Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast

8am Hour - Erik Greupner Joins The Show + Wale Aliyu In-Studio!

Ben & Paul start the 8am hour by welcoming Padres CEO Erik Greupner back to the show to hear his thoughts on this 2024 Padres team, season ticket announcements for next year that were made last night, and more! Then at the bottom of the hour, Ben's 10 News colleague Wale Aliyu joins the guys in-studio to be our special co-host for the ret of the way this morning! Listen here!

Duration:: 45m
Broadcast on:: 06 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders and pencils. And they've got your back. When your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say "I'm sorry." And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional terms apply. You don't just live in your home. You live in your neighborhood as well. So when you're shopping for a home, you want to know as much about the area around it as possible. Luckily, homes.com has got you covered. Each listing features a comprehensive neighborhood guide from local experts. Everything you'd ever want to know about a neighborhood, including the number of homes for sale, transportation, local amenities, cultural attractions, unique qualities, and even things like median lot size and a noise score. Homes.com, we've done your homework. This season, the W is going to new heights. And that means the queens are ready to take it to court and the court. Welcome to Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoops. And I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long, you can count on us to bring you interviews with some of your favorite WNBA stars, analysis of all teams, and hot takes you can only find in this courtroom. Listen to Queens of the Court, a WNBA podcast presented by AT&T on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Paulie says I should jump in and not let the entire Jukebox hero play like we usually do on Tuesdays when we're just kind of casually coming back for the second half of the show because we have Padre's CEO, Eric Grouppner on the line. Maybe I should just ask, ask Eric Grouppner though. Do you want to hear Eric, all of Jukebox hero here for our reopen? Or do you just want to start kind of just getting going with the interview? Love Jukebox. Yeah, let's get at it. Let's get at it. All right, we'll get at it. Now, welcome back. It is Ben, Paulie. Woods will be back tomorrow. But today we've got the CEO of the Padres, Eric Grouppner, who is on and first of all, Eric, I mean, a lot of excitement, especially here since the All-Star break, no hitter, winning 11 of your first 14 games since the break. You got a wild card race. You got a division race with the Dodgers. I'd imagine it's a fun time to be there at the offices at Peko Park. It's a great time. A lot of energy in the office, a lot of energy in the ballpark, all starts with our fans. I mean, they've just been willing a lot of this into existence all year long, showing up, continuing to just bring passionate support for this team. And we've got an outstanding manager, Mike Schilt, that from spring training on as preached, you get better as the season goes, you get better as the game goes. And I think we're starting to really see that play out over the course of the season. I know you sent out those season ticket renewal emails last night and we're going to talk about it. But I first want to ask you because you just talked about the job Mike Schilt has done. And I remember back in spring training, you were standing next to Eric could send a call, he's done talking about, you know, everybody has, uh, has goals and is going to be evaluated, including AJ Preller and Mike Schilt and everybody in your office. And I get it. There's still a couple of months left and those final evaluations won't come until after the season is over. But just in the view of the CEO, the job that the, uh, first of all, the, uh, the president of baseball operations, AJ Preller has done this season in your mind. Then the KJ has done an outstanding job is, you know, AJ will be the first to tell you that, uh, it's more than just him. You know, he has an outstanding group of people around him, but he is the leader on that side of, of our operations. And I think going back to earlier, you know, right before the season started to make the acquisition of Dylan Cease, to then acquire Louisa Rise, you know, those are arguably two of the biggest trade deadline acquisitions. They were just made significantly earlier in the season. So I think the sense to know when players might be available a little off-cycle, go get them, you know, and get them opportunistically when, when they're available and not have to compete against, you know, six, seven, eight other teams as we did at the deadline with a lot of the players that we were interested in, I think, was, turns out to be a real stroke of genius this year. And a lot of the pieces that were added to this team to really complete and lengthen the lineup, whether it be Donovan Solano or David Peralta. I think it really performed at or above a level that we could have expected, jerks and pro-far. And then, you know, just really going back to the Juan Soto trade and the pieces that we got back, whether it was Michael King or adding controllable, you know, pieces to the starting rotation for years to come, potentially in Vasquez and Brio and Kyle Giga-Shioka has, you know, really come through in some key moments for us. So I think all the way up until the deadline and then through the deadline, you know, we've just continued to improve this team. And I think you're starting to see that on full display now that we're in the stretch around here at the end of the season. Are you okay? I mean, AJ, again, very aggressive at the trade deadline, adding two of the top relievers in the game, but obviously sending out a lot of those prospects out there. I mean, as an organization, you're okay with that strategy. I think it's always going to be a balance for us in this market. As I've said previously, I think we have to continue to develop the Jackson Merrill's players that we draft and develop and then bring to the major league level. And for a number of years, they have high impact at the major league level wall, making a league minimum or through their arbitration years, you know, less money than big free agents. We've made long-term commitments to a lot of big free agents. And so we have to have that balance. And you know, you find that balance a few different ways. You know, hopefully more often than not, you're finding it through home-grown talent, players that you've drafted and developed in your system. There's also times we're coming back in trades. You know, I mentioned a moment ago, the Juan Soto trade. I think even, you know, Jason Adam and others still have a number of years of control. Sometimes you get players back in trades. And then, you know, you stack up good drafts year after year after year, and you continually replenish that farm system. And, you know, that is AJ's area of expertise with the group of advisors that he has around him and our baseball operations team. And I think at the end of the day, we trust that the assessments of who's going to have a long-term impact at the major league level are being done correctly. And I believe to date, you know, nobody backs a thousand. But I think there's been a lot of really good decisions made on long-term impact players that we've kept in our system. Leah DeVries, Ethan Salas, others that we already have in our system, I think there's a lot of talent still left in the system that's going to come. And you don't get established, you know, high-levered relievers in a trade market like we have this year without being willing to pay, you know, a price to get those players. It's a competitive trade market. And I think, you know, if anything, it's just signals that we continue to be all in. I'm trying to win a World Series Championship for San Diego. Talking to Padre's CEO, Eric Groupner here on 97.3, the fan. And as we mentioned, the season ticket renewal email that went out yesterday. And I think for fans, for fans, the most important thing is they want to see winning and see the Padres go for a championship, which you've definitely been trying to do. But fans are also usually family members. And for families, usually the budget is the most important thing. And I know you guys take it seriously. So what's announced a small increase from last year, about 3%, according to the email? Some will be a little bit more, some will be less, as the email said. What's the case and what goes into the decision-making process for you guys when it comes to deciding on, you know, season ticket renewals for next season? Yeah, that's a great question. So we put a tremendous amount of time and intentionality into that analysis. And, you know, it begins first and foremost with the continued commitment that we've made to the ballpark, you know, even though we didn't have a year this year where we increased payroll year over year. In fact, we've gone in a different year. And we've had a sustained period, extended period of years where we have really significantly increased payroll. And that's all been an effort to field year-in and year-out a competitive team that can compete for the playoffs and World Series Championship. And the reality of it is that comes at a cost. And I've said this before, but, you know, the outlook that we've had for years and continue to have is, you know, we are looking to put the very best team we can on the field and that may look the approach to doing that may look a little different one year versus another. At the end of the day, that baseline commitment is there. And we're not looking to make money off of running the operation of the team. We're looking to put anything that we can generate by way of increased revenue completely back into the team and run it in a responsible way in a way that is hopefully continues to be competitive year-in and year-out. So the reality of that is, you know, inflation has, you know, for most of the year been running in excess of 3%, but we felt like 3% was a fair and reasonable amount of increase this year reflecting the rising cost. We have operating the business and maintaining the competitive team on the field. It was definitely at the very low end of the range that we looked at and is meant to be a message to the fan base that nobody ever likes, prices going up even if it's only 3%. But at the end of the day, we're trying to be as reasonable as we can and acknowledge the fact that our fans are the best in baseball. They continue to show up and support us in record numbers. There's high demand to come see this team. And we're just incredibly grateful for our fans and the response that we've had and their willingness, you know, they continue to come back and hopefully support us again next year. You mentioned in that email the, obviously, the huge changes at Gallagher Square, which have been very well received. And you also mentioned additional quote impactful improvements in this coming off season. I don't know if there's anything you can share with us, but what are some of the things that maybe you could just in terms of the future plans for Petco Park and keeping it the number one ballpark in baseball? Yeah, so we're not quite ready yet to share publicly the details of what we plan to do this off season, but we have a couple of projects that are going to be really impactful. They're going to focus on the Western Metal Building. And so we're excited when the time is right to share those details with our fans and the public. And that's really what I was referencing there. And it's going to be a couple of projects all within the envelope of the Western Metal Building. And we try to really methodically continue on a multi-year phased approach to maintain and improve the ballpark in a way that keeps it looking no more than five years old. That's our standard. Obviously, the 20th anniversary of the ballpark this year, we're really proud of the way that it looks and the way that it functions for our fans. But every year we're looking at ways to continue to improve fan experience, taking feedback from our fans through regular surveys, and then openly continually making the investment into the ballpark every offseason to improve and maintain it. I like that. It's a little teaser. Get people speculating on what might happen, but some excitement. Obviously, the Western Metal Building is a big part of the ballpark, and one of the things that makes Panko Park distinct. Now, Gallagher Square, one of the improvements, you know, with better sightlines and the hillside and the bigger screen, we've seen record crowds. You guys have been able to get more people in those seats or not seats, but certainly in the area out there. How has that gone from a kind of a management standpoint? Obviously, you know, you have to, you know, the difference may seem small between 45,047, but you've gotten up over 47,000 just the last homestand with the new record against the Dodgers. Yeah, you know, we learned a lot then in the first 19 years of operating the ballpark and in particular, Gallagher Square regarding just how we could, we could optimize that space for fan experience. You know, first and foremost, for 81 home Padres games, and then secondarily to continue to fulfill the promise of more than a ballpark and all the other events, concerts, and otherwise that we host there in Gallagher Square. Really, it's become a very vibrant part of the ballpark, and we've used it more and more and more as the years have gone on. So, you know, I would just say, to get that project done as we did in four months from start to finish is a testament to some really great leaders that we have in our area of ballpark operations and managing our construction projects, because to get anything done in four months, especially in the state of California, which is not necessarily streamlined to get projects done from a permitting and other perspective, you know, was really a Herculean seat. And we're really pleased with the way that it came out. I think you mentioned a few of the attributes that have been really well received by the fans. First and foremost, creating an all-new sight line with the Tony Gwin Terrace, elevating Mr. Padre by about 10 feet. So, he's now visible from more of the ballpark, creating the Tony Gwin tunnel underneath the Terrace where a new generation of Padres fans can continue to learn about the great career and life both on and off the field of Tony Gwin. And then to create, you know, a new experience out there for families and kids with a all-new playground with a ball field that's in a more optimal location and then to triple the size of the video board. So, now wherever you are in Gallagher Square, you've got a view of the game, not only a new sight line down to the field, but also you still feel connected to the game. So, it's been really enjoyable for those of us that have put a ton of time and effort both into the planning and then the execution of that project to just walk out there and see our fans enjoy the space. And that's the ultimate reward, you know, in what we do is to see fans come and have a great time with people that they love, friends, family, kids, to generations of Padres fans connecting, cheering the team on and just having a good time at the ballpark. And then lastly, and not trying to jinx anything, but you guys have to plan no matter what, how do season ticket renewals impact potential playoff tickets and home games that could, you know, possibly be happening at Panko Park in October. Yeah, it's a great question. So, we're at a point now where we've continually grown what has become a every year, a new record level of a season ticket number base. And the reality of that is, and hopefully it's a reality we live this year in the postseason, but it's never been more important to be a season ticket number because, you know, postseason tickets are increasingly scarce with the size of season ticket number base that we have right now. So if you think about it, it's a lot like opening day where we've got a lot of half season plans. And if you have two half season plans, you know, inherently they don't have the same seat for every game. So you essentially double the number of people that get access to tickets for one game. And so we don't anticipate there being a ton of tickets available for public on sale during the postseason. The vast majority of those tickets all be sold to our season ticket members through our pre-sale process. So it's really a great way for us to be able to say do our season ticket numbers. You know, thank you. You get continue to get priority for the postseason because of your longstanding commitment to the Padres and your support for this team. And as we saw in 2022 and hopefully we'll see again this year, you know, our fans show up for the postseason like no other. You know, that NLDS series against the Dodgers was magical. You know, it was 98% Padres fans. It was a true home field advantage and that matters most in the postseason. So we're calling on our fans to really support us down the stretch here to continue to bring the energy night in night out, which is just been outstanding this year. The players feel it, coaches feel it. We feel it in the front office. We're so incredibly grateful for it. And then if we do end up making the postseason, just certainly our plan to then welcome all those fans in for just an electric environment in the postseason and one of the best home field advantages in all of our sports. Eric, appreciate the time. Good luck to the team going forward on this road trip and the rest of the season. And hopefully we will see more playoff baseball in October at Petco Park. Thank you very much. All right. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Eric Ropner with us. And yes, I understand. I see you in the chat. They're not in the playoffs yet. Don't talk about it. You can't just wait until like the last day of the season when you clench a playoff spot and then go. Oh no, we need to plan for playoff series now. We want to sell some tickets. What do you want to do? They have to start planning now. That's how it works. And it's interesting what he said because I hadn't thought about it in a long time. I remember back in 1984 when I was growing up and my dad and grandparents had season tickets. They had four seats, but it was half season. So they had the 41 game plan or whatever it was. So every other game, four tickets, which was cool. But then when the playoffs came around, you could get two tickets because it was only a half season plan. You couldn't get four because the other people who had the same tickets also wanted their tickets as well. You just had to do two. So it was always the harder decision on who we're going to take to the game now. You can't take the whole family. You have to pick your favorite people who get to go to the game. So that is part of the equation when you have, you know, half season ticket packages and stuff. When you get to the postseason, it will be harder to get those playoff tickets, which means you could either listen on 97 through the fan or watch on TV. But what if you're not there for a moment like Jake Cronoworth singling against the Dodgers and the rain falling and everybody singing together and you go like, oh, I wanted to be there for that. That's always the risk when you're not at the game that you don't get to experience that. But hey, to everybody their own everybody's budget, you all have to make your own decisions. Eric Groupner laid out the laid out, how they do it, how they plan it. And I thought explained it pretty well. But anyway, if you've got some thoughts, you can join us 833-288-0973. You can react to that, continue our conversation. And my colleague from ABC 10 News, Wally Aliu is going to be in studio to carry us through for the rest of Woods' vacation, which is now only got about an hour and a half plus left. And hopefully he'll be back tomorrow. We'll check traffic in an ass back here. Return with more Ben & Woods next on 97 through the fan. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders and pencils. And they've got your back. When your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say I'm sorry. And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last, minimum $10 per order additional term supply. You don't just live in your home, you live in your neighborhood as well. So when you're shopping for a home, you want to know as much about the area around it as possible. Luckily, Homes.com has got you covered. Each listing features a comprehensive neighborhood guide from local experts. Everything you'd ever want to know about a neighborhood, including the number of homes for sale, transportation, local amenities, cultural attractions, unique qualities and even things like median lot size and a noise score. Homes.com. We've done your homework. This season, the W is going to new heights. And that means the queens are ready to take it to court and the court. Welcome to Queens of the Court and Odyssey Original Podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoops. And I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long. You can count on us to bring you interviews with some of your favorite WNBA stars, analysis on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again to Padres CEO Eric Rupner, gave his case as to why you should renew your season tickets. That's fine. I appreciate that. And I certainly understand the argument. I again, I went back to the, um, that civil luth you at the comments in our earlier segment about, you know, if they're selling out and the Padres lower ticket prices, you're just going to play higher on the resale and you're still going to get, you know, pay through the nose for tickets. It's just not the Padres. We're going to get it. I, I think this is the same kind of dry humor that I, I would employ. He doesn't have an LOL though, but he says, hopefully the Padres suck for the next few years and it lowers demand for tickets. So the prices do go down. That would be great. I don't want that. Well, exactly. I mean, you know, what, what's the alternative here? Yeah, it's, it's probably less expensive to go to a Chicago white Sox game right now. You probably get in for next to nothing. If you want to go see if they're going to lose a 20 second game in a row today or, you know, this is, this is the alternative and I've, I've been to plenty of Padres seasons where it's been empty and ticket prices have been low and, you know, have, have a good, get good time at the game and you go and you, you don't really care if they win or not because it doesn't mean anything. I prefer this. I really do now, again, cost is high. It really is. And you know, you got other things that you need to spend your money on. And it's very sad if there are fans out there who wish they could go to games and they simply can't afford it, but that's always going to be a reality for some people and we'll see. I mean, if the Padres charge too much, they, the fans will let them know you will, you will see it. Attendance will go down and ultimately they'll have to make a correction and they'll have to figure out, well, okay, this isn't working for us and we need to figure out the right, we need to figure out the right level of, of what to charge where we still get people in the seats, but, you know, aren't under selling our product as well. So do appreciate Eric Groupner joining us and at least giving us their perspective again. You know, three, three percent increase. I know it's more for some people. As some people mentioning, you know, the, there are member, you know, the member perks, but they go, I wish we had more or different ones. That's kind of a personal preference thing as well. And so you were, you were a member in 2021. I mean, do you feel like the perks were beneficial to you as a member? We have a ton. We had a very basic 40 game plan that mean would split and, you know, kind of in a weird spot because I, I just wasn't really pursuing a lot of the member. Like we had, we got discounts on merch and early access or early entry into the stadium. 10, 10% off concessions, I think. That's pretty much all that we did. I don't, I didn't, I didn't go to like a member photo day or anything like that. And I've heard, I've seen people have great experiences with that. I've had other people go, well, my, I got my ticket or my photo day announcement, but it was for a game that I didn't have tickets to. Like, I had Monday, Wednesday, Friday and member photo day was on a Thursday or something like that. So, yeah, that's something I'm sure that can always be improved. But ultimately, I think, yeah, I can understand perks being like a high, like that's, that's something like simple and tangible that you can be like, I, as a season ticket would like more of this. We also, he mentioned the postseason coming up and I saw this note yesterday or the other day. And I thought it was just worth mentioning, me major league baseball has announced a small change to how they're going to do the postseason this year. And that is a bit of flex scheduling. So, apparently how it works is the World Series is scheduled to begin on October 25th. And if it goes all the way to a game seven, it goes into early November. I think Jesse had said, hey, hopefully we're still calling games in early November. However, they have decided, and I think this is smart, if both the ALCS and the NLCS end in five games or less, then they're going to start the World Series on October 22nd. And they're not just going to have an extra five or six days in between the championship series and the World Series. And if that's the case, even if it went seven games, it would end in October and not November, which is actually makes a lot of sense. And if you can do it, there's no reason that you have to just wait and date, prescribe. When both the teams are done and they're just sitting around, what you're losing all your momentum in the postseason. And every year when there's like a sweep, you're like, yeah, they just got to wait around for a week, a week plus before the next series begins. So, and it's possible if one series is sweep, the other goes seven, the team that swept will still have to wait around because, you know, you can't help that. But there's no reason if both teams, both series get over quickly in four or five games, you shouldn't just move on to the next series. So that's one small change they're making for the postseason coming up this year. The wild card series will begin on October 1st, which I believe is just two days after the last game of the regular season. If the Padres make the playoffs, obviously, they could be at Peko Park. If they're either the, well, they probably won't be the third seeded division champion. They could catch the Dodgers. I'd assume if they do, they would also catch the Brewers as well. I mean, it's not a guarantee, but if they're the number one wild card, they could host that best of three series like they did in 2020. But if they're the two or three wild card like they were in 2022, they'd have to go on the road like they did to the New York Mets. And those three games would start usually, they're just three days in a row, I think. So it'd be the first, second, and third of October. So major league baseball this week announcing some of their plans coming up for the postseason this year. Obviously, fingers crossed that the Padres will be very much part of those plans. I did see the ESPN came out yesterday. They ranked their most likely wild card teams after the trade deadline. And they had the Padres second in the national league behind only the Arizona Diamondbacks. So they said, is their most likely wild card winner, then the Padres, and then they went down from there. But the conference is pretty high. What was your fan graph today with 75%? Padres sitting at 75. So you know, they're right now in a three way tie with the Braves and the Diamondbacks. But there are still plenty of teams that they could catch any of, any of those three, the New York Mets are first up there, a game and a half back. They won yesterday. Sean Menaya has been lights out. And I'm probably never going to get over the fact that Sean Menaya has found a new reinvigorated, you know, passion for, you know, working hard late in the season, which seemed to be missing back in 2022, when he, when he finished so poorly and had nothing left in the playoffs for the Padres. But he's been pitching well. He was lazy. Yeah. Yeah. He's been pitching very well for the Mets all season long, but especially of late. And he pitched him to a shut out win yesterday. So there are there's six games above 500 game and a half back. Now they beat the Cardinals. Cardinals are now four out and the pirates are four out. Padres do well this series. They could, they could pretty much take the pirates out, you know, the Cardinals struggle for a week and, you know, the Giants are four and a half. It would be nice if it was at least no more than a four team race for three spots. That makes everybody's job a little bit easier if you do it that. So we'll be keeping a close eye. It's time for scoreboard watching. No doubt about it. All right. We're going to take time out when we come back. We're going to be fun. I'm going to be joined by one of my other work colleagues, ABC 10 News anchor, Wally Ollie used in the building, going to sit down with us for the remainder of the program today. We'll learn about his career, talk some sports and hopefully just have a good time. So I'll have a round of report coming up as well. Don't go away. It's Ben and it is Paul finishing up Woodsy's vacation today on San Diego's number one sports station, 97 3 the fan baseball coverage and 97 3 the fan is presented by T-Mobile switch to T-Mobile. You can get tons of benefits and still save on every plan versus AT&T and Verizon is their savings calculator to find out how at T-Mobile dot com slash switch. So this is, uh, this is new territory for me coming up. I don't know that I have ever not had the deepest richest voice on a radio program that I have hosted. Good morning. Uh oh, but I mean, you know, now there's some competition here because joining me, pleasure to see him is my colleague for the plat. What about year now? But so it'll be a two years in September, two years in September. So year and a half plus now, uh, ABC 10 news anchor, uh, you can catch him on the evening news with Kimberly Hunt, uh, most evenings while all of you is sitting in with me for Woodsy here for the rest of the show today. While I thank you for getting up early and coming in. It is good to be here. Where is the sound effect round of applause? It's like excitement. Come on. I needed that. There we go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, San Diego. Good to see you everybody. Oh, it's good to have you. I'm going to, uh, ask you a little bit. I mean, you know, even though you've been here for a year and a half, you're still kind of a new guy in town. So I'm going to ask you a little bit about your career and, uh, just get to know you a little bit more. In fact, I need to get to know you a little bit more. We've been in the channel 10, uh, building remodeling for most of the time while he's been here. So we've all been kind of separated in temporary offices until the last couple of weeks when we moved into our new newsroom and now Wally and I are desk mates. We are sitting right next to each other. So I, I'm starting to learn a little bit more about Wally, but just smell my food yesterday. I did. You brought in something on menu. What do we have? It was like a pasta. Sort of thing. Well, I bring in like, what is that? I mean, you know, I'm hungry. We're just a normal office. Just like everybody. Everyone thinks about TV. It's just glamorous. Now it's people microwaving stuff in the, in the break room, just like everybody everywhere else. And you know, like, what did you bring in? That does not great. You know, you fight over the cookie, people brought the fish. Who was that? The microwave, the fish and the break room got the same issues as everybody else. So we're going to check traffic and we're going to chat with Wally, all of you coming up here on 97 through the fan. So people sometimes ask me, how did you get into TV and radio? And my path into this life is very weird and unusual and it's not really something most people can duplicate. I have never left San Diego. Wow. I grew up here. I've been working radio quickly switched over to TV and I've been at channel 10 for the past 20 years, the past 18 of them as the sports director. It's not how it usually works in TV. The normal, the normal course of events is you get your first job at kind of a smaller market. And then if you do well there, you move into a, maybe a mid-sized market and then maybe a larger market, you start as a reporter and move up to an anchor and, Wally, I think you're, I know your last stop, you came from Boston, right? But what, what's kind of been, tell me a little bit about, I don't even know the, the answer to this, your whole kind of progression of how you got into TV and how you ended up as the, the evening anchor on ABC 10 news. I actually love sharing this story because it gives hope to a lot of some of your kids out there who might be listening, but I, I didn't know anything about journalism growing up. Like, like my parents would be watching the news and I'd be like, uh, that's boring, put on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Let's come on. Let's have some fun. Um, and then when I was 14 years old, my mom signed me up for like this two year, like summer program. Um, but the first year they put me in a hospital doing some secretarial work and I was bored out of my mind. I'm like, get me out of here. I begged the program organizers like, please, please, please next summer, put me somewhere more fun. And they're like, hmm, I think we got just the thing for you. So they, they put me at a TV session. I grew up in Columbia, Missouri. It's a, uh, it's a halfway between San Luis de Candace City for anyone who's familiar with the Midwest. That's where, uh, Missouri Tigers are. Right? That's the Missouri Tigers are for the Tigers fan shout out, M.I.Z. Um, so I'm, I'm already at a, in a city with a prominent journalism school, like just drones schools. One of the ranked one of the best in the world. Just, I just happened to be there. So they have their own TV station at the school. So, uh, it's an NBC affiliate and, uh, so when I was 15 years old, they let me come and work in the newsroom. Then I'm just like mind blown like this is so cool, lights, camera action and nothing about journalism. Then I started asking a million questions to everybody that works there and they told me what classes take, where to go school and all these things and I just jumped right in. I worked in Mizzou. I worked in, uh, Columbia, Missouri for a couple of years. Got laid off in '08 during the craziness of recession. Substitute taught for a little bit. Got back in the business. Got a job in Dayton, Ohio, uh, used that to get a job in Cleveland, Ohio. I worked in New York City at, uh, flagship station there, WNBC, it's great market, uh, top market. Then, um, I wanted to do New York. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard of that. I wanted to do some, um, some, uh, anchoring. So I went to Boston and then I used that to get a job here. And San Diego. So how has your experience been? I mean, you know, adjusting to San Diego is a different market than anywhere else. For at least from what, from what I've been told and, uh, from what I can believe, not that I would know personally, but I've had enough people who kind of come in and, uh, just knowing, you know, even on a sports fan level, San Diego is different than everywhere else. I mean, everyone, I think there's a pride about where everybody lives and where you grow up and you have pride and where you're from. And here in San Diego, we're kind of nutty about it. I mean, it's like, if you're not San Diego, it's, it sometimes can be hard to adjust and adapt and be accepted. How has that gone for you so far? Bro, I love San Diego's. First of all, okay. So when I would work into, I mean, I, you know, every, you're right everywhere you have this kind of ethnocentrism to where you are and you, you kind of represent, Hey, this is where I'm from and every city I've lived and worked in has been great in its own way. But I first visited San Diego, let me tell you in 2010 and I, you know, growing up in the Midwest, we didn't have palm trees or beaches, oceans, none of that. So I see the city and I'm like, this city is gorgeous. If I could ever live and work here, it's a wrap. So, um, so I've, I was already had an affinity for San Diego. So then I got this job offer and I was like, heck yeah, and I freaking loved it, man. This place is amazing. Like, okay. So weather is important to me, right? San Diego's got one of the best weathers in the country of not the world, right? 60 to 80 degrees year round, day, night, it's perfect. So that alone has been beautiful. The people here, everybody's like, you can't be mad. So I lived in New York City for a little bit and I always joke about how in New York City for anybody who's ever lived there or worked there, everyone, they kind of have the reputation to be no mean, right? Like they walked down the street with a fist cleanse like I'm ready to fight whoever. I got my mace ready. And they're not bad people in New York City. It's just your product of your environment, right? So you're just like, I missed the train of the family for work. Somebody stepped in my J's. Of course I have an attitude. But if you took those same people and you put them in San Diego, I promise you, they would be frolicking up and down the street near Peko, but like they would just be happy to go look at people. Why? Because it's sunshine and rainbows here and it's, you know, San Diego's, I've adored. I absolutely love it. Live in here. Have you? No, I know you're a sports fan. Yes. How much have you adapted? Now who are your kind of core teams growing up like your, your favorite fandom? So I'm weird. So I never really adopt because, so, okay, I guess one growing up in Missouri, we had Missouri Tigers. Yeah. So I had my college team, but then we had some St. Louis and KC teams out. You guys, L.A. took one of the St. Louis team, the Rams. But so, you know, I would root for the royals and the Cardinals and the Rams and the Chiefs. But other than that, I'm a big NBA guy and we didn't have an NBA team. This is the reason I brought them in, Paul, you know, I can have the basketball conversations you're drawing. That is my sport. I play it. I watch. Like I'm huge. We grew up. So the closest teams were the Bulls and the Pacers in, in Missouri and, and it was funny because everybody's a Jordan fan. I was a huge Reggie Miller fan going up. That's like my all-time favorite guy, right? But yeah, so I, so, and I've always never really adopted teams though. I've always like, I root for players. So right now I have some favorite players. But I'll, I'll root for any team that my favorite players on. So if my favorite players get traded, I'm now I'm rooting for that team. You would, I don't know if you had a chance yet to go to San Diego State basketball game. Yes. It is. Yes. It's a lot of fun. Now the program didn't used to be what it is now. In fact, when I was growing up, this might surprise you, San Diego State basketball was maybe the worst college basketball program in America before Vieja Serena, Pauli went to San Diego State. He was there during the heyday when Kauai was there and like my first year was, we're the same class. Kauai. So that was like their first year kind of on the map and the my sophomore year is the year they went 34 and three or whatever they did, the showdowns with BYU, and they've been pretty much relevant ever since before, before that, they, so when I was young, they, you know, Tony Gwen was a star basketball player in the, you know, late 70s, early 80s. Well still to all time assist leader and they had Michael Cage in the 80s. They played at the sports arena now, Pichanga Arena, which still exists. It was, it was even kind of getting old back then and that was 40 years ago. So when it's still there today, which is crazy, but the program just kept going downhill 90s. They were playing a little Peterson gym on campus, which is basically like a rec gym. They're like division one college basketball games in front of a few hundred people and the program was like dead and buried and no one cared about it. No one showed up for it. Last place pretty much every year. And then they hired Steve Fisher and they built the us arena and it took a few years, but say even his first few years, yeah, they were the first couple of years walking around campus, like handing out tickets, trying anybody. I'm Steve Fisher. I won a national championship at Michigan. Will you come to the game for free and watch our team play, please. Yeah, so but it took a few years, but now it's one of the better sports watching experiences via serene is cool. The show, the fans who get into it, it is, you know, we lost our NBA team many, many years ago. I used to be a Clippers fan. When I was a kid, go to games with my dad and I always felt like we should get a team back at some point. We lost the rockets and the clippers, both of them, rockets were even before my time, but my dad and grandpa went to their games and went to the Clippers games. But San Diego State basketball is right up there with the top college basketball experiences. I mean, you know, Kansas and North Carolina and Duke, it's may not be quite as big as some of those arenas, but the intensity you go in there, it's a whole lot of fun. It's a really good basketball town, actually. And that, well, that makes me happy because that was, that was like my one thing about San Diego was like, man, I wish we had an NBA team and I, you know, I've gone up to LA to watch some games and stuff like that. But I was like, man, if San Diego had an NBA team, this city would be, you know, the best for sure. It's already the best, but it would be even better. But we got to get you into the Padres now because this is ultimately, it is a Padres town. And over the last few years, especially with the, you know, the Petco park has been great, but then the investing in the team and the playoff runs, the NLCS run of a couple of years ago and all the moves that are made, you can see, you can see it, right? The passion for the Padres is pretty intense here. Well, remember, when I first got here, that was our first big story, me and you'd field anchoring from Petco Park went that amazing 2022 run and that was amazing. Then the, the, so much momentum last year when they added all these trades and then we would joke about in studio how they have this amazing team, but they can't, they can't win any games. And this year they dialed it back and then now okay, they were starting to win some games. So no, yeah, the Padres are, are for sure a San Diego staple. How in Boston, obviously, there's a lot of passion for the Red Sox as well. Patriots though. I mean, what did you get the sense there? Like who was dominant? Was it Patriots just because of all the wins and Tom Brady or? So Boston is, Boston's funny. It's Boston's probably, so I've worked on actually a lot of sports markets. So Cleveland, Cleveland was funny because the Browns could literally go, Oh, in 16 and it was still a Brownstown and even with LeBron James, but Brown, they were crazy about the Browns. And I will say a little plug for Cleveland. I was there for the best two years of Cleveland's life. I was there when LeBron announced he was coming back. And when he, when they won a championship, that was actually an amazing, probably one of the most fun times in my career being there when LeBron like takes the city, you know, I'm coming home and then they win a championship. Kyrie gets a child. It was crazy. I worked in New York. New York is funny because there's so much happening in New York that you can't care about the sports because it's just like, there's so much. I was wondering like, how did they even decide like if I was doing this in New York, how do I even decide what to put on? I mean, you have more games than you can cover on every single night. You live at 18 nets, you know, Mets, Yankees, Giants, Jets, Rangers, Islanders, and then college teams, St. John's and I mean, up and down the list, how would you ever even decide what to cover? Yeah. On a day to day basis. The legend in New York City. Yeah. I mean, it's the funny thing about sports in York is like even the fans don't, I mean, like, I mean, obviously you have fans, but like when you're watching the newscast, it's not like, yeah, this is a top sports market and we're going to give a lot of time to sports because it has to be a huge story for sports to get any time. Yankees in the world series. You know what I mean? Because it's just so much happening in New York City is just so crazy. So that was definitely an interesting experience. But yeah, you're right. And I remember going to some games in New York, but yeah, the fan base is great. But like as far as competition for everything else going on, yeah, it's hard to like fight for time in the newscast, but Boston, Boston is literally the number one sports market in the country. And I don't even think it's close. So every team when they're doing well, we put it at the top of the newscast because it's just a sports market, like that's, it is the city of champions, everybody is cocky about it, everybody's prideful about it. When I was there, I mean, it was fun. You know, the Red Sox, they had a couple good runs. Obviously the Celtics went to the finals. The Patriots, I was there for some of the Patriots craziness of the Tom Brady, Antonio Brown kind of craziness, that was funny. And even the Bruins, Bruins were doing well too. So no, Boston is a city of champions, and everybody's just like so proud of every single team. All right, you're going to stick around. I got some questions for you. Think about this. I want to know the craziest story you've ever covered. I want to ask you about working with the Queen of San Diego television, Kimberly Hunt, every single night, like I do. Paulie's got around the report as well. It is all coming up. More better woods on the way on 97 through the family, we'll be right back. You don't just live in your home. You live in your neighborhood as well. So when you're shopping for a home, you want to know as much about the area around it as possible. Luckily, homes.com has got you covered. Each listing features a comprehensive neighborhood guide from local experts. Everything you'd ever want to know about a neighborhood, including the number of homes for sale, transportation, local amenities, cultural attractions, unique qualities, and even things like median lot size and a noise score, homes.com. We've done your homework. It's the most anticipated WNBA season in history. And you know what that means. Court is back in session. Welcome to Queen's of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoop, and I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long will be bringing you interviews with star athletes, analysis on your favorite team, and lots of hot tape, order, order in the court. Follow and listen to Queen's of the Court on the Free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Yes.