I can to help him out
to get a job in broadcast,asking even if he has to go work
in po dunk nowhere, which Iknow he knows he'll have to do at

(01:55:03):
some point in time. But Ilove and respect all the work that leaves
done because he's like me. Hejust loves doing this business and wants to
get a foot in the door somewhere. And as I always say, leaf
hard work is always recognized. Youjust me it's maybe just not on your
schedule or your time. Just keepworking hard. But he's He's awesome,

(01:55:26):
He really is. Text message Bill, thanks, I've been building my work
schedule around your show for twenty years. In order to catch my favorite segments
and guests live. It'll be differentwithout you. I've always appreciated the way
you gave reverence to the real worldissues for moments before moving back to the
entertaining part of sports, which iswhy we listen. Thanks for keeping the

(01:55:48):
play by play roles, Dave,Dave, thank you for listening. I've
always thought of this as a littlebit of a departure from the real world
times the real world comes in.Can't keep it out all the time,
but you guys come here for alittle departure from your workday, or your
family life, or your personal life, or whatever it might happen to be.

(01:56:13):
That's always been my view on whyI wanted to do it for you
that way. So thank you fordoing that. Thanks for rearranging your schedule.
Goodness, Thanks Bill. My favoritecaller will always be that drunk fan
that said he loved you and appreciatedyou repping the utes. The feeling is
mutual here. Ah. Thanks.I don't remember that, but maybe I've

(01:56:35):
just taken Maybe that's why I taketext messages now more than telephone calls.
Text message, Hey, Bill,You'll be missed. Thanks for your hard
work and shoeless Joe Jackson should bein the Hall of Fame. Sure he
should, absolutely, positively he should. As I said, it's a museum.

(01:57:08):
Oh another baseball text, Hey,Bill, steroid guys should get into
m I'll be profited off that andturn the blind eye forever. Of course
they did when maguire and so sowe're hitting home runs in nineteen ninety eight.
They all knew, but baseball madea comeback after they were They stupidly
stopped the work in ninety four.Yeah, I'm gonna miss you. You
were a bright light when I reallyneeded it. Good luck, you're the

(01:57:29):
best. Well, I'm glad Icould be that for you. I didn't
know that was what I was being, but I'm glad I could be that
for you. So thank you.One more here or a couple of more
here. Then I've got to getto my thank you list. And also
what I'm gonna miss about this showevery day. This one's from Brad Bill

(01:57:53):
Sad you're leaving, Glad You'll bewith the Utes. Rock on, brother
Brad. Former thank you Brad,Oh, my favorite Aggie fan not named
Brady. Former intern Brady, myall time favorite Aggie fan, but Jeff
Benyon's close. Jeff says, asa Utah State graduated, wants to see

(01:58:14):
the Aggies and their sports achievements discussmore frequently. You've been good to occasionally
discuss and in bye Utah State Aggiefans onto your show. The last visit
of the Utes to Maverick Stadium endedthe way I hope this September's Utah visits
at Maverick What with a with aphantom pass interference? Jeff, As the
home of the Utes of the ESPNseven hundred, you've included the Aggies and

(01:58:35):
Cougars and Wildcats and t birds andtrailblazers and your shows very effectively and importantly
to tell the local sports stories.Well. Thanks for making my days brighter
and better during the past twenty years. Signed Jeff Benyon. Thanks Jeff,
and I am looking at I amreally I am. I'm looking forward to
going up to Logan in September.I am one because I haven't been to

(01:58:59):
that stadium since they've renovated. Two, I love the Cash Valley. In
three, I'm going to try andstop and Brigham City and have a little
dinner or maybe a little lunch,depending on what time I go up,
that'd be breakfast. So anyway,eight seven seven three five three zero seven

(01:59:19):
hundred. We'll never forget listening toyour game calls driving around Spokane when I
lived up there, especially in twentyeighteen when Utah and BYU and Jason Shelley
has put the dagger in the Cougars. That was a fun game. I'll
be honest. I didn't have alot of hope at halftime in that game.

(01:59:44):
Nothing was going right that night forthe Utes, and then all of
a sudden, everything went right forthe Utes. I think it was all
started too by Julian Blackman's pick six. That kind of started the back that
they didn't steal the game, butthat started the momentum. The call you
were talking about, Shelley on thequarterback keeper is what sealed the game.

(02:00:06):
If you're wanting to go, bythe way, we're about a little less
than a month away from the daysof forty seven Rodeo. If you want
to take the family down, ourfriends at Are and our Barbecue are giving
you that opportunity. It can sayfifty percent right now on a family four
pack of tickets to the day's fortyseven Rodeo through R and R Barbecue.

(02:00:29):
Just simply go to their website anduse their promo code and get those tickets
for fifty percent off. The rodeois awesome. If you've never been,
go down and have a good timedoing it. It's days of forty seven
Rodeo and our friends at R andR Barbecue. One more text and to
break my man, Bill, ifyou have to step away from your show,

(02:00:49):
handing the mic to oc is thebest decision. Thank you. Our
good friend William Smith is smiling rightnow. Yep. Will Smith was a
good good egg. He was,and I am very happy that Sean O'Connell
is going to be sitting in thisair chair because Sean O'Connell is a good

(02:01:12):
man and a big sports fan andloves radio, and I know he will
come at it every single day witha feverish appetite for bringing you guys the
best possible show. Eight seven seventhree five three zero seven hundred. I'm

(02:01:33):
gonna get to some thank yous andwhat I'm gonna miss most about being with
you guys every single day ahead thisis the Bill Riley Show. Honey,
you were tuned to take Utah's bestmid day sports show. The Bill Riley
Show, who said less tigers Righthere on you were Home of the US

(02:01:56):
ESPN seven thirty minutes since counting BillRiley Show, ESPN seven hundred, winding
it down, my final show today, the Drive follows me. You'll have
Hockey Info live from Vegas. JamesPeterson covering the draft for us. You'll
have that on the drive, You'llhave it on the website. Draft begins

(02:02:17):
tonight. Utah Hockey Club picks numbersix overall. James is on site,
will have it all covered for you. If you miss the announcement earlier today.
Sean O'Connell, Oh see, we'llhost the Sean O'Connell Show in these
very airwaves beginning July the eighth.They'll be down to pac twelve media days
with Spence. They're doing all thatstuff. But Sean was on with us,

(02:02:39):
and I'll hand the keys to thecar to him and he and Spence
can run with things moving forward.James Peterson, my producer, will become
program director here. Leif to Leenwill continue on Olivia Benyon and others.
But yep, farewell show today.I begin my new position as director of
Broadcasting at the U coming up oneday and we'll be creating a lot of

(02:03:01):
good things up there, things I'llbe able to talk about on these airwaves
when they invite me back to dosome stuff. But excited, excited about
that, but always just a littlea tinge of melancholy here as you step
away with something you've done for along time. Thirty two years in radio,
thirty years hosting a show, andtwenty years here at ESPN seven hundred.

(02:03:21):
So it's been a lot of fun, really has, and I appreciate.
No, I'm not going to beable to get to all of them
today. You guys have overloaded theold text machine today with text messages.
If I get a chance to replyoff the air, I certainly will,
But thank you for all the kindwords that you guys have brought today.

(02:03:41):
I'll read a couple of more aswe go, but I've got to get
to some thank you here because Ijust when you do something for twenty three
years in the same markets. There'sa lot of people that have been part
of my radio journey. So I'mgoing to thank some folks here in a
minute. Hey, Bill, personallymet you and have listened to your shows
periodically. I love that you're authenticallyyourself, personally, professionally. The people

(02:04:08):
you have touched, be it listeners, acquaintances, family, friends, significant
others, are so blessed and theyhave experienced so much happiness. Their lives
have been more meaningful and are luckyto have you in their lives. Wow.
For the bottom of my heart,thank you so much for the impact
you've made on all fronts. Congratulationson your new role with the you.

(02:04:29):
They're lucky to have you. You'llalways be alleged at ESPN seven hundred for
the listeners, good luck and surelove you. Wow. Wow, that
is really really nice of you tosay eight seven seven three five three zero
seven hundred text message. I gotto read this one. Hey Bill Selfishly,

(02:04:54):
I'm sad you've been part of myroutine for the entirety of my seventeen
years as a postal carrier. Happyfor you though, exciting chance, and
I'm sure the project will go wonderfully. Even though we've only spoken on occasion,
I consider you a friend. Thanksfor all the great work through the
years. Will miss you. Derekthe mailman, Well, Derek, thank

(02:05:14):
you. Whenever I was in UtahCounty, whether it was in Vineyard or
Pleasant Grove or American Fork or Lehigh. Derek always stopped by, and I
always appreciated that because I know thoseweren't necessarily where his mail route was,
but I always appreciated him popping inand talked to a little football or whatever

(02:05:35):
it might happen to be. So, and I'm honored. Whether it's Derek
the mailman, I know a lotof postal carriers listen, put those earbuds
in on a daily basis. Fredthe ups driver. Fred, I don't
know if you're still out there.I haven't heard from Fred in years,
but Fred used to drive around WeabCounty and Ogden doing things. Oh town,

(02:05:57):
shout out or anybody that drove forFedEx or Amazon or anybody. When
you guys, it was always sofun when somebody would drop a package off
at the house and kind of giveyou the thumbs up. Or I'd be
walking by one of their trucks orvans and I'd hear the radio station playing
in there. It was always reallycool. So thank you for that,

(02:06:24):
and hopefully we'll cross somewhere. Maybewe can get you a postal route.
Derek up in Salt Lake County,Text message, Hey Bill, it's Albert
Gambaud or the gambau As would liketo thank you for a great show.
Wish you the best in your nextchapter. We'd love you and go utes.
Albert and his wife are awesome.See him on the road at Utah

(02:06:45):
Games. They'd come out to ourremotes. They'd buy some riled up red
whatever might happen to be. Albert'sa great guy. He and his wife
are awesome. So thank you guysfor listening in and your support down through
the years. I'm gonna break mythank yous up here just a little bit,
like I said twenty three years herein Salt Lake Radio. I got

(02:07:06):
my start here in radio back inJune of two thousand and one. A
gentleman who's still on the air here. He was my boss. Then he
hired me out of Jacksonville, Florida. His name is Rod Arkett, and
Rod, I haven't seen you inyears. He still works over at iHeart

(02:07:30):
and does afternoons on kN RS.Would not have been able to get all
these opportunities here without Rod Arquett takinga chance on me and bringing me out
here to do radio. So Rod, thank you. I don't know if
you're on the air right now ornot, but maybe we can cross paths
again. Richard Meekham. Richard's becomea good friend, though I haven't been

(02:07:54):
as good a friend of Richard inrecent years. He was a general manager
down there at KSL on Bonneville,and I owe Richard a bunch of lunches
because we have not gotten together andI've not been very good about being that
way in the last couple of years. And Richard, when we get to
lunch, I'll explain things. ButI hope you're happy that I'm going to

(02:08:16):
work at your alma mater, andthank you for your friendship over the years
and your guidance even though we onlywork together for a short period of time.
Chris Redgrave. Chris was the GSMGeneral sales manager at KSL. I
appreciate her. Russ Hill, whodoesn't live in the market anymore. He
was the news director down there andgave me great guidance. I took over

(02:08:39):
for Greg Rubel, and Greg andI worked together for a short period of
time, but he kind of walkedme through the early days of being down
there and remains a friend today.Mark Lyons, Mark Durant and my producer
at KSL, All those years ago. Cleon Wall, Thank you guys,
couple of Clear Channel, thank yousas well. Well, I wouldn't be

(02:09:01):
here if it weren't for Stu Stannik. Stu was the general manager of the
Clear Channel radio stations and I usedto do the Sports Talk Sports Final Sports
Night Sports Final on KSL and Stulived in Park City and as he would

(02:09:22):
drive up the canyon, he wouldlisten to my show. When they decided
to move from Call Radio to HotTicket seven hundred and sports, he called
me and offered me a really goodposition. So thank you to Stu Stannik
and Jason Wilmot, who was theprogram director at the time, and especially

(02:09:43):
Eric ray E ray He was myproducer over there and helped me out a
great deal. You don't have agood show in radio, I can tell
you that right now sports talk radiounless you've got good producers working with you.
And Eric was one another list ofthank yous. Dave check Its Dave

(02:10:07):
gave me the opportunity to be thevoice of the Utes first in two thousand
and six and also be the playby play voice of his soccer team.
He took a chance on me andgave me that opportunity when I had never
done soccer, I had never doneprofessional soccer, I had never done college
soccer. So thank you to Davecheck Its for seeing something in me and

(02:10:30):
taking a chance on me and givingme an opportunity that was amazing for eighteen
years. Dean Howse, who kindof ran things over on the when we
were on the West Side a littlebit. Of course, my partner Spence,
we talked yesterday. We did onelast bill and Spence Spence is off

(02:10:50):
today, but he and I hadgreat fun working together then and have had
a lot of fun working together here. And I know Spence is going to
do great things in carrying and takingthis station to the next level. Jason
Sheppard Shep who I was lucky enoughto see a couple of weeks ago,
unfortunately it was at Steve Cloukey's memorial. Shep was great, He was a

(02:11:16):
fantastic producer, but he chased hislove and his dream and that was to
be on air. And he's beena part of the BYU television family now
for probably a decade or close toit. And I can't forget our Jimmer,
not Jimmer for Debt, but Jimor Rust James I don't know if
you still listen, if you're stillout there somewhere. But after Shep left

(02:11:39):
us, James Rust was our producerand did a great job. He then
went into the family business and ithas been wildly successful at least last check.
I've had so many great interns downthrough the years. I know I'm
gonna forget some, but Leif isin there in the other room. JP

(02:12:05):
Chunga, who was always great,Jp who's now doing great things with the
Utah Jazz, Spencer Smith who Iheard from the other night, Sammy Mora,
Trevor Allen, I saw Michelle Bodkinat the McBride event over the weekend.

(02:12:26):
Michelle's doing awesome stuff. And TysonEwing, And I know I've missed
some other interns that have been withus down through the years, but that
group of people have been fantastic andthey've all moved on just the same way.
Leif will too, to doing greatthings. I know I'm rambling here
a little bit. Friends of theprogram, I'm gonna miss this too,

(02:12:48):
but some that I've just got tomention my buddy Everett Gray, Steve Bartell,
Andy Larson, who's made me feelreally old. The last couple of
times I've talked to him, heto be growing up at KSL. Eric
Walden, I'm gonna be a coworkerof Eric's at the University of Utah here

(02:13:09):
soon. Tony Jones, Dave Bartwo, Roxy Bernstein, Jogie Roth, Ashley
Adams and Mike Yam, Nicky Allioti, John Canzano, Jordan Wynn, Riley
Nelson, the great Craig Bowler,Jack who was on with us earlier,
Thorough Bailey, Gordie who's just becomesuch a good friend, my friend frank

(02:13:31):
Leyden who I probably should have gottenon but I saw a week or so
ago, Eric Weddell, Scott Mitchell, Stevenson, Sylvester and so many others.
I cannot thank those folks enough.Broadway Media, Thank yous. He's
not here anymore, but he wasmy right hand man for ever. David

(02:13:54):
Glausser, my guy, Mitch Harper. Mitch isn't here anymore. Their Mitches
cut his own path at KSL Sportsand did great Porter Larson, who was
an intern who's now one of thebest producers around and one of these days
gonna have his own show. OliviaBenyon, my guy James Peterson, who

(02:14:16):
I shouted out earlier today and yesterdaytoo. Doug Staples. Doug's in the
other room, probably doing production.My old boss who was at beer bar
yesterday with me, who I loveDearlyage Cavon, Monty, Shaye Matson,
our promotions director, Jan dj ChadJen, Heather Leslie, Adam, all

(02:14:37):
the sales folks, Jackie Lewie,who's been my friend for a long time
and has such a great grasp onthis sales department, and she was one
of the reasons why it was hardto leave, because she is so good
and this station is going to thrivewith her as sales manager continuing. And

(02:15:01):
then I've been so lucky in mycareer that I've worked for great people,
and I don't know that I've everhad a better boss than Steve Johnson.
Steve and I have worked together ata couple of different times, and I
just he's been in radio longer thanI've been in radio, but he has

(02:15:26):
been a mentor and a friend andin a lot of ways a father figure
type for me. So I cannotthank Steve enough for working together with me
for the last ten twelve years onand off and giving me great guidance and
direction in my career. So thankyou, Steve, You're great. A

(02:15:46):
couple of Utah. Thank yous.My boss with Utah Broadcasting, that's Matt
Smith aka the VIP. He's anothergreat boss to work for and I treasure
him as just not only just aboss at a mentor, but a friend

(02:16:07):
as well. Thanks for the textthis morning, Matt. I appreciate that.
Paul Kirk, who I'm looking forwardto working with on a closer basis
now, Gavin Goff, Charmel Green, Mark Harlan, who I will be
working with on a regular basis.They've all been great to me over the
years. And then of course mybroadcast partners Frank and Bow and Sly and

(02:16:33):
Scott and Jimmy and Sean, UncleCounkle, Klaus Kunkle, and as I
look in the other room, myguy Alonso, my engineers. Those guys
are my broadcast team family at UTAH. Thanks as well, the Jay Knolly
who chimed in earlier today. Jay'sjust the nicest guy, may be the

(02:16:54):
nicest guy on Earth. And BrianCamler and Brian dun Seth and all the
soccer partners I had down through theyears, and then of course, you
don't get very far in life withoutfriends and family, and might have been

(02:17:15):
very supportive over my career, somy son and daughter, Billy and Catherine.
The job probably took a toll onbeing around as office as I could
have been, but I did myvery best, so I love them dearly.
And my dad, who probably arelistening right now in Kansas City.

(02:17:41):
They supported me when I was makingabout eleven thousand dollars a year and didn't
know if there'd be a future inbroadcasting, but they were always my biggest
fans and supporters, So Mom andDad, I love you, guys.
My sister and brother in law,Bridget and Spencer Chicago, My best friend
in the world. Matt Finnigan andhis wife Suzanne. Mikey, who's probably

(02:18:07):
listening right now. He'd listen toschool Meghan and Brendan. The Finnegans are
fantastic. Dave spatafor who's been mystats man and confidante for a long long
time. Spat's the best. Mybuddy Rob Morier, Slappy. I'll never

(02:18:30):
be able to thank you enough forall the supports you've given me, But
thank you and my friends Yorke andAnnie Yates as well, and there's so
many others. I know, there'sothers out there that I'm forgetting and can't
thank enough for their support. Andyou guys know who you are, but
thank you. So anyway, thatwas my list of thank you. You

(02:18:54):
guys are at the top of thatlist too for listening in. But it's
been a great run for me hereand uh we'll grab one more time out
come back and put a bow onit here and say, uh, say
goodbye, but just for now onthe Bill Riley Show, right here on the