Episode 2: Erik Bakich

Petty & Sut discuss 'what makes a Cane?', plus Clemson Head Coach Erik Bakich joins the show from the team bus to talk recruiting, travel coaches and more

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

So this is episode number two of Home in the Road. Jeff Petty founded and built the canes. He runs them. I'm Darren Sutton. I've been around this sport my entire life. And that's about as scripted as it's going to bet it to get. I was thinking, Jeff, um, with regard to travel baseball and the choices, how old are you, by the way?

SPEAKER_02 0:32

I turned 43 on Easter Sunday. Oh, happy belated birthday to you. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Were you in Hawaii, by the way, on Easter?

SPEAKER_02 0:41

I was not. So we flew to California uh the week before, spent the night in San Diego, woke up the next morning, flew to Hawaii, and then did it on the way back. And I was actually telling some guys in the office that was a big mistake. If I ever go back to Hawaii, I would just get it, go the whole way. I guess I thought, you know, 12 hours in the air was just going to be too much. But I just, yeah, I would not do it that way. I'm assuming you've been out out there a few times being a West Coast guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yeah, it's easier for me. Phoenix to Maui. That flight's easy. Um, you come back on a red eye, um, that flight's easy. Only a couple of times. Uh, see what happens by the way, we go right into travel stories. The only reason is I I follow three people on social media, and Jeff Petty's one of them because we now do this podcast together. So I saw a beautiful Hawaii picture. Well, happy birthday to you. I appreciate it. Um and I asked of your age because I'm 55, so my travel ball was different. It was an angel scout um by the name of Rick Ingalls. And he did travel baseball per se, but they called it in Southern California scout ball. And, you know, to be chosen for scout ball, you had to be good. In my case, you had to be good and have a dad who pitched for the team as well. So that didn't hurt. It didn't hurt this. I got invited. Uh look, Jeff, I'll never forget. I got invited to play for the Angels Scout team. And we'd play Cerritos College, we would play Golden West College, we'd play Fullerton JC, we'd play USC, we'd play UCLA every weekend in the fall, and I was a high school senior. That was my travel ball. Now I know I'm old and I'm not trying to go back in time. Um, travel ball is modern. You've helped to shape the face of travel ball. And, you know, like it or not, you have. You're one of those hands that are right there molding what goes on. And so I find it interesting for me when I look back at my travel ball time, uh, you know, and I wonder, okay, what made me that? What made me an Angels Scout team player? Well, I was a legacy, and I also, so this is what's funny. I play with Brett Boone, who everyone knows, went on to the big leagues, Tommy Reddington, who was a high draft pick as well. Um, so what made those dudes good is they could play. It made me uh uh an Angels travel mall. I was 6'5 athletic, and my dad was on his way to the Hall of Fame. So that's what leads me to ask you what makes a cane? Because all three of those dudes that I'm mentioning, um, all three of those dudes, Boone, Reddington, Sutton, we're all different. We were all there for different reasons on Rick Ingalls team pitching against USC in the fall. And my guess is, my friend, it's all different for you, one by one by one, and what makes a cane.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yeah, so that's a very that's gonna be a long answer. Um there's various clubs, very various teams and levels in travel baseball. So if you're on a top-level team, let's say our national scout team, you have to be a professional prospect at this point. Um, and a lot of times that's dictated by the scouts and it's dictated by agents, and agents are calling and placing players on rosters. So that's that level, and then you have kids that need to find their college home, and they're not quote unquote professional prospects in high school. And then you have kids that, you know, are the average high school player. Maybe they're not. I don't think there's anything wrong with a high school kid that wants to play travel baseball that might not play college baseball. That's just me. And we kind of had to adapt to that when things started getting more and more travel baseball started happening, and there's more and more teams. And a kid that maybe 10 years ago that we cut, we're keeping that kid now. And I don't necessarily think that there is anything wrong with that, as long as you're honest with the parents and you tell that family up front, hey, you know, this is kind of where we have you. Um we don't necessarily think that you're gonna get a division one offer this summer, but here's your schedule um and this is what you need to work on. And you get to play baseball in the summer. I don't think that there's uh anything wrong with a average high school player playing travel baseball if they want to. So it's it's various levels, obviously. Um that's the answer.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yeah. So it's the same as when I uh it was the same as back in 1986 and 87. There's a lot of different layers.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

For sure. I mean, you're you're talking, I think that the system was what were kids doing back then? Were they playing Legion ball? I mean Legion Ball, and if you got invited to not every kid's playing against Division I schools like you were. I mean, that's the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

No, but if you got if you got invited, Jeff, if you got invited to the scout team, that was the canes. Right. If that makes sense. Exactly. I know it was I know it was regional. I wasn't flying all over the country, but that didn't exist. It was Legion Ball. I was I was on the Canes in the fall because that list was short of people that got invited.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Absolutely. No, that those are the best players, and like, you know, your Grady Emerson's of the world. I mean, those are the easy ones, right? But they're Grady Emerson's are the 1%. And, you know, there's 20 high schools right around me, right here where I sit, and there's a lot of average players um that might just love the game of baseball and want to play baseball in the summer. And you know, American Legion baseball is what I played, and heck, I don't know if it's really prevalent anymore across the country.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

No, it's travel ball now, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

I mean, that's the case. No, it's what everybody's doing. So you can either get on board or and and again, like I said, 10 years ago, our motto was if you can't play in college at the division at any level, we would keep a division three player, division two player, junior college kid, whatever. Um, but if a kid showed up to a tryout and we thought that they couldn't play baseball in college, like, well, why are we gonna keep this kid? And you know, I'm just being transparent. Now, you know, we will keep a kid that in our program um that we don't necessarily think is gonna play in college. I don't know. You'd have to you'd have to explain to me why there's something wrong with a kid that just loves the game of baseball and wants to play the game in the summer and may not go play in college. I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Well, I'm not gonna explain it to you. There's nothing wrong at all because I'm a parent, you're a parent, I'm a parent, and I've watched you know, four women that I have raised that have gone on to be adults, um, and one of them specifically took on athletics at a high level, never played in college, and and I'll always be grateful that you know playing in regional and national tournaments on the soccer pitch um helped to shape her. So what's to apologize for? It's it's it's experiential, you know? Um sorry, I forgot. Gosh darn it, put the phone on mute. This is the first podcast I've ever hosted. It's unbelievable. Like, unbelievable. Don't edit that out, you know, because I know everyone out there thinks I'm perfect at what I do. So there you go. That's that's the first mistake that you see. But as a dad, that that's the me that comes in. That like, why would like it's organization? You have rules, you have expectations, you have show-up times, you have your uniform needs to look this way. Um, why in the world would you want to avoid that? And I know now sometimes it's pay for play where it wasn't that a generation back. I understand that, but I don't know. I'm not gonna explain to you why a kid who's not gonna play in college. You may have one of your players that goes on to actually play like college basketball, you know, go on to wrestle. Um so I I I wouldn't waste my time. Um, I found it interesting though. The other day, I I uh on our Sirius XM radio show, on PG's XM radio show, I talked to Walker Jenkins, number three prospect in baseball, um, who's almost there, and Sal Stewart, um, different size guy, different shape guy, different kind of prospect, number three prospect in the Reds organization. Um, and again, he's almost there too. I mean, both these guys are close. Um, obviously, uh Jenkins with the twins. What I find interesting, Jeff, and I'd love I'd love your thoughts on this. So, guys, when you look back, what was it about it? For Jenkins, it was I'm playing travel ball. Uh, I love my boys at home, but I'm playing against the best players in the country, and I gotta figure out where I get better. And suddenly I'm in my master's degree. I'm putting words into his mouth, but I'm in my master's degree with people who are as good or better than me, and I'm picking all their brains. I'm asking them all questions. That was Walker's position. For Sal, it was relational. It's I'm a pro now and I still go have dinners after the games with the dudes that I played with in Travel Ball, with the dudes that I went and chased the gold medal with, with the dudes that I was a PG All-American with. I love that answer. And I'm guessing for you, you see that, right? And this goes back to what you're saying initially and what makes it king. There's not one answer. And when you talk to guys who were almost in the major leagues, um, their answers are different too on what they look back on that they love. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 9:59

No, I that's what you get a lot of those responses from guys. I remember uh Rock Chalowski, he's the uh shortstop at UCLA right now, and he didn't do a lot of travel ball, and he played with us the summer before his senior year. And I know his blanket answer was he wanted to see how he stacked up against all these names that were out there. And it was very clear a week into the summer that he stacked up pretty freaking good. Um, and I think that that's what a lot of people, the best want to play with the best. But the relationship piece, like we talk about that all the time. These guys that not only you play with, but you play against, these are guys that you're gonna be having dinners with and catching up with, you know, at the professional ranks, you know, the rest of their lives. And in the mutual respect piece, I mean, when you start playing with guys that are as good as you, they push you, and then you see them across the field, they start you start to have that mutual respect. Um, and I think it just iron sharpens iron, it helps everyone helps everyone. So absolutely, I agree with all that.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Yeah, and and probably the extroverts, not to get all weird and geeky about it, probably the extroverts love the friendships and the memories, and the introverts, you know, love the grind and love to look around the room. It's it's funny, uh Eli Willitz, who may get drafted really high out of Oklahoma, didn't play a ton of travel ball either. You know, didn't play a ton. And then even and he reclassed, he's still 17. Cam Caminetti, who lives down the street from me over here, literally my subdivision, he played 18U summer ball. He may have slipped onto one of your rosters at one point. I don't know, but he played with like the Chi Town Cream 18U. You know why? Because it was the best fit. It worked well for him. He was like 14 playing on an 18U team, dominating tournaments. That was kind of like me being 15 playing Legion ball. That was kind of what he did. So um, we're gonna have Eric Backage on this show. Why? Why why did Backic say yes to you?

SPEAKER_02 11:59

I've known Eric a really long time. We go back, I guess, since I got in this thing 20 years ago. Um he just came to mind. I mean, obviously Clemson is playing really, really well right now. They're a hot team, and I guess they beat Georgia last night, they won the series against Libble last weekend and took 36-7 overall. I think you said that they haven't lost uh two games in a row this year, is that correct? Correct. Oh no, he's he's just a great guy and he cares about relationships, and why not? I mean, I think he even said that he was gonna be on the bus. So what does that tell you?

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Well, it tells you that hang in there with us. I I I'm always I'm always loving the the uh so so mind you, if you're watching this podcast or listening to it, the the younger uh host in Jeff Petty mentioning a dated reference in the last night with Georgia. Um, because who knows when you're listening to this, and the record is gonna be different then. So keep that in mind with the with the with the newer host we're building this franchise around. Like, I mean, we're building this franchise around this guy. Here's what I find interesting. You need to build it around you.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

I gotta learn, man.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Here's a travel ball world to me. Here's a travel ball world in a nutshell. CBA, John Paino. You know of him, right? Love him. Okay, so whether you do or don't, I appreciate that answer. I actually do love him uh a lot, and I know you do. I'm busting there. Um but there's there's a guy that plays for Clemson, whose last name is Paino. It's amazing the communication. So it's not just East Coast, Michigan, Michigan, Midwest travel ball guys. It's not just, okay, he goes to Clemson, South Carolina. He's talking to you and other, you know, the the the teams in Carolina. Um, it's a kid that was a Cal Baptist and a coach that's out in California. Man, you guys communicate like crazy. That's the part that blows me away about travel ball coaches communicating with college coaches.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Yeah, I mean, if you don't, then I don't know how you're gonna, especially in this world of recruiting now, I don't know how you're gonna place players. There, there's so many players available to these guys now. I mean, it's probably that's something I want to talk to him about. Uh I've never really actually broke it down with him is this portal situation. I mean, it would make sense to me as a college coach to go get a kid in the portal that's already played college baseball that to sign a high school kid. And I can't believe I'm saying that on the air, right? But I was gonna ask, what's your role, man? Well, my role is I coached them when they were in high school. And a lot of times when they're in the portal, I get a ton of text messages in the summer. Uh hey, so and so went in the portal. And you know, they find them on the perfect perfect game site, and it says they look up so-and-so, and then it says they played for the Canes, and then they text us. Hey, what do you got on so-and-so? It says he's in the portal. Um, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure it's a balance of getting the the good high school kid and going and get, but I mean, how it's gotta be pretty interesting to go grab a kid that's 20 years old, that's already played in college, that's had success, maybe over a 17-year-old kid, not just from a physical standpoint, but you know, mentally as well, um, just maturity-wise. But uh yeah, I mean, being able to communicate with the college coaches, if you don't reach out to them directly and work for your player, especially in this day and age, it's gonna be hard to place them. Hard error, harder to place them.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

So the tech is working, and Eric just hopped into the room with us. We're gonna pause our conversation. Eric, thanks for being with us, my friend. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Darren, thanks for having me. Jeff, great to see you as always. And uh yeah, good to be on with you guys.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

I I gotta start with your identification, your your shirt there, which kind of has a vintage look to it with the name and then the Clemson baseball. It kind of has like, I don't know, like a nice blue collar look to it. I gotta know about the gear.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah, so this is something we've done for, oh gosh, going on 10 years now or so. Uh it's our, you know, it's what we wear on the bus. We wear suits when we travel, uh, charter commercial play, and when we're getting on a flight, but when we're on the bus and on the road, it's uh it's Jackie pants and then like this mechanic shirt. It's like a work shirt, but it's like a you know, the representative of uh, you know, a worker that you know gritty and uses his bare hands, gets dirty. Uh just uh just and it's not my idea. I stole it from Jim Arba. He uh he brought it to the 49ers, that's where I first noticed it, and then we ended up uh overlapping at Michigan together for quite a while. And uh love the idea. So we we stole it for a lot of our Michigan teams, and then we brought it to Clemson, and it's a big hit and a lot of fun, and uh, you know, you get to look like a blue collar worker for at least a day.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Oh, I love it, man. You know what goes really, really well with that shirt is a ring at the end of the season. So you put the two together and uh you can be blue collar and have your flash. Look, and real quick, Jeff and I were talking about travel ball coaches and the concept of travel ball, and I want to get your thoughts right away. Talking about how often and curious, do you communicate with a travel ball coach? I know you're busy running a team right now. How often are you communicating with a travel ball coach about a player, about a player that may be in the portal? How important are those relationships for you? How often do you talk to travel ball coaches?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Um, I would say I wouldn't say daily, that's that's too overzealous, but I would say uh weekly, often multiple times a week. Um, you know, Jeff and I uh overlap in the Diamond Allegiance together and um just think travel ball and travel ball coaches are some of the greatest human beings out there with um how they put the target on helping kids and helping kids find opportunities and help kids reach and achieve their dreams, uh especially using a sport to achieve higher education. Um, and so many of them and just learning uh more about you know what goes into to being a travel ball org owner and operator is to see how so many of these guys you know pull money out of their own pocket to personally uh take care of some underprivileged kids that maybe couldn't afford it, and how also on the other side how competitive they are in building their rosters, much like a college coach or a pro organization would. Um these are obviously extremely highly competitive organizations, uh, but there is there is such a philanthropic art component of it on the other side of the competitiveness, uh where these guys just want to help as many kids uh be able to play at the highest levels that they can. So um, you know, getting to know a lot of these guys over the last few years and building relationships with them. Um, you know, Jeff and others are are guys that, you know, when they tell you they've got a player and they they know the how you build a program and what your program's all about, there's often times where you don't have to go see him or don't have to certainly don't have to see him over and over and over again to figure it out because you trust what these guys say because they've done such a good job of establishing credibility over the years.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

Can I um piggyback off of that trust factor? How often do you have people reach out to your staff or yourself about a player when it's not legit? Because I mean obviously that happens once or twice, and then that bridge kind of gets burnt down. Um but how often does that take place?

SPEAKER_00 20:01

It it it happens for sure. Um you know, a lot of the a lot of the you know a lot of it is well intended. It's never from a malicious place. It's you know, maybe it's you believe in the kid and because you see him on a daily basis, how hard he works and what he puts in, and you believe in his I'm talking about the travel ball coach or or his coach who just believes what he could be, even though metrically, physically, you know, he's not at that level. Um so we never take it as uh uh this guy has no credibility unless it it's obviously it's a repeating pattern and we get burned on on some leads or waste our time and things like that. But often the the majority of, and you know this as well as anyone, Jeff, the majority of uh the misleading information is the data that's collected out there. Um and it's you know, a lot of players kind of self-report, you know, maybe what they think they're doing or what someone eyeballed it and told them they did, and so they they send the hi my name as emails, and um, you know, it's just it's just not always accurate, you know, it's not always indicative of the type of player they are, just because they did something at a peak level one time, uh, and then are representing it as this is who they are on a daily basis. So I I do think there is um there is a um a need for reliable data, especially as the recruiting landscape is getting harder and harder for the high school kid with uh with rosters being cut, the portal being on fire, uh having validated trusted data out there is something that is definitely a need.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Before you got on, that's what me and Darren were we were talking a lot about the portal. And obviously, isn't it better to go get A 21-year-old kid who's played a couple years of college ball that's not only more physical but uh has a maturity that a 17-year-old or 18-year-old just simply doesn't have. And you know, I'm a travel ball owner and I'm not I don't have my, you know, head in the sand on that.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

It's um there's a couple of factors to it. Um you know, one, you can trust the data out of the transfer portal because you know the level of competition. You know, so you see what a kid's credentials are at the division one level, you know exactly who he's facing, who's in the league. You know, those are those are some reliable stats where when you see stats of high school players, you don't know the the level of competition. You don't know who's with you know what they did at the tournament they were at. Um so that becomes, you know, that becomes one point uh that you do have an older experienced kid who has credentials at div at the division one level. But on the other side, I think coaches, the majority of them don't want the revolving door program. They want to build their roster with the high school kid and have those three and four-year relationships. It's just getting harder and harder to do so with a roster just being cut by 15%. Um, the the game is still gonna, you know, the the kids that are the top 1% of the high school players were still gonna be fine. Uh, but it's gonna be harder and harder to bet on that, you know, what used to be that low scholarship kid that was the late bloomer that had the high ceiling, that maybe was fast twitch and skinny and needed to put on 30 pounds. Um, when you have the this other thing that's available for you, you have an older player with credentials, and it's more of a plug and go.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

You've always been someone with uh strong opinions. Uh, they're always respectful as they're delivered. But you know, you and Randy Macy a couple of years ago really nudging college baseball to play in the summertime and not deal with the weather. I I won't get on that per se. I'll just go here with you. You know, Oregon State has to go independent. We know who Cannem is, we know who he is as a coach, but they're probably gonna host. Coastal Carolina, probably gonna host. UC Irvine, probably gonna host. Is the college game better because of programs like those three hosting when we get to May and June?

SPEAKER_00 24:21

I think so. I think so. There's there's there's great players everywhere, as we all know. Um you know there's there's already so much parity in college baseball because you know, everybody, everybody's good, everybody's out recruiting, um, everybody's developing at a high level. Facilities have exploded. Um so I do like to see some regional, national balance with regionals, you know, being expressed more nationally. But um the season, though, like to your first point, I know we're not getting into that. It's it's more for me, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

You can if you want.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

But it's not it's not playing in the summer. It's just getting separation from basketball season. You know, if we're if this is about money and we're trying to grow our sport and be have better attendance, then we want our actual attendance and all the verticals of our revenue streams, like concessions and alcohol and merch and so on and so on. You know, we that was part of the study is 55% of the SEC and the ACC are playing their home games. 55% of their games in those two conferences are being played in February and March, but they have better attendance in April and May. And so you don't need to play all the way in the summer. You just need to get out of February. I think the college baseball season and have that allow the college fan to have a little more separation, delineation between basketball and baseball season and just start in March. And it might only be two, three weeks later, but it's a big deal. Um, and it and it helps the everybody's bottom line. For big programs like ours that actually do draw really well, it you know, we have more attendance for the program we had at Michigan where we didn't make money in attendance, but we would save money by not having to take three extra flights per year and spend 50 to 70 grand per trip on the weekend. So everybody's in bottom lines are improving because you're either making more money at the big programs or you're losing less money at some of those um, you know, other programs that are traveling a lot in February.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Nice. Consider those, Mike, too. Jeff, hop in and take the last two questions.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Your boys are are they they're playing ball now. What is your thought process, you know, with now being on that side of it? Being kind of in it.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah, I got a I got a cool uh I got a cool 360 lens because you know I'm uh made the joke the other day that I'm a I'm a full-time travel ball dad and a you know part-time college baseball coach. Um but it's it's it's unbelievable how um how they they love it. Um you know, they they don't have my kids don't have the barriers to entry that maybe I had. I couldn't have uh afforded or had the means to to to travel a couple hours every weekend or whatever, but um I see it from a parent standpoint that you know that you just have these kids that are very devoted to getting better at finding opportunities. It's uh it's a hyper competitive space. Youth sports is you know, maybe the the I think I I think I read something that the youth sport market is valued at like $38 billion, uh, all of youth sports. And um the next the next highest thing was the NFL at 19 billion. So, you know, the the space is just so competitive and so many life skills. Everybody's playing sports, but I just I see it from a dad standpoint. Um they've just they're they're wanting to start that accelerated development track earlier and earlier. And I'm you know, on one side saying be an athlete first, and you still got a sports sample and you can't specialize yet, you know, you you have got to play multiple sports and be an athlete. Uh but on the other side you can just see how how easy it is to um to be able to play so much baseball and develop like like we can when there are just you know there are events going on all the time, you know, certainly in the spring summer, but the fall and winter as well. So I I think it from a parent standpoint and on the coaching side, finding that balance of still wanting my kids at a young age, they're 15 and 12, my two boys, to be multi-sport athletes, not sports specialized until they're until they absolutely need to. But at the same time, I feel like we're giving them every opportunity to advance in their in their travel ball teams and with their favorite sport, which is baseball, uh, and still be able to develop at a way that they're gonna be able to create opportunities for themselves too.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

I've got one more. Um Schnobble. You guys obviously, there he is, stud. Love you, dude. Um you guys played together in East Carolina, right? Yep. Did you know each other before that?

SPEAKER_00 29:42

No, so it's it's actually really funny because he Nick played at De LaSalle, I played at Bellerman. They we played each other in high school. Then he went to Ohlone community college. I went to San Jose City Community College. We played each other, knew of each other, but didn't know each other. Um, and then we met, we were both happened to be watching a Stanford game in 1998, oh geez, 1998, maybe where we were both sitting at Stanford and we were both were getting recruited uh by East Carolina. We happened to be at Stanford, just you know, I think they were playing USC at the time, it was like number two versus number five in the nation, you know. Like to your point, Darren, about the you know, having the great teams on the West Coast. And um, and so you know, we're we're sitting there and someone introduces us, and it was like that was the first time we met, and then it was just like a hey, how you doing? What's up, you know, how like you know, guys do. And uh, and then we're on the same flight out for our official visit to East Carolina, uh, and that's when we really got to know each other. So we we grew up high school and JUCO playing against each other, but didn't really actually meet until we took a visit to go to East Carolina and then um obviously teammates and then needless to say, you guys have done a lot together. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no. Um, you know, him uh him coming to Michigan. Uh we were you know so lucky to get uh a recruiter of his caliber to to leave East Carolina and come to Michigan, and then um obviously we wouldn't have all those great teams in Michigan and wouldn't have the roster we have at Clemson without uh you know the best recruiting coordinator in the country.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Well, you and I never do boring interviews. I remember standing outside of the yard at in Ann Arbor a couple years back, and it was felt like it was about 15 below, and now we do this one. So and you made it clear, please don't tell anyone watching how cold it is while we do this interview. Uh now you're on the bus. Eric, you're the best, man. Thanks for stopping for a minute on this unique journey that Jeff and I have put together, my friend. Safe, safe travels. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me. Thank you, coach.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Tech works great, it's amazing. Thank you, Riverside.fm. We'd love our subscription free because of that now, since I mentioned it. Jeff, this is you. You're the producer now of this podcast because you booked our guest. And that's look, any producer will tell you if I book guests, I get a producer tag. Dude, he is always so thoughtful. It's always so thoughtful. He wanted to go back and answer my other question about pushing the season later just because I mentioned it. Um, any one takeaway that you dug from that conversation?

SPEAKER_02 32:28

I think he's one of the smartest guys I know. I I I don't think there's anything he couldn't do. He just happened to chose to be a baseball coach and he's very relational and just you know cares about people and relationships and just wow. It was great to talk to him.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Yeah, wow is perfect. That's a great way to end it. Great subjects. We're gonna continue to do this. Every other week you'll see a new one. We're gonna find our audio lane for it. If you're watching on perfect game TV or on perfect game social, we're gonna get it out there in the audio lane because a lot of you get your steps in and you want something to listen to. We're actually doing something now that we've wrapped this one, we're getting there. Hang with us. We're getting there, folks. And we're actually, you know, not talking about the obvious subjects. And maybe, just maybe, you'll learn something. Episode number two, home in the road in the book. See ya.