FanDuel sports reporter, Ryan Bass joins the show to discuss the Rays red hot run. Scott & Chris also breakdown the offseason Heisman odds. Plus, the crew fires up a NODPOD favorite, The Randomizer.
Welcome to the full video episodes of the “No Off Days with Scott Smith” podcast! FOX 13 News Tampa Bay’s Sports Director Scott Smith is joined by news anchor and part time funny man Chris Cato, plus producer Brian King, to talk about the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, and Tampa Bay Rowdies. The guys interview sports legends and major players from FOX Sports, plus discuss the state of play in everything from golf to goalies. #nodpod #nooffdays #sports
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in sports if you want to be the best there are no off days welcome in to the No Off Days podcast i’m Scott Smith we got Chris Ko over here to my left we got BK in the booth we will catch up with him momentarily uh we got a big a big show planned for you as we countdown the uh to to the All-Star break which is right around the corner so the only again we’ve discussed this on the show it’s the only All-Star game that’s actually worth its salt in all of the professional sports why is that why why does the there’s still there’s still some nostalgia attached to the All-Star game uh but every other All-Star game is just um I don’t know
i think it’s because baseball is the one that gives you actual best on best like you know that that pitcher whoever it is still wants to get the best of the batter the batter wants to get the best of one of the best pitchers in the league you don’t get that with certainly the NBA All-Star game or whatever the NFL is doing with skills challenge and hockey I think got on to something good with the Four Nations faceoff we’ve discussed that if you stick to that at least that felt like real competition
that it actually got uh I believe it got better ratings than the actual NHL regular season
i think it did
yeah that I That being said the home run derby I still think is it’s better than the game itself
you think so
i do i I think it’s too long
it seems like more people watch it more people are locked into the home run derby you think it’s too long
oh yeah they drag it out way too long
okay we don’t need 18 rounds i mean we we don’t need to see Pete Alonzo up there by round six he’s so gassed he’s like you know doing half swings at the plate anyway we’re going to be talking a little baseball on the show as we get ready for the All-Star break and those red hot rays my goodness uh let’s bring BK in hey I did see a headline recently that I thought of you when I when I read this quote uh because it came from FSU Seminal’s new starting quarterback Thomas Castellan Castellanos
yeah uh we have shots fired already here in the month of June he says that you guys don’t have Nick Sabin to save you anymore so as FSU opens the season against Alabama this one in Tallahassee correct
yes
august 30th is am I right august 30th yes uh that he he says that um he doesn’t see you guys able to stop him
you guys being Alabama
what do we think about that you have a really
That upper lip is really tight right now okay you’re trying to hold back
no good for him i mean
good what do you mean good for him
let him if he you you’d want to if I’m a Florida State fan you know Alli Cory she’s got to love that because you want a confident quarterback right Ko you know you you know now is it the most wise thing because I think some Bama players I know Bama players have seen it and kind of retweeted it or
the world has seen it at this point
yeah right yeah
it was funny in that comment too on this podcast he did drivebys not only at you know coach Kaylin Dbor for Alabama saying Nick Sabin’s not there to save you but it sound like he did a driveby on his
He did a driveby on his own coaches too because he said “I’m here to save jobs and win games.”
Exactly
so hey Norvel you need me i mean wow he went scorched to earth
well I I do love the confidence and it gives a little bit of offseason fuel to the discussions that we seem to have on a weekly basis but I’m looking forward to that game you guys going you guys
I looked man the uh tickets aren’t bad but it’s the hotel or Airbnb situation in Tallahassee that turned me off it’s it’s ridiculous surely there’s somebody that you know that has a couch that you can borrow from
well it’s funny our colleague Mark Wilson big F FSU alum mentioned to me that he has an Airbnb there but I didn’t get any kind of beyond that
no I did i mentioned how difficult it was for me to find one right after that
so we’ll see well the the Wilson family could be occupying that for that weekend so that that would make sense
and do they really want an Alabama van
no they don’t no you know how it is
a 12 and a half point favorite as of this taping by the way
we can go up in my van if you’d like ko
oh yeah
there’s room in my back
he’s always He’s got a bed back there
yeah as long as I’m as long as I’m napping the whole way I’m fine with it
it’s a water bed though just Just be careful little slushy do you guys if you had a big game to watch you know let’s say it’s BMAN the national championship would you go to a watch party hosted by someone of the rival team or where you know there’s going to be a significant crowd of people that are opposing you
i I wouldn’t go to a party hosted by Alabama fans i’ve tried it before with the alumni association it’s not knock against them i just like watching it by myself actually and just
Why is that is it because you break things
no you just you can lock in on it you’re not constantly you know like on on edge
yeah people ask
people talking you qu Yeah you know and you’re trying to be polite you can’t really cheer that you know so I just rather be there by myself
and if my shirt’s not working and they’re losing the first half I can go change a shirt
there you go yes cuz that’s the problem
it always fixes it doesn’t it right he and I will text each other time to Sometimes you change too much though and you’re like “Oh no i need to go back one shirt.”
Ko’s more of a social butterfly though i think you you do like you like hanging with people i do but I don’t want to watch a game with the fans of the opposing team we’re playing because they’re just going to be they’ll try to be polite at first but then when they start to make some momentum and score on Alabama they’re going to start snickering and giggling and it’s going to get me all angry
get you all riled up and then that then when they lose they’ll be like “Yeah I didn’t really care anyway i wasn’t really What are you Why are you so into it?” you know all of a sudden you’re a basketball school now i’ve tried look my my brother every year invites Auburn fans to watch the Iron Bowl with him and I don’t know how he does that i I I’ve I’ve did it with him a few times and it is it’s weird uh and it usually ends in us being in separate areas with separate TVs
i mean can you imagine that with the kick six game i mean that would have been horrible
yeah i’m glad I wasn’t even in the state of Alabama for that one
me too
we should have your brother on the podcast to break this down the anatomy of a good watch party and and why he invites the rivals i think that that’s we should have him on
he’d be a great guest
let’s get him on and then can we get your dad and cookie
that might be too much maybe for the
got to get their their modem working
500th episode or something we’ll see
sure uh BK what do we have on today’s big program
got a fun show today we got Ryan Bass the Rays and
Wait Ryan Bass the Ryan Bass
as in who used to work for the competition ryan Bass
did he really i I just remember Ryan Bass is the
Who approved this
oh uh well I kind of signed off on it then Ko ran it by KO he’s He’s a good dude he’s a good dude he’s actually Yeah he’s a nice guy absolutely no all right and then at the end of the program
what do you say we fire up the randomizer
it’s about time yeah it’s about time it’s been a while we’ll do that
been a long time the fact last time we did it Brian wasn’t even here i think it was Chris Griffin had to find the keys to the old rust bucket that’s right that’s right yeah gas it up the old owner’s manual he like flipped through that figured out how to work it he It spit out some weird questions with him running it too i got to tell you Brian yeah all right
some of them were in Latin we didn’t understand
all right Brian if we see you at the end of the show and you’re wearing a different shirt we’ll know that you think the podcast is not going very well all right very good catch up with you if you’re listening and you want to watch go to fox3news.com/nodpod if you’re watching you want to listen or subscribe take out your phone you can zap that QR code it’ll take you to our show page and all of our shows are right there we invite you to subscribe on the podcast forum and if you do please leave a fivestar fox13news.com/nodpot so uh this last week a big event in New York City that I was otherwise ignorant to uh but every name in sports past present uh were there and that is the Fanatics Fest so it’s a three-day event it’s a huge deal 125,000 fans made their way to the Big Apple to to watch this event and it’s you know obviously Fanatics uh is a brand and and they’re they’re in the business of selling things but they lose money on this Chris like they I don’t know if it’s because the what they’re paying to get the celebrities there but last year we don’t know what they paid this year but last year they paid 15 million bucks they lost 15 million on this but you know it’s an investment into their product
uh but it was just like I was just amazed with how many big names were out there doing things tom Brady was like the star of the show but you got LeBron you got throwbacks like Joe Montana are out there i mean every Eli Manning is there yeah so it was a big deal uh and Tom Brady he’s he’s winning in every facet of life and uh this has been the case for uh what some a few decades now uh but he wins the inaugural fanatics games so this is you take a hundred participants 50 of them are just regular fans
right
uh then the other 50 are either former athletes current athletes or celebrities
and then they all compete in these different events so you have like quarterback skills basketball shooting soccer goal scoring accuracy with the baseball pitch uh accuracy with some hockey shots uh they have WWE superstar entrances i don’t know how they got to be the most important one yeah it’s probably graded like on a you know like gymnasts lift up their their score uh then you have UFC striking challenge where you punch this punching bag and then you have a closest to the pin challenge and guess who wins it out of a hundred participants
the guy who is always winning everything
the guy who’s the goat he wins it and guess what the prize was a million bucks
exactly what he needed ex
I mean you talk about a goat
that Fox contract that Fox contract hadn’t cleared yet that $700 million check well I I will say he he gave I think 5,000 to each one of the fans that participated
that’s cool
so whatever that is 5,000 times 50 he gave each each person a a chunk of change and then he gave the rest to charity so Tom Brady doing the right thing there but uh I I thought it was interesting that that he dominated and all those I know that I would expect the quarterback challenge for him to be very good uh I know he played you know some some baseball as well so it wouldn’t surprise me if he if he could throw a pitch accurately but hockey challenge uh basketball
well we don’t know that he won all these categories he just had the best point total
he had the best point total but I would think that he did he had to have held his own in some of these
i want to see him in the UFC striking uh who was the punching bag in that one uh it was just a it was one of those like automated things that you punch
and uh I think Miles Garrett might have broken it by how hardy he was hoping you told me he’s used to he’s used to punching people with other people’s helmets but he didn’t get to use that uh this time actually a UFC fighter I believe it’s pronounced Gachi Justin Gate is that right yeah he finished second in the voting or in the point total and then a Pennsylvania teacher came in number three so here the second place gets a Ferrari mhm
so these are some amazing This is probably where they’re losing all that money
exactly yeah how did we lose 15 million on this last year
second place gets a Ferrari
can we give out some like Honda Civics like why are we giving out Ferraris um and then third place won a And I don’t know for for the baseball card heads out there if you this makes any sense to you but the chrome gold refractor LeBron James rookie card
highly valuable that’s all you need to know
it apparently is brady actually bought it off this guy this is the third place this is a guy he’s a Pennsylvania teacher yeah
how about this uh but I would have preferred I think a Ferrari i think I would have rather taken that to me there’s a big jump between uh a card and a Ferrari anyway he sold it to Tom Brady of all people who bought it for 250,000 bucks
well okay that’s close to Ferrari value then so is it yeah okay
i mean you’re right there
i don’t know what a Ferrari goes for these days
that’s a That’s a low-end Ferrari
i mean I know you’re into the used car market
mine has Yeah my Ferrari has a cassette player uh but uh yeah
I would love a old Ferrari like those old Tom Celic Ferraris
oh yeah those
whatever those are called for all you car heads out there um
didn’t he drive a Firebird anyway
no he drove definitely drove a red Ferrari for sure i love the story that this third place finisher a regular you know Joemo teacher gets third place and Tom Brady buys his LeBron card for him on the spot for 250 grand i mean
yeah I’ I’d rather have 250k i think I think that would go a little bit further i also learned at the Fanatics Fest that uh Joe Burrow cannot throw a baseball did you see the video clip
because of his small hands
i think he has actually big hands but I It’s weird like if you watched him throw it he’s he’s he’s just trying to hit this target and he he’s not even close to it it’s so bizarre he was throwing it you know i mean it’s a quarterback delivery but every every ball that he threw was to the left it was just to the left not even close just give me a chance to watch it here keep talking about it
no I’ll uh Joe Burrow
oh here it goes i got it
not very accurate with a baseball
oh no that’s Wow that’s that’s almost 50 cent bad there
yeah yeah very bad um okay so Heisman odds are out Mr ko and I’m I’m curious to get your thoughts because I know you probably have already set up your own kind of odds on this power board yeah okay have you put any futures money in this
no i just every year the Heisman thing is so volatile right like it’s it’s never the guy who’s leading at this point in the season
probably not and uh it’s not it doesn’t take many by surprise that it’s going to be Texas quarterback Arch Manning that is your favorite right now um but it is a little bit you know interesting because he doesn’t really have you know very many starts under his belt so he’s coming into a situation where since high school he’s obviously been the the most hyped you know recruit ever going to Texas but then he sits behind Quinn Yurs who by the way was also the co-f favorite about this time last year to win it and and he did not he did not win it um but then you have LSU quarterback Garrett Nusmire right behind him so he’s got a little bit more game time under his belt
a lot more than ours
clubnick
Clubnick played great at the end of last season i’m all on board if you want to tell me he’s a Heisman winner he looked good
he’s number three uh I’ll just give you the top five ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and then Penn State quarterback Drew Aller um I don’t know you look at the odds
yeah and if you had to pick one right now uh where where are you leaning
do I have to go off of those names there
you don’t if you have a complete dark horse go for it
i think it’s going to be someone who isn’t in this top 10 that I’m looking at because that’s usually how it goes who saw Joe Burrow coming in 2019 right or years before that it was you know odds on favorite it’s going to be Leonard Fornette and then you know he’s done by halfway through the season i’m going I think this guy’s going to be in a great spot uh John Matier is the transfer quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners uses his arms and legs his offensive coordinator was brought in too from Washington State so it’s not like he’s got to learn a new system and all their receivers are healthy this year unlike last year when they had Jackson Arnold at quarterback i think he’s going to have a big season john here
yeah that would be
I don’t even see him on the board here i could probably
No he’s plus 2500 okay I can make some money on that there he’s right behind or he’s tied with one DJ Lagway up in Gainesville so I like the DJs getting a little bit of love i think that’s probably your only instate guy well down in Miami they uh Let’s see
carson Beck’s there at Where’s he at
i got plus 2200
okay
so right behind Dante Moore at Oregon dante Moore might be a good call too i mean
same situation though it’s like he’s getting his first reps there in Eugene what’s that going to look like i don’t know i mean if I was going to go anybody that doesn’t have any experience right now um I’m I would be interested to see what Julian Sey does uh at Ohio State new quarterback there but my pick would be if I had to pick one right now i think I’m gonna stay with the Buckeyes I’m gonna go uh Jeremiah Smith
yeah well we say wide receiver
saw Devonte Smith win it as a wide receiver for Alabama in 2020 and you know that guy’s the most proven talent on that list he’s he’s NFL ready right now so quite possible
i like how the old ball coach is chiming in steve Spurer actually gave a little comment on his thoughts uh and you know I would do it in a in a Spurer accent but I don’t really have one um but it it is it’s still fiery and I love it he’s saying you know most people are picking Texas to win the SEC this year they’ve got Arch Manning already winning the Heisman too my question is if he was this good how come they let Quinn Eubers play all the time last year and he was ended up being a seventh round draft pick
yeah I think that’s a valid point no
someone sitting at this very table with you has said that before too it does feel like if Arch was as good as everyone has hyped him up to be that he would have played more last year because we saw games where Quinn Yurs was a little banged up or didn’t have his agame and yeah Arch mostly just sat on the sideline
i think he is going to be good i don’t know I don’t know if he’s going to win the Heisman but uh I think he’s going to be very good i do know this that if it comes down between the first pick between two quarterbacks and one of them is Arch Manning take Arch Manning don’t take the other guy especially if his last name is Leaf no we don’t want to see that story repeat itself all right coming up on the aside we’re going to talk baseball we got Ryan Bass who is your Rays reporter for FanDuel TV uh he is going to join us and break down this redhot team that’s playing a lot of road games here over the next few weeks stay stick around welcome back to the No Off Days podcast uh it has been fun to watch these Rays heat up and uh gain a little ground and they’re nipping on the heels of uh those New York Yankees at top the AL East and as we tape this uh they are taking off to kick off a a set this week in Kansas City a team that swept them earlier this year and the Rays in three games against the Royals scored three three runs
this it’s like a totally different team now they’ve they score three runs an inning now that’s what they’re the pace that they’re on right now uh so this week we have an opportunity to catch up with a guy that knows this team very well spends every day with them out in Kansas City for this interview that would be Ray’s reporter for FanDuel Ryan Bass
uh it’s always nice when enemies become allies uh very kumbaya moment here on the No Off Days podcast cuz it wasn’t that long ago when you and your little sidekick Justin Granite we’re working for the competition across town but here we are granite is somehow my financial adviser now and and you’re on the podcast so here’s to Unity
first of all Granite is also my financial adviser as well so he’s he is roped in all of us but he promised he promised the two of us we’re going to be millionaires in a couple years time so I don’t know about you Scott but I think uh that yacht in the Mediterranean looks pretty good to me coming up so
somehow it seems far further and further away uh you know it’s funny because you know you obviously worked for the CBS station in town for a while and you know I work for the Fox station so I think people have this kind of portrayal of what it looks like that it’s some and I wish it looked like what it looked like in anchor man like I wish you were my West Man tooth but sadly it’s not like that we mostly get along i think there there may be a couple exceptions in there but I think we all get along right
we we we do uh first of all I have so much love and admiration for you i did uh dating back to my time at Channel 10 uh although I did get I I did give you a little trouble yesterday i said uh you sent me a text asking for me to come on the podcast and it was the first time we texted since 2020 i did think we were better friends than that but it’s okay i’ll let it slide buddy and now I don’t want to wait another five years to send each other a text so
yes well that was a big year for me texting wise uh 2020 was a big texting year so all right so you are in Kansas City right now hence the hotel room that you’re in a city that has been popularized by barbecue and and Jack Kagleon i mean I know that there’s a couple Chiefs players that may have something to say about that but uh do you get a chance here before the game to be able to sit down and and chat with the the Plant High School product are you going to get that opportunity actually it’s funny you say that so I I’ve been really trying to make an effort this year and it had been more for home games uh than road games but I I’ve really made an effort this year to try to get you know a star player from the opposing team right right i mean I’ve got I’ve sat down with Mike Trout and Chris Sale Trey Turner um you know and the list goes on and on right of guys that I’ve had a real good opportunity to to to just to to have conversations with just you know just around baseball and and facing the Rays and um and and I had just texted Elvis Martinez who is the uh PR guy for the Rays for the contact for the Kansas City Royals jack Hagglleone is uh my next target for for one of those sitdown interviews that you can catch on on Rays Live the pregame show so putting in that request as we speak uh when I get done with this podcast and um man how cool is that right i mean we we’ve we’ve hammered it home and and hit on it a lot in our broadcast but you know the lineage of talent that has come out of Plant High School um that has that has been flourishing in professional baseball from Wade Bogs to Pete Alonzo to Kyle Tucker Preston Tucker uh you know when he played Kyle’s brother and and now of course Jack following in those footsteps so um you know the the Rays certainly know you know that the kind of talent that he possesses uh we’ll be talking about it today on the pregame show and in-game as well but yeah I’m excited to to hopefully get an opportunity to talk to Jack and uh and and get a get a feel for you know what he learned in Tampa and coming up through the pipeline of playing high school and and uh you know obviously representing the 813 on on the big stage yeah Joe Buu like fastball that’s what he’s learned he learns how to hit at a far far distance um
well he’s huge he’s what 6’5 i mean the guy the guy
he would be a great tight end for these Bucks that’s what he would be
yes he would
so you know I I look at at this Rays team especially what they’ve done here in in two of these last three series so facing a Mets team and a Tigers team not just two of the best teams in baseball but two of the better pitching staffs in in baseball too and they they take five of six and they average Ryan they average eight runs a game against these two teams can you kind of I know you’ve been everybody’s trying to figure out why have you been able to kind of put your finger on the why with this team as of the last
it’s been I mean since May 20th right i mean 22 and N uh they lead Major League Baseball on batting average on base slugging uh 189 runs in that stretch that’s 24 more than any other team the Dodgers are the next closest like if you would have asked me Scott when I was sitting here watching games in April and the Rays play or or try to battle through one- nothing 2-1 3-1 3-2 games I I could not have fathomemed that this team would have a plus 24 run differential over every other team in baseball for a better betterment of a month look I I think there’s a couple of things at play here right i think the early offensive struggles you saw were and and I I don’t think this is just locker room speak and I don’t think it’s just raw praise like I think they were really struggling as a collective group with key situations in hitting runners in scoring position runners on you know on first and or second and third with with less than two outs those are things they preached in spring training you’re starting to see a little bit of that come together now I think it helps that Junior Camero got hot Brandon Laauo got hot you that coincides that May 20th time range with Josh Low coming back to the lineup and Josh really lengthens what the the Rays do especially with the way he can handle the stick at the top of the lineup what he does you know obviously you know offensively and defensively but then you’ve had some of the rookies that have come up that have hit uh you know and I haven’t even mentioned Jonathan Ronda who’s been their most consistent hitter all season long but Jake Mangum you know Chandler Simpson was hitting and now he’ll be back he’s going to he’s he’s going to be called up today officially to replace Cameron Meisner who was hitting as well and and you know in April and and you know March struggled here as of late so I think it’s just been one of those things where you’ve started to collectively have these guys hit plus the bottom of the order the guys that are hitting seven eight nine we’ve seen better at bats from them which turns the the lineup over to the Diaz’s the beows the Josh Lows that that can you know the Arandas the Camaros that can drive in those runners so I think you’re seeing a more collective effort from this group each guy has tweaked certain things brandon Laauo you know used the different bat that he he was using previously you know tried something new early on in the season switched to that yanni Dia has raised his hands a little bit more from what he was doing in 2023 when he won the batting title junior’s you know watched some video and done made some tweaks too so all these guys are constantly tweaking but um you know I think look I think it’s just starting to turn their way it’s not going to go like this forever we know that Scott right there’s going to be LOLs um but it really is as a collective group pretty darn impressive what they’ve done top to bottom of that lineup but the toothpaste is in a sense out of the tube because now we know what this team is actually capable of doing so whatever cold spell may come and it’s a long baseball season right we we’ve seen them uh what would seem to be at their best may maybe maybe we have not seen that yet but I you know Ryan I look at you know covering this team uh for the last nine years now and there is like this sense among the fan base that there is um you come you become accustom or maybe numb a little bit to these sudden or sometimes irrationally good spurts from the Rays right they’re just like and like people just like well it’s the Rays just kind of doing the race like but one of the steady factors here it seems to be Kevin Cash you you see how this guy operates every day with his team what sets him apart as a skipper
i I think it’s he he has this self-deprecating nature about him that I think really works well with players and and it’s funny because I I had a chance to chat with Charlie Mortyn um you know when he was in town with the Orioles uh prior to starting against the Rays and and I and I kind of asked him that that question like what what made this because he he even said to me he said that was some of the most fun years I’ve had in my career this is a guy who’s played 18 seasons in the big leagues has won you know multiple championships you know he’s one of the greatest pitchers of our generation right especially in the playoffs he told me two words that I think really encapsulates well what Kevin Cash Eric Nander and and this entire organization does from a culture perspective it’s freedom with expectations that when he said that it was like oh wow like that really does click right like they they give you the freedom to be yourself they give you the freedom to express yourself as a player but they have this level of expectation that they want you to live up to right the Rayway as we’ve always heard about it and I think what what Cashie does is he he has such a good pulse on this team he may not say it he observes everything he’s always watching he always knows what’s going on he also trusts his coaching staff to handle certain guys and and those guys in that clubhouse know that that Kevin’s going to stick up for them battle for them look after them i mean you and I I think it speaks highly of of Cash and the Enander you know to to head to the hospital and see you know Hunter Biggy the day after you know he got that that foul ball and and was you know going in for surgery for you know facial fractures i mean he cares so much about this club these guys uh but he does it in a way that’s a little self-deprecating some joking some some harsh love you know but I think it works really well and yes he’s been the common thread i think their analytics department is second to none you have three pitchers in the rotation right now that are learning new pitches on the fly to try and better their repertoires i don’t know if that happens you know from many other pitching staffs their analytics department is so far above so I think it’s just a level of trust from top down right that that everybody’s got um you know the the tools available to be better and Cash lets a lot of these guys be themselves but he’ll also call guys out i mean if there’s there’s guys in a struggle he will he will in you know before you step up into the you know on deck circle you know I can hear him chirping at some guys like “All right let’s go.” Like like you know it’s it’s time for you to step up right so I think there’s that challenge there’s that respect but there’s also just that se self-deprecating nature that I think makes him not just you know one of the best managers in baseball arguably the best
yeah i mean there’s so many ups and downs in a baseball season to have a skipper that is just a steady hand you know what I mean like when you’re when the team’s down here like Kevin Cash doesn’t seem like a guy that’s presenting one way to the media and then going in and slamming the door and like ripping those you’ve been in those you’ve been in those press conference rooms with me right where like they they win 10 to one or they lose 10 to one it’s the same tone you know and I think that calm nature and that that steadiness that that sets an example for the rest of the clubhouse i I hate the terminology don’t get high too high too low but like it’s it’s literally the that’s the recipe like they don’t they don’t get you know too too you know big on the wins and they certainly don’t get too low on the losses like they’re pretty good at flushing that stuff and I think I think you know Cash is direct representative of that
don’t go anywhere we have much more with Ryan Bass on the other side i’m going to you know he’s a big UCF guy too little college little college football yeah yep so we’ll talk that next on the podcast [Music] welcome back to the North Days podcast last block we got going with our conversation with Ryan Bass Ray’s reporter for FanDuel TV this is like his first year where he’s doing it the full slate of games uh taking over for Trisha Whitaker and he’s doing a fantastic job giving some nuggets throughout the game and he gets to spend a lot of time with the guys and in the clubhouse and it’s been good to to hear his take on where these rays are and and why they’ve had so much success lately but we’re not done talking to him here’s more with our conversation with Mr bass
you know we mentioned it a minute ago but like I think there’s a chance that we see another gear out of this team because there are they’re an evolving team there’s pieces that are not currently with the club i mean you you mentioned the return of of Simpson and we know what he presents both defensively and on the diamond and you know like the guy’s speed is electric but we still have Hang on Kim that we have not seen shane Mlanahan that that hopefully returns near the end of July um I mean this could this could be a team that’s peaking late in the season which is kind of what every team wants right
i I I think so look I I I don’t know how you get much better than the run that they’ve been on of 22 and N9 you know over over that that stretch i mean that’s that is a really tough and by the way there’s a lot of games they probably could have won throughout that stretch uh you know as well um games that you kind of go whoa you know where’d the offense go tonight or uh you know the bullpen kind of gives up a lead which is which just hasn’t been happening here over this stretch so yeah I I think I do think there’s some really good baseball ahead for this team right here’s the challenge though right and this speaks to it of me being in a hotel room right now 35 of their next 47 games are on the road um you know that they’re they’re going to play a majority of their their the rest of their schedule this season away from Steinbrunner Field and they had turned things around at Steinbrunner Field you know from a home field advantage standpoint so now this team’s been good on the road this year and I don’t think that phases them and I think the the chemistry and the camaraderie comes out even more on the road when you’re away from families and you’re allowed to as a group kind of experience and um you know and you can see it I I see you know directly you know riding with the bus with these guys and and you know walking and you know going around town and seeing with some of these guys out I mean they really do love each other right and I think that that helps on the road but um yeah getting Hassan Kim back is going to be big um what they end up doing at the shortstop spot is going to be interesting I don’t think Taylor’s going anywhere um I think it’s going to be you know we’ll see maybe Jose Caviierro play a little bit more outfield which is why I think you’re seeing Chandler come come back at this spot um where you can kind of have Kabie play center or play right and and Chandler over there in left so it’s going to be interesting mc M Shane Mclahan I still think we’re a little ways off i I you know he has to have a full buildup right i he he has to go through a whole progression of spring training and really build himself back up and this nerve issue has not been kind it’s it’s been unusual it’s been disheartening for him and for for you know a lot of folks here as they’re kind of navigating and learning how to how to deal with this so but think about the the prospects of that right getting an ace back to the top of your rotation for an an August September run and that’s what’s going to happen if if Shane can get through everything and check all those boxes so good days are are really good days are probably ahead for this squad uh but they’re built off pitching and defense and timely hitting and that’s what we’ve seen here as of late and that’s the reason why they’ve been so good we’re a couple weeks out from a nice little break this is your first year doing the full MLB slate right so do you have vacation planned how do you handle how does Ryan Bass handle the vac the All-Star break well well you know uh all too well um that I work many of jobs so it’s not just here with this team um I’ve got some freelance stuff with NewsNation um I I do some sales work with a PR firm that’s in town too so um I always kind of stay busy um I have had some forced time off um here in the month of June where Kendra Douglas who does our magic uh uh magic reporting over at uh at FanDuel she’s filled in for me here so I’ve actually had more weekends off than not unfortunately one of my weekends uh previously in early part of June uh when my parents were in town I fell off a scooter and separated my shoulder so I spent part of that weekend in the ER so that wasn’t fun
um so yes
are we are we starting our throwing program yet are you where are you on that
we have gone through a physical therapy two two times already uh we got checked out by Dr coco Eaton the team doctor who told me about six weeks from now I should be painfree so that that should be nice but um uh speaking of vacation it’s going to be very nice to enjoy some time off that won’t be uh in an emergency room or rehabbing from a great
I would have thought that your FanDuel contract would have specifically outlined no scootering uh so this I don’t know I don’t know if you brought up a violation of that contract
i found out that that turned into a rule in the minor leagues for the Rays because there was some players that uh have been falling off scooters so I’m just saying it’s uh I think my scootering days are are in the rear view if you will okay
um but um to answer your question directly uh I’ve got some time off over the All-Star break i’ll be taking off um the week and then the weekend after I’ll have that series off too so um going to go out of town for a little bit i haven’t been in Nashville this year so I’ll go see some friends there um going to a Morgan Wallen concert in Arizona so uh it’ll be fun yeah a little relaxing
that’s another one of your big in the country music scene too so Ray
you’re the one with the guitars behind you though not me so I don’t know who’s big just I’m a I’m a I’m a country star in my home and that’s it uh no further um raise at the All-Star game who’s it going to be i’m looking at the voting and uh and it seems like there’s some distance there between some of the guys aronda looks to be the closest if you had to guess uh how many Rays which Ray gets in what’s your thought
i think we’ll have um one position player get in um from a game from the All-Star game perspective right and I think that’s going to be Jonathan Rhonda um I think he he has made some gains in the voting and and I think if he doesn’t get into the top two I still think he’s going to be selected um to head to the All-Star game so I I I do believe he’ll get in i I think there’s a chance um a high chance that Junior Camero gets an invite to the home run derby so I think we could see that um you know and him participating in one of the more fun activities during the Midsummer Classic um you know we’ll see if if if he does get that opportunity to be in the game and represented there there’s some stiff competition at third base and a lot of guys ahead of him but I do think having Junior there for the weekend would be uh would be good for the game right and good for him um given the season he’s had here in his age 21 season and I think on the pitching side Drew Rasperson I think is going to is going to be a guy that represents the Rays from a pitching staff perspective but there’s a lot of guys that would be would be worthy i mean Ryan Pepio is having having a career year this year uh and certainly is deserving with the numbers we’ve seen from him even the back end of the bullpen Pete Fairbanks has been one of the best closers in the American League this year so I think he would be deserving but if I had to put you know a number on it I think three guys will be represented at the All-Star game i think it’ll be Ronda in the game uh Drew Rasmmanson I think will be there pitching in the game and then I think Junior will be partaking in the weekend in some regard
last last question for you i know you’ve seen a lot of big league stadiums here you’ve been able to enjoy some of the more unique venues i know none of them can hold a candle to the bounce house so your final thoughts on whether or not UCF is going to rekindle the glory in the year one return of Scott Frost you you are correct none of those hold the candle to the bounce house when Zombie Nation is is Listen you know me well um this is why we’re friends who don’t text for five years because you still know me uh just as well if we haven’t spoken in 5 years but um Snapchat yes exact well yeah is that what we do is that Snapchat is that you that’s been sending me those messages okay
no I don’t know anything about any of those
okay i wasn’t I wasn’t sure snap Face as I think Bill Bich liked to call it back in the day um you know I think it’s going to be interesting right even Scott has warned a couple of times this isn’t 2017 right like he’s he’s said it time and time again i don’t think anybody expects me to walk in here and and lead an undefeated season um but look I I I I was curious of what they would do with the hire right and I think they’re tapping into the nostalgia a little bit but I also think look Scott’s built for today’s player I feel in in college football right and it didn’t work out in Lincoln and um you know it was unfortunate for him because I really wanted him to have success in Nebraska and lead them back to uh you know prominence in college football but I think he learned a lot of lessons along the way um I think he understood that the recruiting base that we have and you know it well uh having been here for so long is really rich in Florida and I think he wants to tap back into that and so this year I I would say a safe expectation is six to eight wins and I think that’s that’s that’s you know to me that’s that’s a pretty safe bet um but they got some tough games man
yeah I I look if if they can make a bowl game in his in his first year if you remember when he took over after an 016 team they made a bowl right and I thought that was a huge step um this team isn’t recovering in that kind of sense from from the Maison era but I do think bowl game is is definitely a possibility and I think if they can figure out who’s going to start at quarterback and and you know navigate the transfer portal successfully um you know here as we get you know towards the fall I I think u I think they’ll be in a good spot to at least make that ball game so um yeah we’ll see i’m I’m interested what USF’s going to do they have no AD they have no president uh you know they’ve What are they going to do scott are you are you gunning for the USF alex Gullish is uh he’s the supreme commander of USF that’s a new position he’s running the show
him and Brian Se for sure
cool man all right your bus is outside ready to take you to Coffman Stadium uh enjoy the set of games in Kansas City hopefully you find some good barbecue along the way my friend
uh we had some Jack Stack barbecue yesterday i hope to interview Jack Kaggleon today and I hope there’s a couple of raised jacks out of the ballpark so all of our Jacks are are all in all in one order but no in all in all seriousness uh do not go another 5 years without texting me it’s good to see you buddy thank you for having me on i appreciate you uh always been a fan of you fan of your work um have valued our friendship and uh yeah buddy looking forward to getting back in person with you when we get back to Tampa
all right coming up on the other side you have waited long enough it is time for the randomizer our fun block is coming up next
it is a very random miser I’ll tell you that welcome back to the do off days podcast it is our fun block our DB block and for that we bring in Mr fun himself Brian King BK he’s got the keys to the randomizer he’s been warming it up back set and uh now we’re ready to take this thing for a little bit of of a spin here remind the good people what the randomizer is uh who invented it and um how long it’s been around i’m not sure who invented it but it’s a machine that we bought here at the station we paid some pretty good money for it
and what it does is that you program it and then it just spins out questions i mean what do we 38 3,827 questions
oh man
yeah no kidding
it’s good
it was before the invention of chat GBT it was like we thought we were on the cutting edge
we did and then you know of course like the next week AI was invented and we’re like it’s immediately outdated but
blew the doors off of us there but uh yeah so what we’ll do and it’s we got we spent extra got that remote stopping button so you guys can stop it
voice automated
voice activated that’s right
let’s do it all right so let’s let’s fire it up and uh see what the randomizer has for us
i’m worried yeah i’ll go first uh stop
all right and if you woke up in someone else’s body
oh no
yes how would you convince your loved ones you are who you say you are
well that is assuming that you want to be uh known as somebody
right what if I like the body
i want to be this guy now
yes um also do I have my do I have my voice or do I have to talk i’m talking like this body that I woke up because if I’ve got my voice no you have to convince them
ah this is hard how does the randomizer come up with this question um so I guess you know the first thing you would go to is you would go to that person in your family who you have a a close an intimate secret with right like they’re the only ones who share it with us your dad has a a a um a birthark shaped like Texas on his belly
but he really Yeah but he hides it from you know everyone but his close family and so you as you’re in this other person’s body and you’re like “But hey Dad how else would know about who else would know about your big Texas birthark right below taking a shirt off i think people would see the state of Texas on him
well only his f he’s embarrassed of it only his family would see that there so
but it has to be more personal to you what What would you say to your loved ones i believe right
no I think I’m giving you a a way to get your I’m giving you a way where that other your loved one will know it’s you like only Chris would know that like whoever this like if I wake up in the body of a 10-year-old girl and I start spouting off Pearl Jam lyrics and Alabama football trivia they’re going to know that that’s not a 10-year-old girl right
yeah yeah who are you and what have you done with Chris Ko uh I don’t know did that pass muster uh cuz I I feel like it was supposed to be you have to convey something uh that would then identify you specifically
i did that i have only I have the knowledge of where that birth mark is located so that’s what I did you don’t want to share it now cuz then you wouldn’t be able to use it
exactly i may need this
okay gotcha um I think uh yeah I if it were like my wife and I was trying to convince her that hey it’s me i I think I would go to Yeah i think that there’s probably some some intimate secrets that I’m not going to share on this podcast uh
then tune in for his other one Scotty after dark
i think I would I would remind her of our what our first fight was about
she would remember that but wouldn’t that anger her and then she just gets mad at you all over again
well it was very silly it was like our first big fight as a married couple was about soy sauce well you know a lot of relationships can’t withstand that
the first soy sauce argument is just Yeah so there was that if it was my parents I would remind them of all the ways they scarred me as a young child
no
they do that every week by listening to this podcast they get to relive that when you talk about how poor you were oh it was good times back then yeah I don’t think it would be very difficult right BK how would you feel
i don’t think so i mean using Ko’s logic I would just talk about my toes or my abnormal chest
well you couldn’t do that
you’re in another but I’m the only one
imagine the surprise of the other person going into your body like “Wow look at this i got an extra one look at these toes i can hold a remote with this foot i love this new body but my back hurts to say that
oh no
hey that brings up a good point though if if I’m in someone else’s body are they in my body then that person’s going around and my loved ones are seeing that person as me and they’re like “No the real Chris is over here.”
Yeah but I think that other person would instantly check out of my you know abnormal feet
yeah well I think that if you saw somebody else in your body and all of a sudden like their social circle like started to really expand and you become jealous that
over their new p the new personality in your old body and you’re like you you are doing much better in my old body than I did
how did he get her to go out with him i don’t get that
what is this that was a good one
that was a good one you want another one
let’s hit it
i think so
okay roll it all right stop what petty law or rule it can be law or rule would you like to make into actual law
okay uh well I don’t know i don’t know what the petty laws are um
the Tom Petty laws every football program must see won’t back down between the third and fourth
that’s a good one um I don’t know i’d like to I know what law I’d like to see instituted i and uh maybe this makes me cold-hearted but I feel like this our street corners I cannot stop at a single light in this town without uh being asked for some money or something like that
oh yeah does happen a lot around here
it seems like that would be an easy political win it seems like everybody is kind of in favor of hey like can we not have this stuff happening on our street corners i know that’s not funny uh but I’m I’m serious about it
but aren’t there laws against pan handling there are laws
you would think but there’s no enforcement right okay so yeah you’re maybe saying enforce the lawsuit
let’s enforce it
okay i don’t know if that was petty enough let me see if I can get pettier
i’ll I can think of if you let give me some more time
i I think I’ve said this before on this podcast episode 87 I think uh it’s leaf blowers to me gas powered leaf blowers those things need to go okay they’re they’re a scourge to society they they don’t accomplish any real purpose if you watch the people operating these things they’re just blowing the leaves and the debris into the next person’s yard and they start firing up at 8:00 am every Friday morning when I’m trying to sleep in friday morning is my big sleeping day everyone knows that 8 am and you know the hum of a lawnmower I’m fine with because that’s a consistent sound like steady it’s almost like white noise yeah but the the leaf blower he’s goes away oh he’s gone and he’s back and I mean they’re ridiculous
so we’re outlying those
outlawing those
so can battery operated
yeah sure if it’s quiet a little whispery thing I’m fine with I think they’re very Yeah I think they’re still
Or how about this it’s called a rake
why don’t you guys rake
oh well you need to pay your guys a little bit more if that’s
I bet BK’s against this stance he loves you know landscaping machinery yeah his his run on diesel are you kidding me his leaf blowers are next level uh you have one BK
uh I would abolish one rule i did this
I didn’t know that was on the
I didn’t know either but then I make a change and then turn it into a rule this this whole thing where we’ve have one team wears a dark color jersey other team wears black jersey this is really in college football like USC and UCLA when they play they wear their home jerseys against each other it looks awesome
we should do that why don’t we I mean I remember days in black and white TVs you had to have one team that was in the light color jersey so you could tell them apart
right
those days are long gone guys we got 4K TVs and all this stuff let’s Let’s put the Crimson Red up against the
But let’s just use uh like the Ners Kansas City Chiefs
well obviously you’ll have to make changes i mean like USF playing two lane you couldn’t do that somebody have to wear USF wear a gold
all right well now you’re asking people to make color judgments and that gets
dicey i like that though
i I like seeing road teams in white
that’s what I like to see
i love to see
There are a few exceptions obviously the Yankees and the Tigers they play home in white i’m sure there’s some other exceptions to that but yeah yeah i love Bama’s road whites better than the Crimson Holmes
i think let’s let’s ban Oregon using alternate uniforms and other teams no inducement anymore
no I will use my lawmaking rules for then double the amount of jerseys that we have we’ll make changes at halftime just to spite you KO all right let’s roll that thing roll it i got this one let’s stop this is a good one what is the best field trip you took who were you were in school
that’s easy for me because I grew up in rural Alabama and we had some stinkers like we would just go to these you know random farms and they would show us how and
stinky farms of that
and I say I grew I live on a farm why do I want to go see how someone else grows corn i’m I’m fine i’m good here or you know museums but one magical year I don’t remember the grade uh we went up to Huntsville home of the NASA Space and Rocket Center this is where the movie Space Camp was based on and this place actually hosts space camp every summer and of course part of the allure in getting schools to bring kids up on field trips is they all get excited and want to go to space camp which I was not allowed to do but not bitter about it but uh yeah it was really awesome we got to got to eat astronaut ice cream for the first time that was a treat
oh what’s that
well it’s a dehydrated ice cream Scott okay
is it cold
no it’s No they don’t have a refrigerator
seems like that would be an easy thing to keep cold since you’re in space you just kind of put the ice cream outside right yeah let it vacuum sealed uh no it was delicious it was a fun field trip had a blast
oh um I don’t remember many field trips because again I grew up very deprived but I um I do recall one and I don’t know what grade this was but we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium so I grew up you know in the other Bay Area California um and I had you know we’ve been I’ve been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium many times but I just remember the I think it was the first time I went it was it wasn’t so much the aquarium though it was cool uh I just remember we had lunch at Carl’s Jr and for many of you who don’t know Carl’s Jun it’s Hardies but better right it’s got the same star and I remember I had my first double western bacon cheeseburger
you never forget your first order
nobody Nobody forgets their first it has onion rings on there oh bacon cheese barbecue sauce again I was a fat kid i’m a fat adult uh but that’s uh that’s why I remember that
why didn’t you bring that last week as our burger that we ate on the show that would have been a good one yeah well we don’t have a Carl’s Jr around here what about you BK
mine was in Birmingham KO it was I think I was in third grade and we went to this bread factory
what
yeah they made bread and it was insanely you just walk through the whole factory and you saw the whole thing but at the end they let you eat like bread coming right off the line holy cow it was the best bread you could ever eat i’m just munching up like
Well there there are a few things that smell better right than freshly baked bread holy cow i mean I can still
like a farm why was I never told about this Birmingham bread factory
we went to different schools man
i guess so
one more
yeah let’s fire it up
all right this one stop if you could hang out with any cartoon character who would it be man that’s a good one that’s a good one okay in my younger days it would have been Jessica Rabbit oh yeah yeah uh I would say
she’s not bad she’s just drawn that way
i would say probably Scrooge McDuck
why
well cuz I I’ve I’ve long fascinated about jumping into a giant gold money pit
you think he would allow you to roll around in his money
he would i mean if he if I if we were friends if he got to I got to hang out with him he would Can I Can I go for a little swim i don’t think you get a name like Scrooge because you’re inviting everyone to go to your money pit
okay well if he’s hang if he’s willing to hang out with me then surely we could do the thing
that’s a good one i did always want to do the backstroke in that pile of coins i also wanted to be Fred Flintstone in the opening of the Flintstones when they were at the drive-in and the waiter came up and put that giant bronto ribs on the card but that’s not the character I would hang out with i would definitely this is a no-brainer I would hang out with Homer Simpson i mean he is the coolest animated character ever he and I would go down to Moe’s would slug a couple back with Barney and Carl and Frank and then we would probably go wreck Bart’s field trip or mess up Lisa’s orchestra performance in some way ah that’s better good man that’s good he’s a fun guy I’m kind of along the same lines there but I It was either Peter Griffin or someone else and I’m going with Quagmire Family Guy because Yeah
I don’t I’m not familiar with the show
quag it’s on Fox it’s uh Sunday it’s uh Quagmire is how would you say KO kind of the bachelor of the group
yeah and he’s kind of uh
he’s a guy in Thre’s company
wait so that’s what
Jack Tripper
no
no jack Tripper’s buddy Larry
yeah Larry he’s exactly like Larry
yeah he’s very much like that okay okay
but uh
I don’t think you’re a Quagmire’s type though i don’t know if you’d want to hang out
no I wouldn’t hang out i mean you know I would buddy up
yeah okay gotcha wingman wingman for Quagmire all right
yeah i like that man anymore
oh no that’s a That’s a
Okay we’ve tapped it okay yeah time to take it back to the gas station yeah
very good all right thanks BK um and much thanks to our guests this week on the Nod Pod that would be one Ryan Bass uh for those rays hopefully they can keep their hot streak rolling much thanks to our Nod Pod crew we got Rochelle on the jib um we have Chris on the ones and twos and then I was told that we have an AI generated version of Ron on the audio board here tonight uh on behalf of BK and Chris I’m Scott until the next time we are on there are no off days
does the AI make kitty litter cake too i don’t know if so he’s out of here
