Speaker 1: Well, hey everybody, and welcome again to Dirt from the Dugout.
Speaker 1: I'm krl Ravitch, of course, my partner Justin Museil special time.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys hopping on here. Of course this
Speaker 1: is a little bit little League based. Of course, we're
Speaker 1: just about set to begin our journey to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: In fact, I'll get in the car tomorrow morning, about
Speaker 1: a five hour drive justin if you want to catch
Speaker 1: up on the phone, I got plenty of time to
Speaker 1: talk about five hours and roll into Williamsport in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: We have our big production meeting around six pm, and
Speaker 1: then the game start on Wednesday. Then it feels like
Speaker 1: it feels like shows that have copied everything that The
Speaker 1: League World Series is about. It's appointment viewing, you know,
Speaker 1: it's the It's these shows you can get hooked on.
Speaker 1: It's every single night, and we go from Wednesday and
Speaker 1: through the week from Sunday when we'll crown a champion.
Speaker 1: It's my favorite event. You know that. We've talked passionately
Speaker 1: about it. A couple of programming notes. Dirt from the
Speaker 1: Dugout is going to be off for the two weeks
Speaker 1: during the Little League World Series. Out of respect for
Speaker 1: my schedule, which is every single night, we'll return the
Speaker 1: first September with dirt from the dug Up. Baseball Recruiting
Speaker 1: Confidential will go on as planned, and then when we
Speaker 1: come back in September, we may see our dirt from
Speaker 1: the Dugout expand maybe twice a week we'll be doing it,
Speaker 1: but we'll be continuing with the great guests. And just
Speaker 1: wanted everybody to know what our schedule is going to
Speaker 1: be a two week hiatus during Little League. Please join
Speaker 1: us watching on ESPN the Little League World Series, and
Speaker 1: I'll be filing a daily diary from Williamsport on what
Speaker 1: is going to be my final Little League World Series.
Speaker 1: I'll kind of share some behind the scenes stuff and
Speaker 1: get into some of the storylines, etc. So I think
Speaker 1: it'll be a neat experience for our subscribers on the
Speaker 1: Parent Dugout. And just before we hear from justin a
Speaker 1: reminder the parent dug Up you can join it and
Speaker 1: we invite all of you to get involved. The Parent
Speaker 1: Dugout dot com is where you can go. You will
Speaker 1: get dirt from the Dugout. Of course, we'll get the
Speaker 1: baseball recruiting confidential. You got a chance to ask Justin
Speaker 1: and I anything. There are engagements with other baseball families
Speaker 1: about your journeys and theirs, and videos and articles from
Speaker 1: the baseball world from the best people too have ever
Speaker 1: played it, to have ever coached it, to have ever
Speaker 1: managed it, to have ever covered it. And I think
Speaker 1: I've covered it all. So I'm just about done talking Justin.
Speaker 1: How you doing, Pal?
Speaker 2: I am awesome, Ravi, and I thought of something last
Speaker 2: night that I haven't hit you up with before you
Speaker 2: go into this Little League World Series. Clearly there have
Speaker 2: been some more games on now. I want to know
Speaker 2: from the back end. These aren't big leaguers that we
Speaker 2: see all the time where you know their names. How
Speaker 2: quickly do you learn their names? And how do you
Speaker 2: do that? Raviy?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we have an amazing support staff. I will
Speaker 1: say that the cheat sheet has been the fact that
Speaker 1: all these regional games were on and our guest was
Speaker 1: spent some time in Bristol as well as going to
Speaker 1: Williamsport twice. But you do get a chance to see
Speaker 1: the names, and I know going in we're going to
Speaker 1: talk a lot about and I think we spoke about
Speaker 1: Kinlee Rasmus who plays for Phoenix City, Alabama. She's one
Speaker 1: of I believe two girls on the United States side.
Speaker 1: She is as talented as as any player I've seen.
Speaker 1: She's as good as Money Davis, who stole the spotlight
Speaker 1: when she was pitching back in twenty fourteen. So like
Speaker 1: her name, Dave Belile is going to join us. He'll
Speaker 1: talk about this kid named Rincone from New Jersey. We've
Speaker 1: seen Tissin who's plays who plays ball with Troy Tulowitzki's son.
Speaker 1: So look, there is uber talent across Little League, which
Speaker 1: is such a great thing, and so I learned it
Speaker 1: through the great work of the research folks. We get packaged,
Speaker 1: I mean we get packaged the size of what people
Speaker 1: don't remember yellow pages, like just massive amounts of information, pronunciations, backstories.
Speaker 1: And then over time, as you binge the Little League
Speaker 1: World Series, you'll get to know the names of the players.
Speaker 1: That's always one of the neatest parts about it is
Speaker 1: this slowly bills and after a few days you start
Speaker 1: to get familiar with the kids on the teams and
Speaker 1: the coaches and the stories, and you know, by the
Speaker 1: end of the first week, everybody knows who the teams are,
Speaker 1: who the players are, where they came from, what the
Speaker 1: town is like, how many folks are supporting them, all those,
Speaker 1: you know, wonderful things that make little leagues so great.
Speaker 1: So that that's the that's the cheat code. But I
Speaker 1: love the Regional so we spent I spent hours watching them.
Speaker 1: It's great.
Speaker 2: It's it's awesome, man. I appreciate the insight on that,
Speaker 2: and it's there's just so much information about all of
Speaker 2: these players. I think makes the the storyline so great, man.
Speaker 2: Just the journeys and how they get there in that
Speaker 2: battle to just get to William's part is so cool, man.
Speaker 2: And and you know this how hard it is to
Speaker 2: just get there and then obviously to move on when
Speaker 2: you're there, the whole thing. And that's why talking to
Speaker 2: Dave will be great today. But it's just amazing, man.
Speaker 2: For the for most teams, the road ends somewhere right
Speaker 2: and so to get to Williamsport is such an accomplishment.
Speaker 2: And there's just the team aspect. I think in literally
Speaker 2: gravity is one of my favorite things because the chemistry
Speaker 2: of a team, the rallying resilience of a team matters.
Speaker 2: You know, their ability to weather storms. Right. I was
Speaker 2: watching Wisconsin, Iowa, and you see the flipping back and
Speaker 2: forth of the momentum and you know this, but at
Speaker 2: that age, right, you know, the pressure builds on these
Speaker 2: little guys and you can see that momentum swing and
Speaker 2: sometimes even a three run lead after a couple of walks,
Speaker 2: and you can feel that build right where it's like
Speaker 2: there's just these back and force that you just feel
Speaker 2: when you're watching Little leaguers. Man, that's so cool, and
Speaker 2: in their resilience and their toughness, and I love it, man,
Speaker 2: They're learning so much, and the swagger that some of
Speaker 2: them bring and the confidence, I just I love watching
Speaker 2: all of it.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: It's one of my favorite two weeks of the years
Speaker 2: being able to watch the Little League World Series.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. The personalities of the kids
Speaker 1: is phenomenal and it is really hard. I don't think
Speaker 1: a lot of people when they just tune in, because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people who just tune in for
Speaker 1: the Little League World Series. We try to explain to
Speaker 1: them the challenges that it takes to get there. You've
Speaker 1: got to win your district tournament. Then you've got to
Speaker 1: go win a state tournament. Then you've got to go
Speaker 1: win a regional tournament, and then you get a chance
Speaker 1: to be one of the ten United States teams you
Speaker 1: know in Williamsport, ten teams from the international bracket that
Speaker 1: involves kids from all over the world. I mean it
Speaker 1: is a true world series, which makes it, you know,
Speaker 1: and then equally unique. So again, jointhparentgout dot com today,
Speaker 1: that's where you go, and let's invite our guy in here.
Speaker 1: One of my favorites. He worked with us too, following
Speaker 1: his two trips to Williamsport representing Cumberland Rhode Island, the
Speaker 1: head coach of these little league teams in twenty eleven
Speaker 1: and twenty fourteen. Right, da, if you were there in fourteen,
Speaker 1: were you there the money? Davis Year, Yes, yes, I was.
Speaker 1: You were there?
Speaker 3: You really well? Yeah, that's that. Hell, that's a great story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great story. Hey, thanks for doing this.
Speaker 1: This is right in your wheelhouse for those that look
Speaker 1: a little background on day. If he did coach to
Speaker 1: Cumberland RhE Island teams to Williamsport in eleven and fourteen,
Speaker 1: nearly impossible to get there once, as Justin just said,
Speaker 1: let alone get there twice, Dad, as I was a
Speaker 1: Hockey Hall of Fame coach in the state of Rhode Island.
Speaker 1: So coaching runs through your blood. Let me ask you this,
Speaker 1: Did it start the coaching thing because the playing wasn't
Speaker 1: really an option? Or did you always want to be
Speaker 1: a coach?
Speaker 3: You know, that's a that's a great question. I think
Speaker 3: when ended up happening for me.
Speaker 4: Anyways, I got involved with Little League baseball right away.
Speaker 4: My my younger brothers thirteen years younger than I was
Speaker 4: coach my first little league team when I was nineteen
Speaker 4: years old on my own.
Speaker 3: So it was the town of Manville. Yeah, that's so much.
Speaker 4: And Manville, I think Manville represents really the essence of
Speaker 4: Little League baseball. It's an old French Canadian town. We
Speaker 4: only had maybe fifteen sixteen kids who you know, who
Speaker 4: tried out for the team, But it was a town
Speaker 4: of kids who knew each other, play with each other.
Speaker 4: They knew the coach very well because they see him
Speaker 4: at chirst, they saw him at school, they saw them
Speaker 4: in the streets. So that made me get involved with
Speaker 4: coaching because it was my town. I wanted to coach
Speaker 4: my town. I think that's what brought me into Little
Speaker 4: League Baseball. As far as getting into extra I worked
Speaker 4: with my dad for forty years. I played hockey at
Speaker 4: the Province College for lou Lamarello and I was cut
Speaker 4: my junior year in college and my dad asked me
Speaker 4: to go coach with him at the high school level.
Speaker 4: So in my junior year in college, I was coaching
Speaker 4: high school hockey with my dad. And forty years later,
Speaker 4: you know, the the record speaks for themselves, but the
Speaker 4: message was always about team unity. You know, commitment, the
Speaker 4: respect of the game, the integrity of the game, and
Speaker 4: those are those are what I see. And that's why
Speaker 4: I love Little League Baseball is because that's what Little
Speaker 4: League Baseball tries to promote. And I've been there two times.
Speaker 4: I continue to go because I want. I want to
Speaker 4: see the purity of Little League Baseball kids playing for
Speaker 4: the right reasons. I mean, you guys know there were
Speaker 4: so many people, especially what you guys are doing now
Speaker 4: and promoting, people take advantage of kids and do it
Speaker 4: for their own interests and make some money.
Speaker 3: And that's not.
Speaker 4: What Little League Baseball is about. That's why I gravitate
Speaker 4: to it. I love it because it speaks volume of
Speaker 4: character and respect.
Speaker 2: So cool, Dave, I love the insight on that. Can
Speaker 2: you just share So you obviously take this group, this group,
Speaker 2: So let's go back to your years where you guys
Speaker 2: made it. How long did you have with each of
Speaker 2: those teams? When did it start? How did you build
Speaker 2: those teams? What were the practices like? Tell us how
Speaker 2: you kind of built the culture in the chemistry of
Speaker 2: the teams. Because you and I and Ravi, we all
Speaker 2: know that you have to have this incredible team resilience
Speaker 2: to make it to William's part. Can you just share
Speaker 2: a little bit of that coaching insight on some of
Speaker 2: the things that you did along the way to build that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was very fortunate to move into a town
Speaker 4: of Coumland that was rich with Cumeland tradition, and the
Speaker 4: previous year when I in twenty eleven, they had done
Speaker 4: some wonderful things. They didn't get to the state level,
Speaker 4: but all I just knew by the organization.
Speaker 3: And the town that I moved and now Manville to
Speaker 3: me was evident to me that's where I started coaching.
Speaker 4: So when I got to Cumberland, I knew this was
Speaker 4: the place to grow to bring up my children, my
Speaker 4: wife and I and I wanted to get.
Speaker 3: Involved in Little League Baseball.
Speaker 4: And when I did, I was so impressed by the
Speaker 4: commitment of the volunteers, the people who are organizing, and
Speaker 4: we don't talk enough about that, organizing, putting the schedules together,
Speaker 4: getting us playing fields, you know, getting bats, balls, gloves,
Speaker 4: whatever these kids need. It's such a community spirit and
Speaker 4: that's what drove me to coach. So when I took
Speaker 4: over an all star team and for twenty eleven, I
Speaker 4: had coached the eleven.
Speaker 3: The previous year and now was my twelve year old year.
Speaker 4: I knew that I had a bunch of kids that
Speaker 4: knew each other very well. Okay, they knew that they
Speaker 4: went they went to school together, they they went recess together,
Speaker 4: they summers together.
Speaker 3: And I wanted to polay that.
Speaker 4: And so when we went on the field, okay, we
Speaker 4: we talked and we motivated. It was baseball, and we
Speaker 4: did two two days, you know, a lot of for
Speaker 4: most of the summer. There wasn't one day we missed.
Speaker 4: But we committed to the field. But I always made
Speaker 4: it a point that what we learned on that field
Speaker 4: and what we did on that field and in practice
Speaker 4: and in the games, we were gonna we were gonna, you.
Speaker 3: Know, or go over it.
Speaker 4: And then once we left the field, we were gonna
Speaker 4: go out, we were gonna go play, play with our friends,
Speaker 4: be together, let's do some things together, because we wanted
Speaker 4: to separate, you know, the baseball with with you know,
Speaker 4: what we were doing recreationally, but in essence they intertwined,
Speaker 4: you know, because that makes that makes for a team,
Speaker 4: you know. And I always stressed, you know, and I
Speaker 4: always stressed to the parents when I first started, I said,
Speaker 4: your son may be playing six ends, your son may
Speaker 4: play one ending. He says, you have to be able
Speaker 4: to commit to that. I'm not gonna. I'm gonna make
Speaker 4: decisions that's probably gonna upset you. But I'm telling you now,
Speaker 4: I said, the only reason you'll come to me if
Speaker 4: you know your boy is sick and you know he
Speaker 4: can't play today, but you will not have any input
Speaker 4: in what playing time your son will be playing or
Speaker 4: or girl for some of the coaches, because it's it's
Speaker 4: it's not your determination, it's ours. It's the coaching staff.
Speaker 4: We see them every day and we're not trying to
Speaker 4: be you know, nice coaches, just so that, you know,
Speaker 4: it's it's this is not recreational baseball anymore. It says,
Speaker 4: this is all star baseball. We're here to commit, We're
Speaker 4: here to we're going to strive to do our best.
Speaker 4: We're going to strive to win. But if we don't win,
Speaker 4: that's okay. We've given on our best. You've committed to
Speaker 4: each other. And so that was the message I sent
Speaker 4: early in twenty eleven. I followed it up in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 4: and it brought great unity the team that my best players, okay,
Speaker 4: wasn't singled out. Okay, my twelve player was just as important,
Speaker 4: even though he might have played one inning, he was
Speaker 4: just as important as that number one player. Because without
Speaker 4: that twelve player, okay, who's committed himself, who's staying positive
Speaker 4: for the one inning or the two or the one
Speaker 4: on bad that he has, is just as important as
Speaker 4: that player who had three at bats, got two hits,
Speaker 4: might have slugged a home run, whatever it may be.
Speaker 4: Without that twelve player, okay, we don't. We don't succeed. So,
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's like my father told. My father
Speaker 4: was a drill sogeant in the army, and one thing
Speaker 4: he always talked to his players about, you know, we
Speaker 4: don't leave anyone behind, and he did that with his
Speaker 4: high school teams. A record speaks for himself. I learnt that,
Speaker 4: and they're all important and there's nobody that's extra special
Speaker 4: than anybody else. So I think bringing in the town spirit,
Speaker 4: the community spirit, but sticking to your coaching's philosophy without
Speaker 4: letting too many people get a bite of the apple.
Speaker 3: You know, it's let the coaches coach, let the players play.
Speaker 1: Oh that's great, that's great, it's funny. You know. You
Speaker 1: brought that up. And I've dealt with a lot of
Speaker 1: major leaguers, coach, and one of the mantras of major
Speaker 1: leaguers is the bus waits for no one, meaning if
Speaker 1: you're not on time, the bus is going to leave.
Speaker 1: And yet your dad his motto was no man left behind.
Speaker 1: So I guess it's sort of a combo of both.
Speaker 1: You better be there for the bus because we're not waiting,
Speaker 1: but we all get on the bus at the same
Speaker 1: time and we go together. I just I found that
Speaker 1: interesting because I heard the one from a major leaguer
Speaker 1: and I kind of got it. But I wasn't ready
Speaker 1: to leave my guy behind me. We don't do that,
Speaker 1: And on the other hand, you got to be punctual.
Speaker 1: We do have some questions here, a couple from Maverick.
Speaker 1: We're going to get to them because one involves the
Speaker 1: speech that you made after losing in twenty fourteen, and
Speaker 1: I'd rather do that a little bit later on. There
Speaker 1: is a great question here from Ryan Mitchell, coach. He said,
Speaker 1: you coached two completely completely different sports at a high
Speaker 1: level for most of your career. What did hockey teach
Speaker 1: you about baseball? And what did baseball teach you about hockey?
Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you there is that's a great question.
Speaker 3: First of all, I was a very intense coach in hockey.
Speaker 3: I mean hockey, you can win games by physicality, by intensity.
Speaker 4: It's a louder game. It's what you're not isolated. It's
Speaker 4: a team's team sport. So I was much more intense
Speaker 4: at the hockey level, and it had to be because
Speaker 4: they were older, you know, and you could push them
Speaker 4: more and you can demand more. But what I found
Speaker 4: with little league is you're going to be a little
Speaker 4: more patient. Okay, You're still going to be disciplined. And
Speaker 4: the only time I would ever raise my voice is
Speaker 4: to get their attention as a group. Never raise your
Speaker 4: voice to a child or a little league player, isolating him.
Speaker 3: It's the worst.
Speaker 4: The worst feeling I ever had was you know during
Speaker 4: recreation where a parent is screaming at their own son.
Speaker 3: You know, when you keep crye on the ball. Oh,
Speaker 3: talk about isolation, you know.
Speaker 4: So one of the things I learned was that you
Speaker 4: have to differentiate from the age. The sport is totally different,
Speaker 4: and I learned I learned from that from from from
Speaker 4: nineteen year olds cocon little league to twenty one year
Speaker 4: olds jumping.
Speaker 3: Into high school hockey.
Speaker 4: So it's it's a different game and you have you
Speaker 4: have to teach it with the same values that you
Speaker 4: would teach each other.
Speaker 3: But it's a different age, so it's it's important to
Speaker 3: I like it.
Speaker 1: I like the teddy bear day belile, I like to
Speaker 1: wrap your arms around me. I like the rigid discipline.
Speaker 1: I like the teddy bear guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, that wasn't always a teddy bear. It was
Speaker 4: if any of my boys are listening now, in little
Speaker 4: league baseball, I wasn't a teddy I wasn't exactly it.
Speaker 4: I was a teddy bear after because I loved them
Speaker 4: so much after we you know, and we'll.
Speaker 3: Get to that speech.
Speaker 4: But you know, you you have to you have to,
Speaker 4: you have to push them too, but you can't push
Speaker 4: them to a point where they're they're isolated and they
Speaker 4: feel like they're inferior. It's it's whenever I singleed out
Speaker 4: anyone on the on the baseball field, it was.
Speaker 3: A learning moment. It was never his that his or
Speaker 3: her his moment. It was everyone to learn from that.
Speaker 1: Great.
Speaker 2: Great yeah, and Dave, I want to talk a little
Speaker 2: about that because you're really getting into the mental side
Speaker 2: of baseball in the challenges and you talk about hockey
Speaker 2: and the intensity, right, it's it's flow, it's go, it's
Speaker 2: sometimes it's just will on the on the ice right
Speaker 2: around the net especially, it's just attacking the puck in
Speaker 2: its physicality and its go go and it's intense. Right.
Speaker 2: There's a finesse and skill part of it, for sure,
Speaker 2: but then you flip to the baseball side where it
Speaker 2: takes complete control mentally, you know, you can't you can't
Speaker 2: play baseball at a level like a middle linebacker or
Speaker 2: you know, on the ice, and you kind of just
Speaker 2: touched on that. What what did you learn in that process, Dave,
Speaker 2: of coaching the two different sports and trying to get
Speaker 2: the players to play with a good amount of intensity,
Speaker 2: but not ride that too high to where it starts
Speaker 2: to affect performance, makes you play a little too fast,
Speaker 2: makes the brain speed up a little bit too much.
Speaker 2: How did you do that? How did you see that through,
Speaker 2: Dave and bring that back to where kids could just
Speaker 2: go play loose and not have that over extended intensity.
Speaker 4: Well, and the hockey part of it, of you know,
Speaker 4: it was my dad and I work so well together,
Speaker 4: you know, and we fed off each other during his
Speaker 4: early years. You know, I was the person the kid,
Speaker 4: the person that the kids would come to and talk
Speaker 4: to because they didn't want to go to the coach
Speaker 4: because you know, it's.
Speaker 3: His way of the high his way of the highway.
Speaker 3: So you know, and that's what I did. It really is.
Speaker 3: I mean, they would come and talk to me, says
Speaker 3: you know, what did I What did I do?
Speaker 5: On?
Speaker 4: All they can hear is the loudness of it. But
Speaker 4: you know they'll they'll come to me.
Speaker 3: So you need it.
Speaker 4: You need you need a coaching staff that understands where
Speaker 4: we're going with this. You know, what I mean, we need,
Speaker 4: we need the discipline and we also need that you know,
Speaker 4: that that compassion to be able to lift them back
Speaker 4: up when they're down and get them, get them back,
Speaker 4: get them back on the on the ice. And it's
Speaker 4: a little different in and I think in Little league
Speaker 4: baseball you're going to do it right from the get go.
Speaker 4: I think you've got to be a little more patient
Speaker 4: and a little more compassionate right from the get go.
Speaker 4: I think with the with the high school sports, and
Speaker 4: it's obviously especially college is a you already know what
Speaker 4: the criteria is and if you want to if you
Speaker 4: want you want to make that criteria, you're gonna work.
Speaker 4: And if you don't want to work, you know what,
Speaker 4: you know, drop a line, take your years, you off, Okay,
Speaker 4: somebody else take his place, so they know the criteria.
Speaker 3: You know, you're gonna be a little more patient.
Speaker 4: And when you're dealing with young young eleven and twelve
Speaker 4: twelve year olds, because you know what, you know, one
Speaker 4: one sour moment, you could lose them for the for
Speaker 4: the whole summer, you know me, because it's that you know,
Speaker 4: it's that you know they just can't handle that any
Speaker 4: type of negativity. You know, there's a way to you know,
Speaker 4: to correct someone without being so negative. You could take
Speaker 4: a correction and put it in a positive spin right away,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, right right away, so that
Speaker 4: they don't feel it's about those kids. You don't feel
Speaker 4: bad or what you what you did while in the
Speaker 4: high school level. You better feel bad what you did
Speaker 4: because you're gonna you know, you better get back on
Speaker 4: the horse and get it on quickly. So there's there's
Speaker 4: the difference the age again. You know, you can be
Speaker 4: a little more stern, but you got you're gotta be
Speaker 4: patient with they get go from the younger kids.
Speaker 2: Yep, makes total sense.
Speaker 1: That makes which makes great sense, it does. I got
Speaker 1: so we get a lot of questions, which is great.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious you get there in eleven and then
Speaker 1: you don't get there ntil fourteen. Did you coach again
Speaker 1: in twelve and thirteen? And what happened those years? And
Speaker 1: if you did, you know, how did you deal with
Speaker 1: not getting the Williams Port? Like the bar has been
Speaker 1: raised so high?
Speaker 3: Well, I got four boys and they're all three years apart.
Speaker 4: So there you go. So basically in twenty eleven, I
Speaker 4: I lost in the state championship with my son Brian
Speaker 4: and uh in two thousand and and uh in eight.
Speaker 3: So you know, we I was, I almost went. I
Speaker 3: almost went three times, but we got beat by a
Speaker 3: better team. So that's true. These three years different. So
Speaker 3: but I did. I did coach.
Speaker 4: You know, I coached recreational, I coached the tens, I
Speaker 4: coached the elevens, and then I coached the twelves. I
Speaker 4: coached the tens, I coached the elevens, then I coached
Speaker 4: the twelve.
Speaker 3: So that's that's that's where I, uh, where you see me.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious about those those two years. Here's one
Speaker 1: from Danny coach. She said, from families all over the
Speaker 1: country are going to watch the Little League World Series
Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks, which we appreciate. What
Speaker 1: do you want the people that are watching on TV
Speaker 1: to take away from what they're seeing in Williamsport.
Speaker 4: Well, I think we're all you're all going to get
Speaker 4: caught up with the stars, you know, the kids like
Speaker 4: we just mentioned, We'll get to some of these players
Speaker 4: that are going to be that you'll you'll notice them
Speaker 4: right away. But I think what what you want to
Speaker 4: what you want to captivate is is the team unity
Speaker 4: of each team, the spirit that they that they have,
Speaker 4: and watch them wats each team when someone makes a mistake,
Speaker 4: how the other players on the field pick them up,
Speaker 4: or how the coach reacts reacts to it.
Speaker 3: I think you'll see that.
Speaker 4: You'll see that Little League Baseball has given out a
Speaker 4: message to all these teams.
Speaker 3: Coming in that you know what, you guys are a
Speaker 3: team over here. And I think the coaches know that
Speaker 3: they've taught that.
Speaker 4: So you know, when you watch, you know, there's nothing
Speaker 4: better for me than than watching you know, that little
Speaker 4: you know, four foot six player battling a kid that's
Speaker 4: you know, throwing a Little League why one hundred miles
Speaker 4: an hour, and he's just grinding in there, digging in.
Speaker 4: He's not he's so fearful. So look for those moments too.
Speaker 4: You know, I think, I think we'll get captivated with
Speaker 4: the winds. You know, we'll get captivated with the stars.
Speaker 4: But to me, I look at you know, the whole
Speaker 4: picture of it and the excitement that they bring and
Speaker 4: the enthusiasm, and you'll see you'll see those stars.
Speaker 3: You'll know their stars.
Speaker 4: Because they share, they share their stardom with their players,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, they're very humble at what
Speaker 4: do you do?
Speaker 3: That's that's what I look for.
Speaker 4: I want to look at how humble these these stars
Speaker 4: are and how they they they bring their their younger
Speaker 4: teammates or their their teammates together.
Speaker 3: I think that's what I look for.
Speaker 2: I look for that unity, good advice and they Dave,
Speaker 2: what has it been like following your Little League World
Speaker 2: Series ofppearances with the with those teams we're now years
Speaker 2: later right in this what has the connection been like
Speaker 2: long term with those teams that that you coached along
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 4: Well, I and first of all, I'll tell you that
Speaker 4: my sales went up about one hundred percent when I
Speaker 4: when I won.
Speaker 3: In twenty fourteen.
Speaker 4: You're the coach, right, here's an order, you know, it's
Speaker 4: like like and then you know, then the ESPN asked
Speaker 4: me to come on board and I was so so
Speaker 4: and you know, delighted to do that because I was
Speaker 4: able to continue, you know, staying involved in in the
Speaker 4: UH in the All Star format, and.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's nice.
Speaker 4: To be recognized, you know, all the years that I
Speaker 4: coached forty years of hockey nobody even knows of my
Speaker 4: hockey coach say, they all know me about baseball.
Speaker 3: They all know me about baseball.
Speaker 4: That's a good thing because, uh, you know, because because
Speaker 4: the speech that I did, and we'll we'll get to
Speaker 4: it was you know, I didn't it was Mike, it
Speaker 4: was it was so since it was so sincere. Because
Speaker 4: when you when you do three months with a team
Speaker 4: and they give you everything they have and and you
Speaker 4: know what what your organization, your volunteers and did to
Speaker 4: get you up up to where you know you be
Speaker 4: able to do is such a privilege as a coach.
Speaker 3: And to me.
Speaker 4: Just being part of that community and what they and
Speaker 4: what we did. And now going forward, I still have
Speaker 4: people recognize me, but they recognized me for for the
Speaker 4: goodness of of of the game and what you know.
Speaker 4: That's that's what it's. That's what the Little League Baseball
Speaker 4: did for me.
Speaker 3: It just it brought me.
Speaker 4: It made me a better person, you know, and it's
Speaker 4: it's something I carry with me my whole life. And
Speaker 4: I've I've mature up to a certain point where you know, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, everybody is important, you know, just not the people.
Speaker 3: Who are on the field. It's it's everyone's important.
Speaker 4: So when I when I meet people that volunteer, whether
Speaker 4: he's you know, you know up there behind seven popcorn
Speaker 4: to someone who's you know, umpiring the game is so
Speaker 4: much respect for the umpires is because of the experience
Speaker 4: that I had, and I'm so glad I had it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the lessons are the lessons are just so numerous
Speaker 1: and so valuable. There's a million of them. We're going
Speaker 1: to get to the speech in a second before we do,
Speaker 1: just a reminder those of you who are looking for
Speaker 1: things to do, whether it's a Major League Baseball game,
Speaker 1: whether it's a concert, seat Geek is the place to
Speaker 1: do it. They of course, have served over thirty five
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Speaker 1: s G And one more time, a big shout out
Speaker 1: to Seat Geek for being a sponsor of Dirt from
Speaker 1: the Dugout as well as all the other programs on
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network. Let's bring day back in here.
Speaker 1: We've alluded to it a few times. We do have
Speaker 1: the question that involves the speech did we loose? Where Dave?
Speaker 3: Where is he? Where? Did Dave there? He is?
Speaker 1: I am you would? Answered my seat geek guy.
Speaker 3: What the heck? No, I have to plug in. You're
Speaker 3: gonna lose me. We need power? Are you? Are you
Speaker 3: plugged in?
Speaker 1: Are you good?
Speaker 3: Now? I am so plugged in? I am good?
Speaker 1: All right, he plugged in. Here's the question from Maverick.
Speaker 1: All right, so we do the broadcast. You guys lose
Speaker 1: eight seven and twenty fourteen. I assume, as he says,
Speaker 1: you didn't know the microphone was on you. You got
Speaker 1: the whole team out there in the outfield. It became
Speaker 1: a very viral speech. You may be as well known
Speaker 1: for that speech as you are for winning or getting
Speaker 1: to Williamsports. But what were you actually attempting to get
Speaker 1: those kids? You know to hear and then the next
Speaker 1: morning you find out it went viral. When you understood
Speaker 1: the scale of what happened and what you said and
Speaker 1: how it was received, share the whole experience from beginning
Speaker 1: to end, and where that speech ranks is sort of
Speaker 1: one of your life memories and milestones.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just like you just you know, reiterated, I didn't
Speaker 4: know the mic was on, but just give I'll give
Speaker 4: you a backdrop of what what pceded that you know
Speaker 4: I was mentioning before how important it is that after
Speaker 4: every practice and every game to go over you know,
Speaker 4: the lessons of the game. So every practice we would
Speaker 4: meet out in right field and we would gather as
Speaker 4: a group, and after every game we recapture what we
Speaker 4: did and what we can do better. And then we
Speaker 4: you know, put our hands in and said, le's go
Speaker 4: home and let's enjoy ourselves.
Speaker 3: So that that happened.
Speaker 4: That happens all the time with me, whether it's a
Speaker 4: practice or a game. But in this particular instincce, what
Speaker 4: people don't realize Kyle does is that the previous day,
Speaker 4: it was a day after we.
Speaker 3: Had beaten Tennessee.
Speaker 4: Uh, the Little League Baseball surprised me and they they
Speaker 4: flew my wife out, who was battling cancer and very
Speaker 4: very badly, but somehow she was the strength for me
Speaker 4: basically going through all this, you know, and she had
Speaker 4: she didn't want to be the center stage, you know,
Speaker 4: she just wanted to be the backdrop.
Speaker 3: She didn't want her story told. She wanted those kids
Speaker 3: story told.
Speaker 4: But Little League Baseball had found out about it, and
Speaker 4: they they flew her in and the night before the game,
Speaker 4: she had flown her in. That morning and Johnny, my son,
Speaker 4: and I went out to we thought was going to
Speaker 4: be an ESPN interview in the growth of when we
Speaker 4: when we went there early in the morning, Uh, this
Speaker 4: she was so it was it was breathtaking. Uh the
Speaker 4: excitement that john and I but little no, little bennst
Speaker 4: to us. Right behind us were all the players and
Speaker 4: the coaches that they knew. But we we didn't know
Speaker 4: that Nancy was going to show up that day. So
Speaker 4: we I was able to spend the day the day
Speaker 4: with her before the game, uh, and Johnny two. And
Speaker 4: then the game happens, and uh it was an incredible game.
Speaker 3: We had lost, you know, eight to seven to.
Speaker 4: The eventual UH American lea Uh, the American side champions.
Speaker 3: It was just right to the very end, and we
Speaker 3: battled back.
Speaker 4: They battled back, came to the last out, and they
Speaker 4: even when the last I went to a review. You know,
Speaker 4: it wasn't going to make break or break it. It
Speaker 4: was actually a close play at first. After the review,
Speaker 4: I said, okay, you know, I took my team to
Speaker 4: you know, to right field, and you know, it's it's
Speaker 4: time to recapture, and it's it's time to be basically,
Speaker 4: you know, to say goodbye. But I again, uh, and
Speaker 4: support for all coaches, there was there was no way it.
Speaker 3: Was gonna let my kids not know how much I
Speaker 3: loved them and how proud I was of their effort.
Speaker 4: And that's when I said, and look at the score,
Speaker 4: you know, look at the hits.
Speaker 3: Uh, and you know, just reiterating.
Speaker 4: The fact that there's only one team that's gonna make
Speaker 4: it's gonna be champion and all of this. But at
Speaker 4: the same time, and then they were terry, and I
Speaker 4: held it, held in it. But I was also saying
Speaker 4: goodbye basically to my wife too, because I know that
Speaker 4: she was very very very very sick.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: And I and I appreciated what all the parents of
Speaker 4: that community had had done for us as a family
Speaker 4: and let us, let us live a normal life knowing
Speaker 4: what we were going through. And you know, the effort
Speaker 4: that my team put forth. I even get terry thinking
Speaker 4: about it now. So yeah, that was that was from
Speaker 4: the heart, all heart, and uh, it's it's it's a
Speaker 4: speech that the next day, I know Cole mentioned it.
Speaker 4: I didn't even know. So the next day they come
Speaker 4: around into the dorms and they're.
Speaker 3: All all all all twelve of coutch. You went viral.
Speaker 4: I am not computer computer literate, so I I thought
Speaker 4: I had a disease or something. What do you mean
Speaker 4: I went viral? He says, you're you're all over the internet.
Speaker 4: You know, you're getting hits all over the place. And
Speaker 4: then they showed me, you know the speech that I
Speaker 4: was always said, Oh my god, I said, uh, you
Speaker 4: know that's you know, that's that's what that's that's wonderful.
Speaker 4: And I think back as a thought, I did say
Speaker 4: the right things that my god, you know, and yeah,
Speaker 4: so that's that's that speech is uh is hotfelt and
Speaker 4: it's real and uh and it's real. And the fact
Speaker 4: that I can now give a message of of of
Speaker 4: what I went through and how it's it's important to
Speaker 4: put things in perspective that they've still children, there's still
Speaker 4: there's still innocent and just demand their effort. Yes, but
Speaker 4: you know what it's it really wasn't about the winning.
Speaker 4: It was that, you know, the character that they built
Speaker 4: along the way, and it made a town very proud
Speaker 4: of themselves.
Speaker 1: So yeah, thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to to share this. I had never
Speaker 2: heard that speech before we were gonna before we were
Speaker 2: gonna have you on, and just just today, just this morning,
Speaker 2: in preparation, I listened to it and and actually just
Speaker 2: got the words. It's pretty remarkable from from Afar that
Speaker 2: you were able to put the words together that you
Speaker 2: did that that really like clicked. There was no rehearsal
Speaker 2: in it. It was just like you said, from your heart.
Speaker 2: I think that's why people are so drawn to it,
Speaker 2: because it feels the opposite of scripted, you know, and
Speaker 2: we live in a world where when the mics are on,
Speaker 2: you feel like you're maybe not not always sure how
Speaker 2: authentic something is. Right. I want to just read a
Speaker 2: line though, man that really really stuck with me. But
Speaker 2: he said, you're going to take this the rest of
Speaker 2: your life. What you provided a town of Cumberland. You
Speaker 2: had the whole place jumping, right, you had the whole
Speaker 2: state jumping, You had New England jumping, you had ESPN jumping. Okay,
Speaker 2: Because you want to know why they like fighters? That me,
Speaker 2: man was so powerful? How where did you come up
Speaker 2: with that? Like tell us tell us and obviously knowing
Speaker 2: the personal side of it and the connection with your wife,
Speaker 2: obviously there's a fight there and then you're drawn into
Speaker 2: their fight and what they're bringing and you're in this
Speaker 2: fight all around. You're in a life fight and you're
Speaker 2: in a fight on the field. Take me through that, Dave,
Speaker 2: What where did you come up with those words?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: Because they are so powerful?
Speaker 4: They are very I was so fortunate to have a
Speaker 4: father who is my icon and the greatest, the greatest
Speaker 4: coach I've I've ever seen of high school high school
Speaker 4: kids and uh a fighter.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, my dad in nineteen eighty three fractured his skull.
Speaker 4: He should have died. He fell on the ice in
Speaker 4: an accident and took him two years to rehabilitate. We
Speaker 4: almost lost my dad, But in those two years I
Speaker 4: grew up as a coach. And I, you know, before
Speaker 4: I just opened the door and you.
Speaker 3: Know, let the kids out, let my dad do all
Speaker 3: the coaching.
Speaker 4: But when I when I when my dad went down
Speaker 4: and I had to pick up the slack, I realized,
Speaker 4: oh my god, these are these are kids, these are
Speaker 4: these are.
Speaker 3: Not They're not just out here to win. I've got
Speaker 3: to I've got to pick.
Speaker 4: Them up when they're when they're down, I've got to.
Speaker 4: I've got to keep them even keel when they're too high.
Speaker 3: You know, we got to. I got to try to
Speaker 3: keep you know, kids together. Kids. You know, kids want
Speaker 3: more playing more playing time.
Speaker 4: But you know, I got to teach we got to
Speaker 4: fight together, you know, and use the coach at the example,
Speaker 4: he's fighting, I I'm fighting.
Speaker 3: And then and then I brought that I practiced what
Speaker 3: I preach.
Speaker 4: I always demanded effort, and I always demanded, you know,
Speaker 4: that the team play together. Nobody's better than any but
Speaker 4: anybody else. But my was my wife that taught me
Speaker 4: what fight was. Because you know, the day, the day
Speaker 4: that they were going to choose the coach for the
Speaker 4: All Stars, they all assumed I was going to get it,
Speaker 4: and they they offered it to me, but I said, no,
Speaker 4: my wife is sick.
Speaker 3: I can't do it this year. You know.
Speaker 4: But when I went home, you know, John who's was
Speaker 4: selected on the team, told his mom she was upstairs
Speaker 4: in the bedroom, and that he made the team and
Speaker 4: the dad's not going to coach this year. And my
Speaker 4: wife screamed up and I went up there and she said,
Speaker 4: and she basically grabbed me by the throat, and she said,
Speaker 4: don't you do this. Don't you do this. You know,
Speaker 4: to us, he says they need you, and she pointed
Speaker 4: at him, he needs you. We need to have the
Speaker 4: best summer ever. I do not want to be the
Speaker 4: person that everybody is thinking that you didn't coach. You
Speaker 4: are going to coach his team? It says, we're going
Speaker 4: to have the best summer ever. And and we did
Speaker 4: and that was because of my wife. So there's where
Speaker 4: there's where the fight comes from. You know, you get
Speaker 4: your rocky moments. Well I had mine twofold, almost lost
Speaker 4: my dad and in death, I did lose my wife.
Speaker 3: But she sent me. She gave me a gift to
Speaker 3: keep fighting, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, that's an amazing story. Thanks very much for sharing that.
Speaker 1: So we're going to get to the kitchen sink in
Speaker 1: a moment. But one one, one memory that I have
Speaker 1: of covering Cumberland beyond the speech, which is we watched unfold.
Speaker 1: I'm sitting up there in the catbird seat listening to
Speaker 1: all this. The other part of what Rhode Island and
Speaker 1: those teams represented to me was something you alluded to,
Speaker 1: which was your twelve man's got to be as good
Speaker 1: as your you know, your two stars that you have,
Speaker 1: et cetera. They had a kid on the team whose
Speaker 1: last name was Ta and I just remember, you know,
Speaker 1: Dave the coach would sit there and Tebow didn't play
Speaker 1: a lot, but Tebow came up with really important plays
Speaker 1: in that Little League World Series, and it became a
Speaker 1: thing where it was like, it's t bow time. You know,
Speaker 1: it's t bow time. You talk about a way of
Speaker 1: ingratiating one of the boys that doesn't play all the time.
Speaker 1: But more significantly, it reminds every other kid on the
Speaker 1: team like we're nowhere without tebow time. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: as we watch the Little League World Series this year,
Speaker 1: we'll see who those players are on the teams. And
Speaker 1: Cheezy Root like hell for them to produce when they
Speaker 1: get that opportunity, and he did, and that I'll be
Speaker 1: honest with you, the Dave as much as you guys
Speaker 1: getting there twice and the speech. It was your emphasis
Speaker 1: on Tebow being a big part of the success of
Speaker 1: that team. We recall the experience of making sure his
Speaker 1: eleven brother loved him as much, realized how important he
Speaker 1: was and what it did for him and his growth.
Speaker 1: You know, as a twelve year old share that.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, t BO time did then if you looked
Speaker 4: at the boy, you know, he's a big he's a
Speaker 4: big kid. He had glasses, he didn't, he didn't. He's
Speaker 4: not your profile literal league, you know, elite, elite player
Speaker 4: and you know, and trade and he worked. He was
Speaker 4: a he was a worker. He come in relief when
Speaker 4: and you know what, and I don't even know if
Speaker 4: he got a hit in the regionals to take to
Speaker 4: tell you the truth, but it didn't matter. We always
Speaker 4: had a positive attitude, you know, he never he never complained.
Speaker 4: He just wanted to be positive. He was so happy
Speaker 4: to make the team, you know. And so when it
Speaker 4: came to the little Equals series, and I don't know
Speaker 4: if you remember the moment, Kyle, But there was there
Speaker 4: was game against Tennessee. We had just you know, and
Speaker 4: the last the top of the sixth then and we
Speaker 4: had a seven of I think it was seven or
Speaker 4: four lead or and maybe it was even like six six.
Speaker 4: We had a three run lead and Tennessee, Tennessee took
Speaker 4: a took a two run lead on.
Speaker 3: Us, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And when I when they were coming off the field
Speaker 4: and I had them right before the dugout, I was
Speaker 4: really you know, upset that they weren't giving my picture,
Speaker 4: you know that, you know that support. They were all nervous,
Speaker 4: they weren't talking, you know, they just let them out
Speaker 4: there the dry and this kid kept pitching. He didn't cry,
Speaker 4: he didn't complain, he didn't look at me in the dugout,
Speaker 4: and the balls were.
Speaker 3: Just flying everywhere home run here.
Speaker 4: So I had to, you know what, I had to
Speaker 4: come get get the ball from the kid.
Speaker 3: And I said, you know what, you know, I am
Speaker 3: so proud of you.
Speaker 4: It says for sticking out here, not complaining and just
Speaker 4: doing what you do. And you did a great job
Speaker 4: for me. I said, don't you worry. I says, we're
Speaker 4: gonna get this back, don't you worry. So when I
Speaker 4: came into the dugout, I was infuriated. So I was going,
Speaker 4: are you gonna let them do that to your picture?
Speaker 4: Are you gonna let them do that to the picture?
Speaker 4: And in the background, I can see this one kid
Speaker 4: and it's Teebaw and he's going, no coach, no coach,
Speaker 4: no coach.
Speaker 3: Yes, I could just see him. I'm saying, he is
Speaker 3: so ain and why don't you know it?
Speaker 4: He's the first foot office and I look, he looks
Speaker 4: at me, and I go, you ready, you're ready tvall
Speaker 4: he says, I'm ready.
Speaker 3: Coach.
Speaker 5: He gets in there and he banks while I'm talking,
Speaker 5: a rocket up the middle, slapping, slapping his hands, you know,
Speaker 5: and and and that just buy it up the whole team.
Speaker 3: The next kid gotta hit, the next kid gotta hit.
Speaker 4: And next what did you know? And we came back
Speaker 4: and won the game on a walk off. And yes,
Speaker 4: it was my twelfth guy that that did it.
Speaker 3: That did it for us.
Speaker 2: Love it, love it, man. They I appreciate that story.
Speaker 2: It's such a great, great uh you know, when we
Speaker 2: look at the the so many lessons, the great lessons
Speaker 2: in the game, right it's on a true team. Everybody
Speaker 2: is critical, everyone plays a role, and that's one of
Speaker 2: the things about the Lily World Series that I love
Speaker 2: just Litle League in general. But I do want to
Speaker 2: get to this question here that Royce has, and this
Speaker 2: is this is for Ravi actually, but Royce asked Raby Ravich,
Speaker 2: you're the voice of the Lily League World Series. What
Speaker 2: does that place mean you personally? And how has that change?
Speaker 2: How has your relationship changed with this event over the
Speaker 2: last two decades.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say when I first got there, I
Speaker 1: was I was calling international games. Brent Musberger was there
Speaker 1: doing the Little League World Series, So I always knew
Speaker 1: that it was a significant event in the country. And
Speaker 1: you know, at that age, especially in the beginning, it
Speaker 1: was let's make sure we get it all right, let's
Speaker 1: get the names right, let's not screw it up. And
Speaker 1: over time, as I got old er, as my boys
Speaker 1: got old there, as I got exposed to other kids
Speaker 1: playing this sport, and you see the exposure to international kids.
Speaker 1: You see the ability of baseball being a sort of
Speaker 1: a universal language that even though you might not be
Speaker 1: able to speak the language that the other countries are speaking,
Speaker 1: you spoke baseball, so I was really into what that
Speaker 1: place has come to mean to me and change my
Speaker 1: relationship with it. I love. I'm like Dave, I truly
Speaker 1: love the aspects of the Little League World Series as
Speaker 1: much as I do the games the outcome. There's no
Speaker 1: skin in it. I don't care who wins. I just
Speaker 1: want to I want to see kids doing their best.
Speaker 1: I want to see teams and their chemistry. I want
Speaker 1: to see the dynamics between coaches and players. I want
Speaker 1: to see fathers and sons and how they interact with
Speaker 1: each other. There are a myriad of lessons that the
Speaker 1: Little League World Series and Little League Baseball teaches us
Speaker 1: every single day. So every boy or girl that's into
Speaker 1: the batter's box, I'm literally looking at their face. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to see and sense like what are they feeling,
Speaker 1: what are they emoting, how are they handling this? What
Speaker 1: kind of support are they getting? So all of those
Speaker 1: things that are like intangible to baseball, and in particular
Speaker 1: Little League Baseball, where these these kids are still in
Speaker 1: that position where you can mold them. And to the
Speaker 1: credit of a guy like Dave and so many others
Speaker 1: like I never for a second take for granted the
Speaker 1: efforts that go into being a coach on one of
Speaker 1: these teams and the sacrifices. You know, Dave talked about
Speaker 1: his sales going up because the team won. Well, there
Speaker 1: have been a hundred stories of coaches that risk losing
Speaker 1: jobs because they committed to this for a summer and
Speaker 1: they had to take time off from whatever it was
Speaker 1: they're doing, and then thankfully you find out that the
Speaker 1: community is stepped up or somebody has volunteered to take
Speaker 1: their place. So it's those stories that really impact me
Speaker 1: more than the Lewis Lappie walk off homer or as
Speaker 1: somebody else asks, you know how great Luke Ramirez was
Speaker 1: for Tu La Vista, Like the stars are the stars,
Speaker 1: They're gonna shine, everyone's gonna know it. It's all the
Speaker 1: other things behind the scenes and for the teams, and
Speaker 1: watching a team from where Island interact with a team
Speaker 1: from Japan like that doesn't happen. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of events that call themselves worldwide. The Little League World
Speaker 1: Series is a is a true world series. It matches
Speaker 1: teams from the US and all over the world, and
Speaker 1: other than the Olympics, it's very rare that you have
Speaker 1: something like that in one place. And lastly, the place
Speaker 1: is the most special place on the planet when you
Speaker 1: go there and you see these two fields and you
Speaker 1: understand the relationship between the community and baseball. And then
Speaker 1: the country who get a chance for a week and
Speaker 1: a half every night to watch twelve year olds relive
Speaker 1: their own youth, share a moment with a son, a grandson,
Speaker 1: a granddaughter, because you know, they're not always into the pitches,
Speaker 1: they're into the stories that they can tell their own
Speaker 1: families about. I remember when I played Little League baseball.
Speaker 1: I remember John Deny was my best friend and I
Speaker 1: struck him out. Like those things you know they're going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes. Those are the things that I
Speaker 1: love most about the Little League World Series and Little
Speaker 1: League Baseball.
Speaker 2: So powerful man, so powerful, Dave. I'd love your take
Speaker 2: on that, and just you know, being able to look
Speaker 2: back now and Ravy obviously he's in it every year,
Speaker 2: but being able to look back on it Nowadave, for you,
Speaker 2: and just what that signifies for you in your life
Speaker 2: and what that time meant.
Speaker 4: Ah, It's the most special time of my life. Just basically,
Speaker 4: I never grow up. I was able to continue being
Speaker 4: a kid, and I'm still a kid. You know, when
Speaker 4: you when you look at little league baseball, just like
Speaker 4: Kyle said, you go back to who you who you
Speaker 4: play with, who you coached, you know, all the memories
Speaker 4: that you have, and you apply it to what you're
Speaker 4: watching and you appreciate it more rather than just looking
Speaker 4: from you know, I was so fortunate to be able
Speaker 4: to be there and and and be involved in the
Speaker 4: league baseball while someone else is watching who has never
Speaker 4: been involved in the Hey, they love the product. But
Speaker 4: you know, Colin and I we just we just absolutely
Speaker 4: adore the product because we've we've.
Speaker 3: Experienced it and there are so many, so many memories
Speaker 3: that are a lot.
Speaker 4: Hey, we every well, I don't care if it's Christmas, birthdays
Speaker 4: and my kids are still ugly?
Speaker 3: Whose team is better?
Speaker 4: And you know, you know or you know, you know,
Speaker 4: just talking about the remember this, remember when he did this?
Speaker 4: And you know, even my my childhood friends who I
Speaker 4: have three friends that played in my little league team
Speaker 4: but still best friend's best friend.
Speaker 3: Today, we talk littally, we talk.
Speaker 4: About our experience, you know, and it's it's not always.
Speaker 3: What happened on the baseball field either. So it was
Speaker 3: you know what we do. You know that's a better no.
Speaker 1: All right, just let's get to the kitchen sink, Dave.
Speaker 1: We got four quick questions here. You can give quick
Speaker 1: answers on it, but it's sort of outside the periphery
Speaker 1: sometimes of baseball per se. But the first one is
Speaker 1: best advice that any coach ever gave you. It is
Speaker 1: the kitchen sink, best advice a coach ever gave you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, remember, every kid counts.
Speaker 1: Hmmm, understood. It's perfect for a little league coach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome, Dave. I want to I want to
Speaker 2: just touch on that really quick. We're going to go
Speaker 2: to the next question here. But best advice coach ever
Speaker 2: gave you. You know, it's you know, everyone matters, obviously, everyone counts.
Speaker 2: When you're coaching a team and you have the superstars, uh,
Speaker 2: and I a want to be quick on this. I
Speaker 2: just want to follow up really quick. When you have
Speaker 2: the superstars and you have the other guys that you
Speaker 2: you know, t bow the t bows of your team,
Speaker 2: can you just share from a life perspective on how
Speaker 2: grabbing and being intentional about building relationships with maybe people
Speaker 2: outside of your circle is so important and how baseball
Speaker 2: builds that too.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm, yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean I teach it to my my kids, my
Speaker 4: kids every day, you know, just because somebody is as
Speaker 4: less fortunate in our but maybe it's not your cup
Speaker 4: of tea. You know, give them a chance. You might
Speaker 4: find out what what the real person is on the
Speaker 4: on the inside. I think that's the advice. You know,
Speaker 4: what you see in the outside is not always what's
Speaker 4: necessary on the inside. People, people again need to need
Speaker 4: to be given a chance.
Speaker 3: You know what.
Speaker 4: We all make mistakes too, and it's I think it's
Speaker 4: I think you got to learn how to forgive. And
Speaker 4: obviously you got to learn how to sacrifice first before
Speaker 4: you can forgive, because how can you forgive if you're
Speaker 4: not sacrificing yourself. So I think you learn a lot
Speaker 4: about yourself by learning that other people do count, you know,
Speaker 4: and have you given everything that you're supposed to give
Speaker 4: before you.
Speaker 3: Make the comment or make it or make the judgment.
Speaker 3: So that's my answer to that.
Speaker 2: Man, Awesome, I love it, Dave. We'll get to the
Speaker 2: next question. Sorry to get along on that one. How
Speaker 2: did Williamsport change your life? Oh?
Speaker 4: Absolutely for the better, you know it. I never thought
Speaker 4: that that the message that I was taught and I
Speaker 4: lived was going to be proclaimed throughout all of Little
Speaker 4: Little League Baseball. And I'm so I'm so proud of that.
Speaker 4: You know what, It's not about me. It was about
Speaker 4: what they were they were teaching, and I was able.
Speaker 4: I was able to, you know, give give a speech
Speaker 4: that resonated.
Speaker 3: But it's it's it's all there. I mean, we all
Speaker 3: have it in us.
Speaker 4: I just I just had the opportunity, a lot of
Speaker 4: opportunity of people behind me and people.
Speaker 3: In me to be able to send a message like that.
Speaker 1: Just quickly to follow up on that, did you did
Speaker 1: it a to you? Like how crazy it was that
Speaker 1: you've got two teams to Williamsport, Pennsylvania and the Little
Speaker 1: League World Series? Like the accomplishment. Have you had that
Speaker 1: moment of like, how in the world did that happen?
Speaker 3: Ah? You know what I have, Kyle. You know, I'm
Speaker 3: so competitive and I love the game so much. I
Speaker 3: just like my dad.
Speaker 4: Instead, it's the next practice, you know, let's go. It's
Speaker 4: kind of like, you know, that's why you won twenty
Speaker 4: six in a row. Okay, next year, let's start all
Speaker 4: let's go.
Speaker 3: Well, it's not about last year, it's about this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think, yeah, I'm very proud of of
Speaker 4: what my kids accomplished. I am very proud of what
Speaker 4: I accomplished. But I know, I know that it's it's
Speaker 4: it was. It wasn't about me. That's the best, best part.
Speaker 4: It's about us and we'll.
Speaker 3: Be friends, friends forever. That's a good part.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I love that last one. Next one here, Uh,
Speaker 1: this is this could go hockey, football, baseball. What's your
Speaker 1: favorite sports movie and why?
Speaker 3: Uh, it would have to be Rocky.
Speaker 4: I know it wasn't real, but I love Rocky because
Speaker 4: he was the underdog and uh, you know, he didn't
Speaker 4: win Rocky one.
Speaker 3: He didn't win, you know, and he was you know
Speaker 3: he and along the.
Speaker 4: Way he was udged because he was, you know, a
Speaker 4: sloppy boxer or he didn't have you know then that
Speaker 4: what they thought the necessities to be a champion, and
Speaker 4: he'd be the guy that was you know, first class
Speaker 4: and show boat. And I mean the movie was was spectacular,
Speaker 4: so I can relate to Rocky. I love Rocky and
Speaker 4: Miracle too, you know, either Miracle or Rocky.
Speaker 1: To men, we're gonna get a mention of miracle.
Speaker 2: I figured that, Hey, David, he can't tell us Rocky
Speaker 2: in general, which Rocky is your favorite?
Speaker 3: Rocky one, Rocky my favorite?
Speaker 4: Well I know, I just it was only Rocky too,
Speaker 4: because when when Adrian says that she's about to you know,
Speaker 4: you know, finally she gives birth, and she brings him
Speaker 4: close and say, I just have one thing to say, Well, Win,
Speaker 4: do you see just merried it?
Speaker 2: Go?
Speaker 3: What are we waiting for? To me? Best moment they
Speaker 3: went outside, I started running.
Speaker 1: I just went, I'm going, I'm running, crack cracks some
Speaker 1: eggs and she just started drinking them wrong.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's it. Just says, what are we waiting for?
Speaker 4: And she said when oh my god, let's go and
Speaker 4: then the slow then the song comes on and you
Speaker 4: throw your sweatpants on and you're out that door.
Speaker 2: That's so good man. The last question here and then
Speaker 2: we'll get to the m v P and wrap up.
Speaker 2: But the greatest lesson one of your players has taught you.
Speaker 3: Greatest lessons. Uh, that's that's a tough that's that's a
Speaker 3: tough one.
Speaker 4: But I would I don't know, I would have I
Speaker 4: would have to say, you know, t bows Tbo's one
Speaker 4: of them. It's it's about, you know, someone who didn't
Speaker 4: get a chance or wasn't a star and comes, you know,
Speaker 4: and comes through it. If there was a greater moment
Speaker 4: than somebody who you never thought we could do it,
Speaker 4: could do it on the biggest stage and.
Speaker 3: In probably the world.
Speaker 4: To me, it taught me that you know I'm doing
Speaker 4: I'm doing the right thing, because you know.
Speaker 1: I thought I thought it was going to be the
Speaker 1: bubble blowing sort of what you gleaned from everybody recognizing
Speaker 1: the bubble blowing when you're getting your ass kicked.
Speaker 4: Well, I'll tell you something that was my son, James,
Speaker 4: I'll tell you something about there.
Speaker 3: There was a moment right there.
Speaker 4: So I again didn't know that my son was blowing
Speaker 4: bubbles against California my first time I show up at
Speaker 4: the If I would have known my son was blowing
Speaker 4: bubbles in the middle of the game, Okay, I think
Speaker 4: everyone will have a different perspective of me as a father,
Speaker 4: as a coach because that moment, my whole career could
Speaker 4: have tearned for the worst. But I'm telling you, James,
Speaker 4: if he's watching, as he knows, if I were to
Speaker 4: pop that bubble right in his face. But anyways, that's
Speaker 4: that's behindside the point. So we get to the dorm.
Speaker 4: I don't know whether he was born, but my mother
Speaker 4: calls me right away after the game. She goes, oh
Speaker 4: my god, what a game that was, Mom.
Speaker 3: We got be ten to one. No, no, James was spectacular.
Speaker 3: He should fuck out. What are you talking about?
Speaker 4: He was on TV for least ten minutes blowing his bubbles.
Speaker 3: I'm going, what is going on? I look at it.
Speaker 4: The next thing you know, Bazooka is coming in calling on.
Speaker 4: We got ESPN said we're gonna do an interview here.
Speaker 4: I am my first My first shot in the Little
Speaker 4: League was series and I'm doing Bubblegum commercials.
Speaker 3: Do you think I was.
Speaker 1: Perspective?
Speaker 3: Baby?
Speaker 4: That put things in perspective? I said, all right, I
Speaker 4: get it. I get it now.
Speaker 3: I get what I'm here for. You know what this,
Speaker 3: this more than is winning for sure.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, listen, you've been You've been very forthcoming
Speaker 1: about all your personal life issues with your dad, your wife.
Speaker 1: We ask every guest on our show this question before
Speaker 1: we say goodbye, and it's it's who's the MVP. Over
Speaker 1: the course of your life. And that's not a most
Speaker 1: valuable player, it's who's been the most valuable person in
Speaker 1: Dave Belile's life.
Speaker 3: My father, for sure, no questions asked.
Speaker 1: For sure, all the reasons you shared earlier with us.
Speaker 4: My dad, he was a great father and he was
Speaker 4: He was married to my mom for over sixty five years.
Speaker 3: He brought up four children.
Speaker 4: You know, he never he never missed a dana's life
Speaker 4: at work or a practice, never was sick. He was sick,
Speaker 4: but he never missed. And he showed me and my
Speaker 4: three brothers the right way to raise a family, the
Speaker 4: right way to act, and with the spirit of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3: He taught us too. So it's my dad, no question
Speaker 3: to ask, perfectly cool.
Speaker 1: Well, look I knew justin. I knew he was going
Speaker 1: to be great. I think he exceeded my expectations in
Speaker 1: being an open book day. We appreciate you very much
Speaker 1: for sharing those stories. I know you'll be watching the
Speaker 1: Little League World Series. I'll be thinking of you when
Speaker 1: I'm there as well. I appreciate you coming out with.
Speaker 4: Us and thanks for having me, guys, I appreciate it
Speaker 4: very much.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Anytime. That's stayblele of course, two time coach of the
Speaker 1: teams that went to the Little League World Series. Just
Speaker 1: a reminder we're going to take a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: off justin I will be doing some daily diaries from
Speaker 1: Williamsport and Baseball Recruiting Confidential will continue over the course
Speaker 1: of the next few weeks as well.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir Raby, I'm excited for the Little League World Series, man.
Speaker 2: I know it's always it's an experience for you, buddy.
Speaker 2: I'm happy that you get to go experience that again.
Speaker 2: What an honor to be able to do that. I
Speaker 2: know that from afar. Everybody is excited to see you
Speaker 2: call that, man, and you're the best at it, and
Speaker 2: you're a part of that. You don't see yourself as that,
Speaker 2: but you are. You know when people hear that voice
Speaker 2: in your voice and the lit League World Series, it's
Speaker 2: a it's a reminder of that time of year and
Speaker 2: you're a part of that, which I think is a
Speaker 2: super cool piece to the history of the Little League
Speaker 2: World Series man. And I'm excited to watch you every
Speaker 2: chance I can get, buddy. But we'll be back in
Speaker 2: early September with order from the dugout. But uh, what
Speaker 2: an exciting time, buddy. I'm excited for you, excited for
Speaker 2: you to get there and have your have your time there, buddy.
Speaker 1: Thanks partner. That means a lot. Please, everybody, continue to
Speaker 1: spread the word and join us on the parent dugout
Speaker 1: dot com where you get all the content, you get
Speaker 1: interviews like Dave Bellile and all the other ones we've had.
Speaker 1: Look forward to seeing you from the Lily League World Series.
Speaker 1: Follow us at the parent dugout dot com. We'll get
Speaker 1: you the daily diaries from Williamsport. Thanks for being with
Speaker 1: us today and thanks for all your great questions. We
Speaker 1: appreciate them.