Episode 29: Watching Live Sports

Seth and Joel share their favorite moments watching sporting events. As always--thank you for listening and enjoy!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Flyover Guides, a show by two middle-aged Midwestern fellows who are just trying to figure out what was, what is, and what will be about aspects of American culture from our little plot of soil here in the heartland. So we're your host, P. Steph, and I'm Joel. Let's jump on board with this week's episode. This week's topic is Let's Go Watch Live Stuff. I don't know, that's not a good name to do. Sounds good to me. Is it just live stuff or is it just sports? Are we going to deal with other stuff than sports?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Uh we can discuss other stuff as well. I don't really have much to bring to the table for other live stuff.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Well, I I mean outside of concerts, but um that might be something else separate. Um but it's just kind of what hey, this is this is a special shout out to a longtime dedicated guest who requested this episode. So uh from Saudi Arabia to Houston, Riley, this one's for you, buddy. Um the idea of live sports, we love sports, so we gotta start with what's your favorite kind of like live type of sporting event to attend? If you have to choose anything, what are you choosing? Uh probably basketball.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Okay, now I gotta be college or pro. Uh college is probably the better spectator sport, unless it was like the playoffs or something. It I've been to both, and when you're in a college arena in a in a close game that kind of matters, there's just so much usually there's so much tradition and passion in the crowd, other than like a NBA crowd. It's just different.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

So now that you are down in Georgia, do you I assume you've been to a Georgia Bulldogs game, is that right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

I've been to a few games. Or not football. Yeah, we've been to a few.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Okay. Well, where does that stand? I mean, you're in the heart of it. SEC. Yeah, we what's that like?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

We've been to SEC games and they they are pretty different. Well, not they're not too different, but they're what's really interesting is people dress up down here for football games. Yeah like the girls wear dresses and like they it's weird.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

It doesn't feel like a semi-formal.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah, it really is. It's a big southern thing to to get all dressed up and um but yeah, SEC football is is pretty legit. I've been to um Ohio State, Wisconsin, up in Madison. I've been to a game there and I've been to Big 12 games, of course, with K-State and KU and like Oklahoma State and OU. I've been to all those uh stadiums that they have. I'm trying to think of where some other ones. Iowa State. I've been to that one, but but SEC is a little different. It's just bigger. Everything's bigger, it's just bigger.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Yeah. But but you still think basketball, college basketball is more fun to watch live than it is college football.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

I think so. But that's mainly because that's where my heart is. I've always been a basketball person.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Um but I I mean I like it too. Just uh this is now this is gonna speak to our middle-aged part. It's shorter. I I'm sorry, college football games. We were at we were at a K-State game and it was two hours in and we just hit halftime. I'm like, holy crap, let's go. Come on. But that's probably more a me problem than it is the sport problem. But college basketball goes a lot quicker.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

It does. And I guess that's one thing that I kind of like about soccer. It's very defined the time, except for like stoppage time and and if they go to extra uh time. Um, but I like how the clock just runs, and you know exactly it's gonna be an hour and a half uh playing time. But it's a little different, you know.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

How would you then try to describe for you, and I'll try to do my best with this what is the difference between going to a baseball game, a basketball game, and a football game? What do you see as the key difference?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Baseball was my first sport I really liked, especially that was the sport that I went to the most growing up, and and I've talked about my family and the you know connection to baseball and everything. Um I don't mind going to long baseball games. I actually would rather them be longer than shorter. Well defined. Like how long? Well, a 16-inning game. No, no, no, no. Like I would rather watch a three-hour baseball game than a three-hour football game.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, okay, yeah, 100% agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

So I guess the reason why is because I feel like when I go to a baseball game, I have a totally different outlook and demeanor. It's more laid back, it's more social. Like um, there's just more thinking time. I know that they say it's a thinking man's game or whatever, but honestly, you just go and you you don't even need all the hyped up crowd chanting and stuff. Baseball, I would almost prefer it just to be kind of laid back, maybe just like an organ or some kind of low, yeah, low-key music, uh, an announcer, and and no frills, no, no like promotional stuff, just the baseball game. And quiet summer evening. In fact, baseball is the only sport that I would prefer to go watch where there's not very many people.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah, no, that's actually a really good point. I don't know what that's a really good point. I don't know why it feels like in baseball it's more communal than for me. Football just seems like rage. It's raging. Like I remember going to a Chiefs Broncos Monday night game, and I mean people were just drunk out of their minds and cussing and yelling, and it's like their world depended on who won that game. And I mean, I appreciate the fandom. I'm not gonna sit here and bag on fandom, but it's just not pleasant to be at. It's like you're at the Coliseum or something. Yeah. And college basketball I I get the frenzied atmosphere and I and I love it. I do. But at the same time, I think for my personality, uh my personality probably fits better with the like you said, play a nice light organ and you know, maybe we'll do a wave once a game, and now we're getting crazy.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

But if you can hear the bugs and just the summer evening like still of the night with the occasional crack of the bat and a crowd cheer, uh, but just the the monotony of the game, like a stolen bass, uh, you know, here's the wind up and the delivery, and you you watch pitch by pitch, and there's a lot of like just dead time in between action. And and it's totally different than like the dead time between football plays, you know. So I I really love baseball. Even even if it's a three-hour baseball game, I can sit there and tolerate it because it is the attitude that you go in, and and it is very, like you said, laid back and you don't get drunk and hyped up now. Some people do when they go to baseball games, but and it and it depends. Playoffs and all that are totally different than a game in you know April or May.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

So what uh okay, so what do you think is then your best venue to go watch? Let's just go one at a time. Um, basketball. You said basketball, so what's the best venue to watch basketball in for you?

SPEAKER_00 8:07

It's college basketball. And it's and it's the place that you and I used to go to, and it's Allen Fieldhouse. That's the best venue on a regular occasion. Now I've been to Final Fours, I've been to like four or five Final Fours, and those are fun, but those are totally different. There's a lot more stuff to that, but uh nothing beats the tradition and the history of like KU basketball and Allen Fieldhouse, especially.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Yeah, there's something about when you go in there and you hear the creaking of the stands, the smell of popcorn, uh, the bleachers kind of stomping beneath your feet. There's something antiquated about it now, um where it's just like, oh, this is what it used to be like. And you know, the shredding of the newspapers when they're announcing the the team's uh well, the holding of the newspaper of the other team and then the shredding of it for for KU. I I do I would agree with you that I don't remember what year we got season tickets for that, but um that was a lot that I don't think I can be a season ticket guy. I mean that year proved that that sometimes it's a chore to drive up there and watch. Yeah. But at the same time, I felt like this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing to go to what probably I mean, I I it's just it's obviously subjective. We it's on the short list of what people argue is the best venue to watch basketball in. I'm fine if people want to say, you know, Duke or Butler or wherever else, and that's I'm not I that just gets down to preference at that point. You just know you're you're at one that's in the conversation. And I do like that, that it feels like you're kind of traveling back to the 1950s or something.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah. And I'll also say that um I was a longtime Wichita State season ticket holder, which I currently don't have tickets and I don't live there anymore, but when they were um not in the 80s when they had you know Xavier McDaniel and Anselm, but the the year where they went 33-0 before they lost to Kentucky, and those the the years where they were in national consideration, nothing beat those games at Coke Arena or Yeah, Coke Arena gets fired up too.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

That's a great point.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

That was fun.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Okay, how about then um football? What are stadiums that you've been to for football?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

All right, so I haven't been to as many baseball stadiums as I have for basketball or baseball, uh for football. I've but I have been to some notable ones. Uh I've been to a game at Notre Dame, so I watched Oklahoma at Notre Dame when I lived up in Chicago. I went over there for a game. Um but the biggies are uh Soldier Field and in Lambeau Field. Lambeau Field especially.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

So describe yeah, so describe the differences of being at a game with each one of those.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Yeah, so Chicago, it's in the city, big city, it's on the lake, and it is an old stadium. Both of those are old. Um but Green Bay is such a small town. It's such a different vibe. Uh but when you go to Chicago and and you go into the city and you park and go in, um it just feels different there. I I don't even know how to explain it. I probably went to five or six games when I lived there. Uh I went to the Green Bay Games. My we were able to get luxury tickets next to Virginia McClaskey, the owner. Um Virginia Hallis McClaskey. And we sat right next to her. There's glass in between our our luxury boxes, so I could see her taking notes. Somebody said, Yeah, every game she sits there with a notepad and takes notes, and uh which I'm kind of like a linebacker foreman. She was she was old, but I'm kind of like, well, she's the owner, so I hope she's paying attention, you know, and cares. Yeah, you get to do whatever, yeah. It was kind of cool. Uh I really enjoyed that. And we had uh field pass tickets. So before the game, we got to go down the field and walk. I actually got to walk on the Green Bay Packers sideline and Aaron Rogers and I saw Aaron Rodgers, and I actually yelled his name and he turned and kind of just did a generic wave, and I had my camera ready and I took a picture of him like he was waving to me. Um so that was funny.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

I have some ayahuasca.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

You want to go? No. Um it's weird. Packers quarterbacks, I have a love-hate relationship. I love them, and then I don't like them after they're done. It's kind of like, gosh, who are these guys? Uh, but Lambo Field, totally different. It had it also had a historic vibe, but much more um it felt like a lot more tradition there. They had a lot more chance. Um like you park, you literally could just park in front of somebody's house and walk two blocks to Lambeau Field. It's really interesting. Nothing else is like that. It it it's kind of like a college, a small college town, basically, is what it felt like. So very different.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

It's one of the best things about the NFL is that they have that franchise. Yeah. You you kind of wish all sports had that one or two franchises. You're like, why does this city have a pro team? And I don't know if we can we can't say that about the other two, I don't think. But you can say that about the NFL. That that's the the Green Bay franchise is is a connection to the past in a way where you know everybody has a stake in the ownership in it. And and yeah, we did a tour um of it on our way up to Door County, and so I haven't been there for a game, but I've been on the field and and through the facilities, and yeah, it it it is, it's incredible. It's such a good just being in that town, how what a small town, and everything's right around that. It's just pretty neat. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

I I will say I I did when they had a stock offering, I bought stock, and some people laughed at me. They're like, why'd you do that? Well, I was kind of like, well, I guess I'm an official part owner. I could say that. Yeah. My favorite you're part of. It doesn't really mean anything, but I do get letters in the mail when they have their voting and stuff that they extend it to all the stockholders. Uh, but it's it's just a it's a fascinating place to go. And I had something on my mind, I I forget what I was gonna say, but it's just it's just cool. Oh, what I was gonna say was there's a few teams in the NFL that travel real well when they're on the road, and it's I think it's Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Green Bay. So for some reason, there are so many people outside of those cities that love those three franchises that that no matter where they go to play on the road, they have a ton of fans. I think those three franchises, especially, I could be wrong. Some people may point out, I don't know, to be honest with you, but I just feel like those three have so much tradition that a couple generations ago they were successful and they've just kind of sustained their success or relevance, uh, more so than other franchises. So I don't know. It's kind of cool to go to those.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

That is that is. Um I I would suspect Philly and in San Francisco might be pretty good at that too. Those are kind of old-time franchises that would they uh and Kansas City, but I don't know. Uh that that's a that'd be an interesting one to look up if if those are included. Um yeah. We'll have to come back and talk about Arrowhead. I want to talk about that separately since that's here uh moving to Kansas. So I'll save that one for later. Um okay, so then baseball. Let's talk some baseball, best venues for baseball.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Well, I have probably I was sitting there counting this afternoon how many different baseball professional baseball stadiums I've been to is probably 12 to 13.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Um okay, so let's let's run them off, and I want to hear a short synopsis, and I'll throw in if I've been to a meet as well. Just a short synopsis of what do you think of the experience at that stadium?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Okay, so I've been to a Diamondbacks game. I had a girlfriend that used to live out there when I was in college, and so we went to a Diamondbacks game. It was air-conditioned dome. Uh it was weird. I that sounds awful. Yeah, it was just a weird atmosphere. I I did see Randy Johnson hit a triple, which looked like a oh my gosh, that's it looked like a giraffe galloping around the bases. Um did he did he kill a bird? No, not that game. I didn't like it. Um I didn't like that stadium. I went to the old Bush Stadium for a couple minutes.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Haven't been to the old one's terrible uh because of the AstroTurf. Yeah. The new one um is I think terrific. It opens up to the to the arch. Uh, so it's a beautiful view. Uh Grassfield. Uh we went and saw him play a noon game against the Twins, and Albert Pooh's hit two out in his first two at bats. Yeah. And then they didn't pitch to him the rest of the game because I mean everybody was buzzing. Just uh let's see if he can hit a third one. And so that was a blast of a game to be at. Um, but it also really speaks to the Midwest because it was June and it was like 104 out of a noon game, and so every couple innings you just had to go get in shade because you were just yeah, I mean, it's an endurance test.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

So that brings up a point of there are some stadiums that have a good area around, whether it's like if it's in the city and they have um also I'll mention right now Truist Park in Atlanta, they moved it out to Marietta. It used to be in Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, but now it's in the suburbs, and it's got a whole bar district around it, and a lot of a lot of places to eat, and you can just kind of walk you could park and just walk around for hours before the game and and drink and eat and then go into the game, and that's a blast, it's a good area. Uh so I've been there, but then I've been to places like Milwaukee where it's like a it's like a football stadium. It has a ton of parking, and there were people just tailgating like a football game, and then you know, sausage and beer vendors out in the parking lot. It felt like Milwaukee. Uh that I've been to Detroit that was not Carica Park. It wasn't fun around the area. Uh Ford Field and Carica Park, they're just they're not places that you can that have a lot of entertainment around there. But I've been to Camden Yards in Baltimore, and that that is a fun stadium around there. You can get some seafood or something.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

That is a terrific stadium. Um Camden's a good one. Um yeah, the whole environment right there down in Baltimore. I know Baltimore tends to get a bad rap about everything else, but I would say the and wouldn't we say that Camden Camden Field was kind of what set the template for the new modern stadium to try to be almost like a throwback.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah, and it's beautiful too. Yeah. The brick wall I mean it's great as it aesthetically it's nice. Uh Great American Ballpark, when Griffey was playing for Cincinnati, I went there and watched.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Oh, that'd be fun. Uh how was that?

SPEAKER_00 19:48

I it was actually that's honestly something I don't think about at all. Yeah, Cincinnati's a cool little city. It it's kind of fun. Um there's some cool places around there. I would go back. I haven't been back for a while. Uh both of the stadiums in Chicago, I went to see a White Sox game, and it was a new stadium. It was okay, but but now we're talking. Wrigley Field. Now we're getting up to these stadiums that are just it's kind of like Lambeau and stuff. They rig iconic Wrigley brings a punch when it comes to historic ballparks. And even though the stadium, they have to try to preserve. That's what I like about Finway and Wrigley, is they try to preserve the history. Um even though they have to rent renovate a little bit to try to keep things from falling down, but they they do their best, I think.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

I will say, you and I went to a game the year they won it. Uh that was a fantastic game. It was the first game they brought in Araldus Chapman. It was against the White Sox, and so the the everybody was buzzing just for it to be an inner city game. Um, but then to see Chapman throw, you know, 104 mile an hour pitch. But I remember you and I talking, one thing that we were not crazy about is they threw they brought in that huge scoreboard or video monitor. Yeah. And it's like one of the great things about Wrigley is it was an escape from all that. And then they brought that up big monitor in left field, and it just it honestly diminished it a little bit. Now it's still my favorite stadium I've been to, but man, do I wish they would have gotten rid of that.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Yeah, it wasn't very popular with the people that that went. Uh, but but Wrigley, great bar environment around. I would, in fact, I went to a handful of games just by myself. I'd hop on when I lived in Naperville, we had a train stop, and I would just get on the train and ride into the city and go right to the stadium, get off and walk in and sit. I when I went by myself, I'd sit in the outfield, just get a general admission seat and go sit out there for a day game. Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Have you been to uh Seattle's um stadium? I haven't been to Seattle's. I did that one back in 01, and that was great. It actually was really good. It was amazing how much kind of Pan Asian cuisine they had. It was so funny. They had Nintendo stations everywhere. Um I just thought it was a great experience for it that part of the country that's like, okay, this has unique personality. Whereas when I went to Target Field up in the Twin Cities, it's kind of like that's fine. It's in downtown and it's fine, but I it wasn't bad. It just was like, okay, yeah, it's it was a nice day at the ballpark, but nothing real unique about it.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Better than the old stadium, the old Metrodome.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Some of those stadiums, they do try their best to offer different cuisine, like you said, and and have different food uh spots or little food courts maybe on the outfield where you can buy different dishes and entrees. Uh but to me that's kind of secondary. I don't really care about that.

unknown 23:01

No.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Because if it was really up to me, um I would just get a hot dog and a beer and like a bag of peanuts and maybe the occasional nachos, but I don't really care about like having a nice meal at a baseball game.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

No, no, no. Geez. Okay, we gotta talk Kaufman Stadium then.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Well, before that, I've been I've been to the the old Yankees Stadium since I'm since I'm a Yankees fan. I went out there and watched I was trying not to talk about that. Sorry. Before they tore it down, I had to get out there. So I went with uh my friend Bill and his brother John lived out there, so we went out there and watched a game and had a good time. So except for the fact of the new one? No, I have not.

unknown 23:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

So I need to make it out there. But the I haven't heard good things about the crappy thing is the Yankees lost zero to one to the Angels, and it was one of the worst games I've ever seen in my life. It was just it was like an hour, we were there for like an hour and 40 minutes. I'm like, the game's over. Like we didn't even score or run. Greg Maddox pitched that game?

SPEAKER_02 24:02

How did the game end that quick? It was bad. That's great. I love it. So Kaufman Stadium. Yeah, go ahead. Kaufman Stadium. What's your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Underrated for a for a ballpark. So I think it kind of I've never been to Dodger Stadium, but it kind of just reminds me of that older but traditional style of stadium where the product does all the talking on the field. Like, hey, you're going there for a good baseball game, and it's not like extravagant or over the top, uh, but it's a great place to watch a baseball game, and it's usually, for the most part, a fun time. So the the Royals are, you know, if you're a Royals fan, they they have a lot of stinker seasons, but when they're good, it's a great place to watch a game.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

So and I and I assume people know this, but maybe they don't, that Kansas City is recognized as the city of fountains. They have over 200 registered fountains, and I so it's the more most in North America. Uh so then when the fountains go off in the outfield, um, that's that's part of the charm of it. And um now we should probably talk, as I said earlier, that since we're kind of Midwestern Kansas based, both the Chiefs and the Royals are moving. Um now the Chiefs are moving into Kansas, um, essentially to kind of like what you were saying for Atlanta, almost to a suburban area where they have you know shopping malls and NASCAR, but it's really not near anything other than suburbs. And the Royals are now gonna relocate to downtown Wichita. Or Kansas City. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry. Middle-aged moment there. Uh downtown Kansas City next to Union Station in the World War I. Oh, okay. Great. Yeah, it's right next to it's gonna be next to Crown Center. Wow. So I know that's I I I it's not in the Power and Light district where the Sprint Center is, where they host a lot of like the Big 12 basketball stuff. So it's about a mile from there. I do know they have a trolley that goes back and forth, or a tram that goes back and forth. Um, I think that might be the one thing where people wished it was in the power and light district. Uh so it's gonna be south of that. But uh what what are your thoughts? What do you think? Um, do you like them? Because for people who don't know, Royal Stadium and Arrowhead, the football and baseball stadiums are right next to each other in a complex. Um, what do you want to say, northeast of the city, right off I-70. So there's nothing around it, it's just those two stadiums. And so a part of the tradition of Kansas City, then, is um tailgating for both. And I don't think tailgating's leaving the Chiefs. No, but I do wonder because Royal Stadium's gonna become like other MLB teams where you are downtown and there's not open parking lots around it. So I wonder if that kind of destroys the tailgating aspect of the of Royal fandom.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

So the Chiefs, I've probably been to a dozen, maybe a little more, Chiefs games at Arrowhead, and you you go there to Tailgate, and when you when you drive into the parking area, there is a like a haze of barbecue smoke that just it kind of hovers over the parking lot. And Kans City's known for its barbecue, and the people that tailgate, and they they're not messing around. My brother, when my brother lived in Kansas City, we used to I would go up there and we'd go to a game and we would take his grill and we would cook before and after the game because you're not getting out of there quickly, so you might as well just have lunch and dinner while you're there. Uh, but it's such an event and it's kind of uh an underrated, it's not really a bucket list, I wouldn't think it would qualify, but it is a big event, so much so that at one of the games that I went to, I saw Anthony Bourdain filming one of his shows at the Chiefs game, and he was in the park, same parking lot that I was, and he had his friend Samir, I think it was like his Russian friend that always drank vodka and got drunk on his shows. They were both in there, and I actually went over there and we talked to him and took his picture and he was saying hello and stuff like that. And he did a show on Kansas City and barbecue, and and he was at a Chiefs game, so that kind of shows what it was like it is internationally known almost.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Yeah. And like I said, I don't think the Chiefs are gonna lose that moving out to moving out to Kansas. Um I do question what that means for the Royals and kind of the identity for it. Again, I like the idea of Royal Stadium staying in downtown Kansas City because that's 81 games where the Chiefs you're getting eight, maybe nine games a year.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Um but obviously there for people who don't know, the the city sits on both in Missouri and in Kansas, and so it's referred to as the Border War. Um, you can take it all the way back to the 1850s and 60s with before the Civil War. Um, and so Kansas City has such a unique personality, so there's been a lot of hot heads and rough words with the Chiefs deciding to move. And the state of Kansas is essentially footing the bill, so uh the Hunt family can build it, which I don't want to get into that, but I'm not crazy about it. Um whereas I don't know the financing yet for uh Royal Stadium or Kaufman Stadium in downtown Kansas City, um, or even when that starts. But if you look online, there's some pretty cool mock-ups, what it looks like. It's pretty neat. That'll be neat. Okay, well let's let's do a let's do a few more things about live sports and what we like or where we go. Um, do you have a bucket list? Are there places that you want to go see live sports that you haven't been to?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

So I've been to a World Series game in in Kansas City with my brothers, which was one of my favorite sports experiences, just to share that experience with them. Uh I've I've seen Wichita State play at the Final Four, and I've been to a few other Final Fours. I've watched KU play in the Final Four and stuff like that. Um But I'd say as far as my bucket list, I don't want to go to a Super Bowl. Does that sound crazy? No, I don't want to pay, I don't want to pay the money. Um I do want to go to a master's, which my wife has been to and I haven't, but I would like to go to one of those. This sounds kind of weird, but since I'm getting older, I don't really think I can accomplish going to specific places, but I want to watch specific players before they retire. Sure. So that's kind of a bucket list thing. So like I've mentioned since we've lived down here that we've seen LeBron and we've seen Curry and I watched Oklahoma City this year, but but I saw Kobe uh, but I didn't ever see Jordan, and that's what I always kick myself for. So so I now I want to see guys before they retire. And but if I if I had to say like bucket list things, I want to see a Summer Olympics. I want to see that.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

Um Are you gonna go in 28 then?

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Maybe. I I may. Um and Atlanta's hosting a World Cup too next year, and and World Cup is one of those things where this year, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

It's yeah, it's summer.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah, but the price the prices are so high. And there was a story about how they're not selling. And so they may be lower in the ticket price. And if you really think about it, a lot of times if you had to go to a World Cup game, you may be driving or traveling internationally. So I would save on flight, I would save on hotel food. And so maybe if they bring the price down, I can really justify paying a couple thousand bucks to go watch a soccer game.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

See, I'm waiting for the same thing for Kansas City. Yeah. Uh to watch something at Arrowhead. I'm waiting to see if prices come down for that. Yeah, but I don't know. That's a lot of money still. Yeah. Um Argentina and Bolivia or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Another thing is uh this sounds kind of stupid, but on my bucket list, I want to go to all the major league baseball stadiums in one summer. Oh my god. So like traveling. That's moving. So I was fascinated when I was when I was growing up, they did ESPN did a story about those Duke students who went to every stadium over between during their summer break. Um, and they would like follow them around the country and see where they were at. Maybe I'm misremembering that, but I I vaguely remember that. And I always thought to myself that was that'd be really cool. And my wife and I kind of did it started doing a little trip, we did like an eight-day trip. Um, but I would like to go to all 30 in one summer. What about you? What's your bucket list stuff?

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Well, I'm right there with you at the Masters. That would be incredible. I mean, I guess my coolest story of live sports would be going down to Tulsa to Southern Hills in 01 and walking next to Tiger. And so he had already won, he had held this was the first major right after the Tiger Slam where he'd won four in a row. So one of the great things about golf is you can walk like right next to them where when they're on the when they're on the edge of the ropes or when they're on the T-Box. So I'm standing not even five feet from them. I mean, I could reach out and touch them, but of course I'd be dragged out of there. Right. And so it was really cool to walk in 01. And then I came back in 07 for the PGA championship. He won that one in at Southern Hills. And so just to sit and walk with certain golfers like Phil Mickelson at the time, VJ Singh, Tiger Woods, Ratif Goosen, that those guys were so just to hear the ball strike and to watch it, and you're just like, it's hard to capture that on TV, just how in awe you are of what these guys do. Because I guess, and I'm not even that big into golf. I mean, I like golf, all right, but not that much. And but to have that kind of access to you know, think of being three feet from LeBron James or something like that, that'd be incredible, that'd be great. So I I really enjoyed those, and I think my other bucket list is is um Wimbledon. Yeah. I would we we toured Wimbledon uh in March of 23, if you remember, and we even got to meet Denis Williams on a total fluke, and that was so cool for uh some of the kids to be able to meet her. Um, but just to watch live matches at uh Wimbledon, I'd be great with any of them. Um, but I think Wimbledon is the one I would want to. Wimbledon and the Masters are probably my two bucket lists. Yeah, that's tough.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

It's interesting because we're we're recording this just on the heels of the Kentucky Derby race. And so when you talk about some of these events, there's such long history. It's just an annual tradition, unlike any other. And it it it just it's almost like that is bigger than the actual game or the event, it's just being part of the tradition. Uh so that's what makes it a bucket list, I think.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

I agree, because uh one of the old AP readings when it used to be in Louisville, Ed Morales and I, if you remember Ed, and a group of teachers went over to the Kentucky, well, we went over to Churchill Downs, and you could still bet on the horse races and all that. And I mean, it was a dump. Yeah, it was just an absolute dump of a place. But you gotta think being there like this past Saturday, everybody dressed up, fancied up, and that's that's just the the pizzazz of it, just the whole culture of it. Like you said, it's the tradition more than maybe even the venue. But I wouldn't say that about the Masters or or Wimbledon. I mean, in some cases, um the the venue is more important than the players. Yeah, it's almost just like how often can you say that where when you go see an Atlanta Hawks game or something, you're there for the players, and the venue just happens to be where you're at. But there is a few things, and I think Wrigley probably falls into that too, where you're at the venue, and okay, whoever's in front of you is a bonus, especially if you get a superstar. I remember I got to see Barry Bonds play there in his prime, and it's like, okay, that's cool, let's Barry Bonds, but I was more concerned if the Cubs were in town just because I wanted to be at Wrigley Field. And there's not many venue, there's not many venues I think you can say that about. Um, that like Arrowhead is special for its history, but people are there because Patrick Mahomes is there. That stadium gets empty then when if they're two and fourteen or whatever. Uh not empty, but it it's you know what I mean. So I don't know. Uh it's interesting to think about what stadiums or fields or or what have you um will enamor uh and kind of capture the public no matter who who's a Madison Square Garden.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Oh, that's a great call. That's right. That's a great call. So I think that's the one in basketball. And maybe the old the old uh garden, the Boston garden, when Bird used to play.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

The old garden, yeah, not not the but that place was probably dumped too, you know. Oh yeah. Sounds like everything you hear about it is um we're gonna be in New York over Christmas, and I guess it's a New York tradition that the Knicks play on Christmas Day. So if I have to go to a Broadway musical, I'm gonna beg and plead to go to Madison Square Garden. I know, just to go one time.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

It's a bucket list thing. You gotta tell them that. Maybe you could sit down next to Timothy Chalamet and Denzel Washington or something.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Uh yeah, hey, if I saw Spike Lee, that would be fantastic. Yeah, there you go. That would be great. So are you going to any places this summer? Are you gonna hit any of the uh stadiums or fields? We will go. I know we're gonna go to Bush Stadium.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Yeah, we'll go to a Braves game or two. I don't have anything else planned. Uh but what I do have planned is you're talking about live events, and I'm trying to make more of an effort to go to concerts because I grew up in a family, we never went to anything but sports games. Uh my parents didn't take me to movies, they didn't take me to concerts by any means. We never went to a concert.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

But you and your brothers, what do you expect?

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Yeah, so sporting events. So we have a little amphitheater, and we always we've gone over there the last couple summers, so I have a whole list of concerts I want to go to this year, so I want to do that.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Well, I am officially extending the invite to you and Julie. August 15th, the Ozark Amphitheater. All right, Ozark Amphitheater. How about that? In the middle of Missouri, John Mullaney's gonna be there. I don't know if you ever listen to John Mullaney. Yeah, he's funny. I love John Mulaney. Uh he's gonna be in Kansas City on the 16th, a Sunday night, but I don't want to do that before the first week of school. So we're gonna go to what is it, Camberton, Missouri. I can't believe he's playing at the Ozark Amphitheater. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Hey, on a Saturday night. And there's something I forgot on my bucket list. I always thought it would be cool to go to Saturday Night Live filming.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

I yeah, oh, I applied to it this year because we're going. Yeah, you have to put your name into a lottery. And so I applied like the day it opened up and no dice. Yeah, I would love to do that.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

I think that would I agree.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Yeah, that would be that's a great call. Um, we'll have to save that one for another time about other live things we'd want to see because there's certain venues in our country that I want like I want to go to Red Rock. Yeah. Um I I just want to see something at Red Rock. Now, I don't want to just any artist. I I want it to be I'm at the age of my stage of my life where I I want to see the person. I'm not just gonna go for the uh for the event because it's a I gotta sit on rocks basically. But that's one of the places I would love to go.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Yeah, we need to we need to have another podcast and and I need to talk to you about your concerts and what you've seen because um yeah, that's a whole nother thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

I I will say I I still need to plan a trip down there is because so I'm I'm I want to go to Athens, Georgia for my REM fix. Yeah. And so I I know we've talked about that. I've got to get down there to see that.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Yeah. I will say one last thing about um that I forgot to mention about the experience of a of a live sporting event. It it could it could be anything. I said that I didn't really want to go to a Super Bowl because I've heard just bad stories about getting stuck so high you can't even really watch the game, you have to watch the jumbotron. But um I've been to Final Fours where I've been really good seats and and then I've had a game where I had to sit in some nosebleed sections, and that totally changes the experience. But when I went to the Final Four in Atlanta when uh Wichita State played, Wichita State played first and they lost to Louisville, and and and the section was shocker fans, and I had really good seats because my brother got them for me. A booster was high on the lottery list, and it the guy didn't want to go, so I got the tickets from the guy through my brother. And I went past Xavier McDaniel. I was so low, I was on like row six or seven in the stadium, and I was so close I could hear the shoes squeaking, and that I'll never I'll never forget that. That's Will Farrell was sitting to my left, and he we were about the same, we had about the same seats, and um, and then after we lost, there were a lot of shocker fans. I don't know if they were just so upset or if the older folks were tired or didn't care, but a lot of the people left, and there was obviously the second game, but it's always like 40 minutes after, you know, because they have to do their warmups. So it was Michigan and Syracuse. I went to the bathroom, went back to my seat, and I and I made a note of who was leaving. And when they were walking up the aisle, since I was on like row seven, I was really close to them. I said, Hey, are you guys leaving or are you coming back for the second game? And they said, No, we're going back to our hotel. And I said, Well, do you mind if I have your ticket? And they said, Sure, we don't need it. So I got their ticket, and they had floor seats. And so for the for the Michigan Syracuse game, I sat on the floor and had my shoes were on the court, and that's a totally different experience. So that makes it makes everything so much cooler.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

So and I gotta that came up where uh a kid was on the floor or a young kid, and they got they got plowed by players. Uh should little kids be courtside? I don't know if little kids like under under twelve almost. It's like you're tiny and these are giants.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Um I think it was like Last night. Besides Last night, I think, for the Celtic Sixers Game 7, it was either that game or the night before. I was watching playoffs and there was an a lady holding an infant child on floor seats. See, no way. Yeah. I was like, she shouldn't even be able to do that. That's just ridiculous. Joel sound horrible probably. Joel B dives into the stands and he can kill that kid. You kill that kid. And then you're just holding your. What do you do?

SPEAKER_02 44:29

Yeah, okay, we're getting dark here. But I agree. I agree. There's got to be an age, age restriction of courtside seats. Besides, I'm just jealous. I'm like, how does a 10-year-old brat get us hit courtside? That's just not right. Go sit in the nosebleeds for a few games and let's check out your fandom at that point. All right. Well, hey, thanks for doing this. This was fun. I just kind of wanted to uh we appreciate the suggestions. We're always open to suggestions if people ever want to uh text or email or get a hold of us. Uh what are the possibilities for what we can ramble on about for about 45 minutes or so?

SPEAKER_00 45:00

That is that is a good that is a good point. If if I know anybody who listens to this, there's a handful. If you guys ever have anything, just reach out and we'll be happy to try to talk about it if it's entertaining at all.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

Yeah, and on a closing note, my wife's getting ready to start a TikTok channel, and I asked her how many episodes until she surpasses our audience. And she get and she said, I don't know if I can do that. I'm like, I bet it takes you two. Yeah, I guarantee you. Maybe a half. You've got a YouTube channel. Yeah. Maybe halfway through, you've already got it. So our classroom is thus closed for today. Which, all right. Hey, thanks everybody. We appreciate it. Have a great week, and we'll be back with you soon. See you guys. Take care.