I would say is loaded and loaded a degree that I haven't seen before. I can make a case for six teams to be playing and or winning a state championship. There is no state that does state championships like Indiana. This is truly an elite sports market in which to work in. What are your biggest takeaways from this 2026 Colts team a consequential season? Lawrence North has one of the best players in high school football in the country.
Munch on sales. The physical traits are out of this world. Usain bowl with hands. Football is here and we love it. Good morning. Good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are, however you may be listening.
Thanks for tuning in to the Get Indiana Podcast Network. My name is Dominic Miranda and I've been covering sports for nearly a decade. Most of which right here in Indianapolis. This is the Get In Sports Podcast. We're going to be covering everything in the Hooser State, high school, college, pro, in the sports capital of the universe in the greatest state on planet Earth. Thanks so much for coming on this journey with us.
Let's get into it. On today's episode of Get In Sports, a walking encyclopedia of all things sports in the great state of Indiana. A guy who's near and dear to my heart for reasons I'll get into in a bit, but let's just say he's the reason I'm here in Indianapolis. He's the vice president of ISC Sports Network and dare I say a friend of mine. We have Greg Rakestraw in studio with us today. Greg, thanks so much for coming in.
Thanks for the invite, pal. Good to be with you. Yeah, this is awesome. Uh I did say I would get into it, but I was in Tallahassee. Greg was the one who hired me for my very first internship at the Fan going into my sophomore year of college. I don't know why, but we thank him for it.
And he ran into Dave Calabro at a coffee shop not far from here, by the way. That far from here. So, did Dave tell the story when he was just in here rocking McLaren gear for some reason? Yeah, we did talk about it a little bit. Okay, so uh I happen to be working at the Hubard and Cravens and literally there is one across the parking lot. Oh jeez.
It's the other one which is still walking distance here at 49th in Pennsylvania. And for whatever reason, that became like Dave's like hangout go-to spot uh for for some period of time kind of during the middle of his workday. And he goes, "Hey, um I think I'm looking to potentially hire somebody that eventually might become my replacement." You and I had already been in conversation about the job at Fox 41 at WDRB in Louisville, which is where I grew up. I hope I didn't violate an NDA by saying that on on on the podcast here. U given your given your response, but I said, "Hey, there's a guy I know that is looking.
He interned for me. I think he's pretty good. His name is Dominic Miranda. Why don't you hear, you know, I'll connect the two of you?" And here you are now as the lead sports anchor at WTR Channel 13. Greg, I I just can't tell you how much I appreciate it, man.
That's why I tell everybody who asks me why they ask me for advice, I don't know, but anyone who does, connections matter. Yep. Friendships matter. So, Greg, we appreciate you, sir. All right. I want to allow plenty of time to talk about high school football because that's why you're here and that's what is happening here in Indiana very, very soon.
But you've basically been around Indie your whole life. Correct. So, I grew up in southern Indiana. Okay. So, if we're doing television DMAs. Yes.
I grew up in the Louisville market. Okay. Uh, so my experience was watching channels 311 32 and 41. Okay. Uh, back in the day. came to school at the University of Indianapolis in August of 94, so 32 years ago.
Wow. And basically never left. Started working in the market uh two years later. So I got a a part-time job at 1260 WNDE at the conclusion of my sophomore year while I was interning at Channel 13. Really? But not in the sports department.
I interned in the news department. No way. And it was wonderful because it told me as much as I love the good people at 13 and love the good people in the television industry, that was not for me on a full-time basis locally. It was Thomas Edison not learning how to make a light bulb. It was a successful failure. You're like, you know what?
This was a great busy 14 weeks. It was actually during the summer uh Olympics in 96 in Atlanta. So, I basically was writing the 5:30 newscast every day because we had people in Georgia and getting ready for that. I'm pretty sure I spent an entire week locked in an edit bay studying the NBC satellite feeds of all the Olympic features from across the country. Felt like a monk uh at the end of that week. It was a great experience, but I learned this is not what I want to do.
Okay. And so I ended up going more of the full radio route. I got hired full-time at 1260 a month before I graduated. Wow. I actually had to drop some classes and come back and take a victory lap that summer. So, I was one of those guys that actually walked with and got an empty diploma sleeve and then 3 months later said actual diploma arrived.
My late father, I'm not sure, ever truly believed me that I actually went back and got my diploma. Like, it wasn't that long, but but I it was um I got my degree with credits conferred upon graduation, whatever the asterisk said in the program. I see. So, so when was the internship at Channel 13? Uh summer of 96 between my sophomore and junior year of college. Okay.
So, who was there at that time? So, uh from a sports standpoint, Dave, Rich Nye, Chris Stout. Okay. Yep. Um the person to drive me to the Motor Speedway since my internship started during the month of May. This is the first May of the split between IRL and CART.
Okay. So, it's a rather well-known Indie 500. The person that drove me uh on the first day of my internship to the track, Chuck Loftton. really got to ride in his in his pale blue caddy. It was awesome. Um, as far as those that from a photog standpoint, I don't think anybody from an on air standpoint is still there.
So, John Stair, oh, great guy, was there the mayor uh was was there and I've got a story to tell about him coming up in a in a matter of moments. Um, Scott Graber, I think, is still on the photography staff. I love Graves, man. He's the man. And Greg Wilkerson, who is still, I think, working at different station, I think, from a photog. Correct.
He's connected to a member of the channel 13 family. Yes, he is. As in Jenny Renovich. Uh but Greg was there and actually Greg and I ended up becoming friends and I would kind of just hang out with him and trail him. Kevin Rder was there and now Kevin does high school sports for a living. So we see each other even though he's out of the Indianapolis area on a semi-regular basis.
So there are still a handful of people that were there 30 years ago that are still active in the business at this point. That's so awesome. I hear all these names you're talking about. I hear and you hear about them all the time. You see him on the walls as legends of of the television station. Yeah, they're in the furniture there at 13.
Actually, I I hear all the time that that Olympics down in Atlanta was where Dave really made a name for himself because of all that ensued. Correct. And And so, well, I think Bob Tap is the guy that was actually the first and he's one of the engineers. Like, I work with him uh at uh during like state finals and stuff like that. But like literally when the bomb goes off uh in Olympic Plaza, like he happened to be the first person. He was there and so all of a sudden he's the guy that's on air at like 1:30 in the morning.
That happened like literally at the end of my summer internship. Wow. Is when that happened. Um but uh you know Dave was certainly an upandcomer and was already doing stuff in terms of like the track PA. Yeah. Back then.
So Don Hine was still there, God rest his soul doing doing stuff at the time. By the time I got there in 96, Dave had become the number one guy and and and Don still had a prominent role, but Dave was the sports director by then. Dave, man, I just he his journey is so awesome. What's your uh John Stair story? So, um the timing is everything in life. And so, as the news in as a news intern in the summer of 96, I got to be on the field for the last day at Bush Stadium and the first day at Victory Field.
So, we just celebrated the 30th anniversary of Victory Field last month on July 11th. Well, at that point in time, I was two years removed from being a semidecent high school baseball player. Okay. And so, my job was to basically hit fungos to John for pieces that he was doing or basically like be his bodyguard during batting practice so he didn't take a line drive. Cuz at that point in time, Channel 13, you know, for maybe a little while had been kind of trailing in in the news ratings. Yes.
not the case now. They rode the wave of of the popular of uh popularity of NBC's sitcom and night evening lineup in the mid 90s to a pretty prominent place. But their thought about how they were going to make up ground in ratings from before that was they were going to take their newscast live. I mean they're live now but live on site. So they would do it from like different towns. Yeah.
I mean, they created special programming for the Olympics, which they still model, you know, a generation or two of of television news later. They do. Uh, but they would do like the 5, 5:30, and 6:00 newscast were live on the field before the game at the last game at Bush Stadium at the first game at Victory Field. So, because of that, John was going to be on the field most of the day. And John was actually a college athlete at Ganon in I think he was a soccer player, I want to say. Yeah.
uh at Ganon of of Pennsylvania. So my job was to make sure that John didn't get killed. So like for example, the week before the old like hand not handheld but handfed scoreboard where like it was manually done out in left field. Bob Gregory, Indianapolis TV legend. Yeah. Took the American Association cities which that time would have been like Nashville, Buffalo, Oklahoma City and like put like what their forecasted temporary as I said it is weather from the warning track that day.
Well, the Indians were playing the Nashville Sounds and the Nashville Suns decided to make it a game to either hit Bob or to like hit the numbers in the scoreboard on batting practice to completely mess up his live forecast. So, eight days later, it became my job to kind of protect John on the field that day. Oh my word, that's so You want to talk about Mount Rushmore of Voices in Indianapolis? John Stair, Dave Calabro, Greg Rickstrong, I think. Right. Maybe put Tom Carnegie up there as well.
Right. That's good stuff right there. Okay. So, you you start your career in Indianapolis. You get your degree. All right.
That's number one right there. Eventually work your way and now you're program director at the FanD. Can you talk to me about that experience? So, it was the second time that I was the program director of an ESPN radio affiliate in Indianapolis. Okay. So, so eventually I left 1260 uh at the end of the summer of 2000.
Uh two years later I had been working uh on the fringe of town at 95. 9 still an FM talk station that is based out of Franklin. We had an AM sister station 950 that after 911 had been struggling a little bit. It was kind of a religious talk station. And I said, 'You know, um, the affiliate relations director for this area for ESPN radio is a southern Indiana guy like me, is an IU grad. I think I can land us ESPN radio.
Um, pretty quickly about four or five heads in the room turned. Are you serious? Yeah, let's let's send an email. So, we send kind of a blind email. We got a phone call about two hours later. Really?
And by the end of the week, we had a framework to move the ESPN affiliation from 1260 in town to 950. And so ESPN 950 became really what was kind of my proving ground even before I got to the fan. Yeah. So, um, I did seven years of daily talk show work on ESPN 950. I was the program director. I eventually kind of became the lead salesperson as well.
Uh, the a skill that I still used to be able to do with the high school football standpoint with ISC. Um, but that was really where I I kind of cut my teeth. Yeah. You know, so I am I'm doing an afternoon drive talk show and I'm 25 years of age. That's cool. And I'm four years removed from graduating college.
And it was really kind of the first time that 1260 had any form of competition from a sports radio standpoint, you know, in the market. Um eventually once 1070 with all of the the heritage listenership, all of the heritage playbyplay they had put together in terms of having the Colts, having the Pacers, having the race, having the ISA, hey, when they went the sports route at the end of 2007, we at 950 competed for a while, but it was the writing was on the wall, you know, it was it was time to go someplace else. So I I and I started doing this and oscillating back and forth between radio and television. Uh in '09 I took a took a flyer on a a company called Hometown Sports Indiana. Uh which you know is kind of where I got my start for doing a lot of small college broadcast and and high school football broadcast. And frankly it's where I learned how to do volleyball, soccer, um other kind of sports where it's like, "Hey, we're going to do this and you're the one doing it.
Figure it out." Yeah. Okay, great. we'll we'll we'll put two and two together and and we'll make this happen. Did that for a couple of years. Uh started almost immediately after I left 950 doing some part-time stuff with 1070.
I remember the first time that I filled in at the time for Kravitz and Eddie, which predates you. Yeah. Uh predates JMV on 1070 The Fan. Uh filled in with Bob Kravitz. And I opened the broadcast by saying, "Dude, we had radio dials back then. Don't adjust your radio dial.
this is the right voice on the frequency you're tuning into because for years that was the voice you had heard opposite 107 like hello everybody you're you're in the right place um and that started leading to more kind of fill-in work and and more work with the fan and by the spring of of 2013 that led to being the PD at the fan which is about pretty soon after where you and I crossed paths for the first time 100% my internship there was in 2016 I believe going into my sophomore year of college the lineup if memory serves First was Grady and Big Joe in the morning, Dan Doitch at noon, and JMV from 3:00 to 7:00. And the very end of Mike and Mike being the national stalwart show. Yes. From 6:00 to 10. Yeah. Yes.
100%. It was an elite experience for me. I mean, unbelievable. I mean, say what you want about Dan Dogage, but it was it was interesting learning from him. JMV was established. I mean, I think he had Pton Manning on uh Grady.
I mean, what a career Grady has had, right? Michael Grady has just gone on to do unbelievable things. There are times when I go, I I hope I didn't hold him back. Seriously, we all knew we all knew he's capable of great things. He did a little bit of playbyplay for us. I never really envisioned him as a playbyplay guy.
I know. And and now he's I mean, Michael's phenomenal whatever he he's he's going to do, but there are times I'm like, I hope I didn't hold MG back, right? Clearly, I don't think I did now, but I'm like, was was I missing something? Yeah. You know, in him? Did we Did we utilize him enough?
Probably the answer is no. Thankfully, he got over that anyway, and he's on to doing great things now. Went to the Yes Network, I believe. Correct. Uh Minnesota Timberwolves, I think. Correct.
Um as a as a sideline guy and the eventual playby-play guy, and now doing prime, you know, WNBA games. Unbelievable. Now, I hear Timberwolves fans, I hope he's a smattering of Grady around his national schedule. I know, right? He's busy. And it's just cool looking back.
I'm just so thankful that I got to be involved in that with those guys who've gone on to do awesome things. But what what do you take away from your time running a, you know, the most listened to radio station in town? You know, it was and frankly that was the job I wanted the fan, you know, when when when at 950 we're trying to be with 1070. Um, you know, doing the daily talk show is is is is fun for me occasionally. You and I are having this conversation. Two days earlier, I filled in for JMV.
Thought it was a good show. If I'm doing that every day, I'm probably getting burned out, right? You know, it was it was the creation of the lineup. It was the branding. Um, once you're a program director, you're kind of always a program director. You're always thinking about, okay, how how you're stacking talent and programming and events and promotions and and and kind of creating everything.
Um, and so love that experience. Yeah. And you know, it's it's kind of like I'm sure you talk to students as well. You know, there's different ways if you could of measuring the market. You know, from a television standpoint, Indianapolis is a is a top 30 market. Yeah.
From a from a radio standpoint, we're a top 40 market. From a sports standpoint, probably a top 10 to 15. 100%. because of the number of events that happen here. Yeah. Because of having an NE500, because of having all of these NCA championships, because of, you know, having the passion of both professional sports fans, college sports fans, and high school sports fans, this is truly an elite sports market in which to work in.
And so, knowing that I was part of um setting the sports scene locally from a from a programming standpoint was something I really enjoyed in the time that I was there. I mean, we and you hit the nail on the head. Top 10 to 15 market. I mean, just let's go from 2024. You have the Pacers go to the NBA finals. You have the NBA All-Star game, WNBA all-star game.
Caitlin Clark here. US Olympic swim trials. Think think about the difference in the sports landscape from what you cover. Yeah. And frankly, if you want to share, if you can remember, you want to share the conversation when you and I talked about taking a job at 13. I said, "All right."
I said how you cover sports is shifting a little bit in comparison to kind of what you do from a feature standpoint versus maybe other stations the more traditional old school nightly 3 to four minute sports cast I said you'll have times where you are doing this right but not on an every night basis and so it's kind of a trade-off balancing all right do you do you have that you know do you feel like jealous just because you're like all right these guys are doing more of the traditional stuff I'm doing more of the feature stuff you might get the occasional Saturday night off that way. You should feel happy about that. Mrs. Miranda is very happy that that is the way that that that things work out. But think about even when you got to the market. How many years is this now at 13 for you?
We're going on year four now. Okay. How much did you cover IU football when you first got there? Not very much. How much did you cover the Indiana Fever when you first got there? First game and maybe last game.
And so that's honestly part of the reason why like like even myself as as a fill-in talk show host are still looking like a program director. I'm like, okay, you've got to carve out more time for IU football and for the Indiana Fever. Now, the station at which I work with as like adjunct faculty on the fan, you know, they have the radio rights for both of those. Hey everybody, quick break in the action with this awesome conversation with ISC Sports Network's Greg Rake Straw. It was a great conversation and we really appreciate you listening to this episode of Get In Sports. You may notice for the next 10 or 15 minutes the audio quality is a little down.
We had some technical difficulties unfortunately, but we wanted to leave this part of the interview in because it was such a good conversation with Greg Rakestraw. So really appreciate you listening. Just turn up the volume a little bit here on these next 10 to 15 minutes and then after that portion, the good audio picks back up and we resume our great conversation talking about high school football and all things sports in the state of Indiana. So appreciate you bearing with us as we continue to learn and grow here on Get In Sports. But yeah, just for the next 15 minutes, turn that turn that volume up. Little lower quality audio, but then it picks right back up and we finish off an awesome conversation with Greg Rickstra.
Thanks so much for listening to Get In Sports with Don Miranda. And now we resume our conversation with Greg Rick Straw. There's the Indiana Fever and Caitlyn Clark. You've got all these things to talk about. carving out space versus the Colts from a talk radio standpoint, from a threeminute sports feature, four-minute sports cast that you do standpoint. I'm very interested to see what that looks like this fall.
Yeah. After it's the defending national champion Indiana Hooers, is it still Colts that lead? Is it Is it Is it Hooser football that comes first? I used to joke, we talked Colts five and a half days a week. We talked high school football Friday night. We talked college football on Saturday.
And guess what? Sunday morning started. Let's talk Colts again for the next 5 and a half days. And now, how has that changed? I'm curious to see how that plays out this fall. It's so interesting you bring that up because just in the time I've been at WTR, not only do you take that Well, I was going to say I mean, you want should I should I show who's calling me?
We get we get every media company in town involved. Oh jeez. I'll call them back. I'm not jumping ship anybody else. This is a third. No, I'm kidding.
Uh, but you're absolutely right. I I I'm so happy we had that conversation before I took the job at 13 because you hear it and you think you understand like, okay, it's kind of different, but then you're in it. And truly, I mean, when I first started with Dave, it was just look lives every day. Now Dave was at a different point in his career that since has kind of changed, but it allows you the flexibility to lead newscasts maybe a lot more, but there are there's stuff left on the the you know the the cutting room floor there as well that that we've kind of since picked up that slack with our digital platform and we've tried to get everything that we gather out to the public. But it's so interesting because yeah, the Indiana fever I mean there there's no downtime. There's zero downtime though.
I mean, June and July, the only bit of downtime we got was because and and frankly, they're the one team that's not kind of kind of on my beat for what I do. When the Pacers have a rough year like they have, now you've got some time in April. That that's a little bit, okay, let me get a vacation. Let me get a breath in, you know, etc. But Frank, when you and I talked, I said, "All right, bud. Here's what you you have to start studying indie car right now."
Yes. That that that is the this is the market where you have to know that you have to be an expert. You will be found out if you're not. start paying attention right now. High school football, thankfully you played it, albeit in a different market. Friday nights are amazing around here.
You better know exactly what is going on or for you, Friday mornings at 4:00 a. m. Yes, sir. or something along those lines. And I said, you're going to be doing you're you're going to be in the A block news terminology for you. Uh every Sunday with the Colts and obviously when the Pacers are good, you're going to be getting that stuff in terms of live hits.
that is and then find one feature a week. Yep. And that is your job. That's what it's going to look like at Channel 13. It's been fantastic. I mean, I I couldn't have asked for better things to cover.
Uh I mean, again, NBA Finals experience, Purdue going to the Final Four, IU national championship was the most surreal thing ever. Notre Dame going to a national championship in college football. I've covered six bowl games in two years. Pretty insane. Which is not what you think about. No.
When it comes to being a sports reporter in the state of Indiana, not exactly. So, it's just it's just really cool, Greg. Yeah, I can't say how much I I appreciate you there. But okay, you talk about the burnout. I can't I love doing this. Okay.
But 3 hours every single day, that's crazy. So, what led to you kind of self- diagnosing? Okay. And then the birth of ISC Sports Network. Sure. So, um there was a period in time, so when I left 950 in May of 09, I didn't listen to local radio for 6 months.
I I literally got because I had a company car. I bought myself a new car that Monday. It had serious XM and I'm like, "Thank goodness that it does." Yeah. I I needed to I needed to have a break and and kind of cut off from those things. Now I'm kind of back into it, you know, on on if not a daily basis than than somewhat close to it.
Um but but you know so to go from 950 and '09 Fan and 13 I approached the folks at the I approached the folks at ISC uh who were MTC at the time and this would have been December of 16. I had been doing part-time work and occasional games for them for about three years and I basically said I think I'm going to take my full-time job and my part-time job and flip them. Okay. So, apparently, unbeknownst to me, they were going to pitch me starting a statewide channel production company on a full-time basis. Unbeknownst to me, and I pitched them at the exact same time. Okay?
In other words, I'm I can diagnose that I'm starting to get the burnout that I had six or seven years ago. I want to do something that is is a bit more creative. I don't want to give up what I have built from a freelance standpoint because at that point in time, I was five years in to doing the Colts games. I was three years into doing the Indie 11. Uh didn't want didn't want to change those things. Um but I said, "All right, I'm I'm we don't have to make a move now, but I want to kind of get this in motion, you know, down the road that I can make this move."
And 15 months later, I made the jump to ISC on a full-time basis. Very thankfully, when I approached the folks, the fan, before I could even say, "Hey, I want to keep some things," it was, "What will you what do you like to still do here?" Nice. So, I left the fan in network, Indiana in April of 2018 and my parking card or building access didn't change. That's cool. No longer had an office that faced the circle.
I missed that. Uh but uh but still had access to the building and kind of at times make the new fan studios at 10th and Meridian diagonal from yours kind of my deacto office uh from time to time and go find a production room and kind of get stuff done between appointments and things like that. So, one of the things that I love about ISC, doing things that are are unique, creative, uh, building something, you know, from the ground up, which we have done. Yes, we've grown revenue each of the last six years. So, ever since co has has has hit, we have we have done that. Um, and again, the coverage we provide is usually at a level where people are so appreciative of what we do.
Yes. And you know, I have an ego like everybody else that does this for a living. When people tell you how good of a job you do on a regular basis and how happy that that they are that you are there, yeah, if you can make a living doing that, that's a really good spot to be in as someone that's in a in a creative field. So, um I get to kind of live in both worlds. You know, I get I get to I get to live the NFL life seeing you at Colts training camp, you know, nearly every day. And as we're talking this, I'll fly out to Boston next week and hang out for three days and get to call an NFL game, which is something that's not lost on me and and love getting to do that.
But heck, I'm I'll probably do a game at North Putham High School at some point in time this year. And and I'm okay with that. I'm I'm one of the very few people that get to live in both worlds, and I love the fact I get to do that. You get to do so much. For people who don't know, should have said this off the top, but Greg is the pre-season TV voice of the Indianapolis Colts and he is the voice of the Indie 11. And oh, by the way, gets to do all of his high school stuff.
So like you get you are one of the few people that get to have your hand in several different things. So there was a I want to say maybe it was I guess it was 2019. I had a stretch where it was a Friday night high school football game, a Saturday Indianapolis Colts game, and a Sunday Indie 11 game. I Those were three consecutive nights. There is a day coming up later this month where I'm going to do Colts and Indie 11 television playbyplay on the same day. Really?
So, this this is your busy season, man. And I can't tell you how much I agree with the there's different sorts of burnout, right? But building something is so energizing. That's I mean that's what we're trying to do here with get in sports. I mean and my free time is next to zero now. But it's I love it and I imagine that's how you felt.
And how have you seen you mentioned the revenue growth year over year but how have you seen ISC grow? Because you're absolutely right. People I talked to it's similar to what you know Chuck Freeby's doing in sports Michigan 46. I may have had a conversation with him a couple years ago. You guys are you guys are the one and the same in your particular markets. But what has it been like to see that grow?
I imagine there's a fair amount of pride there. Oh, definitely. You know, we're to the point now where we have four games we're producing every Friday night. You know, we've got three full production trucks with ISC. Need to create a fourth because we had about an hour meeting today. There's a potential new partner for ours for us from a college standpoint out of state.
We go. Okay. It's it's it's like playing Jenga. How do we get this truck from here? And you know, these are human beings. They might need to sleep in between gigs.
How how do we work on on things like that? who could we potentially reach out to and hey, can you cover us this day so we can go over here? Uh, so it's it's kind of the building blocks and building element of it. Um, but but knowing that I have largely made high school sports and small college sports into a full-time job, knowing growing up in southern Indiana how big of a role high school sports have played in my life and now professional standpoint that's the case, being a division 2 athlete and being a small college guy, having a chance to do that. Uh and and but again still getting to do some division one things which I enjoy doing you know from from a time to time as well. Um I I joke that I live my life by a Google calendar.
Yeah. Like what am I doing tonight? Well there's there's revenue I could be going out and get. Let's figure something out. Let's let's put something on this date. Let's go make it happen.
And doing that as a company is something that uh gets me energized each and every day. Yeah. High school sports. I mean that's the number one thing I when I ask people what makes sports in Indiana special. It's the the value that's put on high school sports and the way that's covered in Southbend and Evansville and Terote in Indianapolis. There was a couple of years ago um the National Sports Media Association picked me as the Indiana Sports Cer of the year.
They did and picked Colin Denri as the sports writer of the year. And it was not lost on on either of us that hey, you know, in a place where you've got an NBA franchise, an NFL franchise and you know, 11 division one institutions that the sports writer and sports cast are guys that primarily make their living covering high school sports. That's pretty cool. That's really cool. and and and ISC is able to make high school sports and you know small level college athletics accessible. Yep.
It's just it's just it's fantastic. I would imagine there is one particular broadcast that we do each year that you're somewhat partial to would be my guess. Yes. I uh very much enjoy especially the last four years we have done the game, right? Five in a row. Oh, by the way, hey, there's pretty good stiff arm and some really good blocks by the umpire in that game.
That's right. Yeah. All right. So, he's talking about the Monon Bell game. ISC does Wabash Dep for the last This will be our sixth. So, basically since co we have done the game and it's been a fantastic broadcast.
We got to talk to you. We can come back to the end of the show about maybe uh facilitating a live get in sports podcast there as a pre-show or something. I don't know. We can work on that. I don't know. The people are telling us that's what they want.
Okay. So, we talked about kind of the the evolution of ISC Sports Network and obviously you get the chance to see high school teams from all across the state, but particularly really in central Indiana and that's what we're talking about. What kind of teams do you have your eyes out for? I know 6A is unbelievable. 6A is loaded and loaded a degree that I haven't seen before and I've basically been doing pretty much this level for the last 10 to 12 years in terms on a regular basis on Friday nights. Uh there are six teams in the area that I think you can make a case for winning a state championship.
Let's start with the two that have made it each of the last two years. Brownsburg and Westfield. You bring back starting quarterbacks for Brownsburg and Oscar Fry uh that has done this in each of the last two years. Split time as a sophomore, but led his team to a state championship. Was absolutely the guy last year led his team to a state championship. Westfield brings back their starter who at the time was splitting time heading into the postseason.
kind of became the guy uh as the uh as this as the posters along and the younger the Melvin brothers uh for Westfield. You make back-to-back state championships, you have my attention. Westfield does probably have a lot of holes to fill defensively and along the line of scrimmage. They bring guys back uh from a skill position standpoint. Um as then you get to Carmel and Center Grove, you know, it's Caramel and Center Grove. Uh you know, last year was the first year that Center Grove didn't make the semi-state.
I want to say since 2017. Wow. Uh and again, their starting quarterback was a sophomore last year. They bring him back. Caramel is the one team that has to figure, okay, we got to replace a three-year starter in Anthony Kelner. You know, how do we go about doing that?
But it's Carmel and Kevin Wright. Yeah, it took us about two weeks last year to go, yeah, Kevin Wright and Carmel. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. They're really good.
They're going to figure this out. I know they're not happy about not making out of the sectional last year. They they felt that that run ended early for them. Um and and again they've got they lost a lot of talent. They bring back a lot of talent. It's Caramel.
Um let's get to the two teams that have stayed together in the mix as now Caramel and Center Grove return. Uh you know Lawrence North has one of the best players in high school football in the country. Yeah. In Mansion sales. Uh they have a guy that is I think as equally likely to be a Mr. football candidate in Z Moore, who will be a four-year starter at running back at one of the largest schools in the state.
That's that's a mouthful right there. And they bring the starting quarterback back in Darien Prather. They have some defensive losses they got to figure out. And they were not the biggest team along the offensive line last year. Yeah. And so, you know, can you improve that?
And again, much like Carmel, they didn't make it out of the sectional last year. got upended by Lawrence Central and a crazy game and a crazy finish on the opening night of the tournament. And that leaves us with Warren Central who got past Center Grove finally at the regional round, made the semi-state with a guy who at the beginning of last year was their third string quarterback. Yeah. As a sophomore and yeah, they lose a guy like Jeremy Finch Jr. who's now playing at Alabama.
But they've got kids on both sides of the ball that are going to going to go to Kentucky, Purdue, y and Iowa. had another young man commit to Sagenov Valley State this week as well and Austin Jackson. They basically bring back eight or nine starters on defense. Ridiculous. And they are really talented. Uh Thomas will just wear on you running the football.
Their defense is good in their defense. Might be on the field like 18 minutes a game, right? Because of how much they can just run the football right at you. So, um I can make a case for any of those six teams. Yeah. to be playing and or winning a state championship.
Again, Carmel and Westfield northern half of the bracket. Other four southern half of the bracket. Westfield defense was absolutely unbelievable last year. Brownsburg offense absolutely unbelievable a year ago. Losing some running backs does Brownsburg, but Oscar Fry. Yep.
Fantastic. Headed to Illinois State. And you talked about Munch on Sales and I want to talk about him for just a second. What is it about him cuz the physical traits are out of this world. Usain bowl with hands. I mean, he is he is every bit of 6'5.
He has been a big-time player for them, much like Zay Moore since his freshman year. But because of of Pat Mallerie brings this over from Eric Moore at Senator O. You can play another spring sport, but if you're not, you're running track. Yeah. All right. So, sales has that package of height to go along with state track level speed in the 100 and 200.
And to me, the best example of that speed that I saw last year were the times he played defensive back. Wow. Watching him jump a route and be able to make up five yards in like two steps because of his wingspan, his length of stride and his overall speed. It was jaw-dropping watching him in coverage. I realize that normally 65 wide receivers that have that level of speed don't get converted, right? I got to wonder if at some point some somebody says, "Hey, do we at least give this a try, right?"
Uh because I was blown away what I saw from him defensively. Wow. But again, when you have that combination, normally they save defensive backs for the six foot and under guys. The 6'5 guys, they keep playing offense knowing there's a potential Sunday future for them. Exactly. Uh you know, down the road.
So, um sales, he's pretty impressive. But again, he's got a battle for Mr. football on his own team. Yeah, that's how good Zay Moore is. And and and again, it is it is an arms race. You're throwing the 50 yard out.
You hand the ball to the guy that's going to take it 50 yards when he touches it. Which one you want to go to? And that's what makes them so tough to stop. Lawrence North never a normal game. They can put up so many points. I mean, they beat LC in a wild game to start the season.
They beat him with a second left to go. Yep. And LC got him with zeros on the board in the same field 10 weeks later. Unreal. Yeah. That's why it's that's why it's the premier game to start the season.
There's no question about it. I will say this though, that was a two-year deal where they were they were week one. They have moved them back to week three. Okay. So, Brownsburg at LN starts the season and that's the game that I will have on my indie TV. Well, I think I know what uh WTR's game of the week will be there week one.
But, okay. Brandon Sharp with Brownsburg. What do you What's the comparison with this young man? Doesn't have the height, has everything else. Yeah. you know, elite level speed.
Yeah. Uh and the ability to be a playmaker. So, um you know, I'll make a comparison to a former LN receiver. Maybe he's Omar Cooper. Yeah. Now, again, Omar was a great basketball player at LN.
He was basically a power forward on a state runnerup team in 2021. Um so, I'm not sure Sharp has that kind of physicality coming out of high school. He can certainly develop it as he gets to Indiana University, but you get that level of speed, you can figure some things out. Yeah, there's no question about it. Brownsburg has been elite to watch on the offensive side of the football quarterbacks in central Indiana who who who catches your eye there. Kind of the same the same names and same teams we've talked about and again, you know, getting off the bus, he doesn't catch your attention, but Oscar Fry has just won.
Yeah. the fact that he has been unbeaten uh in in terms of his postseason games given the level at which he has played the teams he has had to play against clearly he gets my attention kind of of of the nonplayers that we or the as we haven't talked about in terms of the the big six of 6A football obviously Jim Sorgg's son at Tri West is going to get your attention yep yeah there's no question about that has a team ever won backto-back state championships in Indiana high school football they have it's been in smaller classes. I've got to Warren Central did it three years running in terms of what was 5A back then. So, yes, it has happened. Okay. Well, we'll see if Brownsburg can do it.
They are as good of option as anybody in class 6A smaller schools. And by smaller, you know, two to 5A, new PAL maybe in particular. Sure. And they're a year away from being in 6A. In other words, all they have to do is win the regional this year in 5A, which isn't a given. you know, Cathedral, you know, will be in their path at some point in time.
Um, but New Pal should be in 6A and the job that Kyle Ralph has done there has just again, he's a and we can say this about other guys, too. He's a college level coach that chooses to coach high school football. Yeah. And while Newal has always been a solid athletic program, it has changed the trajectory of what else they do because the impact that Kyle has had on the weight room, not just for the football athletes at Newal but all athletes at Newal. Look at how dominant they have been in softball, you know, kind of off and on over the course of of of the last 15, 20 years with Ed Markham. And you know, Kyle's tenure is the last 12, 13 years, you know, kind of of that run um in southern Hancock County.
So, um, if you if you go to outside of 6A, New Pal's where you have to start. Yeah, no question. Kyle Ralph 155 and 14 going into his 14th year at the school. When you average a loss a year, it's pretty good. You're okay. Yeah, it's not bad.
And uh, at Bronie this season, y IMG Academy comes to town. So, I had the pleasure of seeing IMG when they played at Ben Davis three years ago. Uh, and the fact that that Ben Davis team who want to win the state championship, uh, hung with them into the third quarter is a sign of thing. I remember there was a kid and I forget his name at this point. He's going to go play at Oklahoma. And this is he is a full-on man at at 17, 18, whatever he was about 6'5 and 280.
He goes out and he jumps up and catches a screen pass and comes all the way across the field and all the way down the field about 80 85 yards. Look. Yeah, I think I see why he's going to the SEC, but but I see why that talent is there and they've got that at a lot of positions. So, for Newal, it is a massive step up. Part of this is the fact their conference is one that is in transition. Yeah.
You know, Newal has been so dominant in football and that who's your heritage conference, you know, you've got some schools said, "Hey, we're simply not growing at the rate of the three Hancock County schools of Pendleton Heights." So, that conference is kind of splitting now. They're reloading over the next two years by adding Lebanon and Garen Ember Buff to that league. Yeah. Um but still there were there were some openings in the schedule. So on comes Ron Collie one year g one-year deal in terms of IMG.
And you'd like to say well it's kind of like the IU non-conference argument, you know, in terms of new pal. Maybe their schedule hasn't been great. It hasn't affected them in terms of the postseason or what they have done. So, this is the IMG game in particular is a cool to use the Indie 500 terminology, oneoff. Yeah, it's a one time happening. Let's see how it plays out.
And if they get beat, big deal. Yeah. On to the next game. And it makes you better for the postseason. Right, Kyle Ralph. They have needed it.
Right. And Kyle Ralph doesn't back down from anybody. Does Ben Davis get back to their standard? You know, they've got a new coach in Brett Cooper. Uh Russ Mann is now the head coach at Lawrence Central. uh for them and and and to a lesser degree Warren Central maybe they've not been as consistent over the last decade but it has been about these great classes that come through and Warren kind of has one of those going through right now for Ben Davis they had that two or three years ago with that group that I always think of of of of Nylon Brown on the defensive side that kind of led the charge even though he was a Brownsburg movein was the guy that led the charge obviously Mark Zachary now playing at Notre Dame who was not in that class was a year behind those guys, but was a big factor.
And again, what a player to be a a key player on the basketball and football teams at the second largest school in the state as a freshman. Wow. Doesn't happen. Uh so, so what what he was able to do, um I think for Ben Davis, it's just about trying to get back to the upper half of the Mick. Yeah. again.
And now that Carmel and Center Grove are back, that's a mouthful to be an upper half Mick team. Yeah. Especially with how good Warren and Lawrence North are going to be this year. They're going to have their work cut out for him. No question about it. Mark Zachary, arguably one of the best high school football players I've ever seen.
Every time I watched him, he would make something happen. And obviously, I'm partial cuz he went to Notre Dame. He would he would be he would be a division one basketball player and obviously briefly was. Yeah. for for the Irish uh because he was an Indiana All-Star having played two games his senior year after injuries. Yeah, Northwestern was after him if memory serves.
So, that's going to be interesting. Uh are there any under the radar players or teams maybe surprise player or team that could burst onto the scene this year in your opinion? You know, from a from a small school standpoint, one of the story lines that I'm looking at uh and it was kind of a unique confluence of circumstances and this reminds you of your college days in Greencastle. South Putnham and Green and and Cascade are not separated by a by a lot and they were the 1A and 3A champions last year. Yes. South Putinham bumps up to 2A by the success factor.
Remarkably, Cascade drops to 2A. Really? Because of enrollment. I did not know that. And they did not do enough the previous year. Tri West beat them right.
I think maybe regional round uh the year before uh in the fall of 24. And they're in the same sectional. So, in one 2A sectional, you have the 1A and 3A champs that both played and won back-to-back games at Lucas Oil last year that in theory could have played each other the first night of the sectional this goound. That's really interesting. Cascade put up points last year. My goodness.
And they gra they graduated a lot of those kids, but but they have been successful enough in football. Yeah, new head coach there as well comes over from New Pal in in Brickens that has been in their system. They're going to keep winning at Cascade, but it is a slightly different cast of characters. And if I if I have heard right, the Mauy Shields kid at South Putham, okay, I think has a chance to set the state tackles record, okay, as a senior at South Putham because he's had like half a million of them so far in his first three years. So, he's a guy to watch. The Jefferson kids now preferred walk-on at Indiana State.
Okay. From that group that that was a big impact player for them defensively. Uh but uh that kid's a a division one level athlete telling what sport he picks to play after his days at South Putham. Wow. Okay. Yeah.
I was I was went to very many South Putnham North. You were probably on the call of those for WGRE. Correct. You better believe it. Your sound alternative. All right.
So that's uh that's fun trip down memory lane there. But what were the biggest coaching changes that you saw? We talked about Russ man from Ben Davis to Lawrence Central who filled in uh Brett Cooper at Ben Davis. Any others that I'm missing? That off the top of my head, no. We frankly had a lot of coaching changes the year before.
We did a lot and so we didn't have as many of those. You know, of note, Mike Kersner getting back into it and going back to Mount Vernon. M I've got friends on that staff. They're rebuilding. They're they're quickly having to kind of rebuild numbers and culture and size and things like that. So, that's going to be a very well coached team that I'm not sure is going to win a lot of games.
Yeah. You know, this coming year, but that is a name to certainly note that Mike is back in terms of Mount Vernon. Uh Caleb Small who was an assistant who was a coordinator at Ben Davis for many years then took the Cookamo job. He goes back to his alma moater of Hamilton Heights. Yes. So that is that is something to clearly make sure you uh you notate as well.
So there there's a there's a few that are like that. Um and unfortunately Cookamo is now on their third coach in the last three years. Uh and and good luck to Grant Foes who is like younger way younger than you at this point. Oh boy. like a couple years removed playing Indiana Wesleyan and going to be a varsity head coach kind of out of the area but really it was it was the Ben Davis and LC moves from a local standpoint are the ones that kind of catch your attention. That's interesting.
And yeah, as far as coaching changes, I know JT Whitaker was a big one at Warren. Correct. And I thought did a great job to get them to the semi-state last year. 100%. like like you mentioned earlier, maybe a year ahead of schedule and the cascade change that we mentioned. And again, Brady Simmons going the administration route that clearly that's not somebody getting run a state championship.
That was, hey, I've achieved this. This is the direction I want to go with my career and going the administrative. Yeah, man. Cascade was fun to watch. Just all the state championships fun to watch at Lucas Oil Stadium. All right, before we get into our last kind of portion here, Greg, I do want to talk about the state championship.
you have the pleasure of calling many of those games. I have covered high school sports in different states. There is no state that does state championships like Indiana. Do you agree? And how cool of experience is that for? It's a very cool experience.
I I I don't have the comparison to other states. I didn't work in Tallahassee the way you did, so I don't have the the knowledge, but I know we put a lot of pride into it. And to give you an idea, largely the same crew that I'll be working with for the Indianapolis Colts preseason games are the folks that produce the football state championships. And my producer Joe Goodrich that I work with for the Colts does football, basketball, and wrestling state finals that I'm a part of. That gives you an idea as to just how serious that we take this. I'm very fortunate that a lot of the folks that I get to work with at ISC are folks that are a part of the state finals coverage whether that's Mark James, Lance Shy, Jared Thomas, Jan Boer, other play by Kurt Darling, etc.
Um, so I get to work with those folks on a on a regular basis during the course of the year. But, uh, again, just as we have said throughout the course of our conversation, we tend to take high school sports very seriously around here. Have a great time doing what we do, but we take it very seriously. Yeah, it's it's it's one of my favorite things and especially that 6A game where the lower bowl is basically full, right? The Brownsburg Westfield games the last two years have been awesome environments. Not that the other ones aren't, they most certainly are, but that 6A game, you get bigger communities and it starts to become a serious football environment.
All right, I've been loving this high school talk. I want to talk about the Colts, IU, and we'll get you out of here, Greg, but you've been out of Colts camp with me pretty much every day here in the early going. What has stuck out to you? What are your biggest takeaways from this 2026 Colts team from training camp so far? A consequential season. Uh Daniel Jones looks good.
Yeah, he's done everything they've asked him to do. Again, the cav caveat, he's wearing a red jersey. They're not hitting him even if he's fully healthy. Uh and if he plays in the preseason, it will be brief. Yeah. And he's not exactly sevenst step drop and hold the ball.
It is sprint roll outright, throw the ball, hit crossing pattern, wave cap, get out of game. if he if he plays in a preseason game. Um, but he looks the part and he's got still, as you and I are having this conversation, five more weeks left to go, right, in terms of rehab, healing, etc. I think the offense I hope the offense we saw the first eight weeks of the season. I think he can run that offense. Maybe you run him less.
Yeah. Maybe there's a few more balls that are dirted. Yeah. Um, but but I think the offense is if not 100% is 90 to 95% of what it was, which was really damn good, right? The first half of the season. Secondly, Seth McGowan could play.
Yes. Thank you. I completely agree. And again, you can't because even if you pop pads, you're not supposed to bring him down. Yeah. By the way, folks, if you ever hear developmental session when you're at training camp, right?
That means it's third or fourth string because they let those guys tackle. to be your developmental period gladiator it's on. Okay. Other than that, you can hit them, don't bring them down. It's kind of the rule of thumb uh in terms of preseason practices. But McGowan is kind of has that burst, has that vision.
Yeah. And and again, you can't expect Jonathan Taylor, I looked this up live on the air on Monday on the fan, he played 82% of the offensive snaps last year. That doesn't happen for top tier running backs, right? And if I had the time, you've got like an entire research staff the other side of this wall. Have them look this up. How many of those snaps he sat were third downs?
Where in other words, you knew he wasn't going to get the ball, right? My guess would be is that of of you know, the snaps he would have play like his first and second down snap percentages probably north of 90% last year. It's great that he did that. You can't bank on that again. And so having a guy that you feel can spell him just for five or six touches a game I think is massive. So those are the, you know, there's other things we can talk about.
Those are the two things I'm kind of most are these are the the two big impressions I've had through the week and a half that we've been out there so far. I'd say the last three practices in particular, Seth McGawan has just flashed. Yeah. I mean, he runs so hard. Shane Stiken said that's what they saw at Kentucky. The physicality in which he runs with.
I've heard three comps in just the last three days. Zack Moss, David Montgomery, and Isaiah Pacheco. It's not I'll take any of those as a backup running back and feel good about that. That's not bad company to be in if you're talking about Seth McGawan. There's certainly a lot more to get to. A lot of lot of question marks around this team, but it is early.
Yep. It's early in camp. Hope springs eternal. So, you never know when it comes to the Indianapolis Colts. Are you at all concerned about Alec Pierce? a a little bit, you know, and and I think I think it's Pierce's health that will dictate a move in terms of another wide receiver.
Yeah, there's obviously lot of Keenan Allen conversation and because of the tie in knowing Shane Stiken from their time together with the Chargers again that that that makes sense. And if they bring him in, period, I'm I'm not mad about that. Um but at the same time, I'm a big believer in Ashton Doulan. Yeah. I'm a big believer in Josh DS. I'm a big believer in Tyler Warren.
uh to kind of take the the phrase from Moneyball. I think you can recreate Michael Pitman Jr. in the aggregate. Yes. But you need Alec Pierce to be out there to do those things. Correct.
And so the fact that that he's not I mean he's been out there but no seemingly closer getting off the pup list, right? That's a bit concerning a little bit. It's just getting to a point where it's getting a little long, right? And it's like, okay, how serious was this? And he's going to I mean, he's going to need a week or two to ramp up, right? He's not He can't just roll out again.
We're not going to see him in a preseason game. Yeah, I don't I think I'll be talking about Alec Pierce, not describing him make a catch in one of our three telecasts. It that wide receiver room just changes because if a defense only has to focus on Josh DS and Tyler Warren, I'm a little more worried about the pass. Agreed. Correct. So, we'll see what happens there with the Indianapolis Colts.
One college question for you. Yep. Does IU football have a follow-up act in them? What's your outlook on the Indiana Hooers? So last year just from a common sense standpoint like hey listen Indiana went 11 and two right Indiana you know going in you're like hey hopefully they get six games and get to a bowl game wouldn't that be nice because that was our outlook you know for half of a century making a bowl game is the pass fail grade you get playing in a Rose Bowl playing in the Big 10 championship game those are the dreams for other people those don't exist for us here like I remember, and this is probably 15ish years ago at this point, when they when they had the legends and leaders division, right? Somehow Indiana ended up in the cheaters division cuz Ohio State and Penn State were not eligible.
So basically four teams in their half could have made it and there was a scenario they got to like the second Saturday November and they were hosting Wisconsin and if they like won out, they'd have been seven and five, but they would have won the division and be able to play in the Big 10 championship game. and Bucky beat him 62 to10 in Bloomington. Geez. Yeah, that that that was that that was, you know, Indiana football uh back then. It's not that way now. No.
So, I know who they have to replace. I know who they have back. And they have guys that came back that you're like, well, that shows you the NIL ability of of offering guys some cash that aren't guaranteed first round picks like Fernando, like Omar Cooper, or high draft picks like Elijah Surro, etc. Um, and so I'm not going to put a limiting factor on IU just because common sense tells you they can't do this again, right? Yeah. Well, they did it last year, right?
They got better than 11 and two. They won everyone they played and won a national championship. So, is it possible? Of course, it's possible. So, could there be a slip up this year? Certainly.
Uh but uh at this point I expect him to be a a contender for the CFP every year as long as Kurt Signetti is the head coach till proven otherwise. That's right. You know what I mean? And not just making a Rose Bowl, but beating the you know what out of Alabama. Their quarterback tapped out. Yeah.
Tapped out of the game. The Crimson Tide fans were hitting the exits in the third quarter. Folks, I've never seen an environment like that. And again, it's it's a different era, but for three generations, Rose Bowl dream. Rose Bowl dream. Rose Bowl's almost an afterthought now.
Yeah, because there were two games played after it. Unbelievable. Right. It's good stuff from Kurt Signetti and the Indiana Hooers. It's going to be a lot of fun. I I have a feeling Ohio State at home's going to be college game day and you follow it up with a trip to Ann Arbor.
So, it's going to be it's going to be interesting. All right. And we'll we'll we'll certainly see what the Hooers can do. Last thing I got for you, Greg. First of all, this has been awesome. Thank you so much.
love talking high school ball with you and just everything associated with what your career has been. You're as good a person to ask this as anybody. What makes sports special in Indiana? The passion that exists for multiple levels, you know, where we have a a a Colts team where, you know, you don't see less than 60,000 folks at a game. Look at the turnout for the Indiana Pacers this year. When a month in, you knew they're not playing past the middle of April, right?
People kept coming to games. Look at the passion for the Indiana Fever now. No other team does radio in the WNBA. No other team has a radio television network the way that the Indiana Fever do. Look at what the coverage we give to high school sports state finals. I mean, I think your alarm goes off at like 2:30 in the morning, right, to go do live local television.
You get people fired up on a Friday morning for high school football. Um, then you have events like the Indie 500. People were geeking out about a brand new car turning laps the Motor Speedway, right? Three times in the last four or five days. So there are few places, if any, that have that combination of things as we do in Indianapolis, as we do in the state of Indiana, which is part of why I'm now had this be my profession now entering my fourth decade of doing this because I'm old. Well, I that is why I consider what you and I get to do.
We're very lucky. And I'm I'm honestly lucky, Dom, that that 911, which you were a little kid when it happened. It happened pretty early in my career. And so I was about three years into doing this full time when that took place and I wasn't doing a sports talk show that day. Um, you know, you're doing real life stuff, right? And I'm glad that that happened.
I'm not glad that it happened at all, but I'm glad that it happened early in my career because it very much set the, hey, listen, this is really cool. You get paid to go to ball games for a living. there are other bigger things that happen in this world that put sports in the proper perspective, right? Um then we all had that COVID break of 2020 where I think I had one live sporting event to cover in the span of four months and frankly my life was less disrupted than a lot of other people that work in our business. Um and so I've had enough examples in real life to go, you know what, you get to play in the toy box of life being in sports. I'm okay with that.
I think and that's a great perspective. Greg, this has been awesome. Greg of ISC Sports Network. He's the voice of the Indie 11 Indianapolis Colts preseason games. Anything really in the state of Indiana Bell Classic, baby at Ball State. Hey, you guys are going to be there obviously.
What do you think of that? Love it. Um and and I I know what this has been on the on the docket for a while. I knew this was coming. Um you weren't going to bump the band competition out of Lucas Oil. Uh October, November band month, right?
Uh uh because of the um social environment of the game, you're not going to have this at a high school football stadium. Uh Ball State is absolutely right size for this. The shoe seats about 22,000. It would not stun me if there's 20,000 people at the game this year. All right, you heard that. We've been we've been preaching a sellout, but let's get 20K plus in my for the 2026 Monell Classic.
Greg, thanks so much for coming on. We appreciate you. This episode will be out soon. Well, obviously be listening to it right now, but we got all sorts of football stuff coming. We got Kevin Lynch, Mike Uremovich coming up. Hopefully Jeff Rab John's we get on the program.
So really, really good stuff. Thank you, Greg. You are the absolute man. Appreciate you for all you've done for me and my career. Appreciate you guys listening. Follow get in sports at domarend TV for all your central Indiana coverage.
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