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Jason Benetti Joins Tiger Territory · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Detroit Tigers podcast. I'm Kieren
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Steckley with me as always as Cody staven Hagen and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: joining us for the first time the TV side of
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: your Detroit Tigers summer soundtrack. Jason Benetti, Jason, what's up?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: How you doing?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Hey? How are we? How are we all doing?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Uh? Doing great? A lot of interest in the Tigers
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: these days, not as busy as you like. We're like,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: did you do you have time to breathe? I'm actually
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: that's actually where we should start. Do you have time
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to breathe? Because you know your schedule is insane. I
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: get tired of just thinking about it.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so lung capacity is good. We've checked. We're sure.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: I would say, like, uh, you know Iron Eagle, who
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: does the Final Four for TNT and CBS and his
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: tremendous football announcer in the NFL and all that. He
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: he said to me when I asked him about his
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: schedule when I was in college. He was like, well,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I'm not digging ditches, and I'm not using my hands,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and I don't like have to wake up at specific
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: times other than like to catch flights and go to games.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: And I do feel like that about it, Like there
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: are people who have way harder jobs than I do.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I just kind of get to go around the country
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: and do stuff. That said, you know, when the when
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the football baseball overlap ended, I did have one night
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: where I slept for like I would say, eleven hours.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: That was good.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Well, thanks very much for joining us, Jason. We know
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: you're a busy man. In fact, when I was, you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: thinking about reaching out to you, I was like, we'd
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: love to have Benetti on the pod, And I was like,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I don't know when to Textummer what he's doing or
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: how busy he's going to be.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Right Cody. Ever, now I'm getting.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: So we are very appreciative to have you and a
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: chunk of your time here. You know, I had this
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: toward the bottom, but since we've got it, like you
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: must be used to this life.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: I was doing some research and I didn't realize you
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: triple majored in Syracuse at Syracuse Broadcast journalism, economics, and psychology.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: How did you make that work?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: So I was one of those fortunate kids who came
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: in with AP credits. So I had some psych and
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: ECON experience from high school. They actually my high school
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: made us take economics, like it was a requirement to
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: take ECON. I don't know if everybody was like that
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: or whatever, but like we had to take econ, so
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: they had AP available. And it's funny. My ap econ
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: teacher in the Chicago suburbs, mister Chasey now is a
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Michigan resident. He has a lake house on Omina Lake,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: like two hours away, and there was an off day
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: this season where I went to reunite with him, my
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: ECON teacher from high school, and we've gotten back in touch,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: in part because of the Tigers. So in part I
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: just enjoyed it. My mind kind of organizes econ and
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: like human behavior in that way. But it also was
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: because I had a requirement to take it and the
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: teacher is still a friend of mine.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: There you go, that's awesome. I took ap econ, but
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I mostly remember making fantasy football trades in that class.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: So even though it was AP.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: So what we did it was the last It was
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: the last class of the day. It was like seventh
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: period or whatever, and during March, I and a couple
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: other friends would try to convince mister Chase to turn
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: on the NCAA tournament in class instead of doing class work,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: which we successfully did a couple of times. So you
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: and I had similar experiences, all right, now we're talking.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the last semester of my senior year,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: so I wasn't doing ath and AP. I was taking
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: in the rag. So so and you know, kids today
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: they don't know about trying to convince the teacher to
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: put the game on. Like now you just have it
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: on your phone anyway.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Right, So yeah, how old are we? Cody, Like, well,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: you didn't say it. I said it, but like I'm
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I'm old now.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: One, but I'm thirty.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah you're not old. You watched it on
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: your phone. I'm the old one. That's fine.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: That thing just missed me.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I was.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I was still rocking the sliding phone back in back
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: in high school, the razors were old ras. I didn't
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: have one. I wasn't cool enough. I wasn't cool Jason
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: to have a razor. But like I I just had
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: one of those uh those eight you know, AT and
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: T special phones. A slide I thought that was coolest thing.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: It wasn't the sidekick but it was like the knockoff version. Obviously,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: slide off and start texting, but the screens weren't.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Working there, right, like full keyboard or what.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: But yeah, full keyboard, full keyboard.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's sick.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Let's go bring them back live as simpler.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Then, now that we have really relived the glory days,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: let's let's talk about the Detroit Tigers a little bit
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: and what was it ended up being an awesome season Jason,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: this was your first season with the Tigers. Obviously, now
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: that the dust has settled a little bit, when you
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: just reflect back when this year, we're kind of the
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: things that come to mind for you.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's wild to think about, because, just like anything
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: that goes eventually surprisingly well, at a point, you almost
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: in your mind organize it in the thing you remember most,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: which is the run that they made at the end
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: of the season to get to the postseason, and you
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: just kind of see it as an eventuality of the year.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: But that wasn't the case. I mean, we're all in it,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: and we're all watching the games and existing in the
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: biosphere of baseball, and I can't tell you that as
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: of June and that trip to Atlanta and Houston that
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: I thought that was a playoff team or gonna be
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: a playoff team, and then the deadline hits and all
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: of that. But I the headline to me is just
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: the amount of moments the team had. You know, it
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: wasn't just winning games, it was moments to win games.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, the Parker Meadows Grand Slam in San Diego
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: is so improbable, but the most improbable single moment has
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: got to be Hobby Baiez's homer off of Andre's munios,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: which might have ended Scott Servis' tenure as manager of
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the Mariners. We don't know, but like that started the
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Tigers five and one against the Mariners didn't help with that.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: And so there are all these moments that are littered
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: even that Dodgers series before the All Star break with
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: the Bunch Shenanigan's two straight bay or you know, two
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: straight plays, but the two straight days of the comeback,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: those you say in retrospect, like, oh, maybe that was
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the time where we all thought, none of us went
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: to the All Star break and said the Tigers are
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: going to be a playoff team because of those two games.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: So it's just littered with moments that I actually almost
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: prefer to keep noisy rather than trying to organize them
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: into something, because I don't think there's a great organization
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: to it. I think it's a lot of moments that
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: led to energy and led to decision making. I think
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: you have to include as well, if you're going to
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: really rewrite this story and sort of re examine, that
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: they lost schoobal starts against Oakland and Colorado while making
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: an epic run to the playoffs. That's ridiculous, like you're
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: two point two percent, is whatever it is. But to
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: say that they lost two Schooble starts to two of
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: the worst teams in baseball and made the playoffs after
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: that for a team that I think some people might
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: outside nationally think, oh they're kind of one note, it's
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Scooball and the Pips, right like Tarrek Scuball got them
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: to the finish line. That's not actually true in September
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: when they needed to bank wins. As people say in
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: this industry, now, they lost two of his starts. He helped,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: but they lost two of his starts. So I tend
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: to think of it as like a little bit of
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: a scatter plot of just random fun that happened to
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: all of us over the course of a month and
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: a half.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll be curious what, uh, because we haven't talked
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: about this yet. It'd be curious what kind of moment
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: sticks out with you. The Parker Meadow stuff and you know,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: include the catch in there. Definitely, Uh, it's tops of
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: my mind. I kind of go back to the Williamsport
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: game because like that's you know, if you're in the playoffs,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: you're on the national stage. Right to this point, the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: team hadn't been much on the national stage. And then
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: you have the Kinstry scoring from second, Jace Jung having
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: his moment of the you know, it's the Yankees, you
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: know what I mean in Schoogle did start that day,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: So like all this kind of stuff kind of I
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: don't know if it like was a coming out party
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: per se, because again at the time, we weren't thinking
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: that grand. But if you look back and you group
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: it together, to me, it does kind of play out
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: that way, and I'll always remember it because, you know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: speaking to a Chicagoan here, like I was in Chicago
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: that weekend for a bachelor party and I was dog tired,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and that game went the extras, and then we had
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: to do a podcast and and I don't I don't
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: know what color my face was the next day, but
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: it certainly wasn't anything resembling a summer tan. I can
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: tell you that much. But Cody is there, you know,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: as we look back here we're talking about moments, is
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: there anything that kind of you know, is a one
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: It's hard to have an a one.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think either of the Meadows catch or
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: the Grand Slam is that. But yeah, we could spend
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: a whole podcast just talking about the cool moments down
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: the stretch, the road trip in Kansas City in Baltimore,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: I think is when people finally start be like, wait,
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: this might be real. So you have Kansas City, I mean,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: just Whenseil Perez coming up, big Jace Young's karate kick
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: slide under Salvador Perez's glove, and then of course the tree,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: the Trey Sweeney catch in Baltimore. Like we could go
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: on and on. There were so many things that had
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: to happen and had to go right, which kind of
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: leads me to my question, like that ended up being
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: I think the most famous Jason Bennetti call of the year,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: A city that doesn't care about the odds as a
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: baseball team to match. That was the one that ended
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: up on T shirts. So was that was that spur
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: of the moment for you? Jason? How did that? How
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: did that one come about?
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah? So you know, when I first was hired, I
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: had to make a choice in my life in making
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: this happen as well in being a Michigander and going
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: to Detroit, and they had to make a choice on me,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: and I didn't want to do something that was truly
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: inauthentic to myself. And so in the couple days prior
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: to the announcement, I was just like in reading of
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: about Detroit as this was all happening and understanding or
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: trying to write as somebody who's a transplant, you can't
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: fully understand, but you can try to. And I felt
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: like where Detroit overlaps with my sensibility and the things
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I understand most is like we were joking around about
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: the NCAA tournament during class, but I grew up rooting
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: for Hampton against Iowa State, like I grew up with
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: horrendous brackets because I always picked like Southeast Missouri State
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: against somebody really actually good and so I always rooted
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: for that, and I do think I see the world
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: of sports through a lens of well, why can't they win?
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: But then you become a sports announcer and you work
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: for national networks, and you know it's not sexy to
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: do the Big South Championship game, right, And it's you
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: see in ratings and network selections what drives those moments.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And I feel badly for anybody who in this life
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: gets overlooked. And I tend to think that Detroit as
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: a city, in the people I've spoken to and what
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I've read, has gotten a reputation for being something that
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: is not fair at all times or even close to
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: at all times. And so you know that call was
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: in no way about me and my existence as somebody
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: with a disability. But the reason I can feel Detroit,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I think, is because I exist as a person who
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: people have thought something about that has been incorrect at points,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: and so the depth of feeling that comes with that
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: makes sense to me. And this team that even I
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: had said, yeah, the playoffs are probably not gonna happen.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: In my head, right, I root for underdogs by rule,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: and I thought this team was not a postseason team
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: their actions at the deadlines suggested that. And so I
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: see the world through that prism in some ways, and
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: that kind of just hit me as we were as
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: that moment was happening. It was a game too where
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: it happened again. You know, those those like day games
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: where the Tigers go down early at home against a
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: team that has a worse record or likely worse fortunes.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Those were not rare over the course of the beginning.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: The Oakland series to start the year is the perfect
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: example of like, eh, like, probably could have done better
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: with the day game at the tail end of that thing, right,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: And so that was another sleepwalk potential day against Tampa Bay.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: And as I was seeing the season kind of unfold
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: and just watching that game, it was like, man, they
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: won't stop. And then that just kind of came out.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: That's a long way of saying it's that's where it
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: comes from in my heart.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm curious as someone who's a career broadcaster, and
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: obviously you know, looks at it as a science, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: you probably have your entire life, you know, Baseball, probably
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: more so than any other sport, has like team connection
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: to their broadcaster is very strong. Radio and TV and
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: if you just go to the Wikipedia page of both
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: radio and TV announcers, not all play by play, but
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: we'll group them all together. It's a long list of
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: legendary names, Like even some that I was I didn't know,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Like did you know Melott used to do some Tigers games?
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: I didn't know that.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: But like, but like, do you do you feel like
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: your job is part of Like is there a legacy
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: element to your job? Because having a famous line like that,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: whether you intend to or not, is going to be
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Like it's gonna be a legacy defining moment for Jason
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Benetti calling Tiger's games and so like, is that something
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: you're conscious of, Like the legacy element of calling games
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty two or however many you end
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: up doing with your schedule, uh, and being in people's
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: living rooms and in their cars and all that stuff.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Is that is that?
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Is that constable to you?
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not you. You You might like roll your
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: eyes when I say this, but I promise you that's
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: not the point. It ends up being part of the
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: job though, Like I understand the legacy of Ernie Harwell
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: and George Kell and everybody who's done it. Before me,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: like I I never got into this to ingrain myself
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: in a commun unity, like I became a play by
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: play announcer because I love play by play. It was
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: very odd for me this off season to have like
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: one city be like we got your guy in the
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: other city being like, well you can take them, or
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: like sorry we lost you know, whatever version of that
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: you read on the social media. But the point for
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: me has always been like, let's make certain that this
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: thing which is kind of the remaining thing that all
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: of us do together. And it's a little grandiose. I
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: could understand that people would be like, well, we need
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: to have other things that we all do together. That's fine.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: But if there is one thing that is probably on
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: the top of the metal stand of our country that
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: we all do together, it's sports. Like nobody asks what
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: your affiliation is when you're sitting at a ballpark, like
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: you just high five people, and you just like drink
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: with people and all that stuff. And so to me,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: it's about making sure that everybody knows why this moment
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: can matter because we have seen sports like revitalized cities.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Whether we like that or not, whether we think that's
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: the right decision, for all of this and all of us.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: That's for individuals to decide, but it's the thing we
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: all do together, and so there's a gravity to it
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: that I never expected when I wanted to become a
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: this right, Like I wanted to be an announcer for
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: a team because I thought it was fun to follow
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: a team. But once you start to say it's part
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: of the fabric of this city, that's where it feels
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: not daunting but heavy and important to me. And I
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: kind of personally wish that we had more things that
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: were heavy and important to all of us. I think
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: we'd probably be better off just overall all of us
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: with more of those. But if I'm going to be
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: in a chair and I'm gonna make somebody, we as
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: a crew are gonna make somebody feel something about this,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Like we better do it right. We better understand that.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Like there are a lot of people who wake up
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: and feel better because the Tigers won. And I promise
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: you guys, I did not have a concept of that
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: totally until what the pandemic happened in twenty twenty and
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: I just started, like I did a video on Twitter
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: at the time that was like just a video like
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: talking about connections with people, and then it turned into
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: people nightly sending me messages to read to their loved
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: ones because they weren't together, and the depth of things
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: people shared with me in those like my father recently
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: passed away, or like I haven't been able to say
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: this to my mom, or whatever it might be. And
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: I'm just like the White Sox sports announcer. But the
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: fact that people spend enough time with us to be
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: willing to share that means that I have to take
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: it with that level of understanding and empathy.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I remember those Those were awesome. I remember at the
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: time thinking how great those were.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I thank you. I mean, I like it was as
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: important for me as as just to feel like I
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: was connected to anything anybody. You know, we were all alone,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I think. But it taught me that we're on TV
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: for so many hours, like you're stuck with us for
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: so long. That's a lot of us. But you do
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: really get to know the people doing this and the
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: crew and like the players. It's a lot of time
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: spent and you might as well do it in a
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: way that is connective instead of disconnective.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there are some incredible points you make
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: and it kind of leads into something I wanted to
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: bring up. And I hope I get this in a
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: way that comes across, you know, correct, because I'm also
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: a transplant. I've lived in Detroit for five six years.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: Kiaran lives in Dallas, but his dad, you know, grew
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: up in the area, was Al Kaelin's paper boy. He
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: understands the history. I've come to really love this city.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Like I think it's a cool place. There's a ton
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: going on, there's a lot to do, there's new stuff
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: popping up all the time. Like I don't want to
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: neglect the city's history where it's pasted or the many
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: problems it can still face, but like we're also to
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: a point where yes, the odds are there and they've
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: been overcome. Like I wish they were almost more positive
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: self talk around Detroit now, Like does that make any sense?
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Like do you have any thoughts on that notion?
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, anything I would say would be in some ways anecdotal,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: And I think think you're you and I feel the
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: same way that at some point, like it's going to
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: turn nationally as well. I think that's part of it too,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: is like that everybody I talk to about Detroit. I
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: explained to them, like, just just come to the city.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Just come to the city, spend two days, come to
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: a game. You don't even like, come to any game, right,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: just experience that. I truly I felt it, like through
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the TV with the Lions last year, before I even
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: came to the city. There is there is a depth
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: of humanity in that city. I'm not through the book,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: but I'm reading Once in a Great City. If you're read,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: it's yes, noominal and the understanding of Motown and the
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: level of drive from somebody like Barry Gordy to get
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: that done. Like I I feel like that that pervades
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: this city no matter what generation it is, like there's
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: a feeling like yet will innovate, Just give us a chance?
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: And I want that big moment for this city. However,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: whenever it comes, I really already I really do feel that.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: So I get where you're coming from. I would anything
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: about self talk I think would be anecdotal, but I
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: get it. I get where you're coming from. And I
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: also think civic pride that comes with a rising tide
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: of sports teams can again whether we like it or not,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: can really help that.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Something I was curious about and I think in a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: way it kind of ties in a lot of what
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: we're talking about right now, is that not only did
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: you come to a new city, a new market, new team,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: you had a lot of teammates. Like the part of
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the broadcast expansion, I guess you'd call it, is that
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: there are going to be a lot of guys in
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the booth next to you, so, you know, the Peatrits,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the Gibson's pena was a new addition Dirk's you know
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: eventually later in the year. I'm kind of curious, like
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the challenge the you know, like, how do you kind
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of get that kind of chemistry with so many new
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: people and what, in a lot of ways is a
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: pretty short amount of time.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was really it's a it's a good question,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: and I think it's one that's important to our industry,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: especially with analysts getting more and more like the Tom
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Brady deals of the world. It's in part on you know, everybody,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: and Kevin Burkhardt does an amazing job of like getting
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: through seeing the play through Tom and really using him
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: to his strengths. And I think it's an important part
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: of the job. And and you know, it's funny. I
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: sent Dave Pash, the Cardinals announcer, Yes, NBA, you know
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: all college football? Can you tell him like a play
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: by play announcer dork? It's just like random esoteric references.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: But Dave is phenomenal. And I sent him a tape
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: when I was in college and he was like, you
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: are doing a great job, but it sounds like you're
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: in a booth separate from your partner. You'd never respond
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: to your partner. And that started me down the path
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: of like understanding that it's got to be in us.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: And so the Peacock Games I did two years ago,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: it's a long way of getting into the answer. But
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: like the Peacock Games I did two years ago, when
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I had a different two partners every week, it was
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: the local person from each team, and we just made
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: a booth, right, Nobody cares if we knew each other,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Nobody cares if we liked each other, Nobody cares any
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: of that. Just put the show on, right, Like you
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: have to get the best from them and create an
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: US right now. It's like speed dating. And that taught me,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: like nobody cares about any of this, you better figure
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: it out within thirty seconds. There were times where we'd
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: finish the first inning, I'd be like, you were way
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: funnier off the air, and you were way more insightful
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: off the air. Will you guys do what you just
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: did when we had lunch? Please? But then you figure
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: it out right And there were times I'm sure where
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: they're like, who is this clown doing the game with us?
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: But you have to figure it out right away. It's
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: just like, go do it. And so I think it's
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: really important to just try hard. And I'm not perfect
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: by any stretch of the imagination, but like try hard
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: to figure out what the best traits and what the
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: wheelhouse is of each analyst and figure out where you
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: really connect. But it's why listening to each other, as
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: Dave told me when I was like twenty, really matters
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: because if we hear each other, everything else flows from that.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: And I think we have a group of analysts who
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: are really good conversationalists in general, Like they're willing to
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: sit and talk on a human level instead of just
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: I do my piece, you do your piece and that's it.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the average viewer has no idea how
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: much goes into every single broadcast. But if we can
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: be real for a second, Like you took over a
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: booth that had ranked last in fan polls for a
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: couple of years. I have a feeling next time there's
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: a pole that comes out, the Tigers are no longer
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: going to be last. So what are you proud of
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: in terms of the broadcast this year? And like, if
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: you were a team, what would you say here? Like
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: off season needs are like what are the focuses for you?
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: You know next year?
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's a really that's a funny way
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: to put it. I like it, you know, I'm most
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: proud of that it became an US, like and not
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: even just including me, Like I think Petrie and Dickerson
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: if you go watch back the thirteen inning game in Oakland.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: I was watching it in a hotel room in Salt
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Lake City. But they're in US. You know, they talk
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: to each other. There's an US. Dan and Andy have
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: a great relationship from radio, and so I think there
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: was predominantly an US with whoever you put in the booth.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: And I do think creatively, we're pushing, We're willing to
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: try new things. Sometimes it's overly zany, sometimes it's a
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: little much, but like that's the creative process. I don't
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: think anybody was under any impression that we were just
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: going to play it straight for nine innings over and
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: over again. I can't do that. I would start to
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: really lose my mind. But what I'm proudest of in
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: that vein is if that was a criticism in June
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: or July and then you turned on the games in September,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: we did the games, and I think we covered the
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: games with the gravity that was required. And that is
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: super important to me that our range is whatever the
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: game presents us as a group, so like, let's not
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: force something zany in when there's a moment of deep
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: import to the city and the people watching it. We
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: did the game, and I think we nailed the moments
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: as a crew, in part because we had figured out,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: like you know, in April we did ray Tank Trivia Tuesday.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Anybody and remember ray Tank today?
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: That's way over my head.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: So I pitched. I pitched to Johnny Caine the Tuesday
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: in Tampa that we do ray Tank Trivia Tuesday.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: So like he I remember, Now, Okay, I'm sorry, I'm
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: gonna be honest. For a second, I thought like ray
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: Tank was like a guy. Oh no, no, no, no, I
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: remember Johnny out by the rays tank.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: I got you. So Johnny goes to the ray tank
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: had I had said to him like, hey, what do
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: you think of this? And he thought it was kind
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: of funny. So it was a kind of close ish
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: game and it was like the sixth inning and our
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: crew was like, let's do it. In part because I
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: think they were trying to like satisfy my need for
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: creativity and show that they are allies. So like I'm
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: not going to say well, not now, guys, because then
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: they'll be like, well, you idiot, you told us you
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: want to do more creative stuff. So we're kind of
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: in a pinch as a group because we've not experienced
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: this together in any way, shape or form, and I'm
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: not going to call him off for the previously stated reasons,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: and they're going to jam through it. It was a
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: disaster because it started Johnny. We still joke about it.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Johnny had a group of kids around him, and I
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: thought he was going to ask the kids the questions
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: about the ray tank, so like what type of ray
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: is this? Right? Instead, they were just his friend's kids
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: that were just like there to hang out for the segment,
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: but he was asking me the questions. So he asked
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: the question, there's like a one second delay because of
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: the tech anyway, because he's all the way out there
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: and he's using a different like this thing, I'll live you,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: And so he asked the question, I'm sitting there waiting
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: for like Jillian and Francis and all the other kids
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: to answer. Nobody's answering anything. We're just sitting there, nobody's
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: doing anything. And finally, like, I get it that I'm
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: supposed to answer. It's totally ridiculous, and like we had
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: a conference call the next day and I was like, look,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: we all screwed up together, and that can only work
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: out for the best because now we get to call
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: each other off when the timing's wrong. But those are
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: the things we did early that I think led to
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: us being able to really zone in and not I
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: don't want anybody, as a like a crew member, to
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: do anything to satisfy my creativity, and I don't do
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: that for anybody else in the truck either. I want
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: it to be a group thing that we're all like
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: yes now as a group, But you know, when somebody
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: news there, you're feeling each other. It was a travesty.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: It really was. And there are people that still, like
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: will say to Johnny on the concourse when he at
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: the set, they'll be like, is it a rate tank
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: trivia Tuesday?
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, one of the things I try to
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: remind myself and Cody when we do this is like,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: you know, there's no such thing as bag in a thousand,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: like you know, doing a podcast, doing a broadcast, you know,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: playing a game or whatever. It's okay to try things
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: and not every idea is gonna work, you know. So
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: I admire the need to try to be creative because
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: I think we try to do that here too, and
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: especially you know during the off season there's not you know,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: for a while, there's not gonna be anything going on.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: I did have.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: A more Tiger specific question specific to you, because we
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: talked about your broadcasting prowess and all these games you do.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: You've talked to I'm sure close to a thousand head
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: coaches slash managers in your career, and so you've seen
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: all kinds, you know, of different levels, and you've seen
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: some of the best, you've seen some of the ones
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: that didn't work out. I'm kind of curious. Aj Hinch
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: a guy that you're around on a near daily basis, Like,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: what traits does he possess that you can identify because
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: you have so much experience, you know, talking to interacting
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: with some of the best, like I said, head coaches
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: slash managers in sports, Like, what is it about aj
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Hinch that makes him successful from your perspective?
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: I think it's two things, and one leads to the next.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: If I'm really trying to be as granular as possible
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: to pick out the specific thing that he like. Number one,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: it's his perceptive ability. He sees everything. He sees body movements.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: I assume he's a great poker player because he's just
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: on everybody's physical movements, like somebody slumps their shoulders. I'm
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: sure he sees it. I believe that, And so he
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: gets the benefit of the doubt on me on from
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: me from foreseeing things basically at all times. And then
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: I would say what that leads to is he knows
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: what to give everybody when they need it. I think
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of like, oh, this guy today needs that.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Like I go up to him and I say this thing,
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: and it makes him feel part of it, And I
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: think when I say that, it sounds a little intentional
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: to the point of not having human feeling. And I
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: don't mean that because I do think he's a really
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: caring guy. Like I do think he understands that there
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: were memories made because of this team, and I think
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: that matters to him. But I also think because he
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: sees everything, he is so he's so locked in on
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: each person's day and what they're feeling, each player, each
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: staff member. He's very inclusive when it comes to making
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: sure that he recognizes that he just walked by somebody,
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: even like there is an un understanding that that person
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: has value to the team and they should be treated
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: as such. And my college football partner, Brock Heward, is
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: one of these people. In a production meeting. He has
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: a quarterback sensibility. He was one. He'll be like, he'll
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: go through his stuff, but then he'll see that our
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: associate director just kind of like took a drink that
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: spilled a little bit, and he'll like call that out
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: and he'll bring in people. And I just see on
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: a weekly basis in college football the value of that,
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: and I think they're very similar in that way. Cody.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: I wonder I wonder if you would feel the same,
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: like if you would say that that's like number one.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: But I think that's the trait that is unique to
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: aj that you don't see in leaders as often. There
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: are other traits, but that was that's the one that
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: I would say is unique at the head of the class.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I would definitely agree, and that that's
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: something that stands out. Look, I spend way too much
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: of my life trying to inside aj In's head, both
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: baseball and otherwise, and he knows it, and that can
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: be a daunting task. He's obviously a very smart guy,
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: and yeah, his emotional intelligence is off the charts. And
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: sometimes when I have an interaction with him like that,
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: I come away thinking, Okay, well, why did he do that?
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: Why did he say that? Because he just seems to
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: I'm not on his team, you know, it shouldn't matter,
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: but he seems to just be very deeply plugged into
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: every little emotional detail, like very much like you said, Yeah.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like the human condition. And I would bet
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: he wasn't like that in Arizona. I would bet he's
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: learned that. Sometimes you can tell not that he was
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: unfeeling or uncaring or whatever. But I bet based on
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: how much he values it now, or at least I
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: think he does by watching, I would bet he's realized
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: that there is something a little magic and edge of
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: the bell kurbsh in that.
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Oddly enough, last episode mentioned something his good friend
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: Brody van Wagon and once told me. And this brings
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: to mind another Brody quote, which was he spent a
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: long time using his psychology degree on himself, and I
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: think that's what he did in his earlier days, and
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: just through experience, is now actually using it, you know,
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: to relate better to other.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: People's That's I think that's probably it.
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, all right, so we're gonna shift gears. No
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: smooth transition here. But I think on the flip side
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: of everything we've talked about tonight is the reality that
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: you left the Chicago White Sox, which in a way
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: makes you look like a clairvoyant genius. But given the
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: people you know there and the relationships you forged, what
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: was it like to watch the White Sox more from
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: afar as their season obviously spiraled into a record for
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: most losses in a year.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I don't know that you're going to believe
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: me when I say this, but I I really got
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: closure between November when I got hired with the Tigers
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: and the beginning of the baseball season, and then I
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: got bonus closure with the first series of this season
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: in Chicago. But I was I really felt like I
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: got very lucky that this job with these people came
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: open when it did, because it left me not searching
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: for something but able to have found and then feel
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: like somebody found me as well. You know, there was
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: a lot of mutual benefit in me going to the Tigers,
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: and I think that's the best way to do a
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: move like that. But it was hard for me to
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: see people that I care about living in that existence,
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: because you know, if you've left to place and you
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: don't still have friends there, you've done it wrong. So
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: like I to detach from the place is not to
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: detach from the people necessarily, and so it was hard
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: on them, I know. But it's also like it's it's
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: a season. But the one thing baseball does when you're
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: in it is it feels like everything is crashing down
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: when it's bad, like life is just bad, and so
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: I don't like seeing that for other people, but for
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: me to be away from it and watch it like
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: I didn't. I didn't watch a lot of White Sox baseball,
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: I promise you. The games I did were the games
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: I did, and like just catching up before a series,
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: But I wasn't like going home and checking on it
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: because I was out of that environment and I was
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: out of that place. And if I'm true to my
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: word of like live with what's in front of you,
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: I had a city and a team and a staff
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: and a bunch of players to learn. If I'm spending
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: any time other than just random acts of I wonder
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: what this looks like as one of the thirty teams.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: I'm doing it wrong, honestly, But yeah, it was. It
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: was very difficult, even after I made the decision to
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: have like phone calls with our crew people I left
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: that are like super creative forces, that were really powerful
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: collaborators that I didn't love leaving behind.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: Well, it's funny you mentioned at the beginning of this
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: podcast that you know, when you look back at the season,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: you just kind of combine moments and it all kind
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: of makes sense. But you know, at the time, you
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: would never have thought like this season would end the
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: way that it did. I would say the first like
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: moment of this franchise kind of elevating itself was your
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: higher like I like, I mean, I said this on
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: last on the pod earlier this week. It's just like
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: I associate a higher level with UH with that move,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: and then it like it just makes sense in the
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: story to hire Jason Bennetti and then you have this
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: miraculous run to the playoffs which includes, you know, a
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: signature line as we discussed. So obviously those things are
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: not directly related, but in the mind, in my mind,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure in the minds of fans like it.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: It groups together and it makes sense, you know.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: So Jason Blush, just wait.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: It's I appreciate It's my overhead lighting. I appreciate. I
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: appreciate it very much. Kieran like I sincerely, sincerely do.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: And I will also say, it is very weird for
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: me to hear that because I never, like I said,
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: I just never got into this for anything other than
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: me loving like words and the craft and all of that.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: It was something that I was good at at a
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: young age, or somebody told me I was, and it
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: made me feel valuable and whole, like that's it. I
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: enjoyed doing it and then suddenly to like be the
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: harbinger of a dawning era seems a little grand for me.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: I just I get it, and I cannot appreciate you
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: saying it more in that I've worked very hard at
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: this and I wanted to be a good experience for
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: the audience, and I'm proud of what I've and the
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: people I've been around all of that. Like, I'm proud
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: of that. But it's very odd to be like a
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Bellweather County and things just.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: Work out that way, you know, I mean, it was perfect.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: Well, all right, as we wrap up here, man, this
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: has been some terrific Congress station. As I knew it
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: would be, Tiger territory would not be complete without a
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: little bit of baseball talk. So, Jason, after this team
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: made its run to the playoffs, what do you think
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: now constitutes a successful offseason for the Detroit Tigers.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it's building on the winning
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: we saw at the end of the year. It's you know, now,
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: after it all happened, you then have to ask the
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: question how sustainable is that? And the answer to like
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: surging to the finish line is I have no idea
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: what sustainability is I actually, you know, just thinking about
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: it broadly, and I'm thankful that it's not my job.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: I think you can argue that the run at the
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: end of the season kind of clouds the picture more.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: And you know, you celebrate the wins at the end
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: of the year as a team, and you celebrate the improvement,
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: but like the but how much of it is the
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: mom lifting the bus off of the kid that you
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: hear about in like the allegory, you know, And I
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: don't think it's that. There is a ton of individual
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: improvement on this team, So I don't think it's a
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: lot of that, But I do think it clouds the
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: picture just as a general thought on what that end
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: of the season does. But you can list off like
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, Parker Meadows terrifying level of improvement at the
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: plate compared to his first stint, you know, like Tray
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Sweeney proved to be a piece. I think like Jace Young,
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: we didn't see a ton of at the end of
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: the year, but he got some time. Jackson job gets
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: up to the big leagues, Like I can list all
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: the guys when Seal Perez, I think kind of gets
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: lost in the shuffle for what he did early in
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: the year because he was hurt for a part of
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: the surge and all of that. So I think like
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: this team will be in its decision making, will be
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: not emotional, Like I don't think Scott's gonna be like
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: he did a great two weeks. Let's think he's this,
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: And I think that'll be a little hard for fans
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: when it happens eventually whoever that is, whatever position changed,
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: because it's not gonna be the same twenty six guys,
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: So like it never is, there's gonna be difference. I
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: do think though my hope is that it's build on
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: this right that we can see signs of building on it,
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: whatever that looks like, but it's not gonna be the
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: same twenty six guys. So my feeling is I think
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: the picture gets a little cloudy for either the fans
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: or the front office or both. But I also think this,
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: this chance in the postseason is gonna help the core
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: guys a lot. Not even in like the generic sense,
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: but I just think that hey, we've been there before,
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: helps I really do in an emotionally driven sport. So
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know, like specif positionally, what a better off
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: season looks like at this point. But like my my
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: feeling is I hope there's building and I don't think
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: this team will do anything other than that.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we we Cody and I have talked
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: about this. Is that, like, you know, there's gonna be
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: staying true to like this culture that you've tried to build,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: and then there's there's also like different levels of roster
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: improvement that like it would be a disappointment for the
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: fans and you know, maybe like the media would question
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: it or whatever. If like you're signing the same you're
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: acquiring the same level of talent after a run like this,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: but at the same time, you don't want to get
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: over your skis like from an organizational building perspective. So
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Scott's gonna have to balance that opportunities for young players
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: but also the need to get like established, you know,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: talent into the system. So it'll be fascinating to see.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: I also think they have built some trust with fans,
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: some not all, but some in the Michael Lorenz and
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Jack Flaherty mold in we can help create pictures here,
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: So I think like there is some benefit of the
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: doubt in grabbing a picture that people might not say like,
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: oh that is the dude and have something good come
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: of it. And I do think with their success in
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: that lane, I would expect that happens again, whether it's
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: like this year or next year. That's a lane that's
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: been successful enough. And I know free agents well enough
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: to know that if if there's a if there's somewhere
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: that can fix you, and they believe it, they're gonna
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: try to get there if they if they want to
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: and can make it work. So I would I would
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: imagine that pattern would continue in the future, whether it
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: whether the opportunity is there this year. Now I sound
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: like a real GM right like he rises, but I
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: do think that pattern has been real and important to
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: this team, so I would bet on that. Yeah.
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: That makes me think of a conversation I had around
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: the trade deadline. You know, there's a Tiger's official who
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: kind of asked me, like, how do we get out
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: of this reactionary cycle? Basically, how do we stop getting
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: killed every trade deadline or every move we make? And
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: I didn't really know what to say because part of
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: it was like, well, you don't because this is twenty
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: twenty four and whatever you do social media or talk
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: radio or Tiger territory is going to crush you for
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: But the one thing I could offer is, like one
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: thing is to win a couple of these deals and
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: then you start getting the benefit of the doubt. And
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: like you said, the Tigers have done that with their
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: free agent pitchers, to the point that when we're on
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: this show saying, hey, maybe the Tigers have identified X
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: guy as a project, it's kind of hard to question it.
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: Like they've earned the benefit of the doubt. And we'll
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: see what happens with that Dodger's trade, but right now,
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: looks like they've earned some good will that may carry
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: over to the next trade deadline.
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: I think so, and I hope so, because I really
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: do think when teams add value, they should get credit
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: for it. I've seen enough like this is not a
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: White Sox comment. Please don't think this is a White
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: Sox comment. But like traveling the league, there are people
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: who try really hard to convince that they have developed somebody,
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: and it's kind of the same swing or kind of
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: like when when the player is choosing it for the
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: specific express purpose of value getting added to them. I
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: think that's when you say that's actual marginal benefit like
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: that's actual change in the marketplace. So I don't know it'll.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: I agree with you a little bit, though, Cody, like,
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: it's always whatever happens this year will define. But I
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: do think this year really should earn Scott and the
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: group goodwill. I also am going to be like AJ
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: for a second here, I'm good. Like like I I
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: heard myself say it when I said I would bet
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: on that AJ would then say, we don't bet I would.
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: I would guess that's a possibility.
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: Rub off on all that.
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: That's when you know you've been around somebody for too long.
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: You're you're like, oh, well he would say this.
• 49:24
  Speaker 3: All right, Well, thank you very much for the time, Jason.
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: This was an absolute pleasure. Is there there anything else
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: in your mind? Anything else you would like to add?
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: I'm good. I it's uh. I just I appreciate your coverage, Cody,
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: like you dive deeper than the average person, not on
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: our beat. That's nothing against any other beat writer. But like,
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: and please nobody in the audience be like, oh, you're
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: sucking up to Cody. Like I just I like saying
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: good work when I see good work, and you know,
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: like I try to cite you when I read your
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: stories and we're on the like, it's important to me
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: so like good stuff, if that's okay to say without
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: being too much of like a I don't mean to
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: be a sick of fan.
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: No, you're you're good. Hopefully I didn't blush this time.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, We're both rather translucent, so it's hard to not wrong.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, once again, I want to thank Jason
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: for taking the time. I want to thank Cody for
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: taking the time. I want to thank everybody for listening.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: This is Tiger Territory on the Foul Territory network. You
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: can follow us on all the social search Tiger Territory
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: as well as YouTube, where you can see Jason Bennetti blush.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: If you're listening to this.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: Go to our YouTube page and see him blush, and
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: see the see the man who gave you such a
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: great soundtrack for the summer. So for Jason Bonnetti, Cody Stavenhagen,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: I'm Kieren Steckley. Everybody have a great week.