Hour 3 - Mariners Have A New Public Enemy, The History Of 710

Get in the freaking auto! From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Zock on Seattle Sports. Brock Heward and Mark Matt Markers. Sorry about just my mic. Heward, not exactly Joe Kat there in the pocket. Now here are your hosts, Brock Heward and Mike Zock. So I played golf yesterday again with Ray. Big Ray. Big Ray was a big Ray. Was a big Ray. Nice guy. He's the guy who bid on the holiday magical rounds. So you don't have to have a driver that you don't have to swing that just... No, no, no. That's different guy. That's Dan. No, this is Ray. Ray played well, much better yesterday. We played Cole Creek, not an easy course over at Newcastle. But he was there with his friend Randy, and then Randy's wife, Bobby, came along. And Bobby didn't play. She probably couldn't have, but she didn't bring her shoes and anything like that. So she wasn't, but she was riding with us. And we were talking golf. And at some point she gave a statement that I never thought I would hear. She hates Dottie Pepper. What? I know. It was a mind boggling statement. Anybody who doesn't watch golf has no idea what I'm talking about right now. Dottie Pepper. Who hates Dottie Pepper? How's that possible? Right? She's like, oh, she's so arrogant. I thought you were talking about like a nursery Ryan character. No, no. Dottie Pepper is, she walks the course with whatever features there is. There is satellite backpack. Yeah. This thing she, she offers like, okay, this green is going to be a little left to right. I've been watching people miss this putt all day. Like that's her job. And this one Bobby's like, Dottie Pepper, can't stand her. So arrogant. I was like, really? She's like, every single shot. She's like, I would have made it. Like really? I've never heard her say anything like that. So she spent like, I spent the rest of the day trying to imitate her version of Dottie Pepper being like, eh, cross hand a grip would have worked. I don't know what you're doing. Like it was so strange. Who hates Dottie Pepper? There's so many people out there. I guess Bobby does. Apparently. So shout out to Bobby. She hates Dottie Pepper. It's probably only because she doesn't know who Ty Butchery is. If she knew Ty Butchery. Is this guy still going? I don't think he's not still pitching, right? He's out of baseball. Okay. So Ty Butchery, you probably don't know the name. So allow me to reintroduce Ty Butchery, former Mariner to you. He was a reliever, right, Lyle? He was. For mostly the angels? Yeah. But he pitched here when? 24. I mean, he was never in the big leagues, but Tacoma, spring training. Maybe that's why you don't remember him all that well. Maybe that's why he's got a little axe to grind. Never made it to the big leagues. Ty Butchery. And you got a name like Butchery. Well, he was a big leaguer with the angels. He was. And actually had one pretty good year in 2019. So it's been a little while. It kind of went south form in 2020. And then that was it. It was just three years in the big leagues for old Tyler Butchery. Okay. Ty Butchery. Well, after the Mariners threw up and into trout, I read you some of the comments yesterday, that's what Butchery had about how the Mariners were, you know, didn't know what they were doing. And it was, you know, if you're going to throw inside, you better learn how to do it. This and that. Anyway, yesterday he doubled down. Yeah. Apparently some people got after him. Should we get this guy in the show? You might need his stuff now. It seems like that's what he's trying to do. Here's Ty Butchery. Let's break this down for the angry Seattle fans out there that don't understand the difference between intentionally pitching up and in and having poor command as an established big leaguer. You know what I did seven years ago where I brushed the guy off the plate, whose front shoulder is leaning in his elbows, leaning in completely different situation. Trouts are very upright guy when he hits. Okay. So there's just, you have to really miss bad if you're going to almost headshot a guy and then almost break the guy's hand. Right. And this has happened throughout the series. We all know that trout struggles with fastballs at the top of the zone. But Seattle, what I'm saying is be better. Okay. You're an established big leaguer. You guys have established big leaguer's many big leaguer's all the time throw up and in and don't ever get close to break and do tans or headshotting people. Okay. So yeah, be better for the angry Seattle fans. You don't know baseball. So stop talking please. Okay. Good. See you later. Wow. What do we make of new public enemy number one? Ty Butchery. He's playing one of my cards. I mean, that's one of my cards I like to play. Be better. Yeah. Be better. Yeah. You do like that. I've played baseball like through my daughters through the years. I'm like, it's very simple. You know, when he's being a little punk, you don't need to go down to their level. I trust me. Just say to them, be better. When I pancake that Rogers Ram D. N. Sulk in 1993. Sure. 12 different times over the pile when we ran 28 option. Was I smack talking? You suck. No. I just said, be better. So he's playing one of my cards. Yeah. I can't hate that. No. I mean, you could. Pump a sprig guy with a three year MLB. It's pretty rich. It is pretty rich. How many years? I mean, that's three years longer than my MLB career. And I like to say things like that. So I'm not like hating on him for the knowledge aspect of it. Well, when I was in the big leagues. All right. So let me ask you a question. Does they have a point? So Brian Wu was the one that threw up and in, right? Yep. So is he saying Brian Wu is not a pro is not. He's not good at his job. He was the first one to throw up and in. And Casey Lugamina also threw up and in and hit him. Okay. So Casey Lugamina is you. We'll also hit him, right? They both hit him. I mean, he's you, right? Like, Lugamina is basically this guy right now. Yeah. This guy and Casey Lugamina are essentially the same person. Yeah. So what are you doing? I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I do appreciate the idea. I appreciate the stones. I appreciate the idea. If you were going to throw up and in, you better be good at it. Don't miss. He's right about that. Like, I'm not going to argue he's right about that. That's today's baseball. Yes. That's this century. Yes. Oh, yeah. That's the way the game is played. Well, yeah, but that's the way the game is played. Now, if you're going to throw up and in, don't miss. And I understand that because the two things guy hitters are concerned with are their hands, wrists, fingers, and their, and their head. Their face. Understandably, right? I mean, like, no one, no one blames them for that. Yeah. Hands, wrists and fingers take you out for a really long time. And obviously nobody wants to get hit in the head or face. So I totally understand that element of, hey, you guys are throwing 100 miles an hour. If you're going to come up and in, you better be able to control and command that. I think he's right about that. And if you don't, then you can't be too upset when you get hit back. Like, that's the way this game should be played. Did anybody have any issue with them throwing a Julio? No. Not Julio gave a little stare down, but it's not like he's like came sprinting out or anything. Like, yeah, all right, you came up and in on trout. You're going to come, you know, throw behind Julio. Like, okay, good for you. Send the message. That's what I wasn't upset about it. Nope. But then they hit trout again. And again, I don't, I think he doesn't believe that they did it on purpose. Just like, Hey, if you're going to come up and in, get it right. But with trout, I think it is a little different. He, he does need to be pitched up and in. Yes. Like, and not everyone can do that. So what is Casey Legamina supposed to do? I'm Casey Legamina. I'm a fringe big leader. Okay. Just like Ty Butcher, he was. I've got to pitch to Mike trout in a big spot. What should I do? Am I going to miss a little or am I going to miss a lot? I just like, what should I do? I'm going to go up and in, right? I can't miss by a little and risk him putting a barrel to it and do a damage. I got to really, I got to, I'm going to not be in Mike Salk's gray area. Right. Strike zone. I'm pitching up and in, pitching up and in. Like, I can't like stay away from that just because I don't have the world's greatest command. So what you want me to pitch low and just give him a home run. Mike trout did not have a hit in the series, right? Then you go over six in the series or one for eight or something like that. All right. One hit in the series. Like, okay. Then they did their job. And unfortunately he got hit a couple of times. So be it more than anything. You know what I'm really thankful for tied butchery. Well, kind of. I'm really thankful that Dottie pepper was not the payoff of your teeth. No, I didn't, I didn't have nine minutes on Dottie pepper. Nobody does. Bobby, Bobby's really mad about Dottie pepper. Isn't that amazing? I can't stand Vern Lundquist. So I was like, who else do you hate? Who else do you hate? Jim Nance. Rick Riz. What an arrogant guy. Can't stand. Dottie pepper. And I was like, Oh, Dottie's so great. She walks the course before every, before every tournament with her dogs. And she's like, Oh yeah, typical things that the rules don't apply to her. Oh my God. This woman hates Dottie pepper. Honestly, Brock, of all the people, did you ever in a million years? And I'm really thankful for this. Imagine that I would come on this show and tell you that I met somebody who hates Dottie pepper. No, it is so weird. I was looking to see if we even doctor pepper. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Dottie pepper. Come on. We don't even have any Dottie pepper in our system. I was curious if we had any Dottie pepper. Nope. We don't. We've got Red Hot Chili Peppers, Julius Peppers, Ghost Pepper. Oh, you're right. We have fungal pepper. Remember fungal pepper music? Oh, yeah. Little fungal pepper. Yeah. But no Dottie pepper. Unfortunately. I bet you hit some good fungal. Oh, are you a good fungal guy? I don't think I hit a lot of it, to be honest. You don't really do as a player. That's a coach thing. Sorry. Here we're exactly two weeks away from the NFL draft and Gabriel Pepper's name continues to intrigue me more than anybody else in this draft. That was for 12 2017, two weeks before the draft. What are we today, Brock? Two weeks and two days. Two days before the NFL draft and Brock will have his first draft profile coming up in less than an hour at nine o'clock. We'll be right back with everything you need to know. It's Brock and Salksale Sports on 710. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock Heard and most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERP, CRMs and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquis IQ brings all your data together into one clear view, even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline so you can see what's really happening and act faster. Stop running your business on highlights. Get the full picture. Visit data.wins.com to see what Marquis IQ can do. Old Windows costs you money and security. Lake Washington Windows and Doors installs energy efficient, high security windows that lower your bills and increase protection. With leak armor installation and lifetime warranties, you're protected for life. Choose LakeWashingtonWindows.com today. We're going to rough go for the Mariners to start this season. 11 games in there, four and seven. And it's this product. I wish it was a different issue. I wish instead of it being, hey, the Pats just aren't hot again to start the year. It was something else. Like, hey, they're scoring eight runs a game. But for whatever reason, the pitching staff hasn't come together. Like at least it would be a new conversation. Instead, we're having the same thing we've been talking about for what feels like forever. Logan Gilbert though, he pitched pretty well. Six innings to runs. He believes the bats will come around. Yeah, such a long year and you look at the names and the talent we have, like over 162 games. Things always even out to what we're capable of. So there's nothing to worry about. I think we're going to hit our stride and we saw in the second half, like the offense probably carrying us last year at the end and then the playoffs. So I feel really good about where we're at. And as a team, I don't think there's a weakness. And you made this point yesterday. So you've kind of been on a heater last couple of days. Like on it. I don't know what it is. Is it is a rest? Is it sleep? What is it? Locked in just feel a focus locked in your locked in. And you made this point. I'm always on point when it went out. Not always. And when Angie was like, well, you know, you look up and who lives going to be 30 30. And you're like, yeah, yeah, you know what I want to be 40 40, right? Yeah, you look up and the Mariners are going to find way that going to dig themselves out. They're going to go on a winning streak. They're going to win 90 games. But what if I want to win 100? Yeah, I wanted to be the number one. Yeah, I think that's well said. I agree with you because I agree with me. I think it's an old line from the show, but I. I'm not panicked over the start. I don't think it means what if I like them to not have to have a win, 17 out of 18 and dig out of a hole? What if I'd like them to win 100 games? I'd like to see a dominant team. I'd like to see one. Totally. And we're not seeing that right now. It doesn't mean they're not going to make the playoffs. It doesn't mean the season is over. It doesn't mean they can't be that. Mm hmm. Well, like, yeah, I want to see 40 40 Julio, not 30 30. I want to see 100 win Mariners, not 90. Like I want to see some real dominance. And unfortunately, this is not a start that tends to lead to any of that. So hopefully they can get that going. They lose last night tomorrow or tonight, rather, George Kirby against Nathan of Aldi, Brennan Donovan back in the lineup. That was good news. Bad news. He went 0 for four. Good news. He made a really good play at third base. So yeah, Brennan Donovan back in there and should be again tonight. Here's the second thing you need to know. Yeah. So this is probably nothing, but I think it's something you should at least know. And I'm going to keep my eye on it and hope that it's a little bit more than nothing. And that's this fact that Miles Garrett did not show up at Brown's OTA yesterday. And Dexter Lawrence is not going to as well. I'm more interested in the moment at Miles Garrett. I just what he would mean to this team would be just spectacular. So you've given up two first for him. Yeah. This year's and next year's. Yeah. Without a sand more if I have to. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like again, position he plays absolute like decided knowledge track record that he's going to be great fit in Mike McDonald's scheme and system. And I think that's my perception of what his reaction would be to leaving Cleveland and coming to this organization, playing with these characters on this team for this coach in this city with that facility. I mean, I just think it would be a home run in so many ways. If there's a way to get a mile and now you have a lot of competition for it and the Brown certainly wouldn't give him away. But the fact that it continues to bubble and he continues to be unhappy there. Yeah. I'm hoping against him man out of the NFC and keep him out of San Francisco and L.I. I mean, he's a gamer. He is. He might be the best player in football. Yeah. Right. I mean, like you could probably make a case that he right now is the best player in football and of course I would want him on the team. Yes. I also liked Dexter Lawrence who was unhappy in New York and would like to be traded. Maybe he will. Maybe not. That one doesn't. It's a just doesn't work for me as well. I just think it's you kind of look at like this in a baseball kind of way. If he really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really is that guy. So I'm probably not going to beat down that door. Here's the third day you need to know. I really am mad about the way this will crack in season is coming to an end. We talked a lot about it yesterday, thought a little bit more about it last night. I don't know if you saw the devil's cleaned house yesterday. Yeah, they're like, everybody's out. Coach, front office, everybody. See you later. You can't do this. Vegas kind of did the same thing. Or just a couple of days ago, Patrick Wajas got fired with the Islanders. Like, you know, people don't wait in hockey. They just like, yeah, move on. Do something else. Why is that? I don't know. I don't have a good answer for you. I don't know the answer. I mean, my gut says, and just listening to in these hockey conversations over the years, how much like connectedness, emotion, passion can offset. Yet I also hear you say so clearly, like this is just a talent issue. Like there's just not elite Miles Garrett's on this team or JSN's on this team. And to be honest, I mean, we're sitting here saying, OK, well, they've had three coaches in, you know, three years, but who were they? They've hacked all right. I mean, exactly. Like they didn't go out and get the creme de la creme. They went out and got guys. Torto Lady. Torts. That's a Vegas just hired. Torts is in Vegas. Is it now? Yeah, John Tortello. Oh, my. Oh, so nice. I mean, but like they didn't go get Lindy Ruff. They went and got guys that, you know, didn't have much of a track record. And so it is a little bit of a different situation. I don't know what they're going to do, but I think that they are right now running the risk of a fan base that is teetering a little bit and not winning, not drafting particularly well, not bringing in players that exceed expectations or make you excited and not getting what they need out of the coaching spot, which I think is hard because so much of the rest of the stuff off the ice. That's perfect. It's so good. It's perfect. The facility, the facilities, the building in and what you're doing in the like, it's so good. Yep. And just the goal scoring and playmaking is not. Yep. All right. That's everything you need to know. Well, Michigan one, the big 10 is dominant. Michigan, UCLA, Indiana. You know, it's such a striking contrast. And it's not just because my daughters are basketball players and my wife was a basketball player and I have a love for women's basketball that I was crying. Big tears Sunday listening to Coach Close at UCLA, listening to Lauren Betts, Haley's old AAU teammate, the six, seven, number one pick in the WNBA draft. It was that those gals, salt largely hit all play together for years and years and years, Kiki Rice for four years, Lauren for three years, bunch of seniors. They're all seniors. Now they got a couple transfers, Neapkins from Utah and everything else. And then last night I watched Michigan, you know what they were? Five paid mercenaries from five different schools. But they won. They did. They did. But there's no like connective. But they won. I totally get it. And that is a model of doing it. And that is their way of doing it. But it is a difference between some of men's basketball and women's basketball right now at that level. You can still do it that way. South Carolina, all homegrown, Yukon, all homegrown, UCLA, all homegrown. Men's basketball, mercenaries, total and complete mercenaries. And, you know, does that affect your emotion and your like connection to it and passion to it? Again, I'm probably super biased, so I shouldn't maybe answer that. Yeah. But I think for a lot of the fans, and I was listening to a lot of national folks talk about this. I heard Adam Schefter this morning. He seemed pretty happy. Oh, he did. He did. And our boy, Portnoy, who we had sandwiches with, he was happy too. I don't know how many emotions Adam Schefter has to begin with. So maybe he was the perfect person to be happy about it. Richie's happy too. Yeah. No, I get it. And I'd be celebrating if you dub. Got the five best mercenaries and won the whole thing. Sure, I would. What I hear there may be a women's mercenary coming to Utah. Is that OK? I'm just saying, you never know. You can get mercenaries anywhere, Brockey. You never know where mercenaries might come. All right. What is Pass and doing? Guys, I have bad news for you. What is he doing? We've been we've been we've been bumped. Jeff Pass and double book does. What? And now can't join us. And did not give us a lot of notice because of their four and seven start. Yes. Is he talking about for. I don't know that I can. Cal Raleigh. Oh, no. That's fair. Is it guys got one home run? I mean, combined, I guess we have zero home runs, but he only has one home run. Like is he in Texas talking to Cal? I don't want to go down. You know, I don't want to give away too much info, but it does sound. As if we've been bumped for Cal Raleigh. Now, Jeff might join us at nine thirty. We'll see. We're playing it a little fast and loose. He might join us tomorrow. He might never join us again. If we're that angry over being bumped for Cal Raleigh. But regardless, we have a new plan, which I will reveal to you next. I'm probably as soon as we figured out it's Brockenstalks, sales boards on seven and sales boards dot com. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock Heard and most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERP, CRM and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquis IQ brings all your data together into one clear view, even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline. So you can see what's really happening and act faster. Stop running your business on highlights. Get the full picture. Visit data that wins dot com to see what Marquis IQ can do when you're running the hurry up and don't have time for your favorite Seattle sports shows. Listen to the podcast on demand. How about that? Unbelievable. What a thought every hour, every interview, every look behind the scenes. He is your new Seahawks head coach, Mike McDonald. We want to play a certain way and you're just going to chisel away at it every day. Find us on Seattle Sports dot com, the Seattle Sports app or wherever you get podcasts. All signs continue to point to it being the right hire. Never a misadventure of Seattle Sports, the home of the Seahawks. Marquis Protection with leak armor installation and lifetime warranties. You're protected for life. Choose Lake Washington Windows dot com today. From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk weekday six to ten on Seattle Sports and 97 three FM HD two. All right, Jeff Passon, either going to join us at 9 30 today or he will join us tomorrow. We're kind of working through some of the details on that. Unfortunately, he had to cancel on us because he had double booked. So it's OK, we'll figure something out. At least he double booked with Cal Raleigh. Yeah, if you're going to book it. I like Aaron Judge or somebody else there might as well be with Cal Raleigh. Yes, that's a good point. All right, so Brock. It was 17 years ago yesterday that we launched this radio station. And I am actually glad because we didn't get a chance to talk about it yesterday. Usually I try to take a moment or two, both on July 10, 7, 10 day, and also on April 6, which is the anniversary of the launch of this radio station, to just spend a couple of minutes talking through it, giving people the history. Not everybody remembers sort of what it was like and how this thing began and what the conditions were. We had a lot of new listeners all the time and people who don't know about some of the various drops that are in our open or the way we close the show or anything like that. So I'll just take people back. The year is 2008. You can go in the way back machines. Right, go back to 2008. We were younger. Two years after our guests who are in today with us. Just two years after they graduated from Piala High School. Lyle, how old were you in 2008? 10. Yeah, Lyle was 10 years old. Some of our listeners out there probably weren't even born yet. But if I could take you back to the year 2008. Maura was modeling in Europe. Where were you in 2008? Were you in Miami? Were you in LA? No, I was back in Colorado by that point. I was in Miami and LA like 2001-ish. Oh, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, Maura, don't reveal. You shouldn't reveal. You don't want to tell people the dates. I'm not going to tell you the exact details. People might start doing research. Maura, do you know where the mind is? You could have said I was on the search. Remember, there's an Irish poet and it said I was 67 years old. Aren't you? All right. So in 2008, the Mariners became the first team in history to spend $100 million and lose 100 games. I know 100 million doesn't seem like a lot now, but at the time they were spending a lot of money and it was not paying off. Weird. Anyway, first team in history to spend 100 million and lose 100 games. And they were a pretty detestable team with Eric Padar and all of that. In 2008, Brock, the Seahawks were, I think, five and 11. And it was the end of the Mike Holmgren era. It was the last year of Mike Holmgren. He and what was the guy's name? Him, Rusk. We're not getting along. I brought that name up yesterday. On a discord. There was a lot of infighting and the team was in chaos. And it just, it was ugly. They, they, nothing was good here in Seattle for the Seahawks. Mike Holmgren left and he was about to be replaced by his coach in waiting, Jim Mora. And so that's where the Seahawks were at. Yep. They were a team on the decline. The Huskies went 0 and 12. Oh, Tyrone. The Huskies went 0 and 12. Tyrone, Tyrone, Tyrone. The Cougs, when I believe two and 10 beating some sisters of the poor and the Huskies. So I guess you could say two sisters of the poor. West Texas A&M. Was that the other way? No. All right. But it might as well have been. You might be making the name of that school up. The Cougs were awful. The Huskies were worse. The Sonics left. So just think about the year 2008. The Mariners stunk. The Seahawks were in disarray. The Huskies were horrendous. The Cougs were very bad. The Sonics left Seattle and the economy crashed. I looked up who was who beat. You want to take a guess? Portland State. I'm going to guess. First guess. You got to write. Yeah. Nice job. 48 to 9. Big win. Big win for those Cougs that year. Was that the what's that guy's name? I'm just going to minimize my comments. No, nice job. That was impressive. Thank you. What was that guy's name? The coach? Paul Wolf. Paul Wolf. A guy with so little personality. The athletic director had to do the interviews because nobody would talk to this poor bastard when we went to when we went to pack 12 media day. Packed 10 at the time. His name was Bill Moose. Very. They had a moose and a wolf. And they needed moose to do the interviews because the wolf was a disaster. So that's that's the sports climate in 2008 in Seattle. The economic climate is death. It's awful. Like the economy is crashing. The financial crisis is upon us. And a couple of geniuses here at Bonneville said, you know what we should do? Start a sports station. Carl and the Silver Fox. Nice job, boys. Really great timing. Hey, you know, there's another station in town. It's got an 18 year head start. You know, we should do. Start another sports station on an AM radio station here in Seattle. Can't miss. What a great sports climate. What a great economic climate. This can't miss. Let's start a sports station. OK, how do we do it? Well, we're going to have to get a couple of things. We've got to get the Mariners back, which they did. We're going to from Como. We're going to have to make sure we keep the Seahawks, which they did. We're going to have to get Kevin Collabro. He's the voice of the Sonics. He just left. If he does a talk show and we can start this station with Kevin Collabro, Dave Nehouse and Steve Raible. Raible, Nehouse and Sports Insiders. Only a few people remember that. But if we could start with that, we're good to go. OK, we've got those three. All right, what else do we need? How about the Prince of Puyallup? Let's get Brock Huard. OK, we got that done. What else do we need? Hmm, now it starts getting a little harder. Well, let's bring in some people from the East Coast, some producers who know what they're doing, have been around ESPN. Let's hire a couple of guys. Let's hire Matt Pittman and Shannon Dreyer. They'll come over from Como and bring real, some real life to the Mariners broadcast and all of that. OK, yep. So we got that coming in. Let's hire this crazy kid out of Boston. He's been doing very little local hosting, but hosting some national fill-in stuff at ESPN. This was your seven minutes. Now you can pause for just one moment, please. You've done a beautiful job. Thank you. Just trying to remind people where we were at. Just down that hallway, Lyle, if you look to your right and more to your right, just down that hallway, and you bend around. And by the way, this didn't exist. The studio we're in right here, we were not in this one. We were in the little backup studio with everybody. It was beautiful. Just down that hallway and then you take a right. That's where the big boss had the office back in the day, the program director for the Kent. Oh, big rod. And that is where, after I did 18 demos with lots of different people from all over the country, some country music guy from Wisconsin, some guy that's doing National Fox now, nice guy. Brian, nice guy. Other local guys and gals that maybe wanted to be a part of this thing. I did all these demos. And yeah, one was Salk 2. You should have gone with Nick Wright. You blew that one. Why didn't you guys go with Nick Wright? Nick didn't interview. Oh, yes he did. Not with me, no. Cause I ran into Nick at spring training and it was like, I can't believe you got that job. I really wanted it. No, not with me. Well, he had worked out for him. Yep. So I walked down that hallway, down the hall, take the right, get in Rod's office. There's Carl, there's a Silver Fox. I don't know if Kathy was in that one or not. At that point they were like, well, what do you think? What do you think of these 18? What are you feeling? What's jiving with you? You liking this? I don't like anybody but the guy from Boston. That's exactly what I said. He did not. Pretty darn close. No, you didn't. Pretty close. No, you didn't. I said, well, I really enjoyed so and so and this one was so and so. And that one was a little weird, but that guy from Boston, man, he was, I don't know. I don't know about that one. And sure enough, that's who they hired. I mean, to be fair, the first time I ever met Brock in person at our infamous lunch, he did it so well. That was exactly what he said. He said I did all these different demos. He's like, the one that just jumped out, is like, I really don't know about that soft guy. I don't know about that guy. I don't know. And that's exactly what they wanted to hear. Yeah. Right? They wanted to make it a little uncomfortable. Absolutely. I'm so milk toast as it is. I'm basic. Better than what they told me. Oh, and Murphy told me, oh, it's your job. You just got to come out. We want to meet you and it's your job. I was like, okay, great. I came out interviewing and he's like, okay, we'll let you know in a month. I was like, wait, what? You told me it was my job, you psycho. Like, oh my God, that guy. Anyway, so they hire me. I come out here. We launched the station a couple of weeks later. We got John Clayton aboard as well. And that is how the station was launched. Now what you may not know is that it didn't do very well. Well, the first show we've got Dick Vitale, who's Larry and Jaius in his courts. Dick Vitale. Can't talk. We're trying to take calls. No one's calling. Well, they also told us like, Doug Gottlieb to break down the NCAA tournament. So they told us, right? You may not remember this, but they told us right at the beginning. Like, well, we think that we're gonna be very successful right away. Our research shows that there's a huge appetite for sports. We've been running. Calhurt. We've been running promos and everything. Cause they were moving Cairo Radio from its like million year home here on 710, over to 97.3. And they're like, oh, we've been running promos for six months. It's gonna be great. Everyone's gonna be like, okay, sure, sounds good. So I remember we got our first ratings book. Our first ratings came in May. And I was at a wedding. I had to go, you know where I was? I was at Sawgrass for a wedding. I didn't play golf, so I didn't play, but my buddy Chris got married. He and his wife have both a tremendous amount of money and they got married at Sawgrass. So that's where I was. And by the way, in radio, you don't get like other feedback. You don't see the till every night to know. You get a month and a half later. They tell you how you did. Here we go. So I was like, okay, well, they said, there's gonna be great. We get bonus on like a top five. The list is gonna be awesome. And I saw it and I was like, text it or call. I was like, hey, how'd we do? And they're like, 27th. I was like, what? There aren't 27 radio stations in the market. How could we possibly be 27th? They were like, yeah, it did a .01 rate. I was like, that's not even a number. You dub, you dub campus radio beat us. Lie over at Central Washington radio beat us. True story. Central Washington. I think that you have. I've never stepped foot in Central Washington. Same diff. ASU Central. In any event. So they finally, they give us their either, oh, you guys are like 27, 29. Whatever, I was like, I thought even a real number. Like, what do we do? So, I mean, it was bad. It was very, very, very bad. Brock, we had a bad show. We were fighting all the time. Collabro was, you know, trying to learn how to do radio as well. We were running Mike and Mike in the morning and then cowherd and there was a delay. There was a lot wrong with the station. We were running ads because the other thing that happened is that Cairo started not doing well on FM. And like we could not do well and they'd be like, hey, whatever, we're not spending any money on these idiots. Like if it fails, it fails. But if Cairo doesn't do well, like we're gonna have to shutter the building. So we start running ads on our station every single break telling people to go to Cairo. True story. And I don't mean Cairo, Egypt. I mean the other station in town. We're running promos every single break with either Ron and Don, Dave Ross or Dory Monson being like, hey guys, I'm still here just on Cairo on 97.3. Change the channel right now. And we were like, we were complaining. And they were like, I don't care what you guys say. Like if that thing doesn't work, we're all out of a job. You know what you are? You're at 0.02. Exactly. So I was like, well, if we're so little. B-U-Dab radio. I was like, if we're so little, why do you even need to run the ads? We're trying to build an audience. And they're like, no, no, they need to build the audience. You know what the beauty of this story is, by the way? That it's all true. It is all true. And I hadn't thought about this. It's a little bit like when we bought at San Cadia. I was like, oh, I was still doing some of my real estate stuff. And I was like, oh, look at these lot. Oh, they're bank owned. Oh, they're foreclosed. I can go get pennies on the dollar for these lots. And I'm gonna go buy, like this is gonna be a great investment. I'm using my real estate, big brain and connections with Washington Fentral to buy these. And we start the process. And I had no idea how close that thing was to shuttering and ignorance with bliss. Thank God. Yeah. Well, that was also the case here. It turns out that about a year in, in addition to Owen getting ready to fire me, there was some real serious conversations about turning off the lights here at 710. And just saying, hey, it was a good experiment. It didn't work. But let's move Kyra back. We'll run some music station or something on 97.3. And there were people at the old corporate office that were ready to do that. And thankfully, some other folks here locally stepped up. Carl Gardner, you call him the Silver Fox, but Dave Pridemore, those two probably more than anyone else, but they were not alone. But give those two a lot of credit. I think they both said, give us a year if we don't make it, fire us. But they stepped up and they fired Owen Murphy. Thank God. And, you know, well, he wanted to fire me. Thank God they fired him instead. And ultimately, they brought in Brian Long, who was a tremendous difference maker for us in our station and building culture. Brian brought, you know, they brought over the Graz, which was a big part of it. They brought in Bob, which was a big part of it. And they moved around some shows so that we had, you know, more local programming. People guess what they want here. Yeah, they needed it. And we knew that. And then, and then Piccaro and then Russell. That certainly helped. Yeah, a lot of the sports news started to turn our way. The economy ultimately started to get better as well. There you left. He took the bag. Yeah, it's stuck. He took the bag. Sorry about that. What about you? But just going back, not to the later parts of the story, but just it really was this close to not working. And... Did you know? No. I didn't really know either. I don't think I really knew. Again, ignorance is kind of bliss. And when you're young and hungry, we knew, and we told our story before, like we knew we sucked. Yes. We knew like we could look and, man, I don't have a hit yet this season. And man, I'm Rob Reftsnider right now, and we're not doing good. And we got to dig out of this. And you and I fought like brothers a lot. And then we... But we've told that part of the story before of how you and I got together and said, hey, we're gonna have to make this work together. It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna work. We've told that story a lot. But I had no idea that it was that close. Yeah, it was real close. They were gonna shutter this thing. And thankfully... Many of you are wishing they did. I know. Well, there are some people in town that probably are wishing they did, who liked being on top and liked being there for a long time and coasting on it. And they're not on top anymore. And that's really too bad for them. They like to complain about it. So that's where we're at. That's why we're still here today. I love you so much. All of these years later. No, you love me. 17 years and one day. Spins this beautiful tail on this really. It takes a shot at me. Gotta throw a couple daggers. Just gotta throw a couple daggers. Yeah, because I started the daggers there. Yeah, that's how that goes. Do you guys see this text from JD in the 509? No. 2008, I lost my job. So I turned to sports for some uplifting moments. You can imagine how that went. It was pretty bad. Pretty bad. 808, this is true. You did appearances at Top Pot Donuts. That's true. That is true. We did do a couple of appearances at Top Pot Donuts. What was that in what place? The All-Star Sports Bar. With Mary Kay Leterno. Rest in peace. I do have a picture of her and Brock together, which no one is allowed to, which I would never send to anybody. You're gonna use some blackmail against me. Some point down the road. You and Mary Kay, both look good though. You both look very young. I asked Lyle last week. He did not know who that was. No, of course not. No, no chance. Yeah, some other great things happened along the way. I mean, there were other good people hired, Colin Paisley, was a big part of our early years, and then eventually, Tom Wassell and Boy Howdy and Kyle. After that, Andy Bunker and, you know, who else? Who am I missing? Lydia, like all the people that were a part of the show over the years, it's been great. Think about, just kind of spin this to today. Simon came in not that far after that. No, and just think about how much we talk to, and I know it's a word that I love to use and overuse, but just connective tissue and that connectedness and how little there was, how unknown. We're just stumbling and bumbling and fumbling and starting here and doing, like just all over the place. Frankly, like a lot of NFL teams, like a lot of MLB teams, like a lot of these billion-dollar businesses that you think would get their act together, but they can't, and they're constantly turning over, and they're constantly changing. And while we had change, there was, from an ownership standpoint, a resource standpoint, a commitment. Everything changed with the ownership. Bonneville sold off half of the company, and the entire management group corporate left, and they brought in a different management group, and then a different management group after that. So, I mean, like some of that is true. In our build. But what they really did is they did stick with it, and it is an important reminder that if you're gonna call for people's jobs, if you're gonna look for regime change, you better be damn sure. You better be really, really sure before you call for someone's job. And I think that you and I have tried to state of that for the most part. I mean, even when it feels kind of obvious, and this cracking thing is kind of on that list right now, where it's like, hey, you're gonna have to do something, there are moments where you have to be really careful, because I think that a lot of people looked at this station and our jobs and our career, and were like, yeah, this thing's not gonna work. These guys don't have it. Yeah, and I think Romar, thankfully somebody stayed with it. I think Lorenzo was probably one of our first ones, where we were just like, you know, it's just kind of run its course. I think in the end with Pete and John, you know, you just kind of knew, like this was not going to, you just were not going to rebuild this thing with those two in that marriage. Again, it just wasn't going to work. You know, so there've been a few of those over the years, and you're right. You gotta be fairly measured and better make sure you really, really do know. But man, that's a fun little, that was 17 years ago yesterday. 17 years ago yesterday, the birth of this station. So yeah, I'm glad to pass and cancel. I actually gave us a little opportunity to run through some of that. Do you guys remember, I just wonder if you think it's of the same time. Do you remember when you started to feel like you were good at it? Because Brock said we knew we sucked. Oh, well, we did not enjoy working. I think I do. I don't know, I would say it was right around when we started doing the media bracket. I think that's around when we started. You can't find any of the sound. Nate, the great, just absolutely erased all of it. Was Nate an ASU grad too? Thank you, well, I don't know where. Nate went to school. Nat. Nat, Nate, yeah, whatever, yeah. No, that's probably true. That's probably about it. I think it was around that. That was a really cool thing we did where we, you know, we did a little sweet, you know, sweet 16 for 64 bracket with media members from around Seattle. And, you know, we viewed it at the time as an opportunity to get other people to promote our show. We were like, oh, if we have all these people on from the Seattle Times and all these, you know, TV stations, this and that, if they want to win, they'll have to say they're coming on with us and they'll have to like get people to vote. And so maybe people will find out who we are. And I think that's around when we started to figure it out. I think so, and Maury, that's a good question. I actually think of the great Matt Sretzsch. The real answer is probably we haven't figured it out yet. No, I think of the great Matt Sretzsch Johnson. So instead of us talking about, I remember him saying something to me when he was doing Seahawk pre and post game. I got chance to do all that with the guys and just get more and more hours and more comfortable. And he said, you know, when your show will make it, you know, when you will feel like your show has arrived when people want to be on it. And I remember him saying that and I remember those early years like, why would anybody want to be on this? Nobody wants to jump on this. Can you get so and so on? I'll try. No, I'm tied up. Sorry. No, thanks. I'm kind of busy and we're good here. So it is kind of fun after all these years to build a whole bunch of rapport and relationship with a lot of people. And most importantly, the only reason lights are on is you all out there. That's it. Like that's the way this thing works. Kind of a bottom line business too. Right? You all want to be a part of it. We love what we do. We love spending every morning with you guys. So it's alarm clock, maybe not so much, but we love just about everything and all the different people. It's a good opportunity to say thank you. You guys showed up. It took a year. We don't blame you. Nobody knew we were here. It took a little bit of time. There wasn't a lot of marketing. Although occasionally you'll still see one of the old 710 ESPN Seattle cement mixers out there or one of the old trucks out there. There were a couple of semis that have 710 ESPN Seattle on them. Occasionally you will still see them around the town which is great. But you know, people listen to the Mariners they found the Seahawks and ultimately through that they found us. So thank you to all of you for being with us for whatever portion of the 17 year journey you've been on. And thank you to all the folks who've helped keep the lights on from Carl Gardner to Dave Pridemore and Kathy Kanjiano and every Brian Long, huge part of that. Kyle Brown now, everybody in between. Thank you. We really do appreciate it and we'll be right back on Brocken Silk.