Latest / Then and Now with Coach Z / Ep. 014 | Emilie Brockman & Alex Rich | Then & Now

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Ep. 014 | Emilie Brockman & Alex Rich | Then & Now · Then and Now with Coach Z

0:00
Well, good morning. Another session of the then and
0:04
the now. And before we get started with
0:06
the then and the now, I just want to have a couple shout
0:09
outs. I have a shout out.
0:10
I have, I have 3 grandkids who are in college now, so I want to
0:14
have a shout out to all of them and remind them that they're in
0:17
college. Have fun.
0:19
But you're supposed to study also.
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So Annie and Will and Luke take heed.
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Study and then have fun too. Also, I have a shout out to a
0:31
little spady turtle. You can see the spady turtle
0:34
over here. He's now in the 6th grade.
0:36
I went and watched him play last night, Jack Goldenberg and Jack
0:40
hit a it's Laurie's son. He hit a triple.
0:44
He should have had a home run, but they held him up at third
0:46
base, which was fine. But he really, and he was so
0:48
happy and so proud. He kind of looked at me like how
0:50
was it coach? You know, I was sitting in the
0:52
stands, but I love it. And then also Sue's two
0:57
grandkids were there last night at the game.
0:59
One of them was playing Braden. He's a catcher, did a good job,
1:02
started and then his granddaughter, who's a
1:05
tremendous gymnast. But there, she's really what
1:07
they call the cheer. She does a cheer, but she's
1:10
really good and she's a handful. I mean, she was all over that
1:14
ballpark last night. I mean, I didn't know what she
1:17
was doing, but she was having a lot of fun.
1:19
I want to have a shout out to Jackie Smith.
1:21
He's going to be on my show in a couple weeks and Jackie on
1:24
September 23rd. They're having a This is Your
1:26
Life at CBC. It's a big deal.
1:29
And a Danny Mack is going to be the master of ceremonies.
1:33
I'm so happy to Dan Mclaughlin's back in the scene.
1:36
He's a great guy, great guy. And now I'm going to introduce
1:40
my guests here, right over here. This gal right here, I know her
1:45
pretty well. That's Emily Brockman and her
1:47
friend. OK, Alex, the good man.
1:51
Alex, the good man, the good man who's also a baseball, very good
1:57
baseball coach and was a good player.
1:59
And so before we get started, I want to I have a surprise for
2:03
Alex. You want to bring the surprise
2:05
on for him. My God, is somebody going to pop
2:08
out of a box? There's.
2:09
There's going to be a surprise for you pretty soon, right on
2:11
that screen. Guy wants to say hi to you.
2:14
Oh. Man, who do we get?
2:19
Hey, coach Butler are. You kidding me?
2:21
How about this? I got a call from Ron last night
2:27
and I said, well wait a minute, I knew yeah, Alex when he was a
2:31
lot younger and not as famous as he is today.
2:35
Oh, my God. Hardly.
2:36
Are you kidding me? Bob Bunton.
2:38
Coach Bunton is a legend. This is.
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Yes, this is. This is like a surprise that I
2:44
would have never even like. This is great.
2:46
How are you? I'm doing well and retired and
2:51
like Ron, following the grandkids around now.
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There you get. You don't look.
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You look exactly the same as you always have.
2:58
That's not good. Hey, coach.
3:02
Hey, coach, do you remember? And this is no baloney, Coach
3:05
Bunton and his brother. Which one?
3:08
Not both your brothers. Was it?
3:09
Was it Billy who came down to creef core when we when we used
3:12
to have the camps and you guys work for me years ago.
3:15
Oh yeah. High school got and and and and
3:19
Silvestri, he was one of our pet Steven the cop, Steven the cow
3:24
rat. He was down there helping us.
3:26
And then we had two really, two really real solid guys who
3:29
remember Burchfield and Schumer and that.
3:35
And then we had kids. Those kids paid attention,
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that's for sure. And.
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Then that that that mall kid he was.
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Remember him? Howie Mall?
3:44
He used to chase the balls in the Creek.
3:46
Well, Howie was he was a catcher for us and well at at Parkway N
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but in Creve Coeur Legion too. And Oh yeah, Howie's a a good
3:56
friend still today. Now.
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I'll tell you what. Go ahead.
4:00
There weren't coaches. I don't think there's coaches
4:03
now that like people respected. Like I think back when I was in
4:08
high school playing and you thought about Coach Bunton,
4:12
there was like an ultimate level of respect for you, for sure.
4:16
I mean, I'll never forget that. I was freshman year, the first
4:20
game I ever got called up to varsity.
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It was the John Burrows game. I'll never forget because now I
4:25
drive past John Burrows and I'm like, it's the first time I ever
4:28
got called up to varsity. And when, when coach Bunton
4:33
would make that call would be like you, you felt that level of
4:37
like if you made it like you, if, if you got your approval on
4:42
the ball field or on the football field or whatever, you
4:44
felt like that was the ultimate level of of approval.
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And I don't think that, you know, there's not many in in my
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mind, high school coaches that exist like that, where you set
4:54
up a program where it's just like this is how it's done.
4:58
It's it's professional. It's, it's done the right way,
5:01
but at the end of the day, you're you're going to have a
5:03
good time, you're going to learn and you're going to you're going
5:05
to have respect for the game. Well, coach, my goodness, Coach
5:09
Bunton when he was coaching, I mean, what the heck think of the
5:12
guys in baseball you, you have Bob Swift and Lee Ingert and
5:17
Leroy Ingert. Those guys were, you know, my
5:20
role models. Well, Bobby Swift, I used to
5:23
work summer camps out at Baldwin with him and oh gosh, I mean, he
5:30
was the one he came in at Lafayette and won what, one or
5:33
two state championships right away?
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I. Think he won five all together
5:37
Coach. Well, OK, you know, And then
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Bob, I think, opened up Marquette.
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He became the first baseball coach at Marquette, too.
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He sure did. You know that that's the fun
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thing. You know, Alex, I appreciate the
5:50
words, but when you do something that you really enjoy, I mean,
5:57
personally, I thought the kids in well, just say Parkway North
6:01
because that's the only place I was at, gave me a lot more than
6:05
I gave in return. And I mean that it was fun.
6:07
That was something that I truly loved, and I enjoy this.
6:13
When Ron called and said, hey, come on, you.
6:15
Heck yeah. In fact, we're setting up a
6:16
football reunion next week. I'm going to meet with about
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sixty former guys at a North game.
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And that truly is what it's all about.
6:25
So thank you. But when you're living your
6:27
dream, man, you don't even think about that stuff.
6:30
It's just like. That's fun.
6:31
Coach, didn't you follow Denny? Stop.
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Did you follow him or you sure did?
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Yeah. Oh, I in fact, I played for
6:38
coach on his my senior year was his first year at North.
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He got hired north and then, yeah, I was his assistant for 18
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years and then took over for him.
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Great. Well, listen, coach, I'm going
6:53
to have you and your dad, your your wonderful dad and you can
6:56
bring one of those brothers. Maybe you know, I have to wait
7:01
and see if we want them on if you.
7:02
Want your? If you want your ratings to go
7:04
up, man, don't bring them on. I know.
7:07
So listen, here's what we're going to do.
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We're going to we're going to now sign off and talk about the
7:11
Maccabi game. And this is my daughter Emily
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over here. She's in.
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Emily, how are you? Good.
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How are you? I've heard so much about you.
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Oh, we, we go way back with your dad and umpiring my Legion games
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and all that. Oh gosh, we got some stories.
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Boy, do we. And you know, you know who else?
7:31
The guy who went down to southwest Missouri and had a
7:34
tremendous career. You know what I'm talking about?
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Keith Gutton. He wants to come on my show, but
7:40
he's going to have to wait. You're coming ahead of him.
7:42
Well, that would be, I'll tell you what.
7:45
Yeah, that could be a long show. Keith's what?
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A what? A job He did it, you know,
7:49
Missouri State. Oh, look at the guys.
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He's put Howard, Howard in the big leagues.
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A couple other guys, absolutely so.
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He's a Youth City grad. He's he's your alma mater.
8:02
He is a youth city grad and and he claims he played over there.
8:05
Did he play? Yeah, he played, yeah.
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I know we did. I'm just kidding.
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I was going to say he was second baseman.
8:12
Yeah, he was my first Legion coach.
8:13
Grief Corp. You know, and we'll sign off on
8:16
this coach, you know, he was, I can remember this day vividly.
8:20
I was up. I remember that you used to have
8:21
that 4th of July tournament. Oh yeah.
8:24
And Keith was Keith was a a coaching that Legion club, that
8:27
Creef court Club. And that's the day that his his
8:29
dad had that heart attack in the standard passed away.
8:32
Yeah, right at the game. Right there at the top of the
8:34
bleachers, that ball went. Sure did.
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Yeah, I was there. I was there horrendous and and
8:39
and then there was another bad member, Jack Wells, don't you?
8:43
Yes. He pretty good coach too when he
8:45
coach. I would think so, yeah.
8:47
Yeah, he started a few programs. Yeah, that's right.
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And we and I, and I don't want to hurt this guy's feelings
8:54
because you were a great baseball coach, but we have to
8:56
throw Sigler's name in there. We don't want to, but we will.
8:58
But we'll give Mike a shot. No, Absolutely.
9:02
Yeah. Mike was legendary, no doubt.
9:06
Yeah, well. It's good to see you, Congrats.
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I did follow Co of Ron said Maccabi Games and so I looked it
9:13
up. What what What place did you get
9:16
a bronze? Medal We got ourselves a bronze
9:18
medal this year, 1st, 1st, 1st St.
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Louis Maccabi Baseball medal in quite some time.
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So this year I think we won more games that look coaching, maybe
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not necessarily like it is, it's not necessarily my Forte, but
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the kids have a great time. We got a couple wins and we came
9:36
home with the medal. So but I'm I'm we got to link
9:41
up. We have to, you know, come out,
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see a show your some of your kids come out.
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Every once in a while I'm out there playing.
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I play a little guitar out at Coddle Village now.
9:50
Every once in a while some Parkway N guys are running that
9:54
out there. You got to come on out.
9:56
No, I I would be glad to. Yeah, yeah.
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Great to Congrats. And thank you for having me on
10:03
way to go. I appreciate it.
10:05
Yeah, thank you. Good to see you, Coach.
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It's always great to see you. And we go back to it's really
10:10
amazing this guy here, this icon, he was a counselor with
10:15
the young kids when you were in high school working with these
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little kids. And that's where it all starts.
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And what a great job you've done you And how about in the
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Colorado St. Louis?
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You, my goodness, what he did there.
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And what a what a great person too.
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Oh boy. Yes, so are you.
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We'll see you soon, OK? Guys, thank you very much.
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Bye, see you soon. Thanks for coming on, Bob.
10:38
That's a great surprise right there.
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I would never guess. I mean you, you.
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What else you got up your sleeve?
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I'm nervous. No kidding.
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Well, he. Was.
10:45
Well, we're on the air right now, so we're going to talk
10:47
about right now, right now. OK, so a good friend of mine
10:52
just on his shirt here, he he does this, his name is David
10:57
Thompson. He just does some unbelievable
10:59
stuff for Special Olympics and that that one over there.
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They still allow me to come to that school and sub.
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You know, that's a spady turtles.
11:08
That's where you start if you're they have family.
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See, so when I was there last year, I was in that family.
11:14
So I had the orange shirt. They need Subs that bad.
11:17
Yes, they do. And that over here, over here,
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this is this is what this is what it's all about.
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Today we're going to talk about the Maccabi Games of 2026 and my
11:28
daughter Emily over here. Here's my question for you.
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And I want you to be as specific.
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And you're right to the point. Tell me, Emily, from the time
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right now until next year for the 2027 Maccabi Games, tell me
11:43
just exactly what you have to start doing right now in
11:46
preparation for the whole next year.
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To me it seems like it's mind boggling with travel and go go
11:51
ahead. Well, in a nutshell, I mean, we
11:54
just have to recruit, recruit, recruit.
11:57
So once this show's over, we're going to show everybody what
12:01
Maccabi is. So advertising, going into
12:05
synagogues to tell them about the program, actually bringing
12:10
our coaches hopefully this year and bringing other athletes that
12:14
have participated to show other teens how amazing it is.
12:19
So the recruitment goes through, I would say January, we do info
12:25
meetings. I mean, we start with, I mean
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first we have to start with JCCA and they have to let us know how
12:31
many spots we're actually going to get.
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So they give us the spots, they tell us the location we're going
12:37
to go to. We have a little say, but we
12:40
don't have the N say. So it's a process.
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And then we have to find our amazing coaches too, our chef
12:49
rooms we can't go to Maccabi without.
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So going for, you know, going forward.
12:54
So next year, where will the Maccabi Games be?
12:56
So we know that the Maccabi Games will be in Austin, TX.
13:00
That is one location. The other location is being
13:05
announced on September 1st. OK, So in Austin, will the
13:08
people in Austin right now, are they the ones who are going to
13:10
secure the housing for the kids and all that, explain that
13:14
housing and how that works? I think it's very.
13:16
Interesting, right? So Austin in particular, they
13:20
are going to do the host family model.
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So they need to secure houses for all Maccabi athletes.
13:29
You need to have at least two in a house.
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I will say in Kansas City, they secured housing and they had a
13:37
wait list for housing, which is incredible because housing is
13:41
the hardest to find because there's so many different, you
13:45
know, there's some kids that you know, are allergic to cats, some
13:48
kids are allergic to dogs. Some kids absolutely need to be
13:52
with their camp friend that's from another city because they
13:55
haven't seen them. And we want to make them feel as
13:57
comfortable as possible. So we want them to room with
14:00
their friends. We always, typically, I mean,
14:03
99% of our kids are roomed with another Saint Louis athlete.
14:10
And there's kids that have, you know, food allergies and some
14:14
keep kosher. So it's a process.
14:17
Well, how many kids from Saint Louis this past year went to
14:21
Kansas City? How many?
14:23
How many in the Saint? Louis group, So the Saint Louis
14:25
group. We had 52 kids go to Kansas City
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and we had 14 Saint Louis athletes go to Toronto.
14:33
We just sent our 14 hockey players to Toronto and then all
14:38
of their sports were in Kansas City.
14:40
Well, now the guy sitting next to you, you guys go back quite a
14:43
ways. I think Alex, if I did my
14:46
research and, and I always say this on my show and I, I'm going
14:50
to be very honest, I've done more research since I started
14:55
these podcasts then I did combined at University City High
14:59
School in Washington U. That's.
15:01
I never did a day you enjoyed this.
15:03
I enjoyed this. I, I, I hated school.
15:05
I love sports and I loved all my friends at school.
15:10
Well, Hanley Junior High. I'm getting off track now.
15:12
I, I hated that place every, it seemed like every one of those
15:16
teachers that I had never never had a male teacher had all these
15:19
old. Well, they probably weren't so
15:20
old then, but I thought they were old.
15:22
And and, you know, like I had one teacher who taught class
15:25
with puppets. Really.
15:27
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
15:28
My dad got. Yeah.
15:29
My dad. Hey, Alex.
15:31
My dad who never, you know, he was this calm guy.
15:34
And they had open house up at school, you know, at Hanley, at
15:37
Hanley 7th grade, that's of my first year there.
15:40
And I was really, really not very good boy.
15:42
So my dad came home and he woke me up literally.
15:45
He said, I need to talk to you. He wasn't mad.
15:47
He says, honey, do me a favor, please.
15:52
You're making that Lady who teaches with the puppets crazy.
15:55
She, she, she, she was like in tears talking about you tonight,
15:58
how you make fun of her puppets. I said, Dad, you wouldn't make
16:03
fun of puppets if somebody was teaching you puppets.
16:06
So anyway, Alex, so, well, I really got off track, but I, I
16:11
and I, I love University City High School.
16:14
I have so much fun there. And I have lifetime friends, the
16:17
ones who are still living and the ones who are not living, I
16:20
still remember them. You know what I mean?
16:21
And then watching you was a great experience for me.
16:23
And to make, I just want everybody to understand, I went
16:27
to the night school. I I couldn't have got into the
16:30
day school. OK, there's no way.
16:32
But I got into night school and I got a degree, my diploma, says
16:36
Washington University. That's all that matters.
16:38
And also there's a building over there, a beautiful dorm, it's
16:42
called the Zetcher House. My cousin Arnie Zetcher, he, he
16:47
gave them 8,000,000 bucks and they put that up.
16:50
But see, my cousin Arnie hasn't been to Saint Louis in 30 years,
16:53
40 years, 50 years, 60 years, he's been gone there.
16:56
So everybody says to me, how'd you get all that money to put
16:59
that down? I said, well, yeah, I don't want
17:02
to talk about it. So anyway, yeah, my cousin
17:05
Arnie, he did a great job with that, honest to God.
17:09
So, Alex, so you started as a Maccabi athlete?
17:13
Talk about it, man. Tell us all about it.
17:15
I was. The first time I did Maccabi, I
17:17
was 12 years old because it was in Saint Louis and so I got
17:20
lucky. So I was able to do it at the
17:22
time an extra. You can if you're local.
17:25
If you're hosting, you can have 12 year olds more or less
17:30
because they're not traveling and they can they so. 13 is
17:34
really the starting. .13 is the starting point.
17:37
Some there are exceptions sometimes because they might
17:40
just be turning 13, maybe next but and then now 17 is the you
17:47
age out. It used to be 16.
17:50
So I did it from 12 to, I guess 16 years old.
17:55
So I did Maccabi for five years, played baseball, went to oh man,
17:59
I remember going to Columbus, OH, we went to San Antonio, we
18:02
went to Houston, we went to Saint Louis was one of them.
18:05
I forget where I forget where another one was.
18:09
But I mean, it was an experience that you just have to you just
18:14
have to let your kid go experience for for themselves,
18:17
because I met people that I would have never thought that I
18:21
would have ever become friends with.
18:23
I mean, now Joey and I, Joey Muffson, who coaches the
18:26
basketball team, he actually was an athlete together with me.
18:31
So we went to Maccabi and now we're both coaches coming back.
18:35
So I think that says a lot about our experience.
18:38
But you know, the sports are great and I, I tell the kids
18:41
this when we're, when we're talking and when we get on the
18:44
calls and, and prepare to go for the week to Maccabi.
18:48
But the sports are great and it's a huge aspect of it.
18:51
But a lot of it is everything outside of, of what you're doing
18:56
on the field because it's the activities at night.
19:00
The, the host families. I mean, you talked about the
19:03
host families. I still keep in touch with a
19:06
couple of the host families from when we were down in San Antonio
19:10
And you know, they'll, they'll comment on things on Facebook
19:13
and we'll chat back and forth. But it's, you know, I think the
19:16
biggest thing for me was that it was always I always, I never
19:20
went away to camp in the summer because I was a baseball player
19:23
and it was all summer long. You didn't have time to go 234
19:27
weeks away at camp, right? So for me, that one week of
19:31
Macabe felt like camp for me and I couldn't wait to to get to it.
19:36
You kind of it, it's the end of your summer.
19:39
You have a great time. It's kind of like a party for
19:42
kids, right? You live it up and then you come
19:45
back and and you start school, but you just get so many
19:48
experiences that you just wouldn't have ever even had.
19:51
And honestly, as 1314 year old kids, you know, I think as
19:56
parents that maybe hesitate to let their kids travel alone or
20:00
go visit, you know, family and other cities, whatever it may
20:03
be, I think it's a great opportunity.
20:07
Like here's what I always say. I know there's a lot of parents
20:10
that do like to come to Maccabi. My parents were not those people
20:14
that wanted to come. They wanted to send me on my way
20:17
and do my own thing and experience a week without, you
20:21
know, without your parents around.
20:23
And I think that it just kind of as a as a kid gives you that
20:26
sense of, you know, a little bit added responsibility.
20:31
I think where, yes, you do have your host families taking care
20:35
and making sure you're doing the right things, But at the end of
20:38
the day, you're, you know, you're following along.
20:41
That was different because we didn't really have phones and,
20:44
and text messages and stuff then.
20:46
But it, it, it gives you that accountability where it's like,
20:49
I'm the one as a kid that needs to know when to be at the field
20:53
or communicate with the coaches and know these things and then
20:56
relay that message to the host family.
20:59
So I just think it's, you know, I think it's a great week of I
21:03
would say freedom to, to, for, to let your kid as a parent, to
21:08
let your kid go and, and do their thing and to come back
21:10
with experiences and. And your parents probably saw a
21:15
million baseball games. Oh my God, they didn't have.
21:18
To go. Inspecting exactly they you
21:21
know, it was for them as a week off of a baseball, right?
21:24
It was a week my parents were both teachers.
21:26
So for them it was kind of great because they you know, that last
21:30
week of summer for them, they were like, oh, get out of here.
21:33
Like we're going to prepare a week without kids.
21:36
Are you kidding me? Like before we have to go back
21:38
to this madness. And so, you know, for me that I
21:41
think that was it was a lot. But I think all of those things
21:45
mixed together or what Maccabi was and is for me now.
21:50
Well. Emily, you told me the other day
21:53
that you would receive some really nice compliments about
21:58
Alex for the mixed mixed and talked about that mixed team
22:03
that he had. Emily you, Emily, you, you.
22:05
You can tell him what you received and what these people
22:08
said to you. Well, mixed team, so it's so
22:11
it's very, very hard to explain a mixed team until you really
22:15
see it. People are like, what do you
22:16
mean I'm going to be on a mixed? Like when are we going to
22:18
practice? Are we going to travel all
22:20
summer, practice together or are we going to so a mixed team, we
22:25
bring different delegations together to mix.
22:29
So let's say this year, how many do we have 6 on your 6?
22:34
We had 6 Saint Louis kids and then the rest were yeah and then
22:37
the rest were other cities. They weren't, yeah, they were
22:40
different cities to form a full team.
22:43
So so you have enough players. So you have enough players.
22:45
Yeah, you do. And I mean, and that's what we
22:47
want is, you know, more Saint Louis kids to join the team
22:51
because you, you do find like a lot of these teams that we go
22:54
play against, you know, now we like to do it the right way and
22:58
get kids that are actually from Saint Louis.
23:01
There are some teams that go and they recruit from, you know,
23:04
surrounding cities, which is, which is OK, you know, they're
23:08
going to do that. That's fine.
23:09
And they recruit and they play together all year round And, and
23:12
they do, they practice and, and, and they form a great team.
23:17
But I think going off of what Emily said, like what's unique
23:20
about the Mix team is it gives you the opportunity to meet
23:25
again, people from other cities, but you come in and you just
23:29
kind of honestly figure it out as you go.
23:31
You know, people tell us what positions they prefer.
23:34
They get on Zoom before they meet, they meet the parents,
23:37
they meet the kids. I mean, that's the great thing
23:39
about Zoom now and then, but you create an amazing atmosphere and
23:45
that's what the parents said at the end.
23:47
You know what you said about these other delegations who go
23:52
get the best kids they can find in it?
23:53
You know, I went through that with my oldest grandson, Jake.
23:57
And we, we had a great, a great team of kids from Clayton and
24:03
Ledoux. And there were a few other.
24:05
We had one kid who played for Bob.
24:07
He was a pitcher kid named Coulter from Parkway N, But that
24:11
was it, that that was our baseball team.
24:13
And then all of a sudden my grandson, he was given a a big
24:19
eagle boost and was asked to play for one of these really
24:24
high end teams, the gamers, they were the best team in the state
24:27
of Missouri. Well, right away I said they
24:30
should be. And so, you know, one of my
24:32
relatives said, what do you mean they should be?
24:34
I said, well, if you want to get the best kid who lives in
24:36
Columbia, the best kid who lives up in Kirksville and five or six
24:41
best kids in Saint Louis, they should win.
24:43
No doubt they should win. But the bottom line is, and I'm
24:46
just going to, I'm going to get off and go back to you.
24:48
I heard Bill Russell a podcast this morning.
24:51
What Bill Russell said was when it's all said and done, it's
24:55
really, I mean, the trophies and the medals, they're fine.
25:01
But but the, and here's Bill Russell.
25:03
He's an 11 time world champion. The memories?
25:07
Yeah. The teammates, Yeah.
25:09
Not just your teammates, the guys you respected, who you
25:12
played against all those years. That's what you remember.
25:16
Yeah. And isn't that the truth?
25:17
I mean, for me, yeah, I think back to like, I played on a lot
25:22
of good teams, but the best ones were the like some of the times
25:25
the the ones that had the most fun, like you said, weren't
25:27
necessarily the ones where we ended up winning districts at
25:31
the end of the year, whatever it was just the team coming
25:34
together and the it's the the characters in the dugout, right?
25:37
It's like, we joke about it sometimes when it's like, oh,
25:40
that's a group of characters. And they're like, it really is.
25:44
You know, it really is. Fun good people too.
25:47
Yeah. And I mean, look, like, you
25:48
know, I even mentioned, yeah, we won the bronze this year.
25:52
Took us a little. Exciting.
25:53
I mean, I flew. You don't understand heat tax,
25:55
he goes. I think we're going to win the
25:56
bronze. Great.
25:57
I go. I have to get over the field.
25:58
I have to go. I want to.
26:00
It's exciting, it's fun. Yeah, and it's but but.
26:04
It's not the. It's not the end of the right
26:06
like winning that is great, but like the other years were also
26:10
so much fun and we there was a couple years we didn't even win
26:13
a game. But guess what?
26:14
Not a single one of those kids, you know, at the end of the day,
26:17
when the games were over, they didn't care that we that we
26:20
didn't win a game because they kept coming back because they
26:23
were like. Playing.
26:23
They're still coming to Macabre, so right?
26:26
You know, it's great and I think, you know, the mix team,
26:30
yeah, it's tough at times that I love it because you you you play
26:35
on a team like baseball for me is How I Met so many people
26:38
outside of just my regular everyday life.
26:42
You know, I mean, like, look, you look ahead it like college
26:45
as well, right? You know, now I know I'm good
26:48
buddies with Kyle Schwarber and some of these other guys that
26:52
you know, that are are big league, big time players that I
26:56
would never have met outside of the game of baseball.
26:59
But I think a lot of that is because, you know, when you're a
27:04
team, it's funny because the mix teams right at Maccabi, you
27:07
don't have to hang out with your team at the night time events,
27:11
right? You hang out with your
27:12
delegation. But these kids choose you'll
27:15
have two Chicago kids that that don't know anybody from our
27:19
delegation. They're here with their group.
27:22
But you'll find, you know what, this year at the zoo was one of
27:25
the night time activities. They're, they're walking around
27:28
as a team together because that's how you know, they, they.
27:32
Feel like they're. They feel like they're part of
27:34
they're they feel like they're not even part of Saint Louis.
27:37
They just feel like they're part of this group.
27:39
And I think, you know, I think that to me is what a mixed team
27:43
does. And I think it's I love, I like
27:45
the mixing. I.
27:46
Do too. Yeah.
27:47
I think it's terrific. I mean, I like it a whole lot to
27:51
mix team and what you've done with them and and to take a
27:54
bunch of kids that you don't know.
27:55
You don't you haven't even had a chance to practice with them
27:58
before you got to the games. Now the big thing beyond the
28:05
mixed Saint Louis, for the first time, for the very, very first
28:11
time in the history of the Maccabi games, they got the
28:14
golden basketball. And I saw I saw well, I saw the
28:17
video at the end of the game and you would have thought those
28:20
kids really they had just won a Missouri high school state
28:24
championships. No no doubt.
28:26
Tell me we. Even said that stadium, they're
28:28
like, there are more people here right now than like at our high
28:31
school games. It was amazing.
28:34
And what was so great this year, which doesn't always happen, but
28:38
our closing ceremonies were at the the same place that the
28:41
final game was played, so all the kids were there to watch it
28:47
from everywhere. I mean, there were thousands of
28:49
people in that. Video like she's kind of
28:50
underselling, no? No, no, but.
28:52
This was like, you got to the closing, everybody had to be
28:55
there. It was in a facility that was
28:57
like, I mean, it was, I think it sat like 3500 in the gym.
29:01
And so it was a big gym. Everything was packed.
29:05
But I mean, you felt like you were at like at least AD D3.
29:09
D2. It was.
29:10
Game. Incredible big.
29:12
Game, No. It was a huge game and they were
29:14
it. I mean they went in overtime.
29:16
It was an amazing. Game and look these are
29:18
competitive like I'll say basketball you watch basketball
29:21
games and you're sitting there I mean I'm 35 and I'm like these
29:24
kids are high school high school basketball player I mean there
29:27
are some really great athletes as far as you.
29:31
Know we were on the floor. I mean, I was, I couldn't even
29:33
I'm like, I think I have to walk out.
29:35
I mean, we were, we were on our toes.
29:37
Some very good players go. In fact, my my good buddy Sandy
29:40
Pomeranz, he coached his son's Maccabi team years and years
29:44
ago. His son.
29:45
Now he's a doctor. It's a Harvard Medical building,
29:48
so I can tell you how old. But anyway, his son was a really
29:52
good player, not as good as his dad, but he was a very good
29:55
player. And they went there and they
29:56
thought they were pretty damn good.
29:58
And he told me the story says, you know, we, we won our first
30:01
couple And he said we started playing a couple teams from up
30:04
east. And he said, Ron, he said we
30:07
were, we were, we were not even matched.
30:10
And, and years ago, when they had it in Saint Louis, they
30:14
asked me to get the officials for the games here when your
30:18
sister was young enough to be in them.
30:20
Jessica, she was real little. I don't know what she even did
30:22
there, but she was there. But anyhow, you know, you know,
30:26
I don't know. Maybe, maybe.
30:27
When it comes back here, maybe your mother.
30:29
Maybe your mother. You're going to have to be in
30:30
charge. Maybe your mother?
30:32
Won't officials, maybe your mother won't go anyhow.
30:34
So there was a the best player there was from San Francisco.
30:39
I mean, he was good and one of my referees overreacted and teed
30:45
him the tea he didn't deserve. And I guess it escalated.
30:49
And so that the people who are in charge from Saint Louis here,
30:53
they come to me, I'm doing them a favor, You know what I mean?
30:56
I'm a volunteer. You're not paying me to get all
30:59
these referees and get these guys here.
31:02
We're going to suspend that kid for two games.
31:04
I said, really? I said, well, I said, I'm going
31:08
to tell you what's going to happen if you suspend these kids
31:10
for two games. I was being very frank.
31:13
What? What, what coach?
31:14
I said, well, you're going to have to figure out how to get
31:17
referees because I'm taking them all home.
31:21
The kid came from San Francisco. My I told you that my referee
31:26
made a major mistake. To start this whole my referee's
31:30
the one who should go home, not the kid.
31:35
The kid played. The referee met with me
31:37
privately and I won't go over that conversation.
31:40
But he stayed. But he was not happy.
31:42
Yeah, no, I mean, I, I imagine it's like, it's like the red
31:45
card in the, it's like the red card in the World Cup game.
31:48
I mean, I feel like you got to really, you know, like
31:51
deliberately spit on somebody or something bad for, for.
31:54
That you know. Especially in at Maccabi, you
31:56
know? Or anything, like I've told
31:58
officials for years, we're getting off the subject again.
32:00
But you know what? There's certain calls that are
32:05
going to really, really screw the game up that really don't
32:09
have to be made. And there's certain calls that
32:12
don't have to be made that maybe you just didn't really see it.
32:16
Hello, wake up, look at me. Maybe you didn't see it.
32:19
Right, right. You know what I mean?
32:22
You don't Like a guy just ran a 40 yard touchdown down the right
32:26
sideline and some guy kind of held a jersey on the left
32:29
sideline. Really.
32:31
That really affected that play, right?
32:32
So anyway, go on. So listen well, OK?
32:36
You can laugh at me. No, no, no.
32:37
That's. True, I've been.
32:38
I've been mapped up before so. You talked about the teams teams
32:41
up E though they do some of these teams come out looking
32:43
like NBA. I mean they got the warmups.
32:46
That's the other thing, Macabre you get awesome swag.
32:48
I mean, you do. Everybody.
32:49
Everybody. They love the swag.
32:52
Well, you've. Got your own swag now?
32:54
She brought me this is nice. Emily brought me some nice
32:57
shirts from the Macabre. I'm telling you.
32:58
No, it's it's awesome. And everybody trades.
33:01
That's another really big thing with Maccabi.
33:03
And we always tell our kids you can't trade before, you can't
33:06
trade with uniforms before. They have no uniforms.
33:09
They have no uniform. They played.
33:11
Baseball with no hats. Because they, I will, I will
33:13
tell a story about my oldest Luke, because he did play
33:17
basketball at Maccabi and this was a it was, it was kind of a
33:21
rougher team. You know, it's, you can't mix in
33:26
basketball. It's the only in 5 E 5
33:29
basketball at Maccabi. It is the only sport that you
33:31
cannot mix with another delegation.
33:34
So you have to find kids, you know, from your city.
33:39
So anyway, he went and of course he was, you know, he has a very
33:43
quiet confidence. But I mean, I think he thought
33:46
he was going to, you know, bring home a medal.
33:50
And so they got there and they were like, this is this is
33:54
unbelievable. I think it was the first time
33:56
that he open. He was 16.
33:58
He we were in San Diego and he's like, there are some kids that
34:01
know how to play ball. I mean, this is incredible.
34:04
And so his back to the swag when Saint Louis, you know, got
34:09
knocked out, this kid came running up to him.
34:12
I was actually able to witness it.
34:14
And he said, Hey, I'm so sorry, you know, but hey, can I want to
34:18
trade your jersey? And Luke said I'm going to
34:21
actually take my jersey home. And so he still has it hanging
34:24
in his closet. He's 20 years old, so it's
34:27
pretty cool. It was just a, it was a, it was
34:29
a great moment. I remember that, too.
34:31
Because see him and his wonderful cousin Will, they're
34:36
going to go there. They're going to set the world
34:38
on fire. They're going to go there.
34:42
Oh, this would be easy, you know, blah, blah, blah.
34:44
OK. It's humbling.
34:46
It is. It was.
34:47
If they weren't humbled, they better think about why they
34:50
weren't humbled, because they were humbled.
34:53
There's some really good teams there.
34:55
And Pomerance told me, I mean, he said when they played this
34:57
team, I think it was from New Jersey.
34:59
He said, my goodness, he said. I mean, they, they had kids that
35:02
age who were they literally going over the rim, You know,
35:05
they. Did even this year, even this?
35:07
That's who they beat. And Jersey didn't lose a game
35:09
until that gold medal. And you know what Jersey and you
35:12
know what Jersey said. And I mean, I respect their DHI,
35:15
adore them. But we were, we were walking on
35:17
the floor. It was half time and I said, you
35:20
know, Saint Louis, we have to do it this year.
35:22
And you know, Roger Seawalk, who's been coaching for a couple
35:25
decades, it was his birthday. It's.
35:28
A good shout out to Rogers. Rogers.
35:30
I was going to to Rogers. Unbelievable.
35:33
And he has really, he has been really, you know, a Maccabi.
35:40
I don't even know. And it's not even.
35:41
Yeah, just just everything. It's hard to even, you know, to
35:45
put into words. Because he is, he's incredible
35:48
and he believes in this program and he contributes so much.
35:52
But it was his birthday the day that they won.
35:54
And so I told Jersey, I said, we, you know, we, we have to win
35:58
this. I mean, it's Roger's birthday.
35:59
And they said, oh, we love to ruin birthdays.
36:02
Well. Listen, he won it.
36:04
But then he, then, then we. You know, it was unbelievable.
36:07
And actually we got we went and we snagged the game ball for
36:10
Roger. We snagged the I I said I
36:13
snatched that ball and I said I'm giving this.
36:15
I said to Emily, I said, I'm I got the ball.
36:17
I'm going to give this. What do you?
36:19
Think, listen, these kids are incredible kids and they are
36:22
talented players and but you know, they're, they're 1617
36:27
years old, they're juniors and seniors in high school, so.
36:31
They were acting like it. Right.
36:33
And you know what, a lot of the teenagers, there's a lot going
36:35
on at Magave. It's not just the sports.
36:37
There's thousands of kids walking around and we have our
36:41
opening ceremonies, we have our social events, we have cultural
36:44
events, we have closing ceremonies, we have parties.
36:46
It's awesome. They're just, you know, there's
36:49
a lot to do, a lot to see, and sometimes you lose sight of.
36:52
And one of the greatest things that I used to use when I and I
36:54
used to, you know, whenever one of my players, when I was
36:57
coaching freshman football, they would come up to me and they'd
37:00
start and I'd say, what what do you want to talk about?
37:02
Well, he I said no, no, no. When you want to talk to me
37:05
about what's going on, you take your finger, point it at
37:09
yourself. Don't ever point your finger at
37:11
one of your teammates. Tell me about you.
37:15
I can take care of your teammate, man.
37:17
I said you, you have a hard enough time taking care of
37:20
yourself. You know, you're 14 years old
37:23
and 14 year olds, that's a big time job just to take care of
37:26
yourself everyday. Don't ever point.
37:29
And I got that message across and I never had that problem
37:32
ever. And more coaches need to do that
37:36
these days. Sometimes you can't, you know,
37:38
the, the, the convicts can't run the institution.
37:42
And it happens in too many places.
37:44
And you see it with different coaches, names I won't mention,
37:47
but the great coaches that I've known that I've had the honor of
37:50
being around, I'm not going to talk about college coaches, high
37:53
school coaches. They were the guys who, hey,
37:55
hey, buddy, do it this way or see that door, open it up and
38:01
leave, you know? And there was a coach in
38:05
Pennsylvania, I think years ago, I was reading at Scholastic
38:07
magazine. This guy was an iconic high
38:10
school football coach. And and then we'll go back.
38:13
He used to he used to have a meeting every year.
38:18
Now he now this guy's like a big time iconic guy in a school
38:21
district, but he would sit down with the parents and tell him
38:24
about his program and then he would end up with, I want every
38:27
parent here to understand and listen closely.
38:29
This the most important thing I'm going to tell you.
38:32
If your son has a problem with the coach, your son will come
38:37
and talk to the coach. If one of you want to come up
38:40
here and talk to the coach about your son's problems, you and
38:44
your son will be dismissed from my program and the story.
38:48
Yeah, I kind of like that. I love it.
38:51
Yeah, they need to advocate. You teach your son at a young
38:53
age, hey, if I think I should be playing ahead of Billy or
38:58
whatever will come and tell me. Be prepared for the answer also.
39:03
No doubt. You know, like maybe son Billy's
39:05
a lot better than you. OK, go.
39:09
There's people that, you know, are really, you know, not that
39:12
we're not dedicated to all things Maccabi, but certainly I,
39:17
I have a lot of things that I do outside of, of the the week of
39:22
volunteering and coaching. But I think you do always need
39:25
somebody inside the organization at that's separate from Emily
39:30
because, you know, that's what she does is to put this program
39:34
together. But I think you do need one of
39:36
those volunteers that's part of this, that they they, you know,
39:41
truly feel incredibly strong about everything as, as do I.
39:46
But really give the time that it takes to to put into to make
39:52
sure that, you know, they're going to have a great time
39:56
themselves. But also they're going to, you
39:59
know, make sure that there's a good group of kids there that
40:02
understand, hey, this is, you know, this is it an awesome
40:06
experience. And you're not going to, you're
40:08
going to want to be a part of it.
40:10
And so I think he's great in that.
40:11
Listen, Emily, before we finish this session and we can stay on
40:15
a little longer because, and I'm going to shout out to my
40:17
grandson, Jake Brown. So he's the one who set this
40:20
whole thing up and and he pays for it.
40:23
Is that right? Absolutely pays for it.
40:25
Can you believe that? Well, Well, he owes me a lot.
40:27
I spent a lot of time with him over the years, taking him in
40:31
the car after he's broke up with his girlfriend and he's crying
40:34
all the way to Kansas City, you know what I mean?
40:36
So yeah, he does owe me, but I want to thank him and.
40:42
This is the one whose game you got thrown out of with the other
40:44
grandpa. Yeah, that's a.
40:47
Good one. Yeah, that's a one.
40:49
Good one. That's for another show also.
40:50
They got to go listen to Jews in the loo for that one.
40:52
Well, listen, I want to also shout out I should have Jews in
40:55
the loo. That's Alex's podcast and it's
40:58
awesome. He's got all the Jewish people
41:00
from the community that have really had an impact.
41:03
And for some reason he had me on.
41:05
I don't know why, but I showed up.
41:07
I, I, I think he probably called about 9 guests and he couldn't
41:10
get them. So I was #10 but we had to go to
41:13
fund that day. And I do have to say, like, my
41:16
biggest supporters are my coaches.
41:19
I mean, I cannot do this without our coaches.
41:23
Well, listen, I'm going to have to sign off now because Jake
41:26
Brown's going to start charging me for overtime, you know?
41:29
What I mean? You know how that works?
41:30
You put in the time for it, though, he said.
41:32
Yeah, I put in the time with him and you know what, he he's
41:35
really a good boy and technology wise and, and, and doing these
41:40
see what what'll happen. We'll we'll finish his show and
41:44
he'll, he'll get it taken care of.
41:47
Then he'll send it off to Jake and Jake will edit, and if
41:51
there's anything in there that needs to be edited, we'll edit
41:54
it out, you know? And then Jake comes on that.
41:58
And then this show. This show will be public a week
42:04
from tomorrow. Every Thursday the show from the
42:09
prior week comes out. So next Thursday.
42:10
So, and if you guys want to, and it'd be great if you want to put
42:13
this out on your website and put it out at the J they can hear
42:17
about because of Maccabi games. They really are big.
42:20
And you know what, as a Jewish boy myself, we, we really do
42:24
need to embrace our Jewish community and doggone it, I, I
42:28
hate to say it, anti-Semitism still exists.
42:31
It's, it's out there and we should be proud.
42:34
And, and you know, I, I, I can remember when I was growing up
42:38
and going and playing competitively when I was a young
42:41
kid. And then I, I heard some, I
42:44
heard some words that were very, very, very ignorant.
42:49
And unfortunately, those same words still come out of some
42:51
people's mouths today. And I learned from a baseball
42:54
coach of mine, I got into it one time when I was a young kid and
42:56
I started kind of barking at some kids in a dugout.
42:59
And and one of my young coaches, I got in a dugout, I said, come
43:03
here, you're a pitcher, don't ever respond to anybody.
43:08
You got a baseball in your hand, that's how you respond.
43:11
They want to say some things to you that you don't like.
43:14
Put in those days, put one under their chin, maybe put a second
43:18
one under, they'll shut up. And you know what, I like it.
43:22
I like that kind of coach. Don't hit him in the head.
43:25
But you know what, send a message.
43:27
Not with your mouth. So anyway, we're going to
43:30
conclude this right now, and this is Code Z signing off.
43:34
I've had Alex and I've had Emily and Alex Rich.
43:37
We got to make sure the the last name is there.
43:41
It is a great last. Name.
43:42
I wish. I wish I was.
43:44
Come on. Sam, I wish I was rich.
43:46
Sam, the best is when they call me rich, Alex, you know when
43:50
it's revert, you know? I.
43:53
Say I wish. Alex, I love it when my buddies
43:55
say, how did you get your name on it on this?
43:58
Is that true? I take credit all that.
44:02
I'm going to start telling people, hey, is that true?
44:04
I know. You know.
44:06
Yeah, he went to night. School.
44:08
You, you, you were, you were, you were, you were a college
44:11
referee and you were a college referee and you were and you
44:14
went to night school and you also, you know, you were a PE
44:17
teacher and a coaching. How did you, how did you
44:19
accumulate all that money to put that dorm up?
44:22
I said it's none of your business.
44:24
Yeah. Anyway, we're going to sign off
44:27
and I'm going to just leave you with this.
44:30
The last thing that I will say is if you like it, hit a like.
44:34
And then if you have friends and most of you, if you're listening
44:37
to this, I sure hope you have some friends.
44:39
Send it to your friends, share. And one last thing, I say this
44:44
at every show, today is the youngest you'll ever be.
44:50
Have a great day and have a great week and keep the Maccabi
44:55
games going. They're wonderful.
44:56
You're the best. Thank you.