Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / "WE'RE TOAST!" 50-year fan and "optimist" not bullish on 2026 Angels; Sterling Ball joins
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo territory.
- 0:09Speaker 1: I am Mike di Giovanna form Rally Times Baseball writer,
- 0:12Speaker 1: joined by Mark Trumbo, my regular co host and the
- 0:15Speaker 1: former Angel slugger, and today, in our continuing efforts to
- 0:19Speaker 1: incorporate the voice and perspective of fans, we welcome Sterling Ball,
- 0:25Speaker 1: who has been an Angel fan for more than five decades.
- 0:28Speaker 1: That's a long time, Sterling. Welcome to the show. How
- 0:31Speaker 1: you doing today, Thanks Mike, Thanks Mark.
- 0:35Speaker 2: I really enjoy it. I'm cursed of being a lifetime
- 0:39Speaker 2: Angel fan.
- 0:41Speaker 1: Well, we've heard about that curse, although two thousand and
- 0:44Speaker 1: two we thought put an end to that curse. But
- 0:46Speaker 1: we can talk about all that a little later. Let's
- 0:49Speaker 1: talk a little bit about this current season. Sterling. How
- 0:52Speaker 1: are you feeling about the direction of the franchise right now?
- 0:56Speaker 2: Well, I think direction of the friends and performance are
- 1:01Speaker 2: kind of like a what did you expect? I mean,
- 1:04Speaker 2: we were sold. We don't have very much communication coming
- 1:06Speaker 2: from the GM or the owner. And they they bargained,
- 1:12Speaker 2: you know, they bargain basement and and bottom fed a
- 1:16Speaker 2: bunch of older guys and sold us on the thing
- 1:18Speaker 2: as well. If two of them hit We're going to
- 1:20Speaker 2: be fabulous, well pretty much none of them have been
- 1:23Speaker 2: as far as the pitching. And you know, you have
- 1:25Speaker 2: a first year manager that I'm sure isn't paid very well,
- 1:28Speaker 2: that probably has too much input now and uh I
- 1:33Speaker 2: don't really blame him that much.
- 1:35Speaker 3: Yeah, Uh, well, here's the deal with our relationship. Stirlin
- 1:44Speaker 3: is one of the two guys that I feel confident
- 1:49Speaker 3: in their baseball IQ to really get into the weeds on.
- 1:52Speaker 3: We could have I could have kind of led with that,
- 1:55Speaker 3: But we talk about Angels games nearly every night and
- 1:59Speaker 3: go through what is going on and all of those things.
- 2:04Speaker 3: So last night was no exception, another crippling loss with
- 2:09Speaker 3: a comfortable lead. Kurt chose to take Jack out of
- 2:14Speaker 3: that ball game. And we are recording this on.
- 2:19Speaker 1: What is today Tuesday?
- 2:21Speaker 3: Tuesday, so some Monday night, Monday Night's game for clarity,
- 2:26Speaker 3: and it was a rough one. That's been two in
- 2:28Speaker 3: a row where the bullpen has just not gotten the
- 2:30Speaker 3: job done and Sterling, what do they need to do?
- 2:34Speaker 1: What do you think needs to happen?
- 2:35Speaker 3: From your perspective, I think that we're kind of toast.
- 2:40Speaker 2: I mean, it's hard to say.
- 2:42Speaker 1: That, but I'm not even may Sterling.
- 2:45Speaker 2: Well, okay, let me talk about the good thing. Okay,
- 2:48Speaker 2: we got great starting pitching, really really good starting pitching,
- 2:52Speaker 2: much better than any of us thought. Okay, you have
- 2:55Speaker 2: some signings like Chrisom that I wasn't that fond of.
- 2:59Speaker 2: He's killing. I think Perazza is wonderful at second or third.
- 3:05Speaker 2: I think that they should trust Udosio more and maybe
- 3:08Speaker 2: not pinch hit for him when he's hitting four to
- 3:10Speaker 2: sixty in his last seven games. And I don't like
- 3:14Speaker 2: seeing an infielder replace him for defensive purchases late in
- 3:18Speaker 2: the innings. But I think we have a lot of
- 3:20Speaker 2: good things, but I don't think you can. I don't
- 3:23Speaker 2: think you can fix the pitching right now because you
- 3:25Speaker 2: have no depth. No depth, okay at Triple A is
- 3:30Speaker 2: kind of a joke.
- 3:32Speaker 1: When you say pitching, we're talking about the bullpen obviously.
- 3:36Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, And short starts, which Mark and you have
- 3:39Speaker 2: talked about. Short starts are just they're like the worst
- 3:43Speaker 2: thing you can do to a bad bullpen.
- 3:46Speaker 1: For some context, and las Mark said, we're taping Tuesday
- 3:49Speaker 1: afternoon in six games through Monday night. Bullpen Angel relievers
- 3:54Speaker 1: twenty one and a third innings pitched, thirty hits, fourteen walks,
- 4:00Speaker 1: twenty five earned runs. That's a ten point five to
- 4:02Speaker 1: five ERA, and four blown saves. That is not going
- 4:07Speaker 1: to get done on any level.
- 4:10Speaker 2: Mike, I've lived every one of those two.
- 4:13Speaker 1: You feel the loss is hard. They affect you still
- 4:16Speaker 1: at this age.
- 4:17Speaker 2: No, because I've been you know, I kind of expected
- 4:21Speaker 2: when I saw the five on lead and I saw
- 4:23Speaker 2: what was going on, I said, Okay, here's where we
- 4:26Speaker 2: usually blow it. And we did both days. So it's
- 4:29Speaker 2: it's kind of funny. But you know, there's little things
- 4:31Speaker 2: I really believe though, that the manager is and the problem.
- 4:35Speaker 2: I think the problem is the owner, and I think
- 4:38Speaker 2: Perry Manasci in has head. He's done some good things,
- 4:41Speaker 2: but I don't think he's done a very good job
- 4:45Speaker 2: mostly communicating with the fans and how he decides to
- 4:48Speaker 2: load this bullpen in this team.
- 4:51Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about the young core that Perry has
- 4:54Speaker 3: been very high on. What do you see from whatever?
- 5:00Speaker 3: Whoever is part of that young core is a bit
- 5:02Speaker 3: ambiguous to me. At times. It looks like it could
- 5:05Speaker 3: be three guys, it could be one guy, and I
- 5:09Speaker 3: think the one guy that is a lock for it.
- 5:12Speaker 3: To be honest with you, has he had a very
- 5:14Speaker 3: disappointing air. Zach Netto is who I'm talking about. That
- 5:17Speaker 3: air looked like something that a guy with the gaudy
- 5:22Speaker 3: defensive run saved that they love to push on the broadcast.
- 5:26Speaker 3: I see it on X a lot. Still unclear. I
- 5:29Speaker 3: guess Brent Suter's three def defensive runs saved may be
- 5:34Speaker 3: on account of his pickoffs, although I don't know he
- 5:36Speaker 3: has three. I know he has one for sure. But
- 5:39Speaker 3: zach Netto's air last night really was the catalyst for
- 5:43Speaker 3: that inning getting away from them. In addition his overall demeanor,
- 5:47Speaker 3: Sir Lean, you and I have talked about this. It
- 5:49Speaker 3: seems a little bit down. In years past, we've seen
- 5:52Speaker 3: him very tight with the manager. Generally he's usually talking, smiling, laughing.
- 5:58Speaker 3: For whatever reason, I'm not seeing that. He had a
- 6:01Speaker 3: pour at bat late in the game yesterday he expanded,
- 6:04Speaker 3: got to a three through count and hacked it breaking
- 6:07Speaker 3: ball out of the strike zone. And at times he
- 6:10Speaker 3: has given a very mediocre effort on his hard nineties
- 6:16Speaker 3: to first base. What do you think about that? You've
- 6:19Speaker 3: been a big fan of AX. I know you still are,
- 6:21Speaker 3: But are you seeing some of those same things?
- 6:24Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I see a lot of it, but I
- 6:26Speaker 2: think a lot of to see young player, and I
- 6:28Speaker 2: think there's a lot of mental things going on. And
- 6:32Speaker 2: I'm concerned about his shoulder. Okay, I think that's a
- 6:35Speaker 2: bigger story. Anytime he dies for a ball or still
- 6:39Speaker 2: slides head first in he gets up gingerly and you say, oh,
- 6:43Speaker 2: there goes Neto and it doesn't. But I also remember
- 6:46Speaker 2: him sitting next to Nevin, sitting next to Wash like
- 6:49Speaker 2: the sun looking up for the person, and I just
- 6:51Speaker 2: don't see that. And I'm kind of wondering about some
- 6:54Speaker 2: of the chemistry. And I don't know if it's all
- 6:56Speaker 2: the chemistry through Suzuk, but maybe the rest of the staff.
- 7:01Speaker 2: So you know what, I don't think there's any excuse
- 7:05Speaker 2: to not run like your back's on fire when you're
- 7:10Speaker 2: running at first. I think Hustle is great as the
- 7:12Speaker 2: kind of players I love. I kind of worry about him.
- 7:17Speaker 1: Yeah, I had never wanted to like criticize physical errors,
- 7:21Speaker 1: but to me, the effort on that play was really
- 7:24Speaker 1: kind of strange for Zach. I mean, it was a
- 7:26Speaker 1: lefty it, but he hit a pretty hard one to
- 7:29Speaker 1: two hopper. He had plenty of time to square his
- 7:32Speaker 1: body up and feel the ball, but he chose to
- 7:35Speaker 1: you know, sideswipe it and the ball goes right under
- 7:38Speaker 1: his club and Mark was that kind of an odd
- 7:40Speaker 1: way to feel that ball in that situation, especially with
- 7:43Speaker 1: a wet endfield. You know, it was raining most of
- 7:45Speaker 1: the night, and just seemed like a high risk approach
- 7:50Speaker 1: on that grounder.
- 7:52Speaker 3: Looked like he got caught on his heels. If I'm
- 7:54Speaker 3: being honest, I don't think a ball was hit very
- 7:56Speaker 3: hard either. It was a very makeable play. I don't
- 7:59Speaker 3: know if that's the case of maybe going for the
- 8:02Speaker 3: flashier version when just a stock, very boring approach. Now
- 8:08Speaker 3: he makes these fantastic plays as well. So the game
- 8:13Speaker 3: yesterday and again the timing. I'm sorry if I messed
- 8:17Speaker 3: this up, but Monday night's game was heavily delayed. It
- 8:21Speaker 3: started somewhere around nine to forty there so they were
- 8:26Speaker 3: playing I mean that was eleven forty at night or
- 8:29Speaker 3: something or later. It's but this is the major leagues too.
- 8:34Speaker 3: I know we got some criticism for not being clear
- 8:38Speaker 3: about who the Angels are facing as to who is
- 8:40Speaker 3: striking them.
- 8:41Speaker 2: Out.
- 8:42Speaker 3: But by the same token, they had to play late
- 8:44Speaker 3: last night. You have to face nasty pitchers, Dylan Cec
- 8:47Speaker 3: or otherwise. This is the major leagues. There are no excuses.
- 8:51Speaker 3: You have to strap up. You have to go get
- 8:52Speaker 3: it done. And Zach Netto and spring training to me,
- 8:56Speaker 3: a lot of talks about kind of this is his team,
- 8:59Speaker 3: he's the leader, a lot of smiles. You know, we're
- 9:02Speaker 3: year three four into this thing, and we kind of
- 9:05Speaker 3: got this. We know who we are. We just have
- 9:07Speaker 3: to be ourselves and play together. Is this playing together? Sterling?
- 9:12Speaker 2: No? And I think that he wears his heart on
- 9:15Speaker 2: his sleeve, and so that's what we can tell, is it?
- 9:19Speaker 2: You know? And as really as the Angels, you know,
- 9:21Speaker 2: they got Mike Trout and they got that. I'm concerned though.
- 9:27Speaker 2: You got guys who do a certain thing, and Netto
- 9:29Speaker 2: pulls the ball, okay, especially you give him a leadoff fastball,
- 9:33Speaker 2: he's gonna mash it. And now I think he's been
- 9:35Speaker 2: totally gonna walk more. And I don't know if that
- 9:38Speaker 2: interferes with his aggressiveness at the plate. But he still
- 9:42Speaker 2: struck out forty times, which is too much for a
- 9:45Speaker 2: leadoff hitter. And you know, I think that some of
- 9:48Speaker 2: the players, and I know we're shifting to Shanawell. You
- 9:51Speaker 2: got a guy who doesn't make hard contact but great
- 9:55Speaker 2: hand eye. I mean, stepped out of college into here
- 9:58Speaker 2: pretty much a couple of weeks, and now all we've
- 10:01Speaker 2: tried to do is increase his bat speed and make
- 10:02Speaker 2: him pull the ball. Well, that's not what he's going
- 10:05Speaker 2: to do. And it's the wrong thing to do to him.
- 10:08Speaker 2: So I worry about some of the direction with the
- 10:10Speaker 2: core because Mark, I think Shahana Well is part of
- 10:12Speaker 2: the core. I think Netto is, I think OHOPI, which
- 10:16Speaker 2: has been so well documented. But I heard on the
- 10:19Speaker 2: radio two nights ago, but Gooby's saying that he's now
- 10:23Speaker 2: an elite catcher and I don't know what game, what
- 10:28Speaker 2: game he is watching.
- 10:30Speaker 1: Yeah, that standard of elite may have been shifted down.
- 10:35Speaker 3: Fairly certain it was. That was a Peacock broadcast, probably,
- 10:39Speaker 3: and I think he was referring to throwing a couple
- 10:41Speaker 3: of runners out the night before. But the overall package
- 10:44Speaker 3: no elite is not not probably accurate. Yet Gooby is awesome.
- 10:50Speaker 3: You know, they're entitled to say whatever they please. I
- 10:54Speaker 3: know Roger Lodge had a tweet today with a lot
- 10:56Speaker 3: of exclamation marks, the you know, flush what's happened so
- 11:00Speaker 3: far and today's starts a new or whatever it said.
- 11:04Speaker 3: But to be honest that I'm not sure that that's
- 11:07Speaker 3: really You can't just flush what's happened.
- 11:10Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, we're gonna take a quick commercial break for
- 11:12Speaker 1: a word from our sponsors, and we're gonna hear from
- 11:15Speaker 1: more from Sterling Ball on his really interesting family background
- 11:19Speaker 1: and how he became an Angel's season ticket older many
- 11:22Speaker 1: years ago. We'll be right back with more Halo territory.
- 11:26Speaker 4: Todd Father, it's getting a little warm out. That means
- 11:29Speaker 4: let's hit some concerts, let's hit some baseball games. And
- 11:32Speaker 4: where am I gonna go to find those tickets? And
- 11:34Speaker 4: if you want to sing the answer, you can't.
- 11:36Speaker 5: We're going to seek hey, hey, listen. Ultimately, at the
- 11:39Speaker 5: end of the day, it is getting warmer and people
- 11:41Speaker 5: want to leave the house, and it's time to leave,
- 11:44Speaker 5: go see a ball game. I guess where you can
- 11:45Speaker 5: find the best tickets, best spots, best places to go seat.
- 11:49Speaker 5: Geeks got it all, man, They got their red and
- 11:52Speaker 5: their green signs, letting you know what's good in bed
- 11:54Speaker 5: all that good kind of stuff. They make it really
- 11:57Speaker 5: simple for you at the end of the day. For
- 11:58Speaker 5: a guy like me who's running and around, I just
- 12:01Speaker 5: need five minute bang bang bom.
- 12:02Speaker 1: I got my seat.
- 12:03Speaker 2: Yeah.
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- 12:05Speaker 4: so you know you're getting a good deal. And of
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- 12:23Speaker 4: you to seed Geek, MLB's official ticket marketplace.
- 12:28Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory. I Mike D. Giovanna
- 12:30Speaker 1: with Mark Trumbo and our guest is Sterling Ball, a
- 12:33Speaker 1: fifty year plus Angels fan. Before we get into your background, Sterling,
- 12:37Speaker 1: and I just want to ask you one more question
- 12:39Speaker 1: about sort of the current Angels and the contexts of
- 12:42Speaker 1: this last decade. You know, they're obviously off to another
- 12:44Speaker 1: rough start this year, but it's been a rough ten years.
- 12:48Speaker 1: Has this whole era of Angel baseball really tested your
- 12:52Speaker 1: faith in the franchise.
- 12:55Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to tried to figure out who else
- 12:57Speaker 2: to follow, and I'm just you know, I'm stuck with it.
- 13:01Speaker 2: You know, I've got but I really love the Angels
- 13:04Speaker 2: and I've followed for so long, and uh, I just yeah,
- 13:09Speaker 2: I mean, it's been a horrible ten years. But you know,
- 13:13Speaker 2: you have you have a situation where it doesn't surprise me.
- 13:16Speaker 2: You have an owner that won't communicate, you have a
- 13:19Speaker 2: general manager that's that seems almost punitive. I mean, and
- 13:24Speaker 2: I think that they if there's an Olympic sport for
- 13:26Speaker 2: shooting the messenger, you podcasters would be I mean, I'd
- 13:30Speaker 2: be careful. It might be an Olympic gold medal. But
- 13:34Speaker 2: I mean, why haven't you had Zach Netto on the show? Yeah,
- 13:38Speaker 2: come on, answer the tough questions.
- 13:41Speaker 1: We haven't had much cooperation in terms of getting guess
- 13:43Speaker 1: that's why did you.
- 13:45Speaker 2: Get me fruit baskets?
- 13:46Speaker 1: Did you get me fruit?
- 13:48Speaker 6: No?
- 13:48Speaker 1: Fruit baskets? No, nothing.
- 13:53Speaker 2: We are working on it. We are working on it.
- 13:55Speaker 3: It's a proba process, is what you say in things
- 13:59Speaker 3: like this, and uh, you know what on that piggybacking,
- 14:03Speaker 3: This would be about the time for a team meeting
- 14:05Speaker 3: after a loss like that. No, seriously, I mean, but
- 14:08Speaker 3: I do wonder who leads and he's gonna run it
- 14:11Speaker 3: out And it wasn't even answer. But if they're Kenley
- 14:15Speaker 3: Jansen probably would have been the guy last year. Yeah,
- 14:18Speaker 3: I don't know who it is this year?
- 14:19Speaker 1: Is it?
- 14:20Speaker 3: Is it a Dell?
- 14:21Speaker 2: Maybe Adele? I don't know.
- 14:22Speaker 1: Yeah, I would pick Joe Odell because you would normally
- 14:25Speaker 1: think Mike Trout would be the guy, but he's never
- 14:27Speaker 1: been that team meeting type of guy. Yeah, maybe Jodell.
- 14:30Speaker 1: I think he has the cachet and the gravitas to
- 14:33Speaker 1: sort of hold the room, and he's, you know, a
- 14:35Speaker 1: really good talker, and he gets pretty emotional. I don't know.
- 14:38Speaker 1: That would be my guess too. How about your sterling,
- 14:41Speaker 1: who do you want to leave the team meeting?
- 14:43Speaker 2: Bobby Canop.
- 14:46Speaker 1: Even better?
- 14:48Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I just here's a problem. They need the meeting,
- 14:52Speaker 2: but I think the meeting needs to be with the
- 14:54Speaker 2: coaching staff too. I think I'm thinking that there's a
- 14:58Speaker 2: lot of input going to sus and I think the
- 15:01Speaker 2: games sped out up, sped up on him a lot.
- 15:04Speaker 2: And I always hear about players talking about slowing the
- 15:06Speaker 2: game down. I'd kind of let him, let him make
- 15:10Speaker 2: his mistakes, but I have I just I'm not given
- 15:12Speaker 2: him the benefit of the doubt. But I know how
- 15:16Speaker 2: controlled the information and comments are with the Angels, and
- 15:20Speaker 2: it's not really my favorite thing. Yeah, I'll tell you
- 15:23Speaker 2: one thing. I'm in the middle of a three year boycott.
- 15:26Speaker 2: I haven't been to the stadium. It was very hard
- 15:29Speaker 2: for me to do. But I vote with my dollars. Wow,
- 15:35Speaker 2: and until Lady Cells, I'm going for years.
- 15:38Speaker 1: So you're you're gonna wait until Lady sell at this point?
- 15:40Speaker 1: Is that your your your bottom line?
- 15:44Speaker 2: Yeah? Or maybe decides that he's gonna let real baseball
- 15:47Speaker 2: people and not his buddies at the Billboard Company be
- 15:51Speaker 2: nupper management.
- 15:52Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's get a little bit hear a
- 15:55Speaker 1: little bit more about your background, uh sterling for those
- 15:58Speaker 1: who might not know your story, tell us a little
- 16:01Speaker 1: bit about your journey with Ernie Ball and how baseball
- 16:04Speaker 1: became such a big part of.
- 16:05Speaker 2: Your life, you know, Ernie Ball. I grew up in
- 16:07Speaker 2: a musical family. My great grandfather wrote when Iris Izer smiling.
- 16:11Speaker 2: My grandmother was a famous jazz pianist. For my dad
- 16:15Speaker 2: was the staff guitarist at Disney and several other things,
- 16:18Speaker 2: and he opened what was the first electric guitar store
- 16:21Speaker 2: in the world nineteen fifty three, broke and broke three times,
- 16:26Speaker 2: came up with guitar strings that people wanted to use.
- 16:29Speaker 2: Leo Fender wouldn't do it, none of the people. So
- 16:32Speaker 2: my dad came up with him. And he was a
- 16:35Speaker 2: serial entrepreneur. I was running the Cajus register of his
- 16:39Speaker 2: store at nine and it's all I ever wanted to do.
- 16:42Speaker 2: I took it over at twenty two. We had fourteen
- 16:44Speaker 2: employees and now we have six hundred and fifty here
- 16:48Speaker 2: in California and in one hundred and twenty countries. We've
- 16:52Speaker 2: made brand or sold three billion products. So I know
- 16:55Speaker 2: a little bit about branding and marketing.
- 17:01Speaker 3: Well, that's true. All of that is true, And your
- 17:06Speaker 3: biography is incredibly long. You are also in the Barbecue
- 17:10Speaker 3: Hall of Fame if I'm not correct or mistaken. So
- 17:16Speaker 3: it really is is ack of a lot to cover.
- 17:20Speaker 3: You talked about an interesting name for there's some crossover
- 17:24Speaker 3: appeal here. It's pretty obvious, or there should be, or
- 17:28Speaker 3: we hope there will be. But your season tickets, when
- 17:32Speaker 3: you first got those season tickets. You've talked about that
- 17:35Speaker 3: view being one of your favorites too. Did you get
- 17:37Speaker 3: those from somebody in particular that people might in the
- 17:40Speaker 3: music world especially would probably know the name?
- 17:43Speaker 2: No, okay, I did, a guy named Leo Fender. I
- 17:50Speaker 2: worked for Leo when I was twenty. I was a
- 17:53Speaker 2: beta tesker form. He had these great seats or in
- 17:56Speaker 2: the club level, about four seats away from where mister
- 18:00Speaker 2: O shot mister Nixon. I sat next to Jack Brennan,
- 18:03Speaker 2: who was Nixon's chief of staff, and I was a
- 18:07Speaker 2: long haired bass player. You probably can't till now, but uh,
- 18:11Speaker 2: and that I love that club level. I'll never forget
- 18:15Speaker 2: on that. I moved to San Luis Obispo, and so
- 18:19Speaker 2: I brought the Angels to San Luis Obispo, so I
- 18:22Speaker 2: wouldn't miss out. Well, I got Leo seats.
- 18:27Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome. There was an era Sterling, as we
- 18:30Speaker 1: all know, that was pretty darn good in Angel Baseball
- 18:32Speaker 1: World Series Champs and two they won was it? Five
- 18:37Speaker 1: division titles and six years from four to nine, one
- 18:41Speaker 1: again in fourteen, And there was a time when Ardi
- 18:44Speaker 1: Marino was not so reviled in Orange County. You know,
- 18:48Speaker 1: they they signed Bladdy Guerrero, Bartolo Cologne, Albert Poolholst, Josh Hamilton,
- 18:55Speaker 1: Anthony Rendo didn't work out so much. But what was
- 18:58Speaker 1: sort of a fan expectation throughout this period as already
- 19:01Speaker 1: as emptying the pocketbook and signing all these guys.
- 19:07Speaker 2: Well, it taught me that big contracts don't necessarily make
- 19:09Speaker 2: a team and the chemistry and if you look at
- 19:12Speaker 2: the really big contracts, they generally don't pay. But I
- 19:15Speaker 2: also realized that signing them to a big contract with
- 19:19Speaker 2: for ten years, when you know they're only going to
- 19:20Speaker 2: be good for five, he's a way of skirting some
- 19:23Speaker 2: of the labor issues. Okay, And same thing now with
- 19:26Speaker 2: the Furrals that I think that's bad for baseball, but
- 19:31Speaker 2: it's legal. I don't know if that answered your question right,
- 19:36Speaker 2: but I just you know, I see I see a
- 19:40Speaker 2: situation where there's no plan. You can't see what's the
- 19:44Speaker 2: Angels brand of baseball mark currently? Yeah?
- 19:51Speaker 3: With Socian, well, under Socia it was easily defined. It
- 19:56Speaker 3: was a hard nosed style. It was very aggressive on
- 19:59Speaker 3: the bay. There would be outs, there were trade offs,
- 20:03Speaker 3: but at the same time, especially it was obvious. I've
- 20:07Speaker 3: said it on the show before. But when I went
- 20:09Speaker 3: to other teams, when you played the Angels, you knew
- 20:12Speaker 3: that you had to bring it because they were going
- 20:14Speaker 3: to bring it. There was no doubt that the intensity
- 20:18Speaker 3: was going to be there, the effort was going to
- 20:19Speaker 3: be there. Didn't mean they were always going to win,
- 20:21Speaker 3: but you had to up your game to play them.
- 20:24Speaker 3: And in the last handful of years, it's hard to
- 20:28Speaker 3: really say. I think the offense is very one dimensional.
- 20:31Speaker 3: We've talked about it again this year. I was hoping
- 20:34Speaker 3: to see more dynamic approach meeting guys that and there's
- 20:40Speaker 3: been a few pros. Has been a bright spot. Fraser
- 20:42Speaker 3: has been a bright spot. Beyond that that, it's still
- 20:45Speaker 3: very reliant on the home runs. The strikeouts are leading
- 20:48Speaker 3: the league, and they are taking a lot more walks,
- 20:51Speaker 3: which is very intriguing to me.
- 20:52Speaker 1: That is nice.
- 20:53Speaker 3: But and when they do score runs, at least right now,
- 20:58Speaker 3: the pitching is giving up more so. Also concerning last night,
- 21:03Speaker 3: we're kind of bobbing around a little bit, but sil
- 21:05Speaker 3: Seth has not thrown two games in a row, sir,
- 21:07Speaker 3: And he was a guy that in one of these
- 21:10Speaker 3: two games. I mean, he's one of their best arms.
- 21:13Speaker 3: He didn't make an appearance at all. Is that something
- 21:15Speaker 3: that is somewhat intriguing concerning.
- 21:19Speaker 2: Well, if there was more information, I can answer that.
- 21:21Speaker 2: So I'm loved to guess. So I got to put
- 21:24Speaker 2: my kevlar coat on. But I worry about sil Seth
- 21:26Speaker 2: and Bachman with being overuse and their injury history and
- 21:31Speaker 2: what they were over using sil South in my opinion
- 21:34Speaker 2: at the beginning, because they have a tendency to ride
- 21:37Speaker 2: the pack horse until it's debt. I think one of
- 21:40Speaker 2: the biggest problems Mark is I don't judge the Angels
- 21:42Speaker 2: on sweeping the Dodgers last year six times. I judge
- 21:46Speaker 2: him on their record against Kansas City, who had terrible
- 21:49Speaker 2: record going into this, and then Seattle. We're not mashing
- 21:53Speaker 2: the teams. If we think we're really good and think
- 21:56Speaker 2: we're better than them, there's one clear way to find out.
- 21:58Speaker 2: You got to beat them, and you have. You got
- 22:01Speaker 2: to be able to close the door on a game.
- 22:03Speaker 2: You gotta you know, you gotta be able to feel good.
- 22:06Speaker 2: I don't turn off those routes because I know that
- 22:09Speaker 2: they might lose.
- 22:12Speaker 3: Unfortunately, that's a real possibility. Last time, who's the Who's
- 22:16Speaker 3: the closer and Samlin was the name I threw in there.
- 22:21Speaker 3: It hasn't aged so well. The answer now is I
- 22:25Speaker 3: have no clue and maybe it's not that important. It
- 22:29Speaker 3: could be anybody, so I would like to retract my answer.
- 22:33Speaker 3: I still have some hope for him, but I I
- 22:36Speaker 3: I have no clue, and you know what I Kurt, Well,
- 22:39Speaker 3: fortunately they will have Soriano going tonight. He uh will
- 22:44Speaker 3: probably do his normal hopefully eight innings of nothing and
- 22:49Speaker 3: maybe leave one inning up to the bullpen. But I'm
- 22:52Speaker 3: not envious of the position Kurt is in right now
- 22:54Speaker 3: because anyone would be gun shy calling down and having
- 22:59Speaker 3: to answer the music after the game, whatever music that is.
- 23:03Speaker 1: But uh, it is.
- 23:05Speaker 2: It is tough. Can I ask you there? Sure you got?
- 23:09Speaker 2: You got? You got a situation where you're you're riding
- 23:14Speaker 2: these horses and then they collapse and there's nobody there.
- 23:16Speaker 2: But I don't know, I'm kind of kind of losing
- 23:20Speaker 2: my way here. But I just watch this. I just
- 23:24Speaker 2: watch his team, and I think that they don't have
- 23:26Speaker 2: a brand, they don't have an identity, they don't have
- 23:28Speaker 2: a style. You know, I think about that we are
- 23:32Speaker 2: family bi Originally I think over the years, all these
- 23:34Speaker 2: people that had team chemistry that was really great and
- 23:37Speaker 2: a real defined harden Knows way of playing. That's what
- 23:40Speaker 2: I hope happens with the Angels.
- 23:42Speaker 1: Did that change Sterling when Mike's Social left, because right
- 23:46Speaker 1: around the time Social, it was a year overlap, but
- 23:50Speaker 1: Social leaves after twenty eighteen. That was the year they
- 23:53Speaker 1: signed Showhi Otani, you know, and they have Otani and Trout.
- 23:57Speaker 1: Trout at the time was still Mike Trout. And you
- 24:00Speaker 1: would have thought, and at that point there was only
- 24:02Speaker 1: a four or five year playoff Drout, you would have
- 24:07Speaker 1: thought we would have turned around. Then. Did that change
- 24:10Speaker 1: the vibe and how did that sort of just deteriorate?
- 24:14Speaker 2: Well, what are you talking about? Shoe Antoni didn't play
- 24:17Speaker 2: for us. I saw the sixty year video that they
- 24:22Speaker 2: left him out of.
- 24:23Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sorry, No, it's not.
- 24:26Speaker 2: It comes down to the pettiness, ownerships, in the vindictive nature.
- 24:30Speaker 2: They can't touch me. I'm fine. I saw guitar strings
- 24:33Speaker 2: and barbecue sauce. But I think that it's a big,
- 24:37Speaker 2: big problem.
- 24:38Speaker 6: This episode is brought to you by fan Duel Baseball Fans.
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- 25:38Speaker 3: This is one of the unique things, and I will
- 25:39Speaker 3: ask Sterling because he's way more qualified as a business
- 25:43Speaker 3: owner of a large company with employees and brand in
- 25:47Speaker 3: and marketing, and no doubt over the years there's probably
- 25:50Speaker 3: been a few things that have pr wise not been awesome.
- 25:55Speaker 3: That's inevitable with any company, but it's how you handle them.
- 25:59Speaker 3: It's how you handle conflict, it's how you handle dealing
- 26:02Speaker 3: with people that you may not always enjoy dealing with.
- 26:05Speaker 3: But to answer your question earlier as to why Zach
- 26:09Speaker 3: Netto and other current players, it's quite obvious they would
- 26:12Speaker 3: like to handle it in house. They have their own
- 26:14Speaker 3: podcast that comes out I don't know if that's monthly
- 26:18Speaker 3: or whatever, with you know, it's well produced. Trent Rush
- 26:21Speaker 3: is hosting it, and that's fine. But as far as
- 26:24Speaker 3: other networks, entities like us kind of out in the cold,
- 26:29Speaker 3: unique because I see a lot of other similar shows
- 26:32Speaker 3: getting that kind of access and.
- 26:35Speaker 2: It's their prerogative.
- 26:36Speaker 3: They can do whatever they want. I've tried to say,
- 26:38Speaker 3: I think we could be a vehicle for good for
- 26:41Speaker 3: them as well, But as we are aiming to be
- 26:45Speaker 3: at least neutral coverage, we have to call it like
- 26:47Speaker 3: we see it, and as we see it currently not
- 26:51Speaker 3: so great.
- 26:53Speaker 2: Well, it's terrible. Let me tell you what they did.
- 26:56Speaker 2: I think you know he came in Baseball's Easy, bringing
- 26:59Speaker 2: in his book Buddies, and let's try I call the
- 27:01Speaker 2: Billboard Book Club. They get together, it's kind of going
- 27:04Speaker 2: their man cave, and boy, this baseball is easy, and
- 27:07Speaker 2: we don't need Eddie Bain and we don't need Stoneman,
- 27:09Speaker 2: and we could just do this. We'll just get Bolls
- 27:11Speaker 2: a lot of money and we'll give hey Josh Hamilton,
- 27:13Speaker 2: forget about his background. Well, we'll sign a lot of
- 27:16Speaker 2: guys that had one good year, which we did with Stevenson,
- 27:19Speaker 2: which I kind of liked, but unfortunately it didn't work out.
- 27:22Speaker 2: But now they look at say we could sign this
- 27:25Speaker 2: guy for fifty million, where we could buy ten containers
- 27:29Speaker 2: of babbleheads, and their attendance goes up fifteen thousand dollars
- 27:33Speaker 2: fifteen thousand seats on a babblehead night on the weekend,
- 27:37Speaker 2: fifteen thousand. That's putting butts in the seats. But to me,
- 27:41Speaker 2: it doesn't do anything towards growing a sustainable brand as
- 27:46Speaker 2: a baseball team. So they're really distributors of babbleheads. It
- 27:50Speaker 2: works out financially better than signing somebody.
- 27:55Speaker 1: How much is it go ahead?
- 27:57Speaker 3: How?
- 27:58Speaker 2: I mean? I was asking you? Good? Great?
- 28:01Speaker 3: Actually, I asked Stirling, I believe the other night, would
- 28:04Speaker 3: you rather have an abysmal major league team and a
- 28:08Speaker 3: strong farm system, or a very weak farm system and
- 28:14Speaker 3: a below average big league team that just passes the
- 28:18Speaker 3: sniff test enough to get your customers in the seats.
- 28:23Speaker 3: And I think that that's kind of the dilemma the
- 28:26Speaker 3: farm system. It may be actually stronger. The rankings are subjective.
- 28:29Speaker 3: A lot of people disagree, and we might have a
- 28:31Speaker 3: stronger farm and it might with the mid season rankings
- 28:34Speaker 3: that could improve, and it probably will improve. How much
- 28:37Speaker 3: so I'm not sure, but there are some pictures that
- 28:40Speaker 3: are that are doing quite well as far as the
- 28:42Speaker 3: hitting side, slim pickings especially. Yeah, and you know, the
- 28:48Speaker 3: depth is what Sam has. And Sam's predictions were very
- 28:53Speaker 3: low as far as wind total, and people said he
- 28:56Speaker 3: was out of his mind, and even I thought six
- 29:00Speaker 3: it was I don't know if it was low sixties
- 29:01Speaker 3: or mid sixties, sixty five it was. That's that is
- 29:05Speaker 3: awfully low. I think that they're still going to get
- 29:08Speaker 3: it together a little bit. But unfortunately, this team is
- 29:11Speaker 3: really looking like, as we said last episode, the August
- 29:15Speaker 3: September versions of the last five years.
- 29:17Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's really terrifying, but I just think
- 29:23Speaker 2: it's I think the organization. It's so hard to beat
- 29:26Speaker 2: to been in business a long time. You talked about
- 29:31Speaker 2: facing pr the one roll of prs. You tell the truth,
- 29:34Speaker 2: you don't hide, Okay, especially you're talking with journalist Mike.
- 29:38Speaker 2: You can tell people a mile away when they're bs
- 29:40Speaker 2: and you right giving you one. Yeah, you have to.
- 29:45Speaker 2: You have to as a leader, stand up, put your
- 29:48Speaker 2: shoulders back and say I got your bag, guys, And
- 29:52Speaker 2: it's really important. And I saw Suzuki the other night
- 29:55Speaker 2: and you use the picture with his head like this. Absolutely,
- 29:59Speaker 2: a leader never does that. Okay. I've seen some of
- 30:03Speaker 2: the coaching staff look down when somebody struck out. It's
- 30:07Speaker 2: just not good. There's cameras everywhere now, and I just
- 30:13Speaker 2: believe you get You've got to show that there's some
- 30:15Speaker 2: confidence in here and some trust, and it starts at
- 30:18Speaker 2: the top. They're not very open. I watched for fun
- 30:22Speaker 2: today Perry's end of the season press conference last night.
- 30:27Speaker 2: I mean this morning in it, it's horrible, and you
- 30:30Speaker 2: guys teed off on him for one in the spring
- 30:33Speaker 2: training and one at the end of the season. It's terrible,
- 30:35Speaker 2: but realize he told us several times that he has
- 30:39Speaker 2: the money to compete, the budgets compete. I think that
- 30:42Speaker 2: was disingenuine at dust.
- 30:45Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, well yeah, that's but you got him on
- 30:51Speaker 1: the last year and you got Suzuki.
- 30:53Speaker 2: If you're not going to pay for a real big
- 30:55Speaker 2: league manager, I think it's fine developing somebody like Suzuki,
- 30:58Speaker 2: as I've already said, but give him a chance to
- 31:01Speaker 2: make some mistakes, because you will give me a chance
- 31:04Speaker 2: to find his brand and let him own his own decisions. Yeah.
- 31:09Speaker 1: Well, let's close the show with this question. And you're
- 31:12Speaker 1: an interesting guy to ask you. You know, one of Arty's
- 31:15Speaker 1: big things over the last ten years is just flat
- 31:18Speaker 1: out refusal, for lack of a better word, to tank
- 31:23Speaker 1: to tear it all down, start from scratch. He's always
- 31:27Speaker 1: hammin egging it. You know, all these reclamation projects for
- 31:30Speaker 1: three million, for five million, some even more expensive. He
- 31:34Speaker 1: hasn't been able to really build a franchise. You're as
- 31:38Speaker 1: long as you're a five decade fan, would you be
- 31:42Speaker 1: willing to tolerate three straight one hundred lost seasons for
- 31:47Speaker 1: like the Astros? Did you know fifteen sixteen years ago,
- 31:50Speaker 1: like some teams have done. The Orioles a couple of
- 31:53Speaker 1: years ago, would you have been as a longtime fan,
- 31:56Speaker 1: as hardcore a fan as there is, would you have
- 31:58Speaker 1: been willing to tolerate that?
- 32:00Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, But you've got to understand the curse and
- 32:03Speaker 2: why he hasn't really been able to do that is
- 32:06Speaker 2: the Mike Crout contract right away, and before that, the rendon.
- 32:10Speaker 2: When you've got seventy some million and two players, it's hard.
- 32:15Speaker 2: What are you going to do? So you get struck
- 32:18Speaker 2: in ARTI's actually paid decent payroll. It's just been stupid.
- 32:24Speaker 2: You know, it's not an efficient spin. It's a short start. Okay.
- 32:32Speaker 3: It's interesting because some of the things that might seem
- 32:36Speaker 3: logical locking up Jose Soriano zach netto some of these guys,
- 32:41Speaker 3: that is not. I mean, teams are doing it left
- 32:45Speaker 3: and right. They're locking up their young players, they're locking
- 32:48Speaker 3: up guys they don't have any major league service time.
- 32:51Speaker 3: Some of these guys are in Double A, so they're
- 32:53Speaker 3: obviously very confident or somewhat confident. I'm gonna say very
- 32:59Speaker 3: to do it with a guy in double A. But
- 33:01Speaker 3: they must have the analytics and the modeling to really
- 33:04Speaker 3: say with a level of certainty that this guy is
- 33:07Speaker 3: going to be a stud and we're going to get
- 33:10Speaker 3: that's the trade off. You're going to get some value there.
- 33:13Speaker 3: The player will have to give up some money, how
- 33:17Speaker 3: much you know, Sometimes it's unfortunately. Albe's contract is very crooked.
- 33:22Speaker 3: That's a player that signed a deal that has not aged.
- 33:26Speaker 3: I mean he at times, I think it was thirty
- 33:29Speaker 3: five million dollars total. Bumgarner had a deal that was
- 33:33Speaker 3: well undervalue. Goldsmith I believe, did too. Plenty of examples
- 33:36Speaker 3: of that. It seems like the models have kind of
- 33:38Speaker 3: all shifted. But now what's very trendy is locking up
- 33:42Speaker 3: a guy like Zachnetto in his first year to eight
- 33:45Speaker 3: nine years, and they didn't do that. It looks like
- 33:48Speaker 3: maybe he's headed to free agency the Otani route. So
- 33:54Speaker 3: it just seems like that if they're not going to
- 33:57Speaker 3: sign the big contracts the albatross ones reference Rendon and others,
- 34:01Speaker 3: and they're not going to lock up the young players,
- 34:03Speaker 3: and what are they doing?
- 34:05Speaker 1: Yeah, to me, it's an indication that already is not
- 34:07Speaker 1: in this for the long haul. And if you're not
- 34:09Speaker 1: in it for the long haul, get the heck out
- 34:11Speaker 1: sell the team, you know, I mean, he's not he
- 34:15Speaker 1: doesn't seem committed to doing what's necessary to turn this
- 34:18Speaker 1: franchise around. And that's fine. You know, he's eighty years old,
- 34:21Speaker 1: he's had a pretty good run up until the last
- 34:23Speaker 1: ten years. Sell the team, let somebody else try it.
- 34:27Speaker 1: Is that sort of the sentiment right now of ninety
- 34:29Speaker 1: nine percent of the fan base thrilling.
- 34:32Speaker 2: If you didn't sign jack netto the first year, you're
- 34:35Speaker 2: probably not gonna sign him now. And this is what's
- 34:38Speaker 2: gonna this is gonna get a lot of bad comments.
- 34:40Speaker 2: But I would trade jack netto now next Jay. I
- 34:43Speaker 2: absolutely would, and he's my favorite player. But but you
- 34:47Speaker 2: know what, he's not enough, and he's not gonna sign
- 34:51Speaker 2: and we're gonna hold on to him stubbornly and not
- 34:54Speaker 2: get anybody.
- 34:55Speaker 1: Just like we did.
- 34:56Speaker 2: Joe. Hey, I think that was bad. I mean I
- 35:00Speaker 2: think to pile on already. I mean, you made a
- 35:03Speaker 2: deal to get ring Griefo. We could have bodjis now.
- 35:06Speaker 2: I was in three fifths part of the deal, and
- 35:09Speaker 2: and you know we would have strippling and Jock before
- 35:12Speaker 2: you discovered ice cream marketing.
- 35:16Speaker 1: Closing thoughts, I.
- 35:21Speaker 3: Didn't see that one coming, but I'm not surprised either.
- 35:24Speaker 2: I don't know.
- 35:25Speaker 3: The thing is, obviously this episode is going to have
- 35:30Speaker 3: the tone that has been established. But for Claire Stir,
- 35:34Speaker 3: you are you are somewhat of an eternal optimist at
- 35:36Speaker 3: the same time you and I'm somewhere I'm not. I mean,
- 35:42Speaker 3: I played. I have a very different background, so I
- 35:45Speaker 3: don't watch it from the same lens you do, although
- 35:47Speaker 3: I did grow up rooting for this team, so there's
- 35:50Speaker 3: some of that in there as well. And I think
- 35:53Speaker 3: at times can be more cynical, but you, you will
- 35:55Speaker 3: always say the best in things. You uh tend you
- 35:59Speaker 3: ride the highs and then you handle the lows better
- 36:02Speaker 3: than some.
- 36:03Speaker 1: One in particular.
- 36:05Speaker 3: But on X but the fans, it's just I'm glad
- 36:12Speaker 3: I don't have to endure that nightly if some of
- 36:14Speaker 3: this stuff is just and I'm falling for it, you know,
- 36:17Speaker 3: blown out of proportion with the responses. But I do
- 36:21Speaker 3: think a fair amount of these people live and die
- 36:23Speaker 3: with this ball club, and it might be a lot
- 36:26Speaker 3: better suited rooting for the team across the fifty seven
- 36:29Speaker 3: Freeway if they're looking for more stability or you know,
- 36:33Speaker 3: more happiness. I don't know, Stralia, have you noticed what
- 36:35Speaker 3: the Ducks are doing at all.
- 36:37Speaker 2: Yeah, the Ducks are building a community center that we
- 36:40Speaker 2: should have had. We screwed up. That affects the value
- 36:44Speaker 2: when ourty selves the development, the ansulary development around greeting
- 36:48Speaker 2: a community hub is gone. The Ducks beat us to it.
- 36:52Speaker 2: That really bothers me from a business standpoint. And the stadium,
- 36:56Speaker 2: I mean, stay out of I'll don't buy a hot
- 36:59Speaker 2: dog four fourteen right now. I mean the stadium is
- 37:04Speaker 2: a wreck. They don't get along with Anaheim, So I
- 37:07Speaker 2: fear they're gonna move. I feel that somebody's gonna buy
- 37:09Speaker 2: them and say, well, I got to go where I
- 37:11Speaker 2: can build this area like the Braves did in the
- 37:15Speaker 2: different people. So wow, you know, I am the cup
- 37:18Speaker 2: is full because I believe there's something to build on.
- 37:21Speaker 2: Where would that go Nashville?
- 37:28Speaker 1: And Nashville's probably gonna get an expansion team. I don't
- 37:32Speaker 1: one hundred percent disagree with you on that, Sterling, but
- 37:34Speaker 1: I think a new owner is gonna have plenty of
- 37:36Speaker 1: options to build, whether it's a new stadium on that site,
- 37:39Speaker 1: because it's still a great site for a stadium when
- 37:42Speaker 1: you consider how many people drive to the park. There
- 37:44Speaker 1: might be other sites in Orange County, but you're still
- 37:47Speaker 1: talking about the number two market in the country. Yes,
- 37:51Speaker 1: the Dodgers are a shadow over everything the Angels are
- 37:55Speaker 1: doing right now, but that may not last forever. And
- 37:58Speaker 1: I just think, you know, you have a fan base.
- 38:01Speaker 1: I think it's dormant right now. I sense the frustration
- 38:04Speaker 1: among fans we saw in two thousand and two, that
- 38:07Speaker 1: whole decade after two thousand and two, how you know
- 38:10Speaker 1: they were drawn. They were out drawing the Dodgers some years, Sterling,
- 38:14Speaker 1: And I don't think it would take a lot for
- 38:17Speaker 1: them to return to that level, do you.
- 38:20Speaker 2: No, no question? But what is Los Angeles teams? Sterling?
- 38:24Speaker 2: Is this a Los Angeles team? No, it's not that.
- 38:27Speaker 2: That's so insulting to me. We're Anaheim, Okay or California Angels.
- 38:32Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's what I followed. No, I think
- 38:36Speaker 2: that we need to get back to our identity. You know,
- 38:38Speaker 2: you always think that when Disney sold and the guy
- 38:40Speaker 2: came in and he lowered beer prices side pool, yeah
- 38:44Speaker 2: we got it, and then kind I don't feel that
- 38:48Speaker 2: same way about it. And now so I don't think
- 38:50Speaker 2: there's development opportunity in the ballpark and I think that's critical,
- 38:54Speaker 2: and I think you do have to build a ballpark.
- 38:57Speaker 2: I went with a good friend of mine who took
- 38:58Speaker 2: me to the golfing in the stadium names Mark Trumbo,
- 39:03Speaker 2: and I won't comment because I don't want to give
- 39:05Speaker 2: them Mark in trouble. We kept looking up in the
- 39:08Speaker 2: off season and empty stadium, and I got worried about
- 39:12Speaker 2: going up to the top. Last thing I'll say I was.
- 39:15Speaker 2: I was in the stands for eighty six eighty six.
- 39:18Speaker 2: I was on the club level. The stadium was bouncing
- 39:21Speaker 2: more than anything I've ever felt. It was the most
- 39:23Speaker 2: exciting I could ever imagine being a baseball player. And
- 39:27Speaker 2: then Donny Moore gave it up. And there's no bigger
- 39:30Speaker 2: gut punch I'll ever have in sports than that. But
- 39:34Speaker 2: I was worried about that stadium holding up. Now I
- 39:36Speaker 2: think I like the stadium's a joke.
- 39:38Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well we're gonna end on that note,
- 39:41Speaker 1: not exactly a high note. But thanks for tuning in today,
- 39:44Speaker 1: Sterling Ball. A pleasure to meet you and to have
- 39:47Speaker 1: you on the show. Mark Trumpo, thanks for joining us
- 39:50Speaker 1: as usual. Please like and subscribe and we will see
- 39:53Speaker 1: you next time on Halo territory,