Latest / The Craig Way Show / Bob Ibach, Ex-Cubs Front Office Joins the Show

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Bob Ibach, Ex-Cubs Front Office Joins the Show · The Craig Way Show

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Speaker 1: See this is a yacht rock Wednesday, so we play
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some yacht rock tunes.
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Speaker 2: Because I'm old enough to.
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Speaker 1: Be into the yacht rock genre. Our next guest might
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be able to qualify for yacht rock status as well.
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Speaker 2: I know this.
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Speaker 1: He qualifies for being a great source of information on
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sports and collectibles, he said. Good friend Bobby Back joins
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us from Nico Sports. Joins us on the hotline right now.
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Speaker 2: Bob. It's great to hear from you again. How are you.
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Speaker 3: I am doing great, Craig, It's always nice to be
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with you. We go back a long way. I guess
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we are oldies, but goldies, right.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good way. That's a good way to
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describe it. I was telling Khalil in the first segment
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of the show. I said, you and I do go
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back quite a bit. We've known each other for several years.
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And I said, I still have that collectible basketball that
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your group had when the Mavericks won the NBA title
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in twenty eleven, that white panel.
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Speaker 2: It was really cool.
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Speaker 3: No, I remember that.
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Speaker 2: Yep, I still have.
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Speaker 1: That as a Mavericks fan, so I should have gotten
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in touch with of course, it was during the pandemic.
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I should have gotten in touch with it when the
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Dodgers won the World Series in twenty twenty, because I'm
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a I'm a to the death Dodger fan, so I
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But it's funny because I know we have a lot
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of Astra fans in this town and they're on pins
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and needles today because the Astros are down a game
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and it's scoreless right now on the top of the
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third in Game two with Detroit. But tell folks a
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little bit about how you do what you do, because
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I think it's really fascinating the way that you can
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connect with the sports fans of specific teams with these
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really unique collectibles.
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Speaker 3: Well, you know, he goes back to my years when
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I was with the Chicago Cubs in the nineteen eighties.
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I was brought to Chicago by Dallas Green, the general manager.
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I knew Dallas when I was a sports editor in Philadelphia,
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and when they won the World Series in nineteen eighty,
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he brought me in as one of his assistants and
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I got involved. I member in spring training with the
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Make a Wish Foundation and we were granting They were
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just starting off granting wishes to kids who had life
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threatening medical conditions and got involved in fundraising with them,
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and then many many years later, after my career with
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the Cubs, I went with Kemper Sports ran in their
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sports division for about seven years, the Maui Invitational out
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in Hawaii and some other things. I continued to do
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a lot of charitable work, and when I ran into
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the folks at Nico Sports it was nineteen ninety six,
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put together a program for them. They were a client
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of mine at the time, and they've raised gossh just
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in the last six years three point two million dollars
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for a number of charities. And we'll I'll be talking
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about today is something that's going to help out the
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Neighborhood Longhorns program because we've got a fascinating football, long
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Orange fans and you're going to want to grab piece
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of paper pan whatever you want to judgs up and down.
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I've got a phone number on a website I'll give
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out in a few moments, Craig about this amazing one
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hundredth anniversary football that salutes Darryl Kay, Royal Texas Memorial
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State and one hundredth anniversary. It'll have a beautiful color
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panoramic image on one of the panels of the ball,
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which will keep at pristine looking for years to come
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because everything is embossed on here won't fade, and only
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twoenty and twenty four of these footballs will ever be produced.
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It's going to raise money, as I mentioned for that
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neighborhood long orange program. There are one hundred and nineteen
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dollars ninety five cents each and they are selling very quickly.
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You'll get an individually numbered certificate of authenticity and it's
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full size, it's fully licensed, and it's also got some
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really cool panels on there. I'll just kind of describe
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that before I give about that phone number. The top
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panels got one hundredth anniversary logo, stadium history, Championship history.
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The second panel right below that salutes the SEC season,
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the very first one for the Longhorns this year. They
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got off to a good start and beat Mississippi State
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in their first SEC game this past weekend. I've got
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the Texas helmet logo there, and then we list all
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the teams in the SEC right there on the side
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of that panel. The last panel is really my This
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is the one that people are going to say, Wow,
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I got to get this football because it's got a
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full color panoramic image of Daryl K. Royal Texas Memorial
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State in there, taken on a sun drenched afternoon about
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two years ago. Helicopter aerial shot and it stretches from
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the left to the right on that panel. And if
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you've never been to the stadium where you've been there
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many times, this is something that you can showcase to
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your friends and family members and keep. Because it's in
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my sports background and covering so many games, it's certainly
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among the top five stadiums that I've visited over the
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years when I was a sports ritter and of course
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a broadcaster. If you'd like to go ahead and get
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this football gain only twenty twenty four be made, and
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we're probably bordering in on halfway sold out. I would
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not wait because you can get your Christmas shop and
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done and for gifts and for the for the holiday season.
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These will be sending you plenty of time to get
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them afore Thanksgiving. The toll free number again it's it's
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one nine hundred, nineteen dollars and ninety five cents will
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snag you one of these footballs. Toll free number is
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eight hundred three four five two eight six eight eight
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hundred three four five twenty eight sixty eight, or go
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right to the website nicosports dot com nikcosports dot com.
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That's nikcosports dot com or eight hundred three four five
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twenty eight sixty eight. I've I'll tell you what we
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could be talking in January during the football playoffs, because
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I don't see Longhorns. They've got a couple of tough
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games on their schedule, but Oklahoma course coming up in
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Georgia and then that last game of the season with
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Texas A and M. I think that may be the
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game that keeps them from either being unbeaten or a
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one lost team because I think they can beat both
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Oklahoma and Georgia.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see.
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Speaker 1: Just for me to add to this, what folks are
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what you just described on the one panel, and for
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anybody that's been to a Longhorn home game this year,
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you've seen on the field that one hundredth anniversary logo
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that's on the field at the twenty yard line. That's
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what it is on one side and the SEC logo
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on the other side. So if you're wondering about the
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one hundred logo, it's really cool. The DKR logo there
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with the one hundred, that exact logo logo is replicated
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on the football, what you see on the fields, and
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then like you mentioned on the other side, the panoramic shot.
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Just looking at the photo of it is just absolutely tremendous.
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And I remember, you know the years that you've done these,
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and you've done commemorative football and basketballs and baseballs for
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championship winning teams and things like that.
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Speaker 2: It's always creative.
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Speaker 1: This might be the most creative enterprise I've seen you
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do with the football. To see that panoramic photo of
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the ball, panoramic photo of the stadium on the ball.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, you know the owner of the Nico Sports
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Craig Midner, and he and his wife started the organization
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back in nineteen ninety two, and Craig does a great
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job in getting all the artworks together, all the creative
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that they put a lot of background and foresight into
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making these. I mean people who have owned some of
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these pieces of sports memorabilia, whether they be special baseball
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bats or as you mentioned, championship basketballs and footballs. There's
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a lot of time and effort that goes into making these. Uh,
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they just don't happen, and NICO Sports is always very
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careful in making sure that everything is officially a licensed approved,
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the artwork is correct. They take a lot of time
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and effort to make these and people have called up
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years later, like you said, and they've had a basketball
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or a football that they bought ten years ago and
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it's it looks just like they popped it out of
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the case today.
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Speaker 1: Yep, yep, that's that's how mine looked from twenty eleven
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for that Mavericks championship.
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Speaker 3: Uh.
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Speaker 1: And again the for folks who are interested in it,
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they can call eight hundred and three four five two
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eight six eight. That's eight hundred three four five two
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eight six eight, or go to nicosports dot com nik
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co ncosports dot com. While I got you on the phone,
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because I know of the many years you put in
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the baseball first of all, you'll have to forgive me
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if I've already asked you this question.
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Speaker 2: Did did you get to know and work along.
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Speaker 1: Side my colleague and baseball broadcast partner Keith Morland when
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you were with the oh Zonk.
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Speaker 3: I played a lot of racquetball games with Zonk too,
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when we went on the caravan in the middle of
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the winter to entertain at five o'clock in the morning.
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Speaker 2: Wow.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll tell you the redhead once. Once he got
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the motor going, nobody could go from first to third
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base like Zonk because Keith was just a brilliant, hard nose,
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blue collar baseball player. And we couldn't have got it
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done in nineteen eighty four and we won the National
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League East. We had ninety six wins that year. He
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was a big part of that season. We just had
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our eighty four reunion the fortieth anniversary. Keith, I believe,
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was overseas at the time and couldn't make it, but
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we got everybody back and we just had a great time.
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It was the same weekend that Ryan Samberg got inducted
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into the Cubs Hall of Fame, and he had a
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statue presentation down at Wrigley Field back in June. But
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we miss Znk, And I know I was talking to
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Bobby Janier and some of the other guys that were
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his teammates, and Rick Suckcliffe and they really missed not
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singing song. So I hope he's doing well. I haven't
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talked to him in a while, but he was one
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of my favorite guys. Just a down to earth person,
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hard nosed guy. And this is a he left everything
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out on the field. He never gave it a bat up,
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and he never was afraid to go ahead and not
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die for a ball on the outfield.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's still him, And yeah he's a valuable part
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of our broadcast team. He'll actually step in and I
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know you know this about him when he came to
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the University of Texas in nineteen seventy one seventy two,
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when he came in there, he came in on a
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football scholarship.
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Speaker 2: He is he did, Yep, he was.
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Speaker 1: He was a defensive back for coach Royal for two
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years and then he went to baseballs. He'd liked to
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say he never calls Cliff Gustus and a dime in
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scholarship money. He was on football scholarship. But then of
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course was an All American his last couple of years
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and for many years was the all time career hits
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leader at the College World Series. And but what was
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my color analyst on the Long War and football broadcasts
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for for nine years because he knows his football really,
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really well. Then of course went back over the Cubs
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and worked with him for three years, moved back to
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Austin and still fills in for US on football. In fact,
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he's going to fill in on both the Arkansas.
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Speaker 2: And A and M broadcast for US this year. So
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we're well.
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Speaker 3: I got to tell you two quick little things about
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Keys real quick. That at our anniversary, the forty anniversary,
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we always talked about key points in that season, and
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one of the ones that always stood out in my
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mind was late actually was the beginning of August. We
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had to beat the Mets four straight games, and I
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think it was either the second or the third game.
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Keith got brushed back and a pitch by Mets pitcher
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ed Lynch, and at that time everybody was talking about
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was going to fade again like they did in sixty
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nine and everything else. Keith went right to the mound
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and roll blocked ed Lynch, and he didn't. He faked
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him up high and hit him low. Down went Lynch,
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and down went the Mets. They never recovered from that moment,
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and that was the That was the big I think
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the turning point in our season. The other thing is,
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and I don't know if Keith will tell you this
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or not. I was doing a show called cub fan
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Mania that we did from a local restaurant and I
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brought in Keith as my guest host and that was
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his start in broadcasting.
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Speaker 2: Wow, did not know.
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Speaker 3: You tell you tell Zonki. He still ows me some
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money from those days getting them launched in his career
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because he would come into the restaurant and he was
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just learning the ropes of being a broadcaster. And you
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know what, he came and within within two or three
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times of being on the air, he was.
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Speaker 2: A natural, no doubt.
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Speaker 1: And we always enjoy enjoy working with him and having
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the opportunity. That's great stuff. Again, Bye bye, back with
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Nico Sports. On with us here and again if you're
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interested in that special commemorative one hundredth anniversary of dk
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R Texas Memorial Stadium football that has the commemorative first
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season in the SEC logo and all the schools in
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the SEC also on the white panel and that panoramic
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shot of dk R Texas Memorial Stadium on the football.
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Speaker 2: It's all there available.
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Speaker 1: Go to nicosports dot com, n Ikco nicosports dot com
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where you can get McCall at eight hundred three four
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five two eight six eight. That's eight hundred and three
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four five to eight six eight. Bob is always great
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to visit with you. I have a feeling, yeah, maybe
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maybe if the log Worns roll through and win a
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national title, maybe we're visiting again in late January, end
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of February about a commemorative national championship football.
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Speaker 3: Well, I'm sure there'll be. If they're not going to
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be in the top four. I think they're what ranked
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number two now, but I think if they're gonna be
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if it won't be in the top four, he certainly
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will be in the top six or seven. So they'll
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be in the playoff for sure, and they'll have a
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good time in the SEC. They'll get they'll get battle
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trained by you know, playing playing Georgia and some teams
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like that, and of course Texas A and M at
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the end of the year. So I think they'll be
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there in the hunt. Certainly, I'm gonna predict at least
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be in the semifinals. If not in the final.
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Speaker 2: Game, well we'll certainly over that. Bob is always great
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a visit with you.
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Speaker 1: I appreciate the opportunity to catch up with you, and
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great stuff about Keith Morland as well, And I'll pass
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that along to Zong. I appreciate you taking the time
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and look forward to visiting with you again down the road.
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Speaker 3: Well, Craig, it's it's been a pleasure being with you.
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Give my best to Keith and give my phone number two,
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and I'd love to catch up with Zonkies. He was
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always one of my favorites in the nine years I
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was with the organization, and certainly I have fond memories
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of him playing on our team, especially in nineteen eighty.
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Speaker 1: No doubt I'll be sure to do it. Thank you, Bob,
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thanks for joining us.
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Speaker 2: Okay, Craig, have a good day you too.
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Speaker 1: That is by eye back from Nico Sports and again,
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uh the number if you're interested in ordering one of
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those footballs, and again neighborhood Longhorns benefiting from it as well.
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Eight hundred and three four five two eight six eight.
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That's eight hundred three four five two eight six eight
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and it's nicosports dot com. Nik Coo up next Inconceivable
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for a Wednesday afternoon on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
15:30
zone in the iHeartRadio app.
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Speaker 3: It's the morning Kickoff Show with Money