Gather round, sports fans and community enthusiasts alike, as we bring you a conversation with the man behind Sylmar's championship-winning baseball team, Ray Rivera. The roar of the crowd, the team's unwavering grit, and the overwhelming support from the community, students, and alumni have led Ray to believe that this victory had always been within their grasp. In a heartening chat, Ray opens up about the unforgettable journey to the championship and the role of community support, which according to him, was the lifeline that propelled the team to the finish line.
Being a coach isn't simply about training and winning games, it's about shaping young men into responsible human beings. Ray Rivera, with his unwavering commitment, not only steers these young players towards victory but also imparts life-changing lessons. From stressing the importance of punctuality to emphasizing on doing things right, Ray is a stickler for discipline. But don't mistake his stern persona for harshness, it's his way of preparing his players for the wider world. Ray also talks about the changing dynamics of the game, the significance of teamwork, and how hard work always triumphs over talent.
Victory may be sweet, but the journey to it is often filled with tough lessons. Our chat with Ray concludes on a reflective note as he shares how the initial disappointment of missing the open division playoffs turned into a teaching moment for the team. The celebration that followed their eventual victory was not just about the win, but about the resilience and determination that got them there. Ray's journey as a coach is not just about baseball, it's about molding his players into upstanding men, and through every triumph and defeat, his unwavering passion for coaching stays unabated. Pull up a chair and join us in celebrating a coach’s journey to championship victory and the life lessons we can all learn from it.
Gather round, sports fans and community enthusiasts alike, as we bring you a conversation with the man behind Sylmar's championship-winning baseball team, Ray Rivera. The roar of the crowd, the team's unwavering grit, and the overwhelming support from the community, students, and alumni have led Ray to believe that this victory had always been within their grasp. In a heartening chat, Ray opens up about the unforgettable journey to the championship and the role of community support, which according to him, was the lifeline that propelled the team to the finish line.
Being a coach isn't simply about training and winning games, it's about shaping young men into responsible human beings. Ray Rivera, with his unwavering commitment, not only steers these young players towards victory but also imparts life-changing lessons. From stressing the importance of punctuality to emphasizing on doing things right, Ray is a stickler for discipline. But don't mistake his stern persona for harshness, it's his way of preparing his players for the wider world. Ray also talks about the changing dynamics of the game, the significance of teamwork, and how hard work always triumphs over talent.
Victory may be sweet, but the journey to it is often filled with tough lessons. Our chat with Ray concludes on a reflective note as he shares how the initial disappointment of missing the open division playoffs turned into a teaching moment for the team. The celebration that followed their eventual victory was not just about the win, but about the resilience and determination that got them there. Ray's journey as a coach is not just about baseball, it's about molding his players into upstanding men, and through every triumph and defeat, his unwavering passion for coaching stays unabated. Pull up a chair and join us in celebrating a coach’s journey to championship victory and the life lessons we can all learn from it.
Can't be broken podcast. I'm your host, seamonster, and today I am here with a good friend, a former Division one baseball player, the head baseball coach for SOMAR the highest listened to episode on the Can't be broken podcast and the head coach of the 2023 LA City Division one baseball champions from the SOMAR Spartans. My good friend, welcome to the show, ray Rivera.
Speaker 2:Right on, man, thank you. Thank you for having me back, that's right. It's good to be here again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, back again, back again. He's guess who's back. Yeah, man, no, thank you. I think last time when you came on, man, we it's good, i think we could have talked for like two hours really, literally, because we opened up some doors that I think you became the highest listened to. Not only for that. I think there's two reasons. One your story, i think, touched a lot of people. We went into more of your family history how, how you grew up and and all these little avenues of your personal life, but also the connections you have already that you have made from players and alumni's and the people and the networking that you have go. I want to hear what he has to say, because you're a mysterious man. Sometimes, bro, i don't even know what you're thinking right now. So I think that all those two combined really go holy shit. I didn't know about that guy and I didn't know this about him and it kind of really touched it. You know a lot of people that listen, yeah, so yeah, it's a good story.
Speaker 2:I guess people people want to hear you know stories of you know people's upbringing and I guess mine's a little different than some. Yeah, you know, there's a lot of people who have dealt with you know different things growing up, but obviously different stories lead to different experiences, lead to people being interested in stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i mean, look, we all go through our own adversities, yeah, and they're just different, and your adversity was one of those. That was, that was that was different, and that was also had the wow or aha factor, like huh, like whoa. That's crazy, you know, some people make shit and make it a big dot of nothing, but what you did was was was different, like the way you grew up and your father's story, how you connected, so that was amazing.
Speaker 1:We wanted to talk a little bit into baseball, which I know we got into a little bit, but it was really the story of your upbringing, that kind of we opened up to. But today I want to talk about the elephant in the room And I'm not talking about me right now. when I used to be heavy but, I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the elephant in the room. How does it feel to win the LA city division one baseball championship after so many years And I remember we talked about it on the last podcast that you hadn't done it. How does that feel now that you had done it after 20, 24 years?
Speaker 2:20,. This is 25 years ago.
Speaker 1:How do you feel? How is that going?
Speaker 2:I don't feel much different in terms of, you know, as a, as a head baseball coach, i think I'm happy for my players, i'm happy for the, the Silmar baseball community, more than anything.
Speaker 2:Right, obviously the players number one, but the Silmar baseball community as a whole, to see their reaction, you know, to this, to this whole thing. That's, i think that's the most satisfying part of all this for me is to see. you know people, people come out and you know support the boys, just looking up into the stands at Dodger Stadium. and you know looking up in the stands at USC during the semifinal game. And you know you can go through each playoff game.
Speaker 2:you know game one against Hamilton, game two against Wilson, and if you're, if you were at Silmar High School when we played in that second round game against Wilson High School, to see how many people were there, not just you know current students and families, but you, you started to see, you know people from the 1960s, you know alumni from the 1960s and 70s. And then you get to USC and you know again looking up into the stands and having everybody there was just. and then you know again Dodger Stadium, to me, like there was, there was nothing better than to see the boys get the support that they deserve.
Speaker 2:You know all, the all, the all the work that my guys put in to get to that point. And again, it's everybody's dream to play at Dodger Stadium. But to have that opportunity to do that, right, yeah. But to have the community come out the way that they did for our guys, you know, and even for you know Kennedy High School, you know, to see to see the stands, the way they were filled, and you know that that game could have gone either way, yeah, but again, the the community support. Like you can't, i can't, i can't explain how big that was for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i think also too, like you know, hearing you talk about about that right now was there's also a belief, like I know, every year there's that belief that we're going to do it. And then sometimes, when it doesn't happen for a while right, and I'll use an example Boston Red Sox, when they hadn't won for a while it's like when are we going to get over this curse? When are we going to get over the hump? When are we going to whatever that is? it's like what's the problem here? And it's just the little tweaks. And then, to have done it, now it seems like you take the monkey off the back now and you go see, we fucking did it. Next year we can do it again And we can continue to do it because there's that more of a belief.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that, you know, because every team, as as you begin the season, i'm sure, has the belief and that's the goal. But sometimes there's that little tweak behind in the head that just like, oh shit, what's going to happen now, like the Boston Red Sox, is this guy going to come out and catch this ball on the left? Is it going to go under buttoners? you know legs or what's going on? And then it was boom. That kid came up with a hit and you guys want it. Monkey's off the back. There's no curse, there's nothing going on, let's go. You know, am I the problem? You start to question certain things, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:Well, if you go back and listen to the first podcast we did we talked about, well, if I never win a city title, does it make me a failure as a coach? And you know I still believe that? you know, had we lost that game, you know, i don't think I would have gone about doing what we do, you know, any different, right? I mean, i'm happy that we won, yeah, again, i'm happy for our boys, i'm happy for the community, but I don't think it would have changed my approach to how I go about coaching and teaching and myself, my assistant coach, you know, we would still stay the course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and going on to that topic, what is the approach? What is the key? How do you begin the season and dial the kids and your students, and what you do and the totality of everything? What does that approach look like, you know, in regards to trying to win and get them back into the Division One or into the LA City Championship?
Speaker 2:So the day after we lost in the state playoffs. So you win a city title, right, you wanna celebrate and have a good time with it and all that good stuff. But just so happened that the finals fell on a holiday weekend. So we played on Saturday. You know, we went on Saturday, sunday, you know everybody's having a good time celebrating and then Monday was a day off. We couldn't practice, we couldn't do anything. So Tuesday you have a game And we had to travel down to Canyon of Anaheim And we wound up losing that game. I think it was three-nothing Good game zero-zero, i think in the fifth. I mean that game probably could have gone either way as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But Wednesday, you know, we come back to school and we have a meeting on the baseball field, and you know, congratulations. you know it was a good year and all that good stuff, But now it's time to move on to the next one.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean, yeah, everybody's gonna be, you know, wanting to celebrate you and you know, say all everything. you know all the good things that you've accomplished and you have. You know it was a great year. Yeah, you know, 23 and 10, i think overall and probably could have very easily been, you know, probably could have won 26, 27 games.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There's a couple of games that we lost late, early in the year, but it was immediate. You know all right, you know we're losing five seniors. Couple of them got, you know, some good playing time, but for the most part we have everybody coming back.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You know we have all of our pitching back minus one kid are starting. left fielder graduated and he's moving on to not believe mission now, but with everybody else they're all back. So that was the message. All right, you know, i would give you guys a couple of weeks just to be, you know, be kids and you know, have fun and enjoy this moment. But once those two weeks are up, it's time to get back to work And the kids have. the kids have bought in right away.
Speaker 1:They're, they're all about it, now and there, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know back in the weight room immediately and you know summer ball and you know a lot of them are playing travel ball. So we're trying to balance that out and keep them healthy.
Speaker 1:But yeah, they, they, they bought in, there's no yeah, one of the things I think I have right here behind me is said you know, yeah, it says they're sustained hunger, and I think one of the things is you get hungry. You know, when you're fighting for something that you you know a championship, that you've never won a title as a boxer, or to make it to division one or get drafted or whatever that you're hungry, right, and that's the biggest thing. And then you get there, then what? And so one of the hardest things that I hear is people is stay hungry, you know, and, and because then you'll lose it, and so sustained hunger is probably the hardest thing to do, and that's a great message that you obviously already, like you, told your team. You know you're celebrating, enjoy it, so and so, but let's get back to work because it begins now for next year again. And good that you also didn't lose. You know too many, too many people, but you still have some people coming back and whatnot.
Speaker 2:That's good. So you talk about sustained hunger. So I've actually had this conversation with a couple of coaches. I think I talked to you about this before. But when I was, when I was in 10th grade, we won the 1991 city championship First ever at Sanford and a high school, and we lost a couple of kids, we lost our center, i'm sorry. We lost our right fielder and our starting second baseman, a couple other guys starting pitcher. The following year we come back and we don't even make the playoffs. But we had a lot of guys coming back And you know I'd talk to the boys about that and just let them know, like, don't be satisfied, cause it's going to be real easy for us to just get satisfied with winning this one.
Speaker 2:The goal now is to move on to the open division, hopefully, and you know, just keeping them, keeping them hungry. And I've had a conversation I haven't had a couple conversations with other coaches who've won city titles, yeah, and I've asked them, like you know, coming back the following year, like what did you do to keep your guys motivated? Was there a message that you gave or was it from within? You know, was it just something that the kids had on their own or you know. Obviously coaches have to continue to motivate and try to motivate. But, yeah, keeping that, that's sustained hunger, yeah sustained hunger.
Speaker 1:What do you expect from your players each year, like? what's your expectation of everybody walks into that field that fits your mold, that makes them a better person? What do you expect from each player to do, like show up on time or work hard? Obviously, those are some of the things, but Most importantly, be good people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, You know, be good humans, Be somebody that somebody else looks to as an example. You know, day one of weight room during the summer, You know I met a couple of kids show up a minute late, you know, and they kind of came walking in and we had a good group of freshmen. It was their first day of weight training. They're getting stretched out with my assistant coach. He kind of has them separated And you know I need those guys to do a better job of setting a good example for these younger guys, because they're, you know, you're coming walking in and they're already here you know, And the message was delivered and you know.
Speaker 1:I think they understand I like that The message was delivered. I know exactly what you mean. Yeah, no, i totally get it And that's part of sustained hunger, right, like that's part of leadership. It's like you know what, just because you're there, you're older, you think It's a problem with like kids. I think Sometimes it just becomes that I'm cool, i'm too cool for school now, kind of deal, you know.
Speaker 2:Adult even.
Speaker 1:Or even adults for sure. But it's like you gotta bring yourself back and go. I wanna lead this team, so I need to show by example. I need to be there early and I need to be there at last and I need to work hard. And these kids that are coming in are looking at me and going oh shit, this is the guy that they won the city championship, this is the guy with the winning hit, or this is the guy that pitched this, this is how they got there And that's what I wanna do. But if you show them that you're one minute late or you show them that you're you know, eh, i'm too cool. That's who we are the champion. Gone, see you later And nobody's gonna lay down for you next year, right? I mean, they're gonna come after you if anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again that first day after we lost in the state playoffs. that was a conversation. Look, you know Summer's always been a very respected program. I think people respect what we do as a program in terms of you know we show up every day, we should. you know, whether you know we're one of the better teams or one of the average teams or whatever it may be. they know that they're gonna get a good battle, you know. But the target that's been put on our back, it's always been there. People wanna beat some arm, people wanna beat us, but the target has just gotten bigger because people are seeing all the attention that this program has now gotten. The target's bigger now and are you willing as a group, to take on that challenge even more so? It was challenging before, but now people want what you have, people want that attention And there's no better way to go about getting it than going out and beating them When going out and winning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly What's your biggest pet peeve? Like what do you hate when some of your players or students do?
Speaker 2:Biggest pet peeve.
Speaker 1:For me. I hate people showing a blade. I hate wasting people's time. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. So if I'm showing a blade to me, if I'm showing a blade to something that you've, i'm either wasting your time which sucks I don't wanna waste somebody else's time Or I mean I don't care Either for myself or whatever right, and so that's my biggest pet peeve. I don't know what yours is, either practice or student.
Speaker 2:Well, i think it goes back to our two rules that we have. Yeah, you know, beyond time, do things right, and that was passed on from you know. I got that from Coach Hill at USF and that's probably been passed on to him from somebody else, you know. but beyond time, if you're on time, you know, then at least you're showing that you respect my time. Yeah, you know, do things right. You know that encompasses everything. You know, whether it be in school, at home, on the field, you know. it's different now in terms of you know you watch Major League Baseball and you watch all the different celebrations that are going on and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:And our kids have kind of, you know, they have their own little celebrations that they've got going on And sometimes I, yeah, i'm coaching third base and that kid will you know, get a double or you know they'll do something positive. And you know, some of the celebration type stuff kind of irks me a little bit, but their kids are having fun. I've had to change with the times, you know, but you know, i guess that's everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, i 100,. I remember when I saw like a video of me getting a double one time and I just stood there and that was it I got up looked around where the fucking player is gonna. You know where is the outfields. But for my next, you know, if I base it, it comes in. That was it. People would celebrate and I maybe give a thumbs up. I don't, you know.
Speaker 2:It's completely different.
Speaker 1:But now you got like I don't know what they're doing, you know.
Speaker 2:So There were certain things that happened throughout the year that you know. You again, as a coach, i've had to adapt and change with the times And but at the same time I got to teach the kids that, look, you're gonna do, you're gonna have some of these little celebrations that you guys do When they do it back to you, you better be prepared to just wear it, you know, and it backfired on us one time where we, you know, at the end of the games, you know the kids would go and they, you know, high five each other on the mound or whatever, and they act like they were taking a selfie. The whole group would get there. And so the following game, game two against the same team, we lost, and, sure enough, they did it. And I looked and I looked at our guys and you know, just to see how they were gonna react, And they didn't. They didn't react to it. Yeah, yeah, i guess it's. The game has changed.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, it's totally changed, and I'm old school like you. You know your job is to get on base and score runs and win and be competitive and play the game the way it's supposed to be played. And so to me it was if I got a hit, that's my job to get a hit. And so I wouldn't celebrate it because it could. I stayed humble as hell because you know it can backfire on you. But you know what exactly? like you said, you have to adjust with the times and you don't wanna take the celebration and the fun out of something. Yeah, which is fine.
Speaker 1:You know, i don't know. I don't know if I would be doing the same thing, like me, as a coach personally that's probably why I've gotten in. I'd be, i'd probably do some stupid shit that my college coach used to do and get fired. That's why I worked for myself. What? what is I mean? you know each team is different every year. Right, they're involved, with different kids that are incoming, leaving, have changed throughout the year. But what to you, is a cancerous kid, a kid that is affecting a team in a certain way? And if you have that, how do you deal with it?
Speaker 2:Constant conversations, somebody who makes it just about them rather than the team. Right, they gotta understand. You know it's about us as a program. You're you know you're representing again the program. You're representing the community, you're representing your family, you're representing There's a lot of things that you're representing, but in the end, at the end of all of it, it's about us as a team, it's not about you as an individual. You know, if we all do well individually, right, with the mindset that we're working for the benefit of the team, well, you can have your individual success And all those individual successes as long as they're leaning towards the team being better. You know, just don't make it about you, yeah.
Speaker 1:So how do you deal with a kid that, because it happens in every sport, kid that has talent but doesn't work hard, and a kid that wants them more than anybody but doesn't have the talent. And which one would you rather have?
Speaker 2:It's a tough one. It is a tough one. Some kids are just gifted Yeah, naturally gifted. they don't necessarily have to put in the amount of work that you know. so I mean I can use myself as an example, i can use you as an example.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right. There were guys that were better than us physically, guys who threw harder than me, guys who you know mid-90s and you know guys who you know had just a dirty break-in mole or they had a great change up, and I wasn't any of those. I was a guy who had to work for everything that I got. I think coaches would love to have guys who grind every day and are willing to put in the work, because I think, as time goes on, the more guys you get that are in that mode those guys who maybe aren't, those guys who maybe don't have the same work ethic they start to buy into that work ethic because they see the example that's being set by these other ones. So, for instance, this year, this year was a really good year in terms of and again it goes back to the past few years that we've had, you know, just a group of kids who've now graduated and have moved on, kids who just completely bought into what we were trying to sell. And you know, at the beginning of this year, being in the weight room every morning and seeing 30 kids there every day, every day, you know, and I spoke to the boys about it and I said, look, you know, probably a month into the year, like that's what I've always wanted. I've always wanted my guys to work, you know, so hard that, no matter what happened, whether we win or lose us knowing that we worked our butts off, you know, whether we win or lose, we know that we put in the work. you know, and I had the conversation with the boys and I told them I said, look like this is exactly what I've wanted as a coach. I've wanted to have guys here every morning putting in work, knowing that they're gonna benefit from this work. And you know it all.
Speaker 2:again, it all goes back to day one of the summer, right, this past summer, last summer, our very first summer ball game at Golden Valley High School. And every year we have the same conversation okay, this is day one, right, and before you know it, the season's gonna be over. But from this point on, you know I need you guys to continue to put in work and buy into what it is that we're trying to sell you And the results we're gonna get are gonna be positive. Yeah, you know, whether we win or lose, the results will be positive. The lessons you'll learn from the work ethic, the lessons that you're gonna learn from just constantly grinding. you know That's stuff you take with you for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i saw this video on a college coach, a football coach I forget the coach's name, but probably at Alabama or one of those coaches And as an example, he was telling a kid that he had to go up and back 10 yards as quickly as possible. So the player got ready and he went up and back as quickly as possible and he did it like in I don't know five seconds. Then he told him again. He says "'Hey, you're gonna go as fast as you can again, "'but now I'm gonna give you $10 "'if you do it under five seconds'". So then you saw the kid and all of a sudden the kid hold on, coach, let me get ready. And he started getting ready, right, and he's ready. You let me know, coach, you let me know.
Speaker 1:The intensity was different, the drive was different, the focus was different. Then all of a sudden he said "'So'? and the coach, on purpose, right before he came back, "'and crossed the line. He'd always say five right', like he didn't do it". And the kid crossed the line and go "'Shit, i didn't do it right'. And he says why was that different than the first time? Because I'm offering you money, there's an incentive here. Your goal should be, do it as fast as possible with that intensity, that drive, that focus, and when you don't get it done, that kind of mentality, i shouldn't have to offer you money. You should be doing it for investment in yourself. And I learned that and I was like I do some of the stuff that I do here and I kind of put money to something and you see these kids just do some shit different. I was like why is money so important, right, like why isn't it just putting in the work? Like you know, i have some kids that obviously have not worked hard here and we have talks, same thing, and they've changed And I wouldn't be in business. You know, do what I do without, you know, being a big gym on the street where you're, you know, get and look that and drive by.
Speaker 1:I'm all referral based pretty much in social media. So it means well that the players are actually doing the work and getting better so that they can refer me. And I say to people if you're not coming here to work hard, please don't come here, because you won't refer me, because your kid's not gonna do well one and to nobody's gonna see it. So the value for me in the marketing is the kid getting better? But it is. Yeah, let's talk about a little bit about Let's see what we went into that.
Speaker 1:I Have a funny question Why not? funny question, but I Guess we'll go back to the championship thing. Why do you think it took so long? But no, it's a serious questions. Like, right, you had 24 years, you've been there for a little bit, but why do you think this group kind of broke that mold or like they got it done and and the other teams couldn't? and maybe you had More talented teams and I will only stay talented in regards to physicality, right, not Internally, probably having to drive or something else but why do you think it took 24 years? I Can't answer that. That's a hard one up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't answer that. I don't know why. You know the baseball guys look down upon us this year. Yeah, they said okay, It's your turn.
Speaker 2:Yeah they tap, they tap, you know, somewhere high school on the shoulder, and so right now it's your turn. The kids got hot. You know we, we, we played well those last four games in that, in that tournament. You know getting I don't want to say getting snubbed, but not being put into the open division playoff Was a little. You know, we've, we've, we've always talked about playing with the chip on your shoulder right. But When the seedings came out, you know I, you know, had a conversation with the boys and you know I kind of looked at all of them and you know Disappointment, and you know, in in some of their eyes, like well, we had a good year, like why did they leave us out? Well, it is what it is, you know. I mean, if we win some of those other games that we shouldn't, you know shouldn't, have lost, or that we were up, i should say You left it into the judges hands almost right, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:So it is what it is now Let's go and we're gonna play. You know, whoever it is that we play now and Win it. Yeah, you know, and that was that was the conversation. Yeah you know we can't look back at that, What happens? There's nothing we can do. Yeah, you know. We can't cry over spilled milk. Yeah, you know almond milk. We're being yeah better, i'm just kidding. Yeah, just win it, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at your eyes, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's. I'm looking in their eyes and you can see that. Look like yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:We're just gonna go on this thing now. You know whether we were a four seed, a ten seed, whatever we were, i think we were three or four, yeah, they just they weren't gonna be denied, you know it was. It was To see their reactions again, you know, to winning that whole thing and I think, the semi-final game after that game, so the game ends right, and you go shake hands with the other coach and whatever, and I go walking down the line and you know, as I'm walking up, i smiled right and To them it was like the best thing ever because I smiled there like he's smiling, like he's smiling.
Speaker 2:Yeah and I just kind of looked at him. I was like you fucking guys And I'm sorry for cussing, yeah, you know, and they, they smiled, you know, they had a good old time with that. That was Sebastien, to see their reactions to the. Yeah, you know, and I'm going off topic. So after the semi-final game, last out to me and I'm standing in the dugout and I Didn't move from my spot. Everybody's running out to the field celebrating, right, and I just wanted to stand there.
Speaker 2:Hmm and watch them. You know that was the best, the best feeling. And then, obviously, a Dodger Stadium same thing. You know I'm coaching third base Game-winning hit Victor Carrera And I just stood there on the line watching them celebrate Like that that's. I guess every coach wants that feeling, yeah, and you get the opportunity to experience that.
Speaker 1:Take that in, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, that's amazing. I Saw some of that, for sure, and I saw you kind of just taking it in. I think your coaches came over and hugged you or congratulated each other and the kid running out there and everything it was it's. It's cool to see. You know, at least from this end as well, of all the, the long year, the many hours. You know a lot of people don't see that. You know parents and other people that they're in the community of Taking them there and putting, investing in their kid, that, which is awesome, but that's like you said.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of hours of weight room talks, skill work on the field, being a student. You know again the grades going, the ups and downs. I remember you guys went through a little downtime of some social media stuff that came out That needed to be rectified and and those are the things that happen each year. That's a little different with each team. What's this team gonna? What's their personality, personality like you know What? what are we gonna deal with this year? and and wearing a different hat to to with every kid and stuff? Um, let me ask you, what is the word champion mean to you in general? champion? I?
Speaker 2:Got some tough ones today bro. Yeah, hope you brought that, that you didn't champion? Yeah, it's um. Well, like you said, 24 years, 20 years as the head coach for as an assistant, it's just the culmination of just a lot of hours. Yeah, you know, again, i Want to city championship as a player, i went to Dodger Stadium as an assistant coach and, you know, winning it now as a head coach, i'm always gonna put it back. you know, on the kids and you just say that I'm, i'm happy for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah to have been able to experience The things that I experience as a player. You know, not necessarily so much as a coach but as a player For them to be able to celebrate. You know, dog pilot, dodger Stadium, and Again, that's They're there. There aren't enough words, you know.
Speaker 1:And let me ask you, since you said it says you had it as a, as a player and as a coach Which one feels better and are they? are they different or the same?
Speaker 2:So we can go back and talk about My experience as a player. Yeah, i don't really remember much of that. Okay it's, i know it's for some people that may be hard to believe that, but as a pitcher, our coach sent pitchers to the bullpen. So I was in the bullpen the whole game. I didn't get to, i wasn't in the dugout, it was myself or pitching coach Papa Joe Pagara and One of our other pictures, george Gonzalez, and we were in the bullpen the whole time. So I really didn't get to take in the game until I came into the game and one of the things that It's weird because probably a month before the playoffs started, one of the kids asked about my experience at Dodger Stadium and I walked them through it.
Speaker 2:And I walked them through like what I experienced and what I remember, you know, walking on to the field When I came into the game and looking up which was probably the biggest mistake I made Walking to the mound and my coach, martin or my coach go to Martin stand there looking at me. He could see my eyes were wide-eyed, right, and he was like you're gonna be okay, you know, and I'm like all right, coach, and Throwing, throwing my first warm-up pitch and bouncing it like not even close, like halfway to the plate, and then the batting crowd just going crazy and I go, this guy's terrible. So I didn't really get to Enjoy the experience as much as a player just coming into the game, i remember. And then obviously we win. David Rojas gets a game-winning hit over second basins head.
Speaker 2:So I made it a point this year In having the kids. When we got there I said, okay, you know, we're gonna get our cleats on. I want you guys to Walk out to the line and kind of look around and take it in. And People are starting to come in right, and I go say hi to your families, you know. Wave to them, you know. Take in the moment, enjoy the experience, you know, because some of us will never get to do this again. This will be the only time you get to be on this field. Hopefully we come back again next year. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Allowing them to do that, i think helped Giving them a moment just to be because everything was on a clock. I'm sorry I keep snapping my little time, but everything was on a clock. When you get there like, all right, you have such and such amount of time to warm up, all right, now It's time for your pregame. You have 20 minutes, 15 minutes for pregame or whatever it was. So I'm standing there on my watch, i'm standing and looking at my watch, looking at my assistant coach hitting round balls and whatever. It's all right, you got five minutes, five minutes. So everything was just kind of rushed. Yeah, you know, but giving them that time I think was big for them And I think it'll allow them to have a little bit more of a memory of what's going on and with social media.
Speaker 2:You know, you know there's so many videos out there. You know Probably the best video. I can't remember who who took the video, but it's from the first base side as The kid gets the game winning hit. And I wasn't even looking at the kid, i was looking at the crowd in the background and To see people's emotions. Before the pitches made right, you could see the kids, mom and Sister and the dad. They're sitting in the front row All right and you can see the mom kind of looking down and like she looks up to like the heavens, like, please, like you know.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm and then the pitch is made and you pause it right at contact And you can see people's spaces and their reactions to it. And then you let it play and you pause After the hit goes through and you see everybody's reaction to it. You know that I mean such a cool thing for them to have. Yeah, i Mean I have one picture. Actually I have two pictures from when I played at dr Stadium. I have our team picture and then I have a black and white of me pitching from. You know, i'm on the mound and That's all I have. Yeah, but these guys they have, you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:Pictures and videos and things that are stored in the cloud.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know that they'll have forever and But the question was, which one is sweeter? I think you know, i think this one is a coach because, again, all these years of you know this work that was put in and again, looking up into the crowd, actually, after the game, walking up, walking up to the to leave. Having alumni come up you know Kids who played for me 10, 15 years ago wearing their jersey still, you know, just so excited and excited. And coach, it's like you know they're, they're, they're, they're talking to me, they're like coach is like we won. You know, having older alumni, you know, coming up and like, just Know, tears in their eyes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a sense of pride that brings back to them. It seems like you know, like that's right now I'm wearing this, like what's up, we won. You know, we're part of that, i was part of this program and yeah, whatever, that's cool. Yes, it seems like it would be two different kinds of emotions, but it seems like you're really this year, just looking at you and hearing you talk. You took it all in with the kids and embraced it Because, like you said, you never know when you're. You know when either some of the players or yourself might even be back there again, and you allowed that to sink in, which is really really cool. Um, what the finish of the sentence.
Speaker 2:I am happiest, i am most happiest when Are we talking about on the baseball field, or just I didn't give me two.
Speaker 1:Give me the baseball field one, and then we'll talk about the other one.
Speaker 2:I'm happiest on the baseball field when the light bulb turns on the light bulb turns on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know whether it be we're working with the JV kids and we're working something as simple as you know double cuts. When you hear them talking as if they know exactly what they're supposed to be doing and to see them execute When that light bulb goes on, that's what I'm happiest. When a kid, when I'm gonna kids, when a kid You know we're working on a breaking ball right And you know I'm messing with their grips, and you know he throws one and it Maybe doesn't necessarily right in the world, let's mess around with your grip a little bit. So then all of a sudden he throws one and he sees, he sees the action of the baseball and you see them turn and they look at you like Shit, right, i got it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, that's that that makes me happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i'm outside of baseball.
Speaker 2:Just being with my family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know that probably probably one of the best parts of all of this Was my family being able there, being able to be there. You know my son was home from school and My older boy, you know, showing up to the games and my wife being front row at Dodger Stadium and you know, seeing their reactions to it and hearing some of the stories that were told. You know, because they could hear everything that I was saying. They're so close and I didn't know I was being that loud, but You know hearing. You know my wife tell me some of the things that she, you know, she heard.
Speaker 2:Or you know, after the third out is made of that, you know, city chapter game and you know the kids celebrating me, walking to the dugout and looking, looking up at them and seeing. You know, seeing them and um, them being able to celebrate with me. Um, again, that's, i guess, as, as, as a coach, you know, there's no better thing than to be able to celebrate in that way and have them be there. Um, you know, and just my, just all my family in general. You know, um, yeah, that was, uh, yeah, that's pretty special. That makes me happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's awesome. Yeah, i mean the support of your family and then seeing you there and what you put a lot of hours into these kids you know in the school and your students, and all that come to fruitish or come true at the end of 20 something years that you, you know like you said you don't need to win it to validate who you are or or what's going on, but it does feel fucking good. It does. You know. You know what's cool. Um, and I don't apologize for cussing No.
Speaker 2:I think probably one of the it's. It's hard for me, you know, after you know I, i, i keep getting um text messages or phone calls or you know people saying you know what, you deserve this, you deserve this as a coach, you deserve it. And uh, you know, my wife is like, well, you do. And I'm like well, I, like I don't, i don't feel like I'm um, like I said, like us, winning this doesn't validate you know, um, but to hear from other people I guess, now that it's it's been a while now, it's been a month or something like that Um, i understand where they're coming from. You know, when they say you know what, like, you deserve this.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I don't feel like I deserve anything. I think the boys deserve it. You know the, the, the work that they put in the time and the effort, um, and then playing well. Yeah, you know, i mean we played really well. There's last four games. You know, um, i think we made maybe one or two errors in the playoffs. Maybe um, our pitchers, um, you know, through uh, three, nothing shut out in the semi. I won nothing shut out in the final. Um, they deserve, you know, all the recognition and all the. You know um, at a boys, at a boy at a boy.
Speaker 1:Well, two things. One, uh, yeah, you don't answer my text anymore after you won the championship for some reason, like trying to get a hold of the president over here. Um, no, but I think that's just who you are. You got a lot on your plate anyways. I just think that's who you are. But, um, to your very humble person and you're kind of like me, i love giving right, like I love to give and make sure that the other person's taking care of and what none, that's who you are.
Speaker 1:And I learned a while ago that we need to open up to receive, and one of the things to receive is acceptance of those, those acknowledgements from people like Hey, coach, you deserve it. Hey, you do this, and you need to take that in because in reality, you know, in reality they're a byproduct of your coaching style, of who you are, of the young men that you're raising. You know young men and women in in in school as well, and whatnot, and and and. At the end of the day, um, yeah, you know, sometimes we just want to. I wouldn't say ignore it, it feels good, but you also have to take in and accept a thank you accept, i wouldn't say a handout, but people want to give to you and and people want to offer things And that's been a hard part of my life to try to to do as well because I'm just like, no, no, no, no, here, take this here, have it, you have it, it's for you, i want best for you And it's like you also got to be able to receive a little bit, you know, right.
Speaker 1:So, pitching, catch on, as you can catch two couple more questions here. What is, what is your? do you have a coaching philosophy, like anything that every year, you're just grinding into people's heads, or certain things that are like I'm not. You know, i'm not going away from this. This is our philosophy, this is our morals, values, how we operate. This is so more away. This is what's going on.
Speaker 2:We talked a little bit about it earlier, just about the program. It's about the program. You know, um, having conversations with you know, some of the prior coaches and coach down to tell a coach Thompson, and you know, listening to their stories about the program. You know, and that's something that's always stayed with me when I came on as an assistant, you know, as a young kid 22, 23 years old just listening to the conversations that the alumni would have and understanding that the program is above everything. Right, it's not about you as an individual. I will, I will as a coach, i will never go away from that, wherever I may be. It's about the program. It's about representing this program the right way.
Speaker 2:And you know, um, show up every day and work. You know, don't, don't show up thinking today is going to be an easy day. There's, there's, there are no easy days. Yeah, you know everything we do. You know, as a coach myself, coach Palmer um, there's a reason behind everything And a lot of times the kids, like I've said before, you know they don't certain certain lessons that are being taught, um, they may not understand now, Um, a lot of it isn't even baseball related. It's related to, you know, um, trying to help mold good men. Um, be, you know being good, good, good men in in life, good fathers, you know, good husbands, just good people.
Speaker 1:Um, i don't know if that's really a philosophy, but No, i mean it's, it's a bunch of things that seems like obviously it just being better, Like you said earlier. I think you said do things right. You know, um, let's, let's do things right. Whatever that that looks like right You're going to put on first base. Do it right, you know, don't leave it so that all of a sudden you have to fix it in the second inning and now you have to do it twice. You know, do it right the first time.
Speaker 2:That's something as simple as so. the other day I asked a kid to um, because the kid who was our hose guy who did water down the field every day after practice, right, He graduated, So trying to find his replacement to send a kid out.
Speaker 1:The hose guy replacement.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, send a kid out there and all right, i need you to water the field and he kind of looks and be like what I'm like connect the hose and you know I want you to water the field. So you know he stretches out the hose and does a half-ass job. You know it's still tangled right in the middle and he's yanking on it, yanking on it and he waters the mound and he drags the hose over the mound and, like the lazy man, works twice as hard. Yeah, he's done that in the beginning. You know, um, again, it's a simple little lesson, right, but it's all you're doing is water in the field. But that's something you can take with you the rest of your life Like we're going to do things right.
Speaker 1:The first time? Yeah, you know so. So do you think he? okay, i have a question for that one. That was a good one. So do you think he did it on purpose, so that he wouldn't?
Speaker 2:be the hose guy. Sometimes I think that, yeah, sometimes people do shit.
Speaker 1:Like be honest, here we go. It's going to be on the open. Now I fuck up washing dishes. You know what I'm saying, so I don't have to do them. You know I'm not good at this shit, you know No. But yeah, i think sometimes kids either are lazy right, or like fuck, you know what I'm. Just I don't want to be the hose guy. So we're fucking up, i'm put up. Who knows what this kid was thinking. Right, but is he going to be the hose guy?
Speaker 2:Well, there's a few of them, okay. We're in competition for the hose guy. Yeah, we're in try out mode right now.
Speaker 1:So, oh my God, that's funny, bro, that's funny. What are some of the difficulties that you go through, that you have to deal with throughout the year that make it, i would say, more difficult for a LA City school compared to other schools or somewhere specifically, whether it be financial administration, dealing with LA City rules, parents, where you're at Like, are those some of the things that are difficult, and why is it different than some other schools? you think, well, it's all I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all I know. I mean again 24 years in LA City and then being a LA City grad, la USD grad. We know that funding isn't going to be comparable to, you know, some of the private schools around here or even the charter schools. So funding, you know, obviously is an issue everywhere. Yeah, la City, but I don't ask for much in terms of equipment and stuff like that. We try and keep it as simple as possible. Administrative, like my admin, lets me do what I got to do. They don't they just leave us alone because they There's a micromanager or nothing.
Speaker 2:No, I think they understand where we're coming from as a program in terms of, again, our job is to help mold these guys into good men, and I think our track record speaks for itself in terms of how the product we're putting out not necessarily baseball-wise, but like we said I think we talked about it the last podcast just in general The kids you know that we're putting out into the world are they're good men? Yeah, You know they're being good, successful people And I think admin sees that. So they kind of leave us alone in that way. I don't use us being in the LAUSD as an excuse for us not being able to have success.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know anybody who uses it as an excuse. I think that's just an easy out. You know you work with what you have, make the best of whatever it is that you have and if you want more, then go out and get it. You know it's no different than anything else that we do in life. If you want more, you got to go get it, whether it be asking for the community's help or you know parents I have great parents They go out of their way to take care of our boys at our bank with.
Speaker 2:The other day We was talking about, you know we drove out to San Diego for our spring break tournament and we had I mean, i don't know. At the end of the tournament we took a group picture because I wanted to see how many people I mean obviously you see them in the stands but we probably had around 100 people who showed up just to watch their kids play. And you know we would have Saturday inter-squad games. You know, just to keep working. You know certain days, certain Saturdays, we didn't have regular games. We set up the Saturday inter-squad games and parents were showing up to that. You know, like showing up to watch a Saturday inter-squad game, like they're completely bought into their boys. You know, i mean, and as far as the coaching part, they don't, they leave us alone. Parents don't question. Every now and then you get a parent asked, you know, certain questions about well, you know what can he do to get better, to get more playing time. And you know, i tell the boys from day one, like nothing is promised to you, i will never promise you playing time. I will never, you know, tell you that. You know you're going to get this amount of innings or whatever. Everything you get is going to be earned And if you get an opportunity, you do something with it. Well, you're going to get another opportunity. You know it's not. You know I wish I could play everybody. You know every game, but that's not how life is going to work. You know, if you want that title, you want that job, well, you better stand out. You know nothing was ever handed to me, nothing was ever handed to you. You had to fight for it. Yeah, that's one of the lessons that we teach throughout.
Speaker 2:You know, day one, you get here If you're, if you produce. You know you're a ninth grad. I mean, we had a freshman start in the semifinal game Picture picture. You know, throws a. I don't know how many hits he gave up, but he throws a shutout in the semifinal. I mean a freshman. He started the state playoff game. Why? Because he earned that. Yeah, he deserved to be in that position. He outworked people, you know. He produced when he got the opportunity. Yeah, he started game one of this past year. Let's throw him out there and see what he does. And he dealt. We lost, yeah, you know, but you know throwing game one. Well, you're going to start again at some point, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, no, that's what I love about you, man You never make excuses for anything, and I love that. That. Obviously there are difficulties in general, just looking at it from an outside point, but that make things different. But I think yourself and myself we've never made excuses to just deal with what you have and you try to make it the best. I think one of the best things that I saw was and that's part of receiving that I saw from you And I don't know if you started it or somebody else to, i'm sure you were involved in it was when you guys get the rings and asking the community and the team and the parents and alumni and people that knew the program and knew you and family members from the kids you know, to cover some of the costs, of the high end costs that I'm unbelievably, i didn't even know, first of all, that LA City or whatever wasn't even paying.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they're covering some of the costs. No, well, okay, because I know when I got a ring at CISL and I didn't pay anything, you know, okay, cool, that's awesome. Who knows right? But I didn't know that right. So when you came out like that, i'm like Holy shit, i didn't even know. Here we go. Let's put it a little bit, whatever we can.
Speaker 1:I know that I think the goal was 10 or nine something and it got covered, correct, yeah. So first of all, you know that's so awesome. First of all, you open that up for people to know I didn't know, and I was kind of baffled by that that kids worked this hard, but you know you're allowed them to play for this. And then, whether it be I don't know who runs LA City, you know, whatever it might be, that there's not money coming in for these kids now have to purchase their own freaking Ring. They give these rings to these 10, you eight, you kids fucking every weekend. You know what I'm saying? These kids have a fucking showcase of trophies, of rings nowadays and I'm like these guys just did something unbelievable played at Dodger Stadium, beat all this shit and they got to pay for one ring, like get. So I was glad that you did that in the communique in part.
Speaker 2:So, put together, Again the outpouring of support from the community for them to go out of their way during. you know, obviously, you know people are having a hard time just in general with life and I didn't want to ask but at the same time I didn't want the boys to feel like, well, we won, but you know, like, why do we have to pay for our own ring? Correct? There were some people on social media who, you know, made some comments like, oh, you know you're, you're asking for money to pay for something that they're not even going to be, you know, worried about 25 years from now. Well, you're telling me that when the Dodgers won the World Series and they got their ring, that they didn't have to pay for the organization paid for it.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you know, I don't know how that works, but tell me they don't care about their ring. Again, when I was in 10th grade we won, right. I had my ring and my house was broken into. I don't know, probably 10, 15 years ago now. They stole, you know, my kids' gaming systems and TVs and stuff like that. But I remember going into my room and opening up my box where I had my ring and I was like fuck gone.
Speaker 2:They stole my ring, you know, and that's and you know obviously some of my wife's jewelry as well, but of all the things that were taken other than my wife's jewelry, everything could be replaced, but I can't replace that ring. It's gone. I don't know where it's at, i don't you know. I wish I still had that.
Speaker 1:I think I saw some battle on Sunday League team fucking wearing it out there while he was pitching. It was a. It made me a mad thing.
Speaker 2:So for these kids to be able to have that you know, again, people were well, one particular person I don't even know who he was, but he wasn't very happy that I was asking for assistance with that. But you know, the kids deserve that at least.
Speaker 1:There's always. Look, you're never going to please everybody. There's always trolls on social media anyways as well. At the end of the day, let me. Let me just clear that one up real quick, because I'm getting annoyed. I don't even know this person, whoever it was, or whoever the fucking people that talk about that. It's not the value of the ring, it's the value of the work ethic that you put into it and the remembrance of that. You think I give a fuck about a picture, a wedding picture. A wedding picture is a remembrance of my beautiful wife that I put in many years of love and togetherness. That's all it is. It's a sort of remembrance of that, yeah, but, oh my God, you know you're never going to look at the picture. You're probably right, absolutely, 100 fucking percent about that, but you have no fucking idea what the value in your mind that sticks out when you look at that. That's what it's about. So let me just call him that one real quick. You didn't come talk to me.
Speaker 1:A UAG fit. It can't be broken podcasts. I have a couple more questions, but these are from your players. Homie, oh yeah, you ready. Okay, now you get all serious. Actually, one of the questions is are you mad all the time? Because you look mad all the time, they say.
Speaker 2:You know, I was scrolling through our text messages looking for your address to come over here.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, the one I gave you last time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, but it wasn't there for some reason. It wasn't there for some reason. It doesn't surprise me. And one of the questions you asked. You came out to one of our games and you asked that exact same question what do you look mad? I'm not mad. I have kids on campus who are afraid to come and talk to me. But if you get to know me a little bit, i'm not mad. It's just I have. I guess I have just a mean look about me. I guess I don't know, i'm not an angry person, i don't think. I think I'm pretty laid back, i don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just got a lot of my money. No, that's good You answered. I'm not mad, i'm approachable. Yeah, it was just the look that I have. Come talk to me, come talk to me. Yeah, well, we all have a look Like people say, hey, were you in the military? They ask me because of my buzz cut. I'm like no, because I even get. I even get. I say thanks for your service. What the fuck did I do? Which service are you talking about? But we all have a look, right, it doesn't mean that you're that person, i'm just deep in thought.
Speaker 2:I think I'm just thinking about stuff throughout the day and what do I got to take care of and work type stuff. And then on the field, what do I got to do to help these guys get better? Maybe somebody missed a sign or somebody didn't execute the way I thought Maybe they could have done a better job of, or it's just constant. My mind is always going just, you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:What does success mean to you this year? I mean, we can always identify with success in general, but in regards to the baseball team, what would success look like to you?
Speaker 2:Going forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Us just continuing to build off of what we've been building on for the past 24, 25 years, whatever it's been, just them continuing to again just be good people. Yeah, like I said in the end, whether we win or lose that game, in reality if you look back at that game, that game could have gone either way at any moment.
Speaker 2:It just so happened that it's funny because I was having the conversation with my wife where she was saying that she could hear everything I was saying. So the sixth, top of the seventh, i believe from the fifth inning on, let's go back. Fifth inning on. I kept telling the boys like it's going to be the team that makes the mistake. It's going to lose this game. It's being too well played. Both sides are playing really well, pitching wise, defensively, right.
Speaker 2:They threw one of our guys out at the plate in the fifth or the sixth. Then you get to the top of the seventh and however the inning ends, top of the seventh. Then I walk over to the dugout. I'm like now's the time, like don't wait, let's just do this thing now. I guess I use some choice words that my wife heard My wife's cousin. She said the same thing a little while later. She's like I could hear everything you were saying. Now's the fucking time, there's the fucking taking from him right now. And sure enough, a ball and dirt gets away. Strike three, and ball and dirt gets away. A guy gets to the first base and it was over. I knew it And top of my mind, it's over, we're going to move.
Speaker 2:We're on the move here. Yeah, we're going to find a way now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny how we feel that huh, Yeah, I mean it's, I'm sure the other, the other team or the I wouldn't say the team, but maybe the coach would like. Oh shit, a little bit too, Because you can feel it, You can kind of that energies out there, of a little bit of like. Here we go.
Speaker 2:Here we go, and you know the, the, the kid from Kennedy, patrone, left hand pitcher. He threw. Well, like Tequila, i believe it's Patrone. Ooh, i shouldn't get shit right there, it's Oscar Patrone. They should have named it Tequila, that would have been cool. And he, you know, and it's just one bad pitch, gets away and it happens. Yeah, it does. That's, that's, that's baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's baseball man. Um, what, uh, what message would you like to, since you have this time here too, what would you like to say to either your players, the community, alumni, parents? what message would you like to leave everybody with in regards to just in general, or this year, or last year?
Speaker 2:or well, not, yeah, the community in general, just um, thank you. You know, thank you for for for showing up, you know for for being there for the boys and you know, whether it be just even just a simple text message, um showing up to games, um being loud, and you know, i think we had, i think our game broke some sort of record in terms of attendance. Um says a lot about, again, both programs, you know, kennedy, somar. Um, people showed up and, you know, showed how important this thing really is And it's that's the message that we, you know, send to the boys all the time. Just like you guys don't understand right now how, how important this program is to this community, um, you know they, whether they're here or not during the regular season, they're watching, they're paying attention, they're looking online, they're following all the posts and, um, you know, thank you for for showing up and, um, you know, supporting the boys and me as well. Um, you know, i'm, i'm, again, i'm, i'm, i'm most happy for the boys and the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, for them, for them to be able to say you know, and again, if you look on the third base side of our field, there's, there's two banners, uh, 1973 and 1980 city champions. And I told the boys, i said it's our turn to put one of those banners up. And again, this is when the seedings first came out. You know, let's go win it and let's get our own banner put up now. And you know it's, it's so funny when we, uh, we played in the semifinal. I mean this is a side story, yeah, game ends, and then we're all heading back to the dugout and one of the kids is walking next to me. He's a coach. Like I don't understand, like, like I'm crying. He was, like he was, i'm, he was, i don't know what's wrong with me. It's okay, it's okay to be happy, like those are tears of joy, like you know, um, and for the players again, um, the message going forward is just keep working.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Keep working. You know, um. You've shown what your hard work can bring you Right, but don't be satisfied with it. Don't be satisfied with just getting there and winning one. Let's go try and win another.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, yeah, absolutely Man I'm, i'm so so, uh, uh, honored. First of all, you're back here again. Thank you for coming back a second time. I'm so happy for you, um, and your continued success, but to me, the success that you've instilled throughout your 20 some years as a coach on all these kids becoming better people, i think that's the most important thing. That's. That's a really, really good philosophy and kind of how I like to to do my things here as well, um, but it's, it's well earned.
Speaker 1:I think I'm happiest, um, that the community, the people that have supported, have continued to support um and the kids, like you said, who have put in the work. They got that feeling. Hopefully they stay hungry this year. They keep on following the philosophy of being good people working hard, doing things right, um, and I thank you for for coming on. I'm very happy, uh, for you because I've I've known you for a long, long time.
Speaker 1:We've played college ball together and, um, and there's happy moments when you play, but there's also happier moments when it's unselfish and and you see it in the eyes of the kids that you're you're, you're coaching, um. You know, for me, one of my biggest satisfactions is when I see a kid get D1, d2, d3, go to college, get an education, get some money paid for. And they've come here and they've contacted me and said Hey, coach, everything going, you still grinding over there making these kids better. Has anybody thrown up? or you know something like that. That's funny. Uh, i think it's really really cool. Um, uh, much success to them that they're coming. You know that they're becoming great human beings.
Speaker 1:Um, but I thank you, bro, and I'm so happy for you and I can't wait for this year to go check you out and, uh, continue following you guys. I I know it's hard for me to get out there because of the times that I train people out here, but when I, when I did, i went this one time one year and, yeah, i saw you almost being mad again. No man, but you're in the zone. What are you going?
Speaker 2:to do? You know you're in the zone.
Speaker 1:You're coaching, you know um. I appreciate you, man. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me back out again. It's, it's fun. It's fun coming and talking. You know, um, i talked baseball. You know with other people as well, but, um, you know, like you said, we go way back. So yeah it's just, it's different. I have in the conversation with you Yeah, um, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I asked you a lot of hard questions, so they're like finish the sentence Like God dang honey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i love different. last time was a little bit more of an emotional type thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you went and told your story. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll share it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I love sharing my story because I think people can learn from it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, but this is, you know, this one. This one here's a little different, just because you know us winning a city title and yeah something that could never be taken away from those boys. That's right.
Speaker 1:That's what's our most proud of It's going to be there and then it'll be hanging up on the left field wall. you know for the next time when I go down there. Thank you for your time, bro. Thank you very much. Thank you for all the listeners for listening in. This is the highest listen to episode. We're, Ray Rivera, back in the house. I appreciate that. You can't be broken.