Portions of this show are recorded. Strap in
and be prepared. For Oregon fans that are listening
to our little radio program, just say a silent
prayer that Dan Lanning is your head coach. Because
with all that's going on in the world, I think
the last person that anyone has to worry about
is going to be Dan Lanning. Interesting guests.
Kelly Gray. Mike Parker. Coach Mark Waszkowski.
Noah Eagle. Melissa Lombardi. Kenyon Barnard.
Jonathan Stewart. Sharp Opinions. Reeser Stadium,
the Valley Football Complex, is really nice.
It's incredible. It's not just it's nice for
Corvallis. It's nice. And some smiles. Talking
about Oregon football somehow. 365 days a year,
baby. It's Danny Habel. Listen, I was out on
Sam Darnold. By the way, another fun fact. He
is going to be the first quarterback from USC
to ever start a Super Bowl. That is shocking.
Justin Grossweiler. I just felt like they have
some dynamicism on defense, especially. That's
a great word, dude. I think he just made it up,
but I think that's a great move. I don't think
I made it up, but we can check on that for next
show. Dynamicism? Danny and Justin starts now
on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport.
Sitting in for Danny today, it's Goops, Steve
Mims. Welcome in to the Danny and Justin show.
This is Steve Mims filling in for Danny as Danny
is on his way up to National Signing Day, the
U of O event. up in the Portland area. And he
came in the general. They're driving up there.
A hunch tells me they might be listening as they're
driving. So, Justin, I think we should, as usual,
be on our P's and Q's today. But I am appreciative
of you bringing me in to do the last show before
the NBA trade deadline finalizes tomorrow. Thanks
for having me in. Yeah, and I think that you
picked a good day because a lot of the moves...
potentially already happened we'll see what happens
coming into i think it's 12 o 'clock tomorrow
so there's still more moves to be made i'm sure
nothing super big for the blazers but overall
there's definitely some exciting stuff to talk
about and it's been a really fun trade deadline
this time because a lot of the times there's
just nothing really exciting happens yeah i like
kind of the build -ups having kind of some things
leak out leak out leading up to it rather than
having to go through it all so um we are gonna
have a guest today jake willard the new general
manager of your springfield drifters is going
to be joining us I met Jake the other day at
the Oregon baseball dinner when you and I sat
at a table together and were seen out in the
wild. My wife heard the comments you said about
her the other day and was very kind of you to
say nice things about her and to prove to Danny
that she exists. Yes, it was lovely to meet her,
and it was great seeing you out in the wild.
It was exactly what I expected as I was saying
to Danny was that every about five minutes somebody
would either wave to you or you'd say hi to them,
something. That is my element. I mean, I covered
Oregon baseball for eight years, so whether it
was Josh Wilcox I saw, it was great to chat with
him. Mike Barrett, former Blazer announcer, was
there, chatted with him. George Horton. Yeah,
I'm not quite that social butterfly -ish all
the time, but when I'm around just Oregon baseball
and just... If I'm in a room of sports people,
local sports folks, after working 25 years in
the local industry, I'm probably going to recognize
a few. And so it is cool now that I'm not in
that industry anymore to still run into people
and kind of live out old times. So that was good.
We had a couple of good baseball players sitting
at our table, too. We did. We did. It was fun
talking to both of them. Berkeley Mabeus, his
parents apparently were. or from Alaska, I believe.
And so it was cool talking to him about that.
Danny was making fun of me because just like
you, apparently I meet a bunch of Alaskans. We
got Tyson Alger, our friend from the Oregonian,
Freeman. Joe Freeman. Freeman's from Alaska.
Smoking Joe is from Alaska, correct. So a number
of guys that I can share that with. It's a media
hotbed that Alaska is putting him out. Blaze
is with us today. He's running the board. Shout
out to Blaze. It's getting crowded in here, and
we're going to get more crowded. We think Jake
might be coming in, but either way, we'll have
Jake from the Drifters on. And so that'll be
our guest today. And as we wrap up the show,
we're going to chat about a big Oregon women's
basketball game tonight as the Ducks are hosting
Illinois in a pretty important game. And we'll
kind of go through some of the stakes on that
one as well. I didn't come in to brag, but I
did go 5 -0 in Big Bets this week. I give you
guys credit. I thought you guys would ignore
that and I'd have to come in and announce it
on Wednesday. But when I listened to the Monday
show, you gave me my props then. No further to
do, but not quite as dramatic as yours, which
rallied you from behind me. I apologize about
that. But I do like the fact, I think 11 -4 is
a sterling record, and I might retire from big
bets. 11 -4 is about as good as anybody's ever
been, a good winning percentage as we've ever
had. But I think, now is it my week this week
to pick the games? It is your week to pick the
games. So you can see it's a little bit of a
challenge now, because the lines only come out
for basketball either that night or... for some
of the early games the next day. I'll have to
dig through and see what the lines look like.
Obviously, we'll have the Super Bowl on there.
That's going to be less than seven points spread.
So we'll have that. and four college basketball
games. There was no controversy on whether or
not my pick was Mississippi men or women. I thought
we got that all corrected. We got it all figured
out. All right, cool. All right, well, let's
get started. And you're having Travis Demers
on tomorrow, you said, right? Voice of the Blazers.
That'll be perfect timing because he'll be on
the show at 2 tomorrow. Trade deadline ends at
noon tomorrow. Baseball and basketball trade
deadlines are two of my sneaky favorite days
on the sports calendar. Just because it's fun
to kind of, and like I say, the basketball one
has really been good because there were trades
last week kind of building up and there have
been a few more today. But I'm actually looking
forward to tomorrow to kind of watching at like
1130 to 12 when kind of the last one, you know,
and you figure that's where we'll know on the
honest. If the Bucs are going to do anything,
they're going to let these bids get as high as
they can, drag people out to the final hour.
And I think. It's potential that the Blazers
could be involved, if not in getting Giannis,
potentially facilitating Giannis' trade, bring
in somebody. They've got those three bucks trades
that are very valuable. So I think whether, I
think Portland will do something today and tomorrow.
I think Rob Williams could be gone. I think that
would be a natural to kind of trade that contract.
They've been talking about Drew Holliday. I think
they'll keep Drew, but I could see Rob Williams
going and I could see Portland with those Milwaukee
D, you know, those are pretty valuable picks
right now. So I'm not saying that they're getting
rid of them, but if something became available
that could help the Blazers, I could see them,
even if they not bringing in Giannis, at least
making a splash tomorrow with somebody with those
picks. Yeah, I agree. And I definitely think
that at some point. Those picks will probably
end up going back to the bucks It just seems
like that's gonna be a valuable enough asset
for the Bucks in terms of what they want to do
going forward They want to control their own
destiny in terms of their traffic. I still can't
really see honest going to the Blazers I don't
see that being what ends up happening. I don't
see a great Match in terms of other assets. I
don't think the picks themselves should be enough
If you're Milwaukee to sit there and go, well,
we'll take back Scoot, who you basically don't
know if he's a good NBA player or not. And then
Jeremy and something else to fill the salary.
And then thank you. We'll just tank now. Like
this doesn't seem like what's going to be the
best offer. So I could see a third team coming
in there, giving a valuable piece to the Bucs.
The Blazers putting in their three Bucs first
round picks and then getting back something in
between. So I do think that they're. which potentially
will be a move tomorrow. I could see that end
up being in the summer. Overall, I don't think
the Blazers are going to completely rechange
their team or anything like that. But I think
the Krejci move actually is, it's kind of like
the perfect kind of move for them. Like they're
one of the worst three -point shooting teams
in the league. They take a ton of them. So add
a guy that can shoot, you know, like you might
as well. He's not going to, he didn't cost them
that much, but I certainly think that the Blazers
will be active, whether it is now or in the summer
preparing for next season, more so than for this
season. And there's been talk as I facilitate,
we talk about facilitating that Milwaukee picks,
that like the name that's been thrown out is
McHale Bridges because the Knicks want Giannis,
but they don't have any picks to give up. would
the Knicks make a Bridges to Portland to get
those three Milwaukee? It's part of another deal,
but getting those three, and now all of a sudden
the Knicks can put together a trick. Because
Milwaukee probably not going to want Mikael Bridges,
but they might want those picks instead. So there's
been talk of maybe the Blazers, if there's been
talk that Bridges and Lillard get along well,
would that be a guy they'd want to kind of sacrifice
those three picks for? And then it kind of helps
the Knicks get that, then they make the trade
for Giannis, the Bucks get it back. Could be
something like that. We saw yesterday what...
Three first -round picks get you, and it was
basically Jalen Jackson. Was that his name? Jaren
Jackson. Jaren Jackson. Jaren Jackson Jr. J .J
.J. There used to be a Jalen Jackson. I think
he played for the Mavericks. Anyway, Jaren Jackson
Jr. was basically three picks, a couple players
involved as well. But that's kind of what the
market is for three first -rounders right now.
It is him. A fascinating trade earlier today,
and I was here last year right after the Luka
trade, which would have been like a year and
a day ago. That's right, because I was on vacation
when that happened. Yes. And then I remember...
When you came back, though, you were saying it
was such a terrible trade and everybody knew
that. Well, today, a year after a year of having
Anthony Davis, for those who haven't heard, the
Dallas Mavericks shipped Anthony Davis to the
Washington Wizards. The Wizards, and I love what
the Wizards are doing, they've become the home
of really talented but unwanted players elsewhere.
They brought in Trey Young without really giving
him anything. It was C .J. McCollum and Corey
Kispert. 100%. And got Trey Young because basically
the Hawks retired to Trey Young. In fact, he
didn't play defense. Well, the Mavericks got
tired of Anthony Davis after a year, and so the
Wizards trade for him. They trade two first -round
picks, but it's not—one of them was this year's
Oklahoma City pick. So that's basically the 30th
pick. Another one was like a 20 -30 top -20 protected.
So they basically—I mean, the Wizards have their
own pick this year that's going to be a lottery
pick. They didn't have to give up that to get
Anthony Davis. They gave up these other ones
and some other players. But I love the Mavericks'
strategy. It's like from the moment that trade
happened, they realized— We screwed this up.
And then they waited and waited before they said,
okay, now we're going to make the GM the scapegoat.
Nico, you go away. We're going to pin it on you.
And then the new GM basically says, all right,
now I'm going to trade AD just because now I
can just pin it all on Nico. It no longer looks
like I can. And this just kind of completely
gets us away. So somebody pointed out for Luka
Doncic, they ended up getting, I think it's like
Max Christie, Laker first in 29, and like these
two wizards first. I mean, I think the term somebody
used was a generational fumble in terms of what
they got. But I love the fact that the Mavericks
basically first get rid of Harris, and then it's
like, all right, now we can kind of redo the
AD thing because the guy who did it, you know,
if it's Nico there, he's not trading AD because,
hey, that's what I gave up everything for. So
I loved that trade for. The Wizards. Because
I love an idea of having Trey Young and Anthony
Davis. You know, there's big salaries and big
money. But, hey, for the Wizards, you're not
getting a lot of free agents. And now if you
can kind of, you know, they've been resting Trey
Young. So you rest Anthony Davis in his back.
You've got this potentially top six pick in a
great draft. Now you bring those guys back. You've
got Kula Bali, a couple of the other guys that
they, you know, Sarr that they brought in. I
think it's kind of a fun team there. And totally
the Mavericks have said we're Cooper Flag's team.
Let's just get rid of this guy. Let's get some
cap space and we can do some people to help Cooper.
And that's exactly why it works for the Mavericks
is because they ended up getting Cooper Flag
pretty much miraculously. And they still have
Kyrie Irving. I think that's going to be interesting
to see what they do with him now, too. I don't
think he can trade him. I mean, he's hurt. He's
hurt. But, I mean, I do think it's interesting
going forward. For next year, potentially. You
deal him in the offseason, I think somebody's
going to want to see him before. I kind of agree
with you about the Wizards because in the same
way of the Blazers, they're just not a team that's
going to sign an Anthony Davis or a Trey Young.
They would never get those guys outside of a
trade. And they did do a really good job. getting
value i think out of those deals and i think
the sar and anthony davis front court yeah anthony
davis has always been very much you know pounding
at the table that he's not a center well he's
got a pretty interesting guy that's gonna be
next to him that maybe has some traits kind of
like anthony davis and then you got a pick and
roll guy like trey young but also like you're
saying right now they're at fourth in the lottery
tied for fourth so potentially you add that one
more piece right there i mean see you get a darren
peterson like all of a sudden you've really got
something going and Do I have some concerns about
those two players, Anthony Davis and Trey Young?
Yeah, probably. I'm not sure if this is going
to be a team that's going to win the title or
anything like that, but they certainly kept most
of their good assets, and they added to— Trey
Johnson, the guy they got from Texas. Exactly.
He was a shooter. So they have some assets. It's
an interesting team. Yeah. We're going to see
some historic tanking here down the strip because
we've seen already that the Wizards said, no,
we're not playing Trey because we've got to protect
this eighth pick. Utah's got a top eight protected
pick. If they finish ninth or beyond, they lose
their first -round pick. So they just brought
in Jaron Jackson. I guarantee you Jaron Jackson's
going to have a hamstring injury within the next
week because part of this whole deal is you've
got to still hang on to that pick for there.
So you're going to be seeing, like I said, we've
already seen it with Trey Young. We're going
to be seeing all these guys who got traded kind
of like distressed assets to bad teams. Those
teams are going to say, yeah, well, if we get
a lottery pick in this year, you know, a top
10 pick, that's great, but we've got to protect
that, and then next year we'll play to win. We'll
play to win with Jaron Jackson next year if we
have A .J. DeBonsa comes in. You know, with Trey
Young, we're going to rest Tim and Andy Davis,
but if suddenly Darren Peterson, we can get to
join that, then we're playing to win next year.
So you're going to see an incredible amount of
odd injuries that are going to... to be listed
as some of these and the Blazers are another
one you know they lose their first round pick
if they make the playoffs right they want to
take one more shot you know I think I think next
year Portland figures they're going to be good
enough to make playoffs but do they you know
even if they get in the play -in and you win
through the play -in and you're the seven or
the eight you're taking on Oklahoma City or Denver
I think you're going to see Portland if it gets
down to it trying to avoid that to make sure
that they can hang out of their pick one more
time too yeah I think you're weighing in that
case how valuable is it for the development of
our team to have that success and get through
the play -in and take that next step, and then
you add a Dame and the other pieces that you
do in the offseason versus, like you're saying,
adding another first -round pick. Will that be
a top -five pick? Probably not, because they're
pretty close to the— The Mavericks last year
had the lowest odds. But that's not going to
happen every year. It's happening more and more,
though. It does. It does seem very convenient.
Or at least getting up into the top four. I mean,
I'm not saying get number one, but if you get
in the top four, you've got one of the big ones.
So the Blazers right now would have— It's basically
like around 10 % chance to get in the top four.
As I always say with things like that, if you
tell me I have a 10 % chance to win the lottery,
I'm pretty happy. If you tell me I have a 10
% chance to get... run over by a car walking
out of here today, I'm not very happy with those
odds. So depending on what you're seeking to
happen, 10 % can be seen as really good or as
not so good. The problem with the tanking with
what all these teams are doing, and I think you're
right, is that they flatten the odds. And so
we're going to see more stuff like the Mavericks
getting – Or even just protecting you. I mean,
at this point, Utah, even if they get the eighth
pick, they just don't want to lose that. And
who would it go to? Oklahoma City would get that
pick. So if they end up with the tenth pick,
Oklahoma City gets that. Well, and Oklahoma City
would also get the Clippers pick, too, if the
Clippers started to slip again. At one point,
it looked like they were going to get another
top three pick. Yeah, and now they traded Harden,
though, for an injured Darius Harden. After going
16 out of 20. I think the Thunder was probably
very pleased with that trade yesterday because
it, if nothing else, got away a guy who can help
the Clippers win, and the Clippers, I think,
were doing it. They've just kind of looked at
that pick as a sunk cost now. I think at the
beginning of the year it was like, hey, if we
can get to the playoffs, make that pick terrible
for Oklahoma City. But now the trade for Garland,
I think they realize we're getting old. We've
got to bring in a younger guy, even if it costs
us some games this year and we lose that pick.
Sunk cost at this point. Yeah, I actually kind
of like the trade for the Clippers. I mean, I
don't think they were going to win this year
with James Harden. And James Harden has consistently
been a playoff faller. He does not play well
in the playoffs. So is Kawhi still very good?
Yeah, he's an all -star now, too. But also, he's
older, and I do think that you're just getting
a younger asset. He has some injury issues, does
Darius Garland. But I like the move. You're getting
younger. It's a future piece. I believe, isn't
Darius Garland from L .A.? Maybe I'm wrong. 80
% of the league is. Right, exactly. So, I don't
know. I like the trade for the Clippers. I don't
think that they were to win. I think they're,
honestly... The talent between Garland and Harden
doesn't seem to me like worlds away. And you're
getting a guy that's much younger. Do you think
the Cavaliers know what James Harden's playoff
past looks like? You seem to know what it is.
But they brought him up with the idea that, hey,
we want him for now because we think we can win
it this year. And I thought the same thing. Like,
whoa, did they look at his playoff history? This
is not a guy in Game 6 or Game 7 that ever comes
up big. He'll have a big Game 1 and a big Game
2. Take a good look at James Harden's playoff
stats. It's ugly. I like to have the debate with
people about who's actually better in the playoffs,
him or Westbrook, because their numbers are eerily
similar. But yeah, the Cavaliers are sitting
there in their boardroom, and they're saying,
you know what, guys? Who do we need to bring
ourselves? To the championship. Who's that guy
that's going to take us there in the playoffs?
James Harden. That's right, you guys. So, I don't
know. It's a swing. And people are saying, though,
maybe that's going to be a preliminary move to
maybe bring back LeBron next year because LeBron
wants out of the Lakers now. Harden and LeBron,
that'd be a good team. I know. That sounds like
basically the Nets from 2012 or whatever. Yeah.
I saw today, you know, when Oklahoma City first
started and they had the Durant, Westbrook, and
Harden. And that was their big three. Those three
have now combined to play for 20 NBA teams because.
Harden's been traded like five times. Westbrook's
been all over the place, and Duran as well. So
sometimes you get a generational three, you think
you'll be there forever, and those three, although
all three are Hall of Famers, combine to play
for 20 teams. All right, that is our trade talk.
Tune in tomorrow with Travis Demers as the show
comes on after the trade deadline. All right,
when we come back, we are going to have Jake
Willard, the general manager of your Springfield
Drifters, on. This is Steve Mims. I'm filling
in for Danny. You're listening to The Danny and
Justin Show on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports
Newport. Welcome back in to the Danny and Justin
show on Fox Sports, Eugene, Fox Sports, Newport.
This is Steve Mims filling in for Danny and Justin
here with me. We've got a crowded house. We have
Blaze over there. I say spinning the discs in
the old record days, but pushing the buttons
to get us on. And we have an in -studio guest
as Jake Willard, the new general manager of the
Springfield Drifters, joins us. Jake, thanks
for coming in. I hope there's enough room in
here to give you a chance to breathe and you're
not claustrophobic. But thanks for coming in.
I'm super excited to be here. I was a journalism
student at UO, and to be in the booth like this
is super exciting for me. So I'm excited to chat
with you guys. Thanks for having me. Awesome,
man. We were talking. It was great to meet you
at the Oregon baseball event the other night.
I know you said baseball's been your background.
Take us through. You've been the general manager
now for about a month or so with the Drifters.
Two whole months. Two whole months. Give us kind
of an idea. I know you were at Tracktown before,
but take us a little bit through kind of your
journey and kind of locally and where you're
from and what baseball teams you root for and
what's kind of brought you to this spot. Absolutely.
No, I think it's funny. Like, I'm from the San
Francisco Bear originally. I grew up a diehard
San Francisco Giants fan. And for me, it was
peak. Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, three World
Series runs, got the tail end of Barry Bonds,
756 home runs, watching him do that. I know that's
controversial. Everyone's got their takes on
Barry Bonds. But I grew up rooting for him a
lot, and so it was cool to watch him do what
he did. So I'm very grateful. My mom actually
worked for Fox Sports Bay Area at the time. She
was doing some stuff on that when I was, like,
little, little. So we went to... A ton of Giants
games, got to go to everything. And my dad would
take me to as many games as he could. So big
shout out to my parents for getting me into baseball
and had so many core memories of that growing
up. So that's kind of. how I got fell in love
with the game. I played as well. It wasn't very
good. You know, I think everyone in little league,
you know, either you're good or you're just there
to have a good time and have fun. So I was one
of those guys. I like to have fun. Um, but going
and being a fan of baseball was huge for me growing
up. Um, I had so many memories with that. So,
and then, so you, you went to U of O, so come
up to U of O and then take us from what's been,
I know you said baseball at heart got into track.
What's kind of the journey that led you to the
drifter? Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, so it came
up to U of O. So class, I graduated in 2019 from
the school of journalism. So shout out Justin
over here. Love that. We're talking about us
overlapping. A hundred percent. So super cool.
So I studied journalism at UO, but I was actually
in high school. I fell in love with the sport
of track and field as well. So I'm more on the
running side. So I ran cross country track all
four years and kind of my coach at the time,
he was the general manager of this company called
Flow Track. And it's like the ESPN of track and
field is what I tell people. And so he kind of
got me connected with the pro side of the sport.
And I started working with them while I was in
high school, just doing post -race interviews
and whatnot. And that kind of fed into like,
OK, journalism. uo and i fell in love with track
and field so kind of knew i wanted to try to
work in the sport track and field 2016 as a freshman
i interned with track town usa um they're the
company that puts on the pre -classic the olympic
trials the big means to come to hayward general
runs that now absolutely i know michael riley
so shout out um but yeah so i interned with them
in 2016 four years at Oregon, graduated and fell
into a job right away with them in 2019 after
I graduated. So I got to work the 21 Olympic
trials, 24 Olympic trials, held a lot of different
roles with them. I just kind of fell in love
with this community, like through that job. Um,
and I know that just like sports is so powerful
in this community. I mean, obviously track town
USA is the name for that company, but also the
nickname for this community. Um, they earned
that. And so I was very vocal champion of that
as like, Hey, like we have this responsibility
at track town USA to uplift the community and
give back and create magical memories for athletes,
fans, volunteers, officials, you name it, anyone
coming to the meets. Um, and I kind of fell in
love with that, but obviously I was very. in
like i had specific roles like i had to do like
i loved it but i did i did retail i did look
and feel brand experience all that fun stuff
but i was i knew i was itching to kind of try
some new things i think working in the sports
world especially there for six and a half years
i was like there's so many other little things
i would love to start to try like i think we've
got a lot of cool ideas that we could implement
to improve fan experience but we were limited
by we put on one to two track meets a year yeah
um so when i heard about the drifters opportunity
and saw like hey this is a young organization
they're entering their fifth season this year
um they have great foundation their game day
experience is awesome they just need a little
help with marketing and there's 30 home games
in a season where we can try different things
every night can be unique that became really
enticing me i was like oh i can kind of come
in and grow this young organization, put some
marketing behind them and help them in that front.
But also we get to try things night to night
and just create cool little moments and create
those fan experiences that were so impactful
for me growing up. So that was a big draw. And
I was very fortunate and blessed that Kelly and
Ike, the owners of the Drifter, saw something
in me and wanted to give me this opportunity.
I'm only 29, so I know I'm on the young side.
All of us on staff are actually in our 20s, which
is really a cool stat as well. So yeah, it's
a young core. We're all really young and excited.
to try to make a difference and just grow the
baseball community in this town and represent
Springfield too. I think Springfield always sometimes
feels like the second cousin to Eugene with all
the big sports that happen on this side of I
-5. So I'm hoping that we can kind of create
something special on that side of I -5 and give
them something to be excited about. Awesome.
Congrats and welcome into the baseball community
here. Tell me about, and I know... One of the
things that drifters people, you know, is a minor
league is that it's college wood bat league.
Tell people a little bit about the drifters about
Hamlin for people who haven't been there. It's
such an incredible stadium. Just give an overview
of kind of what the drifters are. You mentioned
the five years, just kind of the short history
and what Hamlin field kind of means to this community.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, yeah. So you hit
it on the nail on the head. We're a college summer
wood bat team. So that means that. So my favorite
example to say, and I think the locals kind of
this makes sense for them. So Bryce Betcher,
you know, Oregon football standout, Oregon baseball
standout. I'm sure you guys on the. Listen on
the airwaves, they're familiar. He actually played
two games with the Drifters last year, which
is really, really cool. So we are an opportunity
for college athletes, so NCAA, NAIA, D1, D2,
and all that stuff. So they kind of come and
play with us in the summer and practice with
a wood bat. So obviously at the college level
they play with aluminum. We're a wood bat opportunity.
And I've kind of built it as it's baseball in
its purest form. It's just guys who show up every
day and they just want to get better at the sport
of baseball and get better to hopefully either
be better. get recruited by other colleges maybe
they're trying to get practice for mlb because
the mlb the wood bat everything with that um
but they're not trying to beat someone out to
make it to the next level the minor leagues these
are just guys who were here for the summer and
we just want to get better um so that's kind
of the cool thing about it the west coast league
we're a part of that so a lot of people say i
say like hey have you heard of the portland pickles
they're the biggest most well -known team in
the league their show social is amazing they've
grown something super special in portland um
and so their ears kind of perk up like oh yeah
i know the pickles and like well the drifters
play the pickles we're in the same league as
the pickles um so there's 16 teams in the league
um there's a bunch that make up oregon washington
that goes all the way up to canada and we actually
make our first road trip up to canada this year
for the victoria harbor cat so that's gonna be
cool for us um but yeah it's an international
league it's one of the best on the west coast
um and honestly could kind of go up there with
the cape cod league and other college summer
wood bat leagues were pretty great product we've
had some major leaguers come through and um yeah
we're excited to just be here in springfield
and hopefully just grow awareness in this and
more people come out and kind of see what we're
about so What have been some of your early, you
mentioned being on the job for two months, but
what have been some of your early priorities,
some of the things, obviously you've got to,
I mean, the season's actually only a couple months
away, but what are some of the things you've
been trying to do and kind of some of the influences
you've been bringing to them? Yeah, no, the season
will be here before we knew it. Our first home
game is June 2nd, so everyone mark their calendars
now. But yeah, biggest things for me are kind
of just building up the marketing and the sales
for us. We have done an awesome job of kind of
honing in our fan and game day experience. That's
pretty top notch. Hamlin Ballpark is beautiful.
Corner Pioneer. Parkway and Centennial. You can't
miss it if you're driving through Springfield.
It's right off 126, so it's a beautiful location,
but they just haven't been able to get the word
out. They kind of have grown naturally with word
of mouth, which is really exciting. Our attendance
last year was up 66%, and we averaged about 500
fans a game, but we did have our first ever sellout
last year for our fireworks show, which we're
having again this year, 4th of July. It's going
to be July 2nd this year is our fireworks show,
our big one, so mark that on your calendar. Yeah,
so word of mouth has been growing, but they've
never Never been able to kind of hit their stride
with, like, how do we get the word out? When
a fan comes to a game, how do we get them to
come back to a game? So I'm hoping to kind of
create some of those marketing channels for us,
get some email newsletter going. We're working
on building a new website as well, something
a little more modern, a little more fresh. Online
merch, we're looking to build that too. I know
everyone loves the Drifters merch, so we're going
to build in that as well. So those are kind of
some of my early priorities. And then just sales
and, like, community, you know, awareness. Like,
I think Ike and Kelly are amazing owners, and
they've got their business connections. We've
been able to bring in sponsors that way, but
we're hoping to kind of just reach out more to
the community and get more Springfield businesses,
local, bought in, and just kind of say, hey,
we're here, we want to support you, we hope you
want to support us, and let's just grow the city
of Springfield together. There's a lot of cool
energy in Springfield right now, and so we're
hoping that we can kind of just be helpful with
that. So those are the big initiatives to start,
but promo schedule, we're looking to do our first
bobblehead giveaway this year, a lot of fun stuff
like that as well. And it seems like your background,
and I can kind of attest to this as a journalism
student, is a little bit of jack -of -all -trades.
You've got to do a little bit of everything when
you're a journalism student and when you're doing
the position you're in now, which is being a
general manager, which is very different than
being a general manager for a Major League Baseball
team. But how do you think that your background's—
given you an advantage into the position you're
in now oh it's such a great question um so i
mean i don't know what you studied specifically
in the j school but i was a super journalist
okay perfect so you get it so um yeah i mean
i always knew that like i would rather be a jack
of all trades or i joke sometimes a jake of all
trades um that like hey i can just jump into
whatever bucket i need to and like know enough
baseline knowledge of everything that like hey
i can make it work like it may not always be
perfect but at least we can make it work um and
i think again talking about what the the ethos
of college is like i think a lot of us like i
said we're all in our 20s on our staff so we're
all learning we're all young in our professional
careers um and we just really want to try to
figure out hey what works and what doesn't and
just get better every single day um and so i
think that's one of the exciting things about
the drifters it's like it's it's just the ethos
of the team like we just want to get better every
single day and a lot of people sell one percent
better every day it's like no not even that like
we just want to see that we're trying to know
the right direction that we're growing in the
community that we're building something meaningful
um and if we can create a memory along the way
whether it's player or for a fan that's an amazing
outcome so yeah I definitely like the approach
of being able to dip your hands in a little bit
of everything and I think I get excited by that
like I'm a person who chases my passions and
I get excited about doing the the bobbleheads
or like hey what are our concessions like can
we maybe add like another condiment for the hot
dogs or like what are the cool other things we
can do to kind of improve fan experience and
like I love to get into the weeds when I'm really
excited about something but I also like being
able to keep it fresh and jump around from idea
to idea. or from marketing to operations to sales
to finance and you name it. So it's a fun gig,
and I think the general manager title is fitting
because you're just generally managing. So it's
really fun. You guys can sit here and talk about
your Oregon journalism in 2019, and I'll go talk
to my friends from the early 1990s journalism
school. But anyway, the building's changed a
little bit. I can tell you that much. Jake Willard,
general manager of the Drifters. It's jake .willard,
W -I -L -L -A -R -D, at driftersbaseball .com.
Again, if you're business owners out there, if
you're looking to sponsor, if you're looking
to partner, the Drifters are great. I've been
fortunate to get to know Ike Olson and Kelly
Richardson, wonderful stewards of this community.
And so if you are a business owner, owner and
looking to kind of support local baseball, but
also see how the Drifters can grow your business,
reach out to Jake, give him a call, and it's
a great organization to be part of. So tell us,
you said June 2nd. So for people, this is kind
of your... June, July, early August is the drifter
schedule. This is, you know, people get, you
know, major league start one time. But for you
guys, and then that first week can sometimes
be you're waiting on some of the college guys
to come. But really, you get into the heart of
your season. For you guys, it's June, July. And
you mentioned there's going to be some promo
days. I don't know if you have any of those yet.
You talked about some host families. What are
some of the things you guys are looking for right
now as you kind of get towards three months?
I hate to even tell you. It's going to be here
before you know it. That's for sure. Yeah, so
I think you hit the nail on the head. Host families
is going to be big for us right now. So obviously
these kids, they're coming from around the United
States and they're coming here to Springfield
and a lot of them don't have places to stay.
So we have the awesome opportunity for local
people in the community to host these players,
host families. So we have an amazing allotment
of people who have helped us over the years and
kind of house the players. The players are obviously
on the road a lot or they're at practice during
the day, but host families get tickets to the
games. We give them merch, a lot of cool ways
to connect and get them involved with the drifters.
So we rely very heavily on host families. families
and appreciate them so much so if you're interested
in that please reach out we're always looking
for that but yeah you hit the nail on the head
june 2nd is our home opener um and then the season
will really kick off in earnest kind of in late
june early july um it does take a few like if
a college player goes on in the world series
far enough we'll get them after they're done
with that obviously so um we'll have a part of
our roster uh we're hoping last year we're really
close we were just outside of the playoffs so
we're hoping that we can be competitive again
on the field um but yeah i mean big things to
look out for we're gonna have our fourth of july
fireworks game on july 2nd this year so excited
to bring that back that was our first ever sellout
last year we're hoping to make that big um other
things to look forward to so we're gonna do a
um rapids birthday party rapid is our mascot
and so we always bring out other mascots we Try
to get the Oregon Duck, the Corvallis Knights,
Benny the Beaver, you name it. We're going to
try to bring out all the mascots to celebrate
Rapid for his birthday. And knock on wood, I
might be announcing this a little early, but
Rapid bobblehead potentially as a little birthday
prize for everyone coming through, a little party
favor. So we're really working hard towards that.
But we're excited to do a bobblehead this year
for the first time ever. And yeah, we're going
to have a full slate of promotional schedule
coming out soon. And we're looking to do single
game tickets on sale April 2nd. So everyone mark
their calendars. That'll be really fun. But season
tickets are available right now. Now DriftersBaseball
.com if you are interested in that. DriftersBaseball
.com is the place to go for that. Absolutely,
yep. Merch? Can they get merch on there yet?
Yeah, so the new website we're hoping to launch
sometime in the month of February. We're getting
close. And with that, we're hoping to have online
merch available. But the merch on the stadium
this year is going to be really good. I'm a merch
head. At Track Time, I did design a lot of merchandise
there and had a lot of fun with that. So the
Drifters branding is beautiful, and I'm hoping
we can do some cool stuff with it this year on
some retail product. Yeah, there's no doubt.
When you've got Richardson Athletics involved
in the merchandise, you're going to have some
pretty top -notch stuff. Absolutely. Jake, thanks
for coming. Anything we didn't give you a chance
to say, anything else you want to say before
we let you go? And we'll certainly bring you
back in here another time or two before it gets
going. Absolutely. I think when we get our roster
a little more finalized and we get more cool
details, we'll definitely jump on and get the
word out. But, yeah, I really appreciate you
guys bringing me on and looking forward to stepping
into this role with the Drifters, growing something
meaningful, and having some fun this summer.
I think summer nights are better with baseball,
right? 100%. Come to the Drifters. Our GA tickets
are cheap. Kids 12 and under get in free. A lot
of cool things we can look forward to. So we
hope to see people. the games this summer, and
you guys as well. It's hit you out. Absolutely.
Awesome. We'll be there. Jake Willard, he is
your new general manager of the Springfield Drifters.
Again, jake .willard, W -I -L -L -A -R -D at
driftersbaseball .com, or just go to driftersbaseball
.com. Support your local baseball team. Jake,
thanks for coming in. Thank you. We'll catch
up with you soon. Appreciate it, guys. All right,
when we come back, we are going to look ahead
to tonight's Oregon -Illinois women's basketball
game. We'll wrap up the show. This is Steve Bims
filling in for Danny. You're listening to The
Danny and Justin Show on Fox Sports Eugene and
Fox Sports Fox Sports Newport. Welcome back into
the Danny and Justin show. This is Steve Mims
filling in for Danny. Big thanks again to Jake
Willard for coming by. Good dude. Good dude.
Fun conversation. Yeah, yeah. He brings a little
bit of energy, which is something the Drifters
need. It's a great program out there. Like he
said, there's not enough people to know about
what's going on out there. And so I definitely
recommend folks get in touch with him and get
involved in one of your local baseball teams.
All right, Oregon women's basketball tonight,
and it's a big one. They are hosting Illinois.
Illinois has been on the cusp of the top 25 this
year. And for Oregon, as we know, Oregon is,
I think, after that road sweep, getting Rutgers
and, more importantly, getting Maryland. I think
Oregon's firmly in the NCAA tournament. I mean,
barring a collapse here, I think they're in.
But I think what they need to do now is kind
of work on their seeding. According to Charlie
Cream, who is the Joe Lunardi of women's basketball
with his bracketology, he has Oregon as the number
nine seed, which sounds great, except that if
you're on the 8 -9 line, that means you're going
to UConn or going to South Carolina or going
to UCLA, and your second round game is against
one of those teams at their home. The way the
NCAA tournament works, the top seeds host the
first two rounds. So unfortunately, if you're
on that 8 -9, In a world, I'd almost rather be
a 12 and have to face a 5 and then a 4 rather
than going to a UConn and doing that. But tonight's
a lot on the line for that. So for those who
haven't been paying attention, Oregon right now
is 17 -7, 5 -6 in the Big Ten. Illinois is 16
-6, 6 -5 in the Big Ten. So this is two teams
that are kind of with some similar resumes facing
off tonight. Oregon being the home team, it would
be important to continue the momentum that started
here with the win over Penn State. Again, really
picked up with that win at Maryland. And with
what Oregon's got left, you know, they've got
Ohio State, who's ranked ninth, coming in on
Sunday. I'm going to be at that game, Super Bowl
Sunday at noon. Ninth -ranked Ohio State comes
in. That'll be a tough one, so it'll be really
important, I think, for Oregon to get this one
tonight, which, again, is against another team
kind of similar to them in the standings. And
then that gives you a chance, hey, if you can
finish off the weekend with Ohio State a win,
that's great. But even if you lose that and split,
that's not bad with this one. But I think it's
important for them to get the Illinois game tonight.
Completely agree. It's kind of the same thing
as the road trip, except you're doing it at home
this time. So you got the one against Rutgers.
That was the one you really wanted. It gave you
an opportunity to get a bonus against Maryland.
It was a great game for them. Maryland kind of
struggling right now as well. So same thing,
like you're saying, against Illinois and then
Ohio State. Get the one against Illinois. I feel
like you're in a pretty good position to do that
and then see what happens against Ohio State.
And this team has been very competitive against...
Every team they've played, except for UCLA, which
is obviously one of the top teams in the country,
has one of the best players in the country. So
I think the 8 -9 probably seems fair. I don't
know, like you're saying, if it's the best spot.
It's kind of deja vu all over again with what
they had to do last year. Going to North Carolina.
Exactly, and having to play them in the second
round. So you try to see if you can improve on
that. They'll probably have to take one of these
ranked games they have left, two against Washington,
one against Ohio State. But overall, this team
has been pretty good. win a lot of games, stay
competitive in the games that they haven't won.
You probably wanted to win one or two of those
games that they were in that were close, that
they just couldn't quite finish off. But there's
still a few opportunities here left at the end
of the season. Yeah, and like you say, if you
can win, if they're on that 8 -9 line, a sweep
this week would be huge. But even if, you know...
If you get that Ohio State win, that might get
you up to a six -seed type thing. That's where
you want to be is kind of that six -five type
thing, you know, four. I think even Kelly said
the last time he was on that maybe they had a
chance at hosting, but some of those losses they
had might have taken away that. But if you could
be that six or so, again, if you're the six,
you're the favorite in the first game, and then
you're on the road, but you're facing a three
-seed. Women's basketball is deep, but the difference
between at UConn, at South Carolina, and going
at a three -seed, which would be like a 10th,
11th, 12th -ranked team, as we saw last year,
Oregon. gave North Carolina everything and almost
got them in that one there. So I think that it's
just important for their spot in the standings
that if they can get the one tonight, and I think
it should be a good crowd. It's a 6 o 'clock
start for those who are looking to go tonight
to Matthew Knight Arena. Super Bowl Sunday, it's
a noon start. So for fans who want to go out,
go watch the game against, again, ninth -ranked
Ohio State. So a top -10 team coming to MKA noon.
Plenty of time to get home. Pop open the popcorn
for the Super Bowl. Yeah, plenty of opportunity
for fans to get a lot of action, both professional
and in the collegiate ranks this weekend. But,
no, I think this is a good opportunity for them.
I think if you think about the development of
the team as well, Isatute has been doing really
well recently. You've been on that bandwagon
for a while. I've been on it for a long time,
so I'm glad that there's been— The world's catching
up to you. Exactly. I'm glad everybody's figuring
this out, that Isatute is a really, really good
player. So I like the way that the team is developing
as well. It's not just the wins and losses and
the resume, but I think that they're trending
in the right direction. Not a perfect team by
any means. It's a young team. They make mistakes
at times. I think the next step for them is to
really finish off some of these close games that
they've been in. But I think overall the direction
of the team is really good, and I'm excited about
the way that they're going to finish. Yeah, 2
-10, I'll have to 10 .5 points a game. It's an
interesting group because you've got... Three
players averaging in double digits, but really
six players who are averaging, you know, like
seven points or more, which is kind of what I
like to see in a team. You don't have, you know,
Fiso's leading the way at 15 and then Mia Jacobs,
you know, Bell, Rambis, Ari Long. You've got
kind of a good six, seven person rotation in
there. And really, I mean, you can go through
their losses and, I mean, holy cow, they had
Michigan ahead, you know, another top 10 team
that were leading them, could have beaten them
in overtime. Number 15, Michigan State, they
were ahead of them with four minutes left. Lose
that one at home. They go. to... or they were
on the road at Wisconsin, and they had a free
throw basically to win it, missed that, Wisconsin
hits a three -pointer, and then come home and
lose to Minnesota. I mean, that was sort of,
they've had some coulda, shouldas, but at the
same time, they went on the road, they won at
USC. Again, people would have said they probably
aren't going to win. They won at Maryland a game
they're not supposed to win. So in a weird way,
it's almost like they're probably kind of where
they should be record -wise. They've just taken
a different route to get there. Exactly, and
if you can look at that one stretch and go, well,
we could have won one of these games, but at
the same time, the game against UCLA. I think
they were down. I have to look at the score.
Yeah, they had a 26 -8 fourth quarter to win
that one. So that was a comeback victory, one
they probably shouldn't have won. And Maryland
was similar. They were down in that one. Exactly.
They were down at halftime, down and going into
the fourth quarter. So, like you say, I think
that they're definitely kind of where you expect
them. But the path has been sort of interesting.
And you kind of look at it like, ah, man, if
they could have gotten one or more of those victories,
then maybe you are in that four or five spot.
But I think overall. probably what I expected
maybe even a little bit better overall coming
into the season just in terms of the way they've
played like there hasn't been any games where
it's just felt like oh man like they didn't show
up or like they're playing against a team that
they should beat and they don't look like they
have the effort like it just seems like it's
a team that's young on the rise developing but
maybe not quite there yet yeah yeah and you know
I think Kelly Graves done a great job as you
might say I was a little worried after that Minnesota
loss I kind of felt like boy they might be falling
out of the bracket, and holy cow, they've got
to go on the road, including Maryland. And I
think that Penn State really kind of, not a great
win, not a great team, but to get that and then
to... The Penn State game starting off, you're
down 8 -0. Exactly. That might have been the
panic. That was the panic moment right there,
where you're down 8 -0 against Penn State, and
you're like, uh -oh. But no, I completely agree.
That was a big bounce -back game, despite Penn
State really not being that good. Yeah, and Rutgers,
same way. But like you say, Maryland's really
good. And again, behind significantly. I think
they were down 7 or so in the fourth quarter.
And on the road at a place like that, it's not
easy to come back and came back and actually
kind of win it by 8 -1. It's somewhat handily.
So a good one there. So again, for Duck fans,
I'm sure KG would love to have a full house.
out there tonight. It is, like I said, it's a
good matchup. It's an important game for the
standings. Illinois is at Oregon tonight at 6.
And again, 9th ranked Ohio State. Number 9 in
the country, Ohio State, is at MKA on Sunday.
Noon, get there, and then you can get to your
Super Bowl. Not home this week is the Oregon
men's team. And their gauntlet this week is not
an easy one at all. They go to... Purdue, Saturday
at 10 a .m. on a national CBS audience. And I'm
not totally sure right now that this men's team
is ready for national television or when CBS
scheduled this game, they thought it would be
a one -win Oregon team. But that's kind of where
we're at is the Oregon men go to Purdue and to
Indiana. And at this point, you just got to see
some signs of life from them and hope that they're
hanging in there because there's just been a
struggle. And maybe the good sign would be maybe
Nate Biddle comes back. You can hope. At this
point, you can hope. And they're unfortunately
getting Purdue right off of when they're bouncing
back from a little bit of a struggle, too. So
maybe if they're coming into that game on three
-game losing streak, you say we're getting them
at the right time. But they got their win against
Indiana. So it's tough. I mean, it's just a tough
– it's a tough – Place for them to play and match
up with, even if they had Jackson Shelstad and
Nate Biddle. But they don't have those guys.
They might have Biddle. There's been some talk.
Although Altman kind of made it sound like maybe
I'm just wish -casting at this point. But potentially
they'd come there. And I'm not sure it would
make a big difference. Again, they come back
home for Penn State and Minnesota later. If they
were to get Biddle back by then and maybe have
Simpkins, you could look at maybe trying to get
a couple of things going in the home. But I know
it's been tough. I had a friend of mine who's
an Iowa fan and came down and he said, that was
great. Half -empty crowd, and I made my way up
to the third row and watched the whole game from
the third row. I said, yeah, it's been a bit
of a Big Ten takeover. I know when Michigan came,
there was a lot of go -big -blue chants at the
end, and Iowa had it, and Michigan State. And
I know there's, and again, there's one win. I
get that the fans aren't exactly pouring into
Matthew Knight Arena for the men's games right
now, but it'll be interesting to see how this
thing ends and what sort of, what the end of
it looks like, because like you say, at this
point, it's hard to see. much more than two or
three wins, and that's just because it's kind
of Penn State and Minnesota coming almost just
– and it's so bizarre to see a Dane Altman team
going through this. I mean, yeah, I've just –
As a guy who covered him for eight years and
has watched his 15 years here, there's never
been a death march for Dana Altman, you know,
in just a season that you just were waiting for
it to end. This is always when his teams were
ramping up and you're like, holy cow, this is
going to be a team that can get to the Sweet
16. We've never, you know, since maybe that first
year, we've never had a year where it just felt
like, holy cow, this season can't end soon enough.
Yeah, the saying is what? That Dana Altman aligns
Rubik's Cubes. And I don't think that the...
I think they're missing squares. I think there's
some pieces missing from the Rubik's Cube this
time. It's just not there. Their guard play is
just like they're not getting enough. I mean,
I think the Wei Lin thing, they need to see.
I think if there's one thing you want to see
down the stretch of the season is you want to
see something out of Wei Lin more than just flashes.
I want to see a little bit of consistency when
it comes to his shot selection, defense. He's
an exciting player, but. It's hard to look at
this team and sit there and go, well, really
excited about this part of the team. It's just
rough. It's just tough right now. It's a tough
one. And Wieland was—and there's points of it
I look and just wonder. Who connected him and
Dana Altman? Because, you know, when you say,
this guy's really flashy, he's really nice behind
the back, can really kind of light it up at times,
takes some questionable shots and doesn't play
a lot of defense. That's not player A for Dana
Altman. So I'm not sure who kind of made the
connection that said, hey, this would be a great
fit for either of you in this way there. And
that's another thing. I'll be just, you know,
fast forwarding. At the end of this year, you're
seeing like what? I mean, there's got to be a
few guys. You know, when teams aren't having
a good season, there's inevitably some players
that are looking to go somewhere else. And maybe
some of them are being encouraged to look somewhere
else because of how this year has gone. But,
you know, Biddle will be gone. I think KJ Evans
probably heads to the NBA, you know, at least
turns pro after this. I think he will. Shelstad,
you know, does he want to come back and kind
of take on a whole new group? How many of these
guys that have really been kind of in and out
with playing time come back? I think it's going
to be kind of fascinating to see what the team
looks like heading into next year. But we'll
get more into that in the future months. But
for those who are excited to watch Oregon basketball
on national TV, tune into CBS at 10 o 'clock
on Saturday when they take on Purdue. But again,
the team that's got everybody going right now
is the Oregon women's basketball team, which
is here this week. And this week is also the
start of softball season as the Oregon women's
softball team gets this season started. And they
are kicking it off here. They're on national
TV this week. A couple of the games are on the
MLB Network, if I correct. Correct. Nails Melissa
Lombardi, a regular on this program, who I know
was on here earlier this week. This is a pretty
exciting season, and it'll be fun to see them
facing some really tough competition because
this is the fifth -ranked team. They're going
to be good at the end, but we're going to see
where they stack up against some of these teams
from the beginning. Well, like Coach Lombardi
said, you've got to beat the best to be the best.
I think it's a good spot to be in, especially
early in the season, coming off of where they
were, because it does seem like this is the type
of team. This is version 8. They have the little
8 on the side. It's almost like an infinity sign.
Ducks forever, I guess. Version 8 forever. But
I think that it is building off of the good things
of version 7. Obviously, you're losing the Lushar
sisters. You're losing Paige Snicky. There are
some spots that they're going to have to refill,
but I think that one of the things I think is
going to be really good, especially early on.
I think that it's really nice to have your pitching
staff. You know Lindsey Grine is going to go
out there and be your ace. And you know Lisa
Kolsky is going to go out there and be a great
number two. And they need to figure out the rest
of the rotation. I think that was something that
was very important for them going down the stretch
last season. But I think that they just – it
seems like the kind of team that has the pieces,
they got – Melissa Lombardi is expecting more
power this year. I'd like to see if they have
that power with the speed, which was such a big
thing for them last year. I don't remember exactly
where they ended up, but they were in the top
10 for, I think, both stolen bases and home runs.
So I'm really excited about this team. I think
it's going to be great for them to try to get
some early competition to see where they're at.
But overall, I think that it just looks like
it's going to be a good team. So I think we just
have to see it at this point. Yeah. So for those
who are interested, this week opens up, and it's
stunning to think that it's softball season.
I know. But there's also a reason that they open
the season in Florida and California and California.
But this Friday, the opener is February 6th,
10 a .m. They play Missouri. This is in Clearwater,
Florida. And then they get Clemson that same
day. So you've got an SEC and an ACC opponent
in day one. Day two is Liberty. A rematch. A
rematch from the Super Regional last year. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's a good Liberty team, obviously,
and then Tennessee, so another SEC team. And
that's going to be the one that's on tape delay.
That's the tape delay one, okay. The next one
against Southern Louisiana, that's going to be
live on MLB Network. It's 7 a .m. Correct. On
Super Bowl Sunday. It's something you can do
before you go to the women's game. Women's game.
So there's your Super Bowl Sunday fans. You've
got Oregon, Southeastern Louisiana, MLB Network.
And then at seven o 'clock. Go to church, come
back home, go to the Oregon women's basketball
game at noon, and then you can watch your Super
Bowl after that. All right. Thanks, everybody,
for tuning in. Again, big thanks to Jake Willard,
general manager of the Drifters. Justin, thanks
for having me in. Absolutely. Look forward to
whenever the next time is. Yep. Danny will be
back tomorrow. The mayor, Travis Demers, will
be on as you guys wrap up what could be a wild
trade deadline for the Blazers. We will see.
But tune in tomorrow to find out on that. This
is Steve Mims. I'm filling in for Danny. You
have been listening to The Danny and Justin Show
on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport.