Earned Fun Average

Episode 221 - This is a Test

Eric Proffitt Season 1 Episode 221

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 31:47

We speak with Josh Morris this week. He's the GM of the Tullahoma Test Pilots in the new Volunteer State League. Josh shares with us his playing experience and the joy of watching his brother pitch in the big leagues. We talk about the league and potential rivals and Josh shares his Proffitt & Loss.

Be sure to follow the Test Pilots online.

Tullahoma Test Pilots - 

Website: https://www.tullahomabaseball.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tullahomatestpilots/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tullahomatestpilots/ (@TullahomaTestPilots)


Earned Fun Average -
 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earnedfunavg/ (@EarnedFunAvg)

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/earnedfunavg/ (@EarnedFunAvg)

Blue Sky: https://www.bsky.app/profile/earnedfunavg.bsky.social  (@EarnedFunAvg.bsky.social)

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@earnedfunavg (@EarnedFunAvg)


Curved Brim Media -

Website: https://www.curvedbrimmedia.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curvedbrimmedia/ (@CurvedBrimMedia)

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CurvedBrim/ (@CurvedBrim)


Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Earned Fun Average podcast. I'm your host, Eric Profitt, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas. And, as of right now, it's just gonna be me. Uh, if my partner Johnny hops on, we'll talk a little bit with him. But we do have a special guest today. We have Josh Morris with us. How are you, Josh? I'm good. How are you this afternoon? I'm good. I appreciate you joining me today. So you work in summer collegiate ball, I believe, with a brand new league. Would you mind telling everybody who the team is and what you do with the team? Yeah. So the name of the team is the Tullahoma Test Pilots, and it's in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Uh, and it's part of the new Volunteer League, collegiate wood bat league. Our, our league has five teams in it. Uh, I do believe it's like Pulaski, Cookeville, and, uh, Lincoln County, I do believe is the other team. You can go and look up the Volunteer League, uh, on the internet and it pops up all the teams. You can see the roster, schedules, their little logos, the mascot, you know, the team name and everything. So i- i- it's pretty cool. we were named the Tullahoma Test Pilots just because we have, uh, Arnold Air Force Base that's here in town. Okay. We also have, like, a small airport, that's here in the middle of the town. So, flight and everything, uh, is part of Tulla- you know, part of Tullahoma. No, that... Well, I appreciate you sharing a little bit of background. So Josh, one of the first things we kind of do when we kick off is talk about a favorite hat. I believe you have a Test Pilots hat with you there. Would you mind describing that or any other hat for us? So the hat that I got on, which you can see, which the listeners cannot, looks like a fighter jet. Like, if you was to take a fighter jet and flip it up where the nose is down, you'd see the nose and the wings that come out, which symbols the T for Tullahoma Test Pilots. So, if you go to, uh, Tullahoma Test Pilots, um, there's a Facebook page and everything. You can buy merch. This hat right now you cannot buy from the merch store. Okay. So, uh, our actual logo looks like a old fighter guy, uh, with his little bandana and his goggles and everything, uh- Which is pretty cool. But, uh, when you come to the, the, to the games, you can actually get this hat at the game. Okay. So- I don't know if they'll eventually put it on, um, uh, on our website or not, but, uh, if, if they do, it, it's a pretty cool hat. I've had a bunch of people ask me about this one. but other than this one, I guess w- another favorite hat of m- uh, of mine would be anything with a New York Giants, uh, logo on it. Okay. Which, which is, which is crazy, uh, me living in Tennessee. For sure. Boom. I got a- There we go call right before 5:00 and, and, and just got off. No worries at all. Yeah, we just kinda got started a little bit. Josh was just showing, uh, telling everybody about his hat. So basically he was saying the test pilot hat he has right now looks like a fighter jet, but they're not currently available online. but if you do make it to a game, he said they're available there. Oh. So pretty sharp hat. Yeah, so that's what it looks like. I don't know if you can see it or not. Oh. That's pretty sharp there with the T for Tullahoma or the test pilot. So, uh, Mr. Bowlin, since you have just joined us, it's perfect timing, what hat do you have today, sir? We bring in, we bring a little sweet summertime today. We bring a little, little, uh, we, we talking Mid-State Melon Mashers guest episode 218. This is their on-field, cap. I saw, uh, I saw on Facebook photos, and I listened to about an hour and a half of their inaugural game as they fell 13 to three to those Zebulon Devil Dogz. Dogz with a Z. Z. Dogz with a Z for the inaugural, uh, Mid-State Melon Mashers, game, uh, Sunday afternoon. Yeah, and Josh was saying so they start next week, have a game, I believe, on Thursday on the road, and then I think he said their home opener is next Friday, if I'm not mistaken. Is that right, Josh? Yes, that's correct, the 5th. So it's faith and family night, for myself, so I have a Bradenton Marauders hat on. So, uh, just over a week or so ago, about two weeks now, went down to Tampa for the weekend with some friends, and we went to, five games in four days. And the first game we saw was in Bradenton, Florida. Got to see the Marauders, and it was kind of funny. So, we've been going on a trip every year, and we do little T-shirts, and we ha- all have nicknames. So I had my nickname and a little character of myself on the front. And the mascot, Marty, full costume, comes up to me, and he kind of pointed at it, and he goes, "What's that?" And first of all, I kinda, I wasn't sure what he was saying because I didn't realize that mascots were supposed to talk, but- he was talking and said, "What is that?" I said, "Oh, I do a, a sports show, in addition to my podcast, and, uh, this is kind of my nickname, The Influencer." And so he's like, "Oh, that's cool." So a little bit later, M- Marty's up on the dugout, and he has a couple of these hats in his hand, and I thought, "Oh, maybe he's gonna toss them out kind of like a T-shirt toss." Uh, doesn't, doesn't throw them out, and then hops down off the dugout and walks over to my friend Virgil and I and just hands us a couple of these hats and says, "Hey, tell all your friends that Marty the Marauder's the, the best mascot in affiliated baseball." So he wanted me to get that out there that he is the best mascot out of any of the 120 affiliated teams, that he's the number one mascot. But- It's a, a snapback hat. it's black and it has Bradenton Marauder stitched in it, and it has a little rope on it. So I don't know that I have a ton of rope hats. They're kind of a little bit popular right now, but it's very comfortable and obviously- It looks good can't beat a free hat, as Johnny and I like to anytime we, you know, the word free, so can't beat that. Really cool hat. So today, yep, got the Bradenton Marauders, uh, single A of the Pittsburgh Pirates is what I'm wearing today. I'll tell you what I'll do, too. When we get off, email me because, like, I do TikToks where I do question of the day, and at the end of them I always go, "Deuces." Okay. And, uh, I've got deuces hats that's got like a circle with, like, the two finger deuces in it. Yeah. Uh, I'll send y'all a couple hats- All right if you'll just email me. If you'll just email me, I'll, I'll, I'll make them custom, custom colors- and everything, and I'll hook y'all up. Wow, that's awesome. Appreciate that. Okay. So, well, Josh, obviously with the Test Pilots going into their first year, so kind of prior to that, did, a little bit about your background, did you do anything else in baseball, or how'd you kind of get into this? So baseball's been a big part of our family. Uh, my dad played for the Minnedo- Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics in the minor leagues, and, uh, I played at Motlow State Community College as a shortstop, and then went on to play at the University of Tennessee, uh, as a shortstop in '98, uh, and '99, and then I was a student coach in 2000. Uh, and my brother, was a professional baseball player. He pitched for He got drafted, in the first round. Well, the first time he got drafted was Tampa Bay in the third round, first pick, and then he went to Motlow for one year and got drafted in the first round, 23rd pick, with the Dodgers. So it was Clayton Kershaw, I think he was like the sixth pick. Brian was the 23rd pick, and then Don Mattingly Jr. was the last pick in that draft. and then my, my brother ended up getting traded to, uh, from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh when Manny Ramirez went out to Los Angeles. Mm-hmm. My brother was part of that trade, so he made his Major League debut, uh, as a Pirate at Wrigley Field. Wow. So- Wow he pitched there and then pitched with the Marlins for three, three or four years, and then one year with the Giants. So, that's kinda our baseball background. And my dad's coached people in our family that's played, uh, and been drafted. So I mean, baseball's always been something that's been part of our family. We don't know anything different. I was gonna say, it doesn't sound like there's any talent in that family at all whatsoever. That's un- That's incredible. Appreciate you sharing that. So then, what kinda brought in this opportunity then for you to kinda take over then the Test Pilots? How'd that come about? So Mr. Dameron, uh, is, uh, somebody in our community that's a big baseball guy, and I think he'd been working on this for a couple years now with Parks and Rec trying to get this team here. Well, when they finally got it approved, they approached my brother about being My brother's the head coach here at our high school, Tullahoma High School team, and, uh, they've been to the state, I guess, three out of the last four years and won a, a state title. So they asked him to, to be the coach, and then when they were talking about somebody being the general manager of the team, my brother was like, "Well, what about Josh?" And then Mr. Dameron was like, "Oh, that'd be great." So they reached out to me, and here I am. I'm, I'm learning, I guess I'm like, uh, stepbrothers when they, when he says, "What do you do?" And I was like, "I'm, I manage a, a, a baseball team." Well, we talked a little kinda before we got started, but I'm just curious if you can share with the listeners. So tell everybody where the Test Pilots are gonna be playing, the field and everything this year. So it's Tullahoma, Tennessee. It's right behind our high school field. It's a parks and rec field. It's Grider Stadium. I think it's been there s- Forget what year, but, um, it alm- almost has like a old, uh, minor league park feel to it. It's got the covered backstop. It's got the black metal rails going across the front of it with, uh, I call them bucket seats in the front. So there's two rows. One, two, two rows in the front, eight seats on each side where it steps down, and then steps up. but it's nice. It overlooks, uh, our, our park and you can kind of see the high school, and then the football stadium's kind of to the right of it. and behind it, there's a river, a little river creek that goes through there and a park area. it's quite nice for, for a high school field. I, I would say in our, in our area, other than, uh, Shelbyville, which has all turf some of the other turf fields that they have, for a grass uh, it may be one of the best ones in Middle Tennessee. Mm. So i- it, it's pretty nice. Yeah, when I first saw the... I, you know, I follow a lot of baseball teams on here, so somehow I saw the, the league logo pop up, and just the Volunteer State League logo itself has a guitar on it and everything with the- Yeah classic three, Tennessee, three stars on it, and I thought that was really cool. So I believe you said there was gonna be f- uh, five teams so far this year to start out. Is that, are they all pretty close? Do you guys have to travel very far? So when we go to Cookville, I would say it's probably- A bit over an hour Okay But, but the other two places, uh, I would say probably about an hour, a little bit over an hour. there's a couple more teams I think that, that asked about being in the league. I, I don't think they'll happen this year- Okay but I see us adding maybe two or three more teams as we go. And still about an hour drive- Okay you know, each way that we go. So not, not too bad at all then. No, not at all 'Cause you have some of these collegiate leagues where they're traveling, you know, some of those other leagues, they sometimes have to travel from Mississippi way up to, like, Illinois. And so luckily for you guys, that's not too bad. But yeah, excited to see if they can add some new teams to the league and everything. And, uh, just also curious, so you'd mentioned, you know, for opening night, it's Faith and Family Night. so what else, if anybody is able to come out to the ballpark this year, what else can they kind of expect? Uh, any big things you guys are gonna be doing? we'll probably have some surprise national anthem singers. Um- Oh, cool. Oh, okay. So, so that, that, that's what we're working on. and then of course we'll have, like, Military Night, First Responders Night, Bark in the Park, where we have animals and everything. But in between innings we'll have, uh, a lot of entertainment, kids coming down. one of my favorite things that I, I really loved when I was at UT was the Dizzy Bat Contest- Mm-hmm where it was always a kid versus a parent. Yeah. A- and I swear kids do not get dizzy. They do not get dizzy. They'll go around and then they run straight to second base, and then the, the parent or whatever is, like, falling in the dugout. Yep. You know? Uh, it's, i- it's great. So we'll, we'll try to make it where, It's really fun for families to come out and enjoy and have a good time. Uh, also when it gets closer to, to the end, I'm, I'm trying to set up some fireworks. Okay. Uh, we have Christmas in July. I'll try to have, like, Santa Claus there so people can take pictures a- and do some things. And then, uh, try to do it where maybe we have a band maybe play out in the park- Mm-hmm a couple hours before the game, and then after it they can come on into the game. Just things like that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Obviously a lot of stuff you can kind of do some test runs on this first season and then kind of see what works and maybe add some additional things. So, uh, sounds like a lot of fun at the ballpark. Josh, I'm gonna start with a strange question, and listeners are not by this. Okay, so I'm trying to, to see if you and I were at the same place in 1998. All right. All right, so when did you arrive at, uh, UT in 1998? Uh, it was in the fall. I guess in August. Oh, okay. Okay. Did you go to the Tennessee homecoming ga- game that year? I did. And they played UAB. They did. I was at that game. We were at the same- Was you really? Let's go. Let's go. We were, yeah. it's funny, my wife- If I remember cor- if I remember correctly, it, it was hot as all get out in that game. When we So we Of course, the old joke is, Josh, everybody in Alabama honeymoons in Gatlinburg, which is not wrong. Right? It was- That's not, that's not a bad place to go. Uh, yeah, we, so we had, we were leaving Gatlinburg. We stopped in Knoxville to find the ticket office, 'cause UAB and Tennessee were playing that year in the fall. And we wandered around, it was in the basketball arena, the Thompson Boling is the name of the basketball arena. Yep, that's correct. We're walking around there like we just know where we're going. I see Pat Summitt's office. Like I'm waiting on some security guard, cop to come- To kick you out? Exactly. But we find the ticket office, and we walk in there and there's a young lady working in there, and she had the best Southern accent like I'd ever heard. She goes, Only tickets we're selling is for UAB." And I said, "I need four of them." You would've thought an alien had walked in it. And I remember, and I thought this was so smart. So we bought the tickets, but they were gonna of course ship them later, mail them later. And it came to us, we were living in an apartment, had the little, you know, PO box thing or the box thing, you know. Nothing on that envelope said University of Tennessee, so somebody couldn't, you know, get in the mailbox, steal tickets. Yeah. It came in this plain, but it was a light orange envelope. Didn't say anything U- University of Tennessee. Yeah, but it didn't say anything on it. So they wanted to make sure you got your tickets, right? So that's, that's incredible. You and I were the same With 100,000 people. Yep. My wife and I were just talking the other day about that trip, and I said, "You know, when you stood on the ground and looked at that stadium, it seemed it went on to heaven." Like, it's so big from ground level. You just look up, and I'll always respect the Tennessee band 'cause UAB's fledgling band program, marching band program didn't make the trip. But they, played the UAB fight song before the game, and I had never heard it played with that many people in a band. And it- Yeah, pretty amazing, isn't it? Awesome. And wh- what was historic about that game is we were, you know, leaving. Ohio State had lost and Tennessee became the number one team in the country. That night and moved from what, two to one when Ohio State lost, and people were going bananas Crazy was now number one in the country. That is amazing that you and I were at the same... When you said Tennessee '90, I thought, I wonder if he was at that homecoming game this year. Yep. I didn't, I don't, I don't think I missed, uh, I know my first year I didn't miss any, any home game at all. Good team to go watch, national champions, you know, Team R- yeah champion team. Yeah, that was, that is so, that is so crazy you and I were at the same place, We passed, uh, we got to, with, we had that indoor facility where the football players would play and hang out, but we also, if they were outside, we would see them a ton of time because we could put bases down and take ground balls in the indoor also, and pull, we had a batting cage that would come from the, down from the ceiling in there. Oh. So we got to spend quite a, quite a bit of time with the football players. It's quite funny when they get our baseball bats and you got somebody that's 6'3", 6'5", 300 pounds swinging a bat and it looks like a toothpick in their hand. It, it, it was definitely... for them to be as athletic as they are, they don't look very pretty swinging a bat. what was your favorite experience playing at Tennessee? At Tennessee. Is, is it that, as a Tennessee Vol baseball player, what was your favorite experience? One thing that, uh, that I thought was pretty cool, our first game Peyton Manning threw out the first pitch. so we got to hang out with him in the dugout for a little bit, but I would think overall just the traveling part of, uh, of it and, being able to see all these other SEC schools and actually have pretty... What I thought back then was a pretty big crowd, which now, you know, the crowds they're having now is, like, ungodly. But, uh, the two years I was there, I was luckily enough to... You know, I played at Florida, I got to go to LSU to play, I played at Alabama, Ole Miss, Kentucky. Just being able to travel and play, like, high level baseball was probably m- probably my favorite, and just being with great teammates, was probably the best part. I mean- Looking back at it now, you know, when I was there then I thought it was a, a pretty big deal. But now looking back, you know, it, it's a, a lot more special than it was, than I, than I thought it was back then. What's your favorite on-field cap that they wear now? You l- you like smokey gray, you like the black and orange, you just like the orange and white? What's your favorite? I, I like, I like the predominantly black hats with less orange. Uh, and with Because it almost seems we have so many different shades of orange that comes in there with whatever different uniforms that you have. So it's not like one specific orange where you're like, "Oh, that's definitely Tennessee orange." I really like, when we do the blackout, straight black with just the, the one orange T on it, where everything else is black, whether it be football, baseball. That's probably my favorite. That or the smoke, smoke gray- Oh, yeah with the black. That's, that's pretty sharp. I like the one, and we've talked about this on the podcast before, I love it when colleges have their own logo that no other sport, maybe softball this year, it was softball, and that interlocking UT is a pretty cool design. You, you know that. Well, that's baseball. Yeah. That's just a baseball only logo. like Ole Miss has the interlocking UM, of course Mississippi State the, the M over the S, you know, as they call it, that are just for those sports. And, and I j- I just, as a fan, I've been watching a lot of college baseball here the last few well, really the whole season. Um, but I, I like when it's just the kinda like their logo. You can tell- When you see it, you know. You're like, "Oh." Right. Yeah. It's not like every other team that, that's at the school uses. This is particular, to that sport. Um- One, one hat I had trouble with recognizing, or differentiating from back whenever I went through school was the Arkansas Alabama hats. Oh, yeah. You know, you really had to pay attention to whether it had the swoop or, you know, on the A. I've heard it said that the Alabama hat, the way you know it's the Alabama hat, it's the only one with a mullet. The one that's on cle- For instance- The one that's on clearance? Yeah. Versus Arkansas. But you're right, you're absolutely right. Same color it, uh, it, it really is kinda hard to kind of tell the difference between the two. Who do you think that will be the biggest rival of the Test Pilots? Like, when they come, c- come to your place, that that'll get the fans excited? So probably the team from Pulaski because there's a brother that's playing on our team from our hometown, and his older brother plays for Pulaski's team because he goes to college up there. his little brother is at junior college here at Motlow. So with a couple of those guys kinda knowing each other, and then the brothers going against each other, I could see where it g- will get a little... And they're great kids. Both of them are great kids, uh, 'cause they're both from Tullahoma. But I could see, I could see that, and I could see possibly maybe Cookville So I, I feel like we've always had, I want, I don't wanna say a beef with the Cookeville High School team, but, uh, we're a smaller school, so when we play them, it's kind of a big deal. So usually whenever in the past, if we've ever beat them, uh, they don't, they don't like it very much And so it would be to see with the league going forward how these rivalries kind of develop. Yeah, I think so too community versus community. Uh, we used to live in good old Lawrence County, Mississippi, and they had a big rivalry with Brookhaven High School. Like people would tell us, "You don't even know, you don't even need to go to Walmart in Brookhaven. You can go over to Columbia. They have a nice Walmart. They got..." Like you don't need to spend your, a penny. there was an absolute palatable dislike between those two neighboring county schools, it kinda was sort of a mini, mini, mini version of Ole Miss and State. Brookhaven, their football logo says Old Brook. Their uniforms are identical to Ole Miss, colors, design. And then Lawrence County was the, was the, the tough tough country boys. They were the Mississippi State. It was garnet, not maroon, but they were garnet and black and it was, it was kinda country kids in their eyes and city kids went to the city school in And like I said, it was a real thing. Like it was, uh, you know, us being outsiders and like, "Oh, y- you can't shop in Brookhaven. You don't need to go to Brookhaven." Like- They're probably not going out to eat together afterwards Right. Is what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. Uh, they're not gonna go to the same church, you know? They, they're gonna, they're gonna drive a couple extra minutes away to make sure they get out of the town before they stop. Yeah. it, it, that's a very, very real thing, and so if you got that kind of as a, foundation undercurrent with this, this league, with the high schools and the colleges and the communities and everything, that'll lend itself to some fun rivalries and it'll help you down the road with like promotions, playing off these rivalries, and theme nights related to playing, certain teams, you know, to get people hyped up and, hyped up- That's one thing, that's one thing that's funny is we have rivalry night that's on there, and I done hadn't even looked to see who we played to see who they said that it's gonna be our rivalry. So I know we have had that night, so I'll see who they pick that's, you know, we're supposed to be our rivalry and I guess we'll go from there. Who do I like? Who is it? I know it's on, let's see. I'd have to pull the schedule up. July 26th, so whoever we play July 26th is, uh- I don't have my computer in front of me or the schedule. I know that's Rivalry Night. if you got a computer in front of you, you do the Tullahoma Test Pilots, you may be able to see, I'll have to definitely look that up. Uh, does it, Tullahoma, if I'm not mistaken, w- what is, like, the baseball history of Tullahoma? Did they not affiliated baseball at one time? So there's a history there. Is that correct? I think a long time ago that they did. Our town, a lot of people come watch our high school football team. but Tullahoma has had five, I think it's five or six Major League Baseball players that has come out of Tullahoma in the last 20 years, and they've won, what, three, three state tournaments, uh- Wow championships. Uh, my brother, they've been three out of the last four years to the state tournament and have won it once. Which our football team the year before won the state championship, and then right after that, I can't remember if it was the very same year we won the baseball. No, we went to the state that year, but didn't win it, and the very next year we won the state in baseball. So we won it in football, a year later won it in baseball. so that's pretty cool. That is cool. If I looked at it correctly, it looks like you guys are playing Cookville on that game, so. Hey, so I guess- You still got it I was, I was right. There you go. Now Josh, one of the segments we do is the profit and the loss, and the profit's something you gained or earned. You know, it could be your time right now getting to start up The Test Pilots or, you know, your playing career at Tennessee or getting to watch your brothers, anything like that. Any specific profit or gain you can think of? One big thing, uh, that I absolutely love is, uh, huge, huge profit was being able to go watch my brother play in the big leagues. Mm-hmm. I got to see quite a few Major League stadiums. I got to take my kids, uh, on the field during batting practice. I've got to be at Wrigley Field, and he come out in the seventh inning, and I got a recording of them singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game- Mm. Yeah with him coming out on the field. That's awesome. so I've been to Wrigley, I've been to Boston, I've been to Pittsburgh, I've been to Miami, Philadelphia. So just those trips in general, I would say huge, huge profit. Something that, I wish he didn't have to ha- He had two back surgeries- Mm is the reason why he ended up retiring from baseball. Okay. So if it wasn't for that, he had a good, good career as a middle reliever. Uh, I wish he could have pitched a couple more years just so, I coulda got to spend more time with him, and then also see some more stadiums, cause we're really close. I'm the oldest, he's the baby of the family. I think he's still on Mom's boob. Excuse me. I don't know if you can say that or not on TV or on radio, but, we have a good time, so definitely huge, huge. Something that, I miss. and I go back and look at pictures, and just, just, being able to spend time with him and seeing those stadiums is, has been huge, huge, huge thing that, uh, I definitely don't take for granted. I love it. That's a wonderful answer. Uh, now the flip side, the loss, would it be that instance where unfortunately he had to retire so you didn't get to see him as much anymore? Yeah. Or any other specific loss you can think of? I would say that, and then, um, my baseball career, my second year out of Motlow I got drafted by the, the Baltimore Orioles in the 16th round, and my dad didn't think I was ready. No, that was my first year out of Motlow, and my dad didn't think I was ready and, uh, I didn't sign with them. In my second year at Motlow, I had a phenomenal year, like phenomenal year, and, everybody that I played against projected me to go in that kinda like five to 10 round, and I didn't get a phone call that year. Mm. So that was a, that was a big bummer. And then ended up going to Tennessee for two years, and I started, I played shortstop both years there, and never really got... And, and put up decent numbers as a shortstop, at UT, just never got another opportunity to- But I guess it wasn't me... it wasn't meant to be for me to play baseball, you know, in the big Good thing is, and my brother told me, and he says, he goes, "I'm only gonna tell you this one time." And I was like, "What?" He was like, "You're good enough to play in the big leagues at shortstop." He says, "I don't know if you could hit like you was able to, but defensively." And I said, "Could you repeat that again?" He was like, "No, I already told you. It would be one time out of my mouth." Well, Josh- Well, yeah, that, that and, uh, just the, the time short of Brian, you know, I wish he'd have, he could've pitched another three or four years would've been great. Josh, it's been an absolute blast having you on. Really looking forward to following along with you guys, this season, obviously starting next week. I believe you mentioned it earlier, but would you mind sharing the website again, if anybody wants to go and follow along? Yeah, if you go to the Volunteer League, uh, you can pull that up and you'll see all the teams that's in there. Just search it, and then also the Tullahoma Test Pilots. you can search it. We're on Instagram, Facebook, and then our own website, and it has a schedule, roster and everything. And before you let me go, I, I, I just wanna say I greatly appreciate you reaching out, to me to be on your show. It, it's a pleasure. I look forward to, y'all send me an email and I'll hook you up with some Deuces hats and, uh- hopefully we won't be strangers. I've really enjoyed, uh, being on your, on your podcast and talking to both of you gentlemen. Yeah, we very appreciated- Alex you joining us here. And, obviously, like we said, make sure you go and follow the Test Pilots online, and if you get a chance, get out to a game this summer or the next summer. And then make sure you guys follow us. We're Earn Fun Average, Average is AVG. We are on Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky and Threads, and really do appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time, Josh. America, lower your standards. Average is what these guys do best. Deuce. Deuces.