Archive.fm

WKXL - New Hampshire Talk Radio

Cail & Company LIVE with Drew Dumont

On Thursday we were joined by 2023 Hopkinton High School graduate and host of his own YouTube show, Drew Dumont. Drew started his Internet program a couple of years ago covering Hopkinton basketball and since that time has hosted conversations with people from all walks of life spanning nearly 70 installments available on YouTube. Simply search "Drew Dumont".

Duration:
44m
Broadcast on:
18 Jul 2024
Audio Format:
mp3
Good morning, it is Kale and Company Live right here on WKXL, nhtockradio.com. Great to have you with us on this Thursday morning the 18th of July. And we are sponsored by our good friends at Northeast Delta Dental. You know, since I was on his show a month or so back, I thought I would invite this person onto Kale and Company and it's Drew Dumont, host of the Drew Dumont Show. Great to have you here, Drew. Thanks for having me, Ken. I'm excited to be here. Well, it's great to have you here. And we did the show in great surroundings outside at the Hopkinson Library. Right. Yeah, that was a great setting. I'd love to do the show outside, but maybe one of these days we will. So tell us about the Drew Dumont Show and where people can find it. Yeah, for sure. So I started the Drew Dumont Show back about a little over two years ago. I was a junior in high school at the time. Now, where'd you go to high school? Hopkinson High School, one of the best high schools I think in the entire state. Very grateful to be from that town. You may be a little biased, but that's okay. So yeah, it was just, I kind of had the idea that maybe I'll start a YouTube channel or a podcast or something of that nature at some point. And people had to encourage me for probably about a year to try something like that. And I had always been interested in sports. Sports was always like my passion in life growing up since probably age four or so. So I figured I'd do something like that. So one of my friends, Brendan Elrake one, Mr. Basketball, that year, his senior year, which was my junior year two years ago. And I invited him to be my first guest. And we had this whole thing set up with like the Zoom and the resolution was not very good. But I have greatly improved since then. Not only with just the picture, but also the audio has improved as well. I think my questions have improved. My editing skills have greatly improved since then. So it's just kind of evolved from that point. And after that first episode, people tended to like it. So I said, I'll keep doing it. And I've just kept doing it for the past two years plus now. And it's been a lot of fun. So you do it all yourself. You do the questions. You do the filming. You do the audio. You do the editing. You're a one man band. Yeah, that's correct. So, you know, I'll give a shout out to my sister, Grace, because she's helped on a few occasions with filming some of the videos for the basketball teams and stuff like that. So I've had a little bit of help here and there. I'll shout out Berkeley Stevens from NHTI. We worked together a lot last year and he helped me. He helped teach me a lot of the editing stuff. But ever since then, I've been doing all the editing stuff on my own ever since I learned how to do it. Well, that is terrific. And you started when you were a junior in high school. Yeah. And how many episodes since? Oh, I think we're like 63, 64 episodes. I think we're 64 episodes in with the longer interviews. But there's also a lot of short post-game interviews as well where we go and talk to players after their games are over. I've had some other stuff like I started this coaches podcast series and it was just based around New Hampshire high school basketball and a little bit of college as well. And just talking to any coach I could get access to and asking them some questions about their team, their season and everything. So I've had a lot of different things, but it's just mainly been focused on local sports interviews. And I aim to kind of just keep it going from there. So, you know, as the channel grows on YouTube and my Instagram account as well, Drew Dumacho, if you want to check that out, I'll have more access to more people and then just kind of keep going up and hopefully getting closer and closer to professional sports. Yeah, absolutely so. So let's say you go to a typical Tuesday night Hopkinton home basketball game and you talk to players and coaches after the game. How long before it gets up onto YouTube? Oh, it's usually a pretty quick turnaround. My senior year of high school, it was usually up by midnight. I would have it up that quickly. Sometimes it's the next day now because I've been doing more editing, which I think, you know, whatever it is, a little extra weight to maybe get it up the next morning instead of right away at midnight or whatever it might be. It's totally worth it just because of the graphics and everything, the intro, improving the audio when I do some editing stuff like that, I think, is well worth it. Yeah, absolutely. So you do anything else in addition to basketball in terms of sports? Yeah, I'd say basketball is my main sport. It's the first sport. I started broadcasting back my junior year of high school. I started doing this broadcasting internship. Got a great opportunity there. And that was a lot of fun. Shout out to my guidance counselor, Mrs. Maserv and her husband, the athletic director, Dan Maserv. And it was just, it was a great experience for me. I got to learn from Jim Rivers, who I know you know very well. Yeah, I do. So I got WKXL alum by the way. Yeah, I got to learn from him and just have taken it from there, but it's blossomed into just not just basketball, but all different sports. I also like football. I've done a little bit of hockey as well. There's been some baseball coverage, softball. I've even done a rugby game at one point, so there's been a lot of different things. Wow, you've done it all. You've done it all at Hopkinton and beyond. So how do you go about, if it's not like a coach, you know, you interview after the game or someone that's at the event, how do you go about getting guests for your program? Well, I think one of the great things about the world we're living in today is that social media exists, and any, you know, sports information director, coaches, players, like all those emails, their social media is all online, and you can just reach out to them. And then, you know, you reach out to them, and best case in error, they say, "Yes, I would love to come on." And worst case scenario, you don't get a reply, or they just say, "No," and you're in the exact same position. So I try and, you know, take any things I can get at just making my show better and getting more good guests on there like yourself when you came on a month ago. Yeah, and we, you know, we try to do that same thing here at WKXL. Reach out, and if they say, "No," well, like you said, you're still at ground zero there, and if they say, "Yes," it's like a bonus, right? Yeah, so that is great. Drew Duman is here, the host of the Drew Duman Show. I don't know where they came up with that name, folks, but it's true, and it's on YouTube. It's, he's got all the archives up there, and what have you. And so, now, you know, present company excluded, of course, Drew, who have been some of your favorite guests on the program? Ooh, that's a really tough question. I'll have to shout out my buddy, Brendan, because he was the first person to take a chance on me, so I'll shout out Brendan. That was pretty cool of him to, you know, be the first person to give me a chance there. Shout out to Jim Rivers as well. I think he was an awesome guest. Typically, I find some of the best guests are people who I've either known a long time and have a strong connection with, or some people who like yourself who have some really good experience with the sports casting and just talking on camera and being comfortable with that. Like, I've interviewed broadcasters, Steve Goldberg and Bob Lippmann at the FisherCats last year, and they were really good. It's just the people who are the most comfortable. Typically, I think are the best guests. Yeah, I think, you know, that certainly does make sense, but the thing is that you have had guests on from really all walks of life. Not just broadcasters and sports people. Yeah, that's what makes it interesting. I think if you were to, let's say, for example, you have a class of Hopkinton graduating. And you have, you know, they all played the same sport during the same years. You hear the same stories again and again. So you try and kind of branch out and get some different people from different schools, different, you know, occupations, whether it be coaches, players, athletic directors. Just people, different people to kind of give it more of a variety because people don't always want to hear the same story again and again. And sometimes it's interesting because you have people who are on the same team and played in the same game, but they have different perspectives on it. So I try and do that and change it up with my questions to make sure that, you know, we keep it fresh. When did your interest in sports begin? Probably when I was four years old or so, my dad was always a big sports fan, so it just kind of came naturally to me growing up watching all the Boston sports teams and all the success that they've had. So I just always really enjoyed it. Yeah, so initially, what was your favorite sport, the first sport that you were, you know, watching or listening to the most? Oh, that's a good question. I would say probably hockey. I always enjoyed watching the NHL a lot. I think they have the best playoffs in all of sports, always a big Bruins fan. They continually break my heart in the playoffs every year, but hopefully they'll be able to get over the hump and get another Stanley Cup at some point. 2019 really broke my heart when they lost some blues. A lot of hearts, yeah. Yeah, for sure. But hockey was the first love. I would say so. And then you've grown to love the other sports as well. You know, it's interesting because you can ask me like my favorite sport and I can give you a bunch of different answers. I will tell you, you know, I think hockey has the best playoffs. I think football is structured probably the best because you have like the Sunday games and everything. I think baseball was my favorite sport to play certainly. And then basketball is my favorite sport to watch for like high school and the broadcast and everything. So there's a lot of different like, it's not just like, oh, I like hockey number one and everything. It's like, no, I like all these different things number one in each category. No, that's, I think that's true of many sports fans, including myself as a matter of fact. So you played baseball at Hopkinson? Yeah, yeah. What did you play? I played first base. I played a little bit of outfield. I was not the most talented player, but I pride myself on always being one of the most hardworking I feel. And versatile. Yeah. You know, I just love baseball. I love going out there competing and just, you know, get along with your teammates. It's just one of the best things you can do. I think it's, I encourage all kids that go out there and try and play sports. And you know, even if sports is not for you, get involved with theater, get involved with something. Were you involved in theater at all? No, I wasn't. But just whatever it is, whatever. It's always good to try some different things. Absolutely. Absolutely. And take advantage of those opportunities while you can. Drew Dumont is here from the Drew Dumont Show. Right here on Kaelin Company, WKXL and HtokRadio.com for this Thursday morning. Great to have you with us. We are presented by Northeast El Dadell and coming up shortly. We will give you the identity of this week's Vanity Insanity License Play. Your chance to win from WKXL and Weed Family Automotive. Back with more after these words, Kaelin Company Live, WKXL, NHTockRadio.com. Kaelin Company Live here on WKXL and HtokRadio.com. Joined live in in studio today on this Thursday morning by Drew Dumont of the Drew Dumont Show. It's a great name. I'm glad you thought of it. Really? But at any rate, I was on his show a little over a month ago and it was a lot of fun. We had a great set right outside the Hopkinson Library, which is actually in Kantook, right? Yeah, that's correct. Yeah. But a very nice day. I remember it was a nice sunny day, not as blistering hot as it has been for the last couple of weeks around here. And it was a lot of fun doing it that way. Do you try to do it at your show at various locations? Yeah, sometimes. It kind of depends on what works the best. Sometimes we have guests from all around the state and it's not as easy to meet up with people. So I'll do it over Zoom in that case. I like to do some of my interviews at the Hopkinson Library. It's just really a great outdoor environment. It's a great set up for the studio. I have, you know, kind of my studio and my house a little bit. So I have like a sign in the background and everything. And I do a lot of my interviews outside my, you know, from my house. And that works out pretty good. It just works out as a good studio. Yeah, absolutely. Of course you had a great video camera there and, you know, like a lavalier microphone. I mean, it's a very professional operation, folks. It really is. And you'll have to check out the Drew Dumont Show on YouTube. Very easy to find. So do you follow the Boston team quite a bit? Oh, absolutely. And who's your favorite dad? Do you follow one more than the other? It just depends on the season. I think it's relatively equal. I think right now I'm following the Red Sox the most, obviously, because the other three teams are not currently in season. You know, happy to be coming off the heels of the Celtics Championship parade. I went to that Boston. Oh, you did go. Oh, yeah. Did you do a show around that? Oh, I actually did. I made the video out of it. I filmed the parade and I just took a bunch of clips from it, put it together and put it up on YouTube. I'll have to check it out. I have not checked that out yet. I must admit, but that would be a lot of fun. So what time did you get to Boston to get a good spot? I don't remember. I think I want to say the parade started at 11 and we got there probably at like 9.30 to get our spots. We took the taste. You got a good one? Oh, yeah. We were like second row, I guess. It's not really formally rose because it's just a crowd of people. Right, right. It would be like second row, I guess, because there's like one group of people in front of us. All right. So you get the whole thing on video? That's terrific. Did you make any comments along the way? All right. And now rated it all or? Not really. I was just excited to be there. It was a cool experience. So after the parade was over, I was walking down the street with my mom and my sister and we were just, you know, parade was over. There was a bunch of people on the street. And at the end of the parade route, the duck boats go back to the garden through the back roads of Boston. And we're just walking down the street and all of a sudden comes Jaylen Brown, Derek White, Sam Houser. They're on their duck boats, you know, and we weren't expecting them to be there because it was after the parade, but they came through and got super close to them. So that was really cool. And they were still on the boats? Oh, yep. Yeah. Wow. That is something. So where were you physically in Boston? So we were at a alloy station and then we took the tee down. I'm trying to remember the name of the street. I'm blanking on it right now, but it was like midway through the parade route. It starts at the garden, you know. It goes through like downtown Boston, obviously, starting at Causeway Street. Right. Yeah. I know some of my family were there and they actually were there at the beginning of the parade route on Causeway Street. So they got there, I guess like maybe nine o'clock in the morning, something like that. And so for them, the parade was over pretty early. I mean, they saw the duck boats leave the Causeway Street area and that was it. And then they headed over in your direction. So it was a lot of fun and people, the estimates vary as to how many people were there. But I think everybody says that we're at least a million people lining the street to Boston. Yeah. That's what I was guessing too. So that has to be somewhere in that vicinity. Do you remember when the Red Sox won the World Series? I think it was in 2013 and Jake Peevey was in the parade. Yes. And he bought. He bought one of the duck boats. Oh, yeah. How about that? And he still has it, I guess, wherever he lives, I think Louisiana or Arkansas somewhere. And he has it on his land down there. Kind of an obscure thing to buy, I would have to think. But I've seen him on TV since and he seems very happy with it. It always comes up whenever you see Jake Peevey, they talk about the duck boat that he owns. Well, when you have millions of dollars, I think that's a really good investment, I would guess. Because it's just the memory of it all. Yeah. So it's not really a big deal. Right. No, not for somebody, as you say, that is as wealthy as a professional athlete. Right. And but I've never heard anybody else actually purchasing one. I wonder how that came about. I wonder if they were selling this or if he just made an offer they couldn't refuse. I really don't know. I would guess the latter, but I don't know. Yeah. Probably offer them a half million dollars for what? I don't know. Could be. Because he could afford it, right? But at any rate, the Celtics coming off a championship, everybody signed, you know, all the key players are signed for years to come. You would have to think the Celtics are in for a very bright future. Oh, I would certainly agree with that. They've locked everybody up long term. So, you know, they have a really good chance of winning. Not only one, but maybe two or three more in the coming years. But we'll see a lot of times you think a team is going to be really, really good for a long time. And they very well could be, but they don't win as many championships as you would figure. You know, you think of the Braves in the '90s to go over to baseball. You can talk about the '08 Celtics and everybody thought that they were going to win three championships. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. But they, you know, Garnet got hurt in 2009 and then they lost to Kobe in the Lakers in the finals in 2010. Yeah. You thought back in that time when they had Pierce Garnet and Ray Allen as the big three at that point, that they were going to win at least two, maybe even three titles. But as it turned out, only one. I mean, it was great, but everybody thought they were going to win more. So you just, you never know. Injury is obviously a big factor in no matter what sport you're talking about. And the Celtics really, except for Porzingos, managed to stay relatively healthy for most of the year. I mean, it's pretty amazing that they did. There's so many ifs that go into winning a championship. Not only professional, but also in high school as well. You know, you can talk about all the injuries that come up. That's a big thing. Sometimes you get a lucky draw, frankly, in your bracket. And you'll have a team who you really didn't want to play end up getting upset in a second round or something and you don't end up facing them in the conference final or wherever. Yeah. I think for the Celtics, they were fortunate to avoid the Denver Nuggets who would be a much tougher matchup for them than the Dallas Mavericks were. I would have to agree, although the Dallas Mavericks just got tougher, picking up Clay Thompson from Golden State. Much to the chagrin of his father, by the way, Michael Thompson, former NBA great, who does the Lakers' games on radio. Clay Thompson's dad, Michael, does the Lakers' games on radio and he wanted them to come to LA, but he decided to go to Dallas instead. Right. But for quite a bit of money. Oh, yeah. It was an offer that he couldn't refuse, right? And probably my guess is, and there were some inferences to this along the way when he was making his decision to go from Golden State, as it turned out, to Dallas, that he didn't really want to get involved in the Laker politics, as it were, with LeBron and now Bronnie and all that scenario. But I don't think he really wanted to get involved in that. So instead, he goes to Kyrie. So I mean, I'd say it's a lot easier to say, you know what? I'm going to go do a team that was just in the finals rather than going to a Lakers team who didn't make a deep playoff run, who, you know, LeBron is, don't get me wrong. He's an all-time great, but he's getting older. You have the new head coach and JJ Radik, and nobody's really sure how that's going to work out. Right. So a lot more question marks in LA, whereas with Dallas, it's a sheer thing that they're going to be good next year. Were you surprised to see that he wound up as the head coach there with no coaching experience, whatsoever? Not really, because we're in a new era where in the past it was like more of like you need to have a better resume built up. But now it's just like, okay, this guy seems to know what he's talking about. I think LeBron really wanted him, which was a huge factor in getting him. Yeah. They do a podcast together. Right. Yeah. So I mean, obviously you want your podcast partner to be there, right? And he is. I wonder if they're going to continue that podcast. Have you heard? Have they or not? I have no idea. They haven't contacted you as a fellow podcaster. They haven't kept you in the loop. Oh, that'd be an honor to be on there, but yeah. But yeah, JJ and LeBron do have a podcast. I think it's still going on, but I don't think it'll continue throughout the regular season. Now Bronnie is playing for the Lakers team in the Summer League out in Vegas and we played against the Celtics the other night, 25 minutes. He had a grand total of two points, one for eight from the field as the 55th pick overall in the recent NBA draft. So how do you think that scenario is going to play out? Well, we'll get back to that. We have to take a quick break here. You can hear the music and we have to step aside and make a little money for WKXL. Drew Dumont is here. He's host of the Drew Dumont show and you can follow along on YouTube right now and catch some of the episodes and some of the footage of the Celtics parade as well. Is that right there as well? Yeah, that's out there on my channel. Very good. Drew Dumont is with us. Cale and company live, WKXL and htockradio.com. We are presented by Northeast Delta Dental and we will be right back. Welcome back, Cale and company live here on WKXL and htockradio.com. On this Thursday morning, heading toward the weekend, they say it's going to cool off. I'll believe it when I see it. Drew Dumont is here, host of the Drew Dumont show on YouTube and catch some of the past episodes and footage of the Celtics parade just a few weeks ago through the streets of downtown Boston. Drew was there with a million and a half of his closest friends, but when you get together for something like a parade like that or a huge celebration, it's like everybody knows one another. It really is. I mean, sports has that ability to bring people together. Absolutely. That's one of my favorite things about sports in an era with politics being as divisive as it is. Unfortunately, sports is something that really brings people together. I have a deep passion for sports itself, but the fact that you can bring so many people together by talking about it, by playing it and everything is just really, really something special and it's got a really lot of good life lessons as well. You know, you're sacrificing your time if you're part of a team in high school for a greater goal for something that's bigger than yourself and that's something that I really believe and I think it teaches a lot of really good life lessons. Well said and you graduated from Hopkins and high. What are you doing these days? Yeah, so I graduated from Hopkins and high school a little over a year ago and I went to NHTI here and conquered my first year of college for mechanical engineering technology. I'm looking at continuing my education with that. I might be headed over at UNH at some point, so we'll see I have to do some research and kind of figure out where my path is forward, but you know, it's good. I enjoy engineering as well, engineering something that I'm also passionate about that I don't get to talk about quite as much, but I think it's good to be well rounded personally and talk about engineering and learn about engineering and I can also learn about this stuff. So it's good to have multiple passions I think, but sometimes when something is really, really special for other people who might not have, might only have one thing that they're super interested in. I don't think it's a bad thing to necessarily go all in on one thing if you really believe in it. And you know, you make a good point you talk about going to NHTI and we're very fortunate to have, you know, colleges like NHTI around the two year schools and a great opportunity for you to maybe, you know, feel your way through knowing exactly, you know, what it is you might want to pursue and not spending as much money as you have to at a larger school where, you know, I mean, we're talking in some cases now 15, $60,000 a year for some of the schools you know and love, but the community colleges like NHTI and the like, they offer students a great opportunity and then after you go there, then you can move your credits elsewhere, but it really is and you've lived it, it's a great opportunity. Yeah, for sure. I think the opportunities you have are really what, you know, it's what you make of them. Sometimes people look and they look for opportunities and they're not always there and you just have to create your own opportunities when they're not there. I think that's a big thing. I'll tell you back, reflected back towards my sophomore year of high school. There was the whole COVID situation going on and I was a remote learner at the time and I kind of had a vision of like, what school was going to look like my last two years of high school because I knew it was likely to open back up a little bit more, my junior and senior year coming back. So I kind of had a vision of what I wanted those two years to look like for me and what the worst case scenario was and what the best case scenario was and truthfully, I can say, you know, it worked out better than I could have possibly imagined in best case scenario. I'm just by kind of chasing what I wanted to working hard and having fun doing it. Well, you talk about creating your own opportunities. You certainly have done that with your YouTube channel. You know, you establish that and have developed that on your own, which I think is a major accomplishment and you've taken that probably to places that you didn't think that you would be able to take it. And so we give you all the credit in the world for that. But what do you like about engineering? Engineering, it's cool. I mean, the math is probably like kind of the lifting weights of it. You could say because it is really tough. It's rigorous. It's challenging. All those things that you can use to describe it. It's the harder part about it. But you kind of have to go through that in order to become a better engineer. So there's that. But I also, I really like just the hands on approach. There was a course that I took last fall where we got to machine our own hammers and I still have my own. And that was really cool to learn how that's done and also have my own that I could take home and say, you know, I made this in class using, used a lathe machine, we used a milling machine. It was just, it was great. That is something. Yeah. Yeah. Great, great opportunity. And there are lots of great opportunities out there. I've gone to a few career fairs covering them and being there with WKXL in the past a year or so. And there were so many great opportunities for youngsters just sometimes even still in high school. But certainly when they get out, there are so many different opportunities now. And I think probably more than there have ever been before, including the military and other jobs as well. But there are so many options that are out there. Oh, absolutely. It's like I said, it's about creating your own opportunities. I think people just kind of, you have to be creative in this world in order to really make it, to make your own thing. I think nobody who ever made history was just thinking solely in the box and following this is the way to do it. You have to be willing to reinvent yourself and try new things, stick your neck out there and say, "What about this? What about this?" And really just have a lot of thoughts like that. So Drew Dumont, I'm going to put you on the spot. Putting Dumont on the spot here on the tail and company, what would your ideal job be? If you could have just, you know, could be anything, but what would the ideal job be for you? That is a good, good question. I think being a sports general manager would always be a really cool thing because you look at the championship teams, but there's architects behind that. You look at Brad Stevens and also Danny Ainge as well, you want to give him some credit for the self-attour bill. Sure, absolutely. You should get a ring, you know, for drafting, Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and then you had the trades last off season to go get Drew Holiday, Christop Sporzing, because he brought back Al Horford a few years ago, he got Derek White a few years ago, and that trade was San Antonio. So I just like the idea, and it's kind of what I'm doing with my YouTube channel now. If you start kind of from scratch and you have to go out in the world and you have to build the pieces around you in order to be successful, and I just really like that principle. In engineering, you can have some of the same principles as well because, you know, in building these things like machining hammers, as I just mentioned, you start off with this stock and you have to create a nice, finished, polished product at the end, and I love the process of starting with scratch and then working to improve and get better and better and better and reinventing and reinventing until you have something that's awesome in the end and working with other people to do it is just the best. I love like the feeling of being part of a team. Teamwork is great, isn't it? Sorry. Everybody can now work together to accomplish a goal, whether it be in business or in sports, it's always very satisfying when everything comes together and everybody can work as a unit and, you know, just do your job, right? As Bill Belcher was very famous for saying do your job and things sometimes and maybe most of the time will come together if everybody succeeds and what aspect of the job they have to do. Certainly. So there you go. So we are running out of time in this segment, so I'll tell you what we're going to do. We are going to right now reveal our WKXL vanity insanity license plate of the week. It's the third week we've done this. We are still looking for a winner. So we need a little music to accompany this segment. So we put this song back on the map this week, The Trash Men from 1963, Surfin Bird, the name of the song. The vanity insanity plate of the week here is Bird 33. There you go. Spotted in Cockard Bird 33. Now if that's your plate, all you have to do is call Andrew Gibson, our esteemed executive producer at 603-224-1450, 603-224-1450. Now if you know the person who owns that vanity plate, Bird 33, get in touch with them and have that person call us at 603-224-1450. And what do you win? A conventional oil change with a synthetic blend oil plus a thorough check of your vehicle from the Weed Family Automotive, Weed Family Automotive at 124 Storage Street in Cockard. Again, Bird 33, you only have today and tomorrow left to get in touch with us and claim the prize and make WKXL history because you would be our first winner in the annals of Vanity Insanity. Drew Dumont is here from the Drew Dumont show. Look it up. It is a great YouTube material and Drew has done almost 70 shows now and they're on their plus highlights from the Celtics parade. All kinds of material. Check it out. What's the best way to find it? Drew Dumont show on YouTube, just search it up. I also have an Instagram account, you can check it out, it's got game updates and stuff like that. Wow. Very good. Take a break. Get with Drew Dumont right here, WKXL, NHTALKRADIO.COM. We are presented by Northeast Delta Dental and we will be right back. Cale and Company Live here on WKXL, NHTALKRADIO.COM, presented by Northeast Delta Dental. Don't forget tomorrow. Another edition of the Friday Fun Bunch on WKXL will be joined by Kitty Ray, our resident flick chick and Tom Raffio, President and CEO of Northeast Delta Dental. All kinds of fun and surprises will have our Tommy Toon song of the week and I never know where that's going to go. You never quite know. The notes that Tom Raffio can reach, he has just an amazing range and might even get another Carol Channing in personation, who knows what you're going to get out of Tom. But it'll be tomorrow during the Fun Bunch, Drew Dumont is with us. Of the Drew Dumont show on YouTube, he's following the Red Sox closely. The trading deadline is coming up rapidly. The Red Sox, Drew, I think every fan would have to agree, are doing better than anyone thought they would at this point of the season. They're nine and three in July, which is best in Major League Baseball. They're 15 and one on Sundays, which is kind of an amazing statistic as well. So at the trading deadline are the Boston Red Sox and Craig Breslow, buyers or sellers. Oh, buyers, they have to be buyers at this point, I think absolutely. When you're above 10 games above 500 plus, I think there are 11 games above 500 right now. You cannot be sellers at the very least. Sometimes when you have a younger team, you decide we're just going to leave things the way they are. We don't want to force anything and go on a run and give up our young talent and hurt ourselves in the future, but we also, we're not in a bad spot and we don't need to trade anybody away. We don't think they'll be sellers. I think this year is probably different than a lot of previous years where there will be bigger buyers. I think part of that is Craig Breslow has to try something different than what happened with Heimbloom. Just kind of going more all in because the fans are not going to be happy if they don't try and get some pieces. I think they're going to try and stock up on pitching. I really like looking at Texas and say, Nathan of Aldi might come back over here, he's been returning part of multiple deep postseason wins for the Red Sox with those runs and he just got another World Series ring last year with Texas who's been struggling this year surprisingly with the World Series hangover for them. So I think that'd be a perfect trade for the Red Sox. Get another arm in addition to Tanner Howt to really help solidify their rotation going into the postseason because I think they're very, very likely to be playing in October as probably most people think. But you never know. Hey, I'll tell you what, right now they've got the third wild card and two games ahead of Kansas City. They'll resume play tomorrow night, start the start of weekend series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles which should be an intriguing series pacing the show Aotani again and and Tae Oscar Hernandez the defending home run derby champion. So there you go, always intriguing when the Red Sox play the Dodgers. And I don't know if Mookie is playing this weekend or if he's still out, he hasn't played in a while. Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't think he's been hurt for a long time. Yeah, I don't think he's coming back. Unfortunately, he is hurt. I'd rather see him play than not play because to me, to me, I've always been a Mookie fan and to me is the best all-around player in baseball, I think, and the Dodgers are very fortunate to have him. So Nathan Evaldi is on your wish list or someone similar anyway to Evaldi, but he's been through it. He's a good money pitcher. We've seen that over the years with the Red Sox and last season with Texas. The question is, Texas is going to be looking for prospects for sure and the Red Sox do have some very good prospects in their minor league system. I guess the question is, how much do you give up for someone who may just be with you for another half season and then a year after that? Well, I would say it's all about being reasonable. I don't think Texas is going to expect too much of a bigger return. I think the market's a little bit better now for a team like Texas who's got a veteran starting pitcher than it would have been maybe a few years ago because these guys, like of all they did last year, he proved that he can still pitch really well in the postseason. So I do think they might be able to get a little bit more from the Red Sox than they would have been in previous years just because of the market, but I don't think it's going to be a huge haul like it would have been, say, if Otani, for example, was dealt at the deadline a few years ago. So I'd say the only prospect for me that I would be very disappointed if the Red Sox moved on from was Marcelo Meyer, I just think he's got really, really good potential as a middle infielder. And we saw, you know, Bogart has left, he had Trevor Story who was supposed to be a second baseman this season, he's hurt again. So I would really like to see them get somebody like Marcelo Meyer up there at some point in addition to having Rafaela, who I think has had a pretty good season for such a young player. I think Rafaela has had a remarkable season, I really and truly do. I mean, you think about this guy who the Red Sox signed for $10,000, $10,000 bonus, folks, if you look at other bonuses, I mean, he was not drafted, first of all, Rafaela. He was, you know, found by a scout and signed the $10,000 contractor joined the Red Sox organization, but you look at the money that some of these other draft picks are making like Marcelo Meyer, for example. He was drafted in the first round a few years ago now by the Red Sox. His bonus package was like $7 million, and they paid $10,000 for say Don Rafaela, and he can do it all. I mean, he's second on the team in RBI, second only to Raffi Devers. I mean, the guy can play shortstop, he can play center field, he can steal bases. I mean, somebody at one time, and I forget who it was, called him a mini-mookie. And I think he is, I mean, he is a mini-mookie. I don't say that he is in the same class as mookie bets, but he can do many of the same things and do them well. And I think he's terrific in the Red Sox, I guess, do too, because they gave him a long term contract without even really proving that he could play in the big leagues. And now I think he certainly has proved that he could play. Last year, opening night in 2023. He was the starter in the Portland Sea Dog starting lineup, so there you go. And so he was a double A player a year ago, and now here he is starring for the Boston Red Sox. It's been interesting to see in recent years how some of the prospects have progressed a lot quicker than in prior years, like it used to be the norm that players would be in the minors for five years after they got drafted until eventually they made it to the major leagues. And then you look at a guy like Paul Skeens, who was just drafted last year out of LSU, winning the College World Series, and now all of a sudden he's starting the All-Star game tonight for the National League. It's amazing. It is truly amazing, and the progression that he has made, no doubt about that. And a lot of great young players in Major League Baseball. So we'll see. I hope the Red Sox are, in fact, buyers. They do need pitching, but they also need, in my opinion, Drew, is more power in the middle of the lineup from the right side because they're having difficulty against left-handed pitchers. They've had a lot of difficulties with lefties this year. Yeah, I would agree with that completely. It'll be interesting to see who they go after. There's a lot of different players out there. I really don't know. I don't really have my eye on anybody specific to tell you the truth of like, "Oh, I think they should pursue this guy or that guy." So it'll be really interesting. Sometimes those times are more fun when you don't exactly have somebody in mind, and you just want to see what they go out there and do. Unlikely that this would happen because they're in the same division. But the guy I would like to see the Red Sox go after, and I think a guy that could be available is Vlady Guerrero from the Blue Jays. And he certainly would be a powerful right-handed bat in the middle of that lineup. Yeah. I don't know what it would take to get him. I think he has a year remaining on his contract after this season. But boy, it would be great to get Vlady in the middle of that lineup. I'd love to see that. I was fortunate enough to watch him in Manchester when he was with the Fisher Cats, I want to say around 2017-2018. Yeah. I think it was 2018. I could be wrong on that. No, I think you're right. But he's just an incredible, incredible player. I would love to see him come to Boston if the Blue Jays decided to move on. My guess, even though there are reports that they are considering it, I don't think they will. I could be wrong, but he's just such a sensational talent. I think they're going to try and re-sign him over the off-season to a long-term deal. You would like to think so. I mean, because, you know, he came up in the Blue Jays organization, and I don't know. I think their rationale is they can't keep both Vlady and Bo Beshette, because they just, whether they can't afford it, that might be one aspect of it. The other is, you don't see too many big-money free agents signed with Canadian teams. True. Because of the tax structure in Canada. So, and I think that's a big reason why there hasn't been a Stanley Cup in so long in Canada because they can't sign free agents most of the time unless you're a homegrown guy. Anyway, it has been a delight to have you with us in Studio Drew, and I hope you won't be a stranger. And again, you can check out Drew, the Drew Dumont Show on YouTube. Thanks so much for having me, Ken. I had a lot of fun. Well, it was my pleasure to have you here, it was a pleasure to be on your show, and we'll definitely have you back again, because there's always a lot to discuss in the world of sports and in the world of engineering, too. Well, yeah. You could teach me a few things about that, that's for sure. Thanks to our esteemed executive producer Andrew Gibson, and thanks to you for listening right here on WKXLNH talkradio.com, presented by Northeast El Dendel, and remember, folks, you always look on the bright side of life. Have a great Thursday, everybody. [MUSIC]