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Hello,
Monarch fans, and welcome back to the Hudson homers podcast.
Season two, episode one joined as always by CB Wilkins, but we have a special
guest for the first episode of the second season head coach, Chris Finwood.
Finny how are you doing?
Coach Finwood: I'm doing great.
I'm sampling dark chocolate.
Did you guys know the difference in the percentage of cacao
and dark chocolate of what?
is too bitter.
My wife.
I can't.
Coach Finwood: We always try to educate our our listeners on.
We do.
these episodes, right?
So, 72 percent is nice and sweet.
Eighty five is kind of in the middle.
92 percent is like cooking chocolate.
It's too bitter to really eat on.
So, just remember that everyone
CB: interesting.
I think my my last girlfriend like the 92 percent episode.
Gary: Is that, is that why she's an ex?
She's a little too bitter for you?
I mean, I'm bitter now.
I don't know about her.
Coach Finwood: Well, we're off to
Gary: We are learning great things today, but CB, I know you and
I talk pretty frequently, but how you been in the off season?
CB: Hey man, I'm great.
Been going to tons of ODU sports.
Uh, I think since we, we last talked, I've, I've seen, uh, what have I seen?
Men's and women's soccer.
I've seen field hockey.
I love field hockey, uh, volleyball, love volleyball.
We got some, uh, men's and women's basketball.
So I saw some men's and women's tennis the other night, football, obviously.
So I'm getting, uh, getting my sports in.
But obviously i'm excited because we're a few weeks away from getting
to see some baseball What actually mattered valentine's day good to
go down to atlanta and spend it with my real love some baseball
Coach Finwood: Are you coming down?
CB: I'm coming down.
Oh, yeah.
Coach Finwood: Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah,
CB: i'm gonna be there
Coach Finwood: You know, the last time we opened up on the road was 2014
CB: was that georgia tech
Coach Finwood: georgia tech for i was
CB: there
Coach Finwood: That's
CB: what that, I didn't realize that was the last time.
Wow.
So I was there for that time too.
Coach Finwood: 10 years ago.
Yeah.
CB: That was the first weekend for like, um, the Sinon Brothers, I think it was
their first weekend playing Joey Benito.
Few of those guys.
BA bridge,
Coach Finwood: it was gray.
Uh, my son Grace's freshman year.
Oh yeah, guys.
And, um, they were shoveling snow off the.
Field when we got down there.
'cause it, it was
CB: cold
Coach Finwood: drove through.
Yeah, I remember that because, uh, our bus driver, Robert, it was our first
time using them and, uh, the defroster was on the blink and so I was up in
the front of the bus with a towel.
We're driving through the mountains in North Carolina.
And I'm, I'm scraping the front of the inside of the window about
every two minutes so he could see.
I was like, yeah, this is college baseball, baby.
CB: They don't tell you about that when it comes to the coaching, uh, ins and outs.
Coach Finwood: They don't put that on the resume.
CB: Some
Coach Finwood: of the accomplished bus windshield inside windshield.
Gary: That might be the, uh, make or break for you, uh, going forward.
But I know, I know I'm starting to get a little bit of baseball fever.
It has not been baseball weather by any means the last couple of months, but.
I'm hoping we get that nice random warm spell in February that that
weekend when you're in Atlanta and just get some some good baseball
going because I know I miss it.
CB misses it.
And I'm sure coach you miss it too.
Coach Finwood: Yeah.
And this time of the year, we're kind of used to working through the ups and downs.
It's been a chilly stretch here, not just here, but everywhere.
I was talking to Carl and I'll make her down at Auburn this morning and
uh, the high was 31 there today.
On he's coming up and then it looks so by the end of the week through
the weekend and the next week, we got a little bit of a warm up.
So we'll look forward to that.
Our 1st scrimmage date is Friday.
So, um, that we're allowed to scrimmage, so we're working in into that and it looks
like we got a little bit better, better weather hopefully coming up for that.
Gary: Yeah, now, where is that scrimmage going to be?
And that leads me into the question.
I think it's on everyone's mind is.
What's going on with the stadium and the new fence that's around your ballpark.
Coach Finwood: Yeah.
The fence that was running right through the middle of the bullpen
this morning, uh, which we got moved, but, um, so yeah, the original plan
was they were already going to have be, um, started with, um, knocking
everything down and, uh, I think that's gotten moved back just a little bit.
So we're going to scrimmage at the bud.
this Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then the following weekend,
we still don't know yet.
It's all really the thing that's up in the air is when they start demolition.
Um, when that backstop net has to come down.
And so then we can't, you know, play there anymore.
Obviously live, we can still practice there every day, which we're doing now.
And the field actually is in great shape.
It looks really funny.
I don't know if you guys have been out there because we didn't oversee this
year because we weren't playing there.
And it's actually great for the Bermuda grass if you have an opportunity not
to oversee because it doesn't eat.
We're not going to get an agronomics on this episode, but not this episode.
And so the whole field's yellow brown, because the Bermuda has gone dormant
and it looks strange because I've never seen a baseball field, you know,
this color this time of the year, but I'll tell you this, it plays great.
Um, with no rye, you know, that ryegrass sticks up and the Bermuda lays down.
So, uh, you keep it cut pretty short.
So it plays great.
It just looks strange.
Uh, to be out there and not see any green.
CB: So where would you be scrimmaging?
Do you know, like if you all of a sudden can't use the body for the scrimmages?
Coach Finwood: We're, we're planning on scrimmaging at War Memorial.
CB: Okay.
Coach Finwood: We have that for, for those, uh, three weekends and.
Um, we're not going to need to go over there this weekend, but we would just take
vans over there and probably take batting practice at our place pictures over and
then after we hit, we'll send the hitters over and we'll play as long as we have
to play and then and then come on back.
So, it's nice actually, to not have to do that for this weekend,
but it also part of me wants to.
Play over there some because we're going to be playing some games over there and
we need to get used to, you know, the dimensions, the backdrop, the, the visual
aspects of it as well as the actual field.
CB: Yeah, you only have a couple of guys who've actually played live games.
They're like Kyle Edwards and I can't think of the else
Coach Finwood: probably only a couple.
I don't know if there's many, many more than that at all.
Gary: It's a different ballpark, but it has a really cool old school baseball
field to it with like the wooden stands and the advertisements on the outer wall.
That's reminds me of where I played in high school at
Deltaville ballpark games there.
But I think the 2nd question is probably on fans mind is.
We've got 15 home games that we know of within the Sunbelt Conference.
Is it available to the public yet of which series is going to
be where do you even know yet?
Coach Finwood: Yes.
So, um, 15 conference games and then one.
Non conference game against VCU, which will be at War
Memorial and sometime in April.
I can't recall exactly when, but we were going to play our 1st conference
series against George home conference series against Georgia State was
supposed to be at Harbor Park, but they're under construction with new
seats and they're not going to be done yet when we have that serious.
So that 1st 1, which is the middle of March.
Will be against Georgia State will be at war memorial the next 3 home series.
I think it's Troy Marshall and Louisiana Monroe.
No, no, they're on the road.
Who is it?
It's a Troy Marshall.
Somebody Louisiana Louisiana.
Not Monroe.
Yeah.
Lafayette.
All right.
So those 3 will be at Harbor Park and then the last 1 against coastal.
Carolina will be at War Memorial in May.
So right before the tournament.
Um, so that's, that's the, that's the schedule as we know it right now.
And, um, hopefully we'll be able to stick to that.
And it'll be neat.
You know, it's some of our fans on, you know, the peninsula side can get out to
War Memorial much easier and see us and.
Hopefully they will.
I know when we used to play VCU over here for that key dog classic game,
we'd have we'd have a good crowd of folks over here and the pilots will,
you know, help us, uh, you know, put that word out and advertise it.
And then, you know, we'll have 12, we'll have 9 games at Harbor Park.
So 3 series there, which is always a cool thing.
And we played pretty well there through the year.
So hopefully we keep that up.
CB: Yeah, it's pretty great.
I mean, War Memorial, the pilots, that's just a fantastic place to play.
They do such a good job over there and then get to play at
the Triple A Park in Norfolk.
I mean, like I said, if you can't play home games, it's not bad.
Yeah, yeah.
Coach Finwood: And it's it's it's nice for the guys that are seniors,
you know, So, um, we're playing such a cool schedule on the road this
year, just fantastic places to play.
And then you come home and like you said, you know, we're having
to work through a lot of stuff.
I mean, just every day right now, you know, our offices, our locker room,
we're completely out of the stadium.
We're over there in the old wrestling area and that locker room and offices.
And, um, so.
You know, we just walk over to practice and then, and then leave.
And so it's.
It's, it's, it's a different vibe and the guys have been fantastic so far.
I mean, they're, you know, we've been prepping them for this and
they, they didn't miss a beat, man.
We got out of there, we got everything cleaned up and moved out.
And, um, it's amazing how much junk you throw away when you move out of a space.
Uh, I found
CB: out when I bought my condo and it's a lot of stuff that you
just like, I don't need that.
Coach Finwood: Yeah.
Yeah.
Why did I say that again?
Seemed like a good idea at the time, but.
Um, we've also found some things we didn't know we had, uh, uh, box
of rosin bags just mysteriously showed up, uh, equipment room.
So Uh, yeah, things like that.
And, you know, so logistically, it's a little different, but,
uh, we're making it work.
CB: Yeah, every guy I talked to in the fall seemed really
excited about this, uh, schedule.
They, they didn't hear one guy.
It's like, oh, man, I'm gonna go on the road.
Like, you, again, you, you do a really good job of recruiting.
People who want to be here and people who want to play and have that kind
of Odu baseball mentality and that was very clear with every guy I
talked to like, yeah, I'm excited.
Let's go.
We're ready for the road
Coach Finwood: Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that.
We try We we've got some fantastic kids and again, it showed up in the
classroom, you know, we've got We set another record for, uh, GP team, GPA
this, this semester, um, with the, I don't know, a three, four or something.
And, you know, the guys just did a bang up job and hats off to
Amy Lynch, our academic advisor for spearheading all of that.
She's a superstar in every way.
And, and, you know, we, we love her too.
Yeah.
She's great.
And we try to recruit good students, um, and you know, they
get, you know, Very, very good support while they're here as well.
And so, you know, the other thing about this year, there's so many
things that your average person isn't going to Consider or think
about, you know, being on the road.
I guess COVID maybe helped us With preparing for this there's so many
more classes now available online than there ever were and so most of our
guys Classes are online this semester.
Um, because we were going to miss so much, it would have been, you
know, untenable for some of these guys to do well in their classes.
So we got most of them might have 1 class 1 in person class.
It's on like a Monday.
When we're, when we're always home or something of that nature.
Uh, but most of the rest of them are, are online classes.
And so they're able to, you know, take them whenever and still get their
work done and, uh, hopefully that'll lead to another successful, you know,
academic semester for the guys, a by product of that, that we're taking
advantage, uh, since they're not in class, we can start practice earlier.
And so we've been able to use a better part of the day this time of the year.
Like we're.
Normally can't start till, you know, 2, 2 33 o'clock because classes and we're
able to get out there and stretch at noon right now and get in the, you know,
the warmest part of the day, um, and get, get our practice and our work in.
And that, that's been very helpful.
Already this, this winter,
Gary: you're gonna be maxing out those wifi enabled buses as
you're cruising around Alabama and Mississippi and all that.
Coach Finwood: Yeah.
And they're gonna have more study halls on the road 'cause of all the
online stuff and things like that.
So we're already working on, on that type of schedule.
But, you know, we'll, we'll just make it work man.
It's gonna be a year where you're just gonna have to, uh, adjust and
improvise and overcome some obstacles in the way and, and figure it out.
And.
sometimes when you're on the road for extended periods of time, which is our
whole season this year, uh, the guys, the guys have a tendency to bond through that.
You know, you're in hotels and you're eating together and
spent a lot more time together.
And I think sometimes that can lead to actually getting closer.
CB: I remember the guys in, uh, 21 when they won the tournament down there,
I think, I think you guys played in Louisiana at Louisiana Tech, and then just
kind of stayed there for the tournament.
And I know they were saying that, like, just all that time together,
especially being there in the same place.
They're like, we own this place, like, this isn't their home field anymore.
I mean, that was a, and it showed up and how they played.
Coach Finwood: Yeah, yeah, that was neat that worked out good for us.
Um, uh, and being able to do that.
And, uh, it was like a perfect storm almost that year.
Gary: Yeah.
Well, switching gears a little bit, I know you've got scrimmages this weekend,
but you also have a big event on Friday night, the step up to the plate
fundraiser at six o'clock, uh, for fans out there, they're still interested.
They hear this in time.
You can go to odusports.
com.
You can go to the ODAF website and find information there to
get yourself a ticket, donated ticket, all those things, but.
Tell us a little bit about what's going to be going on and
step up to the plate on Friday.
Coach Finwood: Well, we're giving the Bud Metheny Award out this year
to Coach Wright, Roland Wright, the head coach, Ro Ro and well deserved.
I mean, he's a legend and in my book and most people's
book in terms of high school.
baseball coaches in the state of Virginia.
He's won a number of state championships, regional championships.
We've had a bunch of his players here through the years and you know, maybe Zach
Rutherford was was the best one we've had.
Um, you know, it was an all conference and all american shortstop for us
in the fifth round draft picked by the rays and rose just a great
Great ambassador for baseball.
He works hard.
Um, in addition to his, you know, duties with Western branch, he,
he helps my Kodair with that Thunderbirds group in the summer.
Um, he helps with the all state games, uh, the Commonwealth games.
He, he's got his hands in a lot of different pots of baseball at the
youth level and, uh, high school level and even younger than that.
Um, so he's, um, you know, Keeping with the theme of trying to give that
award to people that, you know, really support and help baseball in the area.
He's certainly deserving and, um, we're happy.
He's going to be there to accept it.
Um, in addition, we'll introduce this year's team, talk a little bit
about the stadium project and, um, just have some good fellowship, man.
It's become a pretty cool little.
Grassroots almost hot stovish feeling night, um, which is shifting gears from.
You know, the more formal, uh, banquets that, that we've had in
the past, but I really like it.
It's, um, you know, other than having to yell at people to be quiet when
the speakers are talking, uh, it's a, it's a lot of fun, which I don't
mind, you know, uh, you get a, you get an open bar and hors d'oeuvres
and bunch of baseball guys yapping.
It's hard to shut them up sometimes, but that's, that's the extent of our problems.
We're in pretty good shape.
CB: It really is a great event.
It's, you know, like you said, back when it was more like a big formal
kind of dinner thing, it was nice.
But when you made that move where y'all have it there at the, uh, the football,
it was the priority club, I believe it's called at the football stadium.
And, uh, it's, it's more like a, you know, you're standing around talking and
you have, you know, you have plates of food, but it's, it's just the ability
to interact, the ability for everyone to talk and move around and interact,
the players, you know, walking around, talking, interacting and people meet,
you know, my every year, my mom will sit.
Then dad will sit and talk with some player for like 15, 20 minutes.
And that's their guy for the whole year.
Uh, like Trent Buchanan was their guy last year.
You know, I mean, obviously they, you know, they love Vincent Bashara.
I've known him forever, but now Trent's the new guy.
Coach Finwood: Yeah.
Yeah.
It's really cool.
And I tell our guys, you know, it's a good opportunity for them to mingle and,
and learn how to network a little bit.
I said, man, there's a lot of business owners in here.
Like, there's, there's guys that might want to give you a job if they like you.
So get it, get out and introduce yourself to some of them.
Uh, and, and yeah, you know, a lot of the, the, you know, our,
our longtime supporters and, you know, this year it'll be much more
difficult to, to see us in person.
Um, you know, because we're not playing at home very much, but that's
another thing that I think is neat.
Um, in today's environment with, uh, the popularity and the, and the advent of
ESPN plus, you'll still be a, you know, our fans will still be able to watch us
if they want to see us and just be on TV.
Gary: And sometimes that actually works out better for me, because I'll be at
work and just have it up on my phone on the side of the desk or, you know,
working here at home, something like that, a little bit more convenient.
I would
CB: never do that in case my boss ever sees this, but that's an idea
that somebody, if somebody were so inclined at a game at 3 o'clock when
you're still at work, they certainly could do that, put it on there.
They're one of their two monitors they have at work.
Coach Finwood: We would.
CB: So Finny I wanted to bring some up.
I really wanted to bring this up, especially while we're still
further away from the season.
So then, cause I'm sure it's the kind of thing you probably don't necessarily
want to focus on as the season comes up.
Uh, you have 391 wins at ODU.
So you're about nine away from 400.
Coach Finwood: Yeah, not too many away from 700 overall, which is cool.
I've got most of those here, right?
CB: You have and so to, to further that, uh, I don't know if you, do
you know how many wins Bud Matheny had, uh, all time at old dominion?
Coach Finwood: I do not.
CB: So you're pretty close for 23.
Coach Finwood: Okay.
CB: So you're 32 away from him.
So there's a very real chance by the end of this year, you could be
the all time, or at least tied with.
And certainly, I would say, if not this year, we're certainly
getting there next year.
You know, we are, so you're on the edge of being the odds being having more
wins than the guy the stadium's named after, which I think is pretty deep.
Coach Finwood: Well, that's humbling to hear that.
And, um, you know, my, my response to those things are always just, it's,
it's, it's, It's just a product of being around a lot of good players and having
a lot of good coaches with you and, uh, administration that, that helps out and,
and, you know, being able to hang on in this thing long enough to be get older.
And college athletics has changed so much.
I mean, unprecedented changes, unprecedented changes
in the last five years.
Certainly.
Um, you know, you see the last five
CB: minutes, maybe.
Yeah.
Coach Finwood: You know, a lot of the guys, um, you know, like the Tony
Bennett's of the world and guys like that up and down, um, which is, which
is a little bit of a shame, but the world keeps spinning and, you know, you
got to find ways to adjust and we're certainly trying to Do that as well.
Um, and you know, it's just, you got to figure out a way to
make it work in the environment.
You're in.
CB: Well, to tell you how different things are.
Uh, this is 1 record.
I think you won't catch, but I may have this number incorrect.
I think I got it right.
He also has 198 wins as the basketball coach, which Jeff
Jones only broke a few years ago.
Coach Finwood: Yeah, that's amazing, isn't it?
CB: That's pretty crazy.
Coach Finwood: So, uh, he wore a lot of hats back then, and of course, college
athletics, we're talking about a different world, but it's kind of amazing, and
you know, we want to make sure that We keep that legacy alive, you know, as we
rename the stadium and things like that.
And certainly his name will be a part of the new, you know,
stadium in some capacity.
I'm not exactly sure what yet.
But, um, you know, there's lots of, um, there's lots of
inventory in a baseball stadium.
When I was at Auburn.
I think it was, uh, this guy's name at Playsman Park at this stadium.
Uh, you know, it was like four different names.
Yeah.
Uh, that, that's how they, that's how they make it work.
So, uh, we'll, we'll do something similar to that.
CB: Having a bunch of great people to honor is not a bad, uh, plan.
Not a, not a bad problem to have.
Coach Finwood: No, never, never.
Right.
And, um, you know, he's a part of our history and, and certainly a
big part of ODU's athletic history.
And like you mentioned.
You know, athletic director, basketball coach, baseball coach,
uh, played in the big leagues.
And, um, I had a, uh, Brandon Pond, one of our, our, uh, graduate assistants
was up in New York over the Christmas holidays and sent us a picture.
He was in the Yankee.
Um, the New York Yankees Museum and it had a, it had a signed
ball from Bud Metheny in there.
And, uh, he sent a picture that was really cool, I thought.
That's very cool.
Signed ball from like everybody that's ever played for the
Yankees in there, which is neat.
Gary: Wow, that is that's pretty awesome.
Well, we won't hold you up too much longer.
Just have one more question You have a birthday dinner to get
to so happy birthday, of course 29 years old looking great
Coach Finwood: I'll take it
Gary: Yes, I gotta be honest.
If you were 29,
CB: you look terrible like that's that's not playing.
Let's be real You look great for your age.
You look terrible for that age
Coach Finwood: I I uh, i'll take all of that man.
My daddy's say Another year on the right side of the grass
All of it's good, man.
As long as I keep having them, then I'm okay with it.
Gary: Yeah.
Well, you mentioned Brandon Pond is back this year as a G.
A.
Uh, I think you have some other additions to the coaching staff.
I know we'll go in more of the roster in a future episode, but we'd love
to hear a little bit about some of the newcomers to the staff this year.
Yeah.
Coach Finwood: So, so Paul Panic, um, is our new full time assistant.
Uh, he took, uh, Ryan Fineman's place.
Ryan went to Troy, um, University and Paul was at William and Mary most recently.
Um, Paul was the head coach at Iona.
Um, his brother, Joe, uh, Panic, uh, I think it's Joe.
Is that right?
Played in the.
Yeah.
Coach Finwood: And so he comes from a baseball family.
He's a fantastic guy.
He uh, he reminds me a lot of Coach Guzzo.
Uh, he's like a young coach goes, man.
He's got great personality, great energies, catching guy,
hitting guy, recruiting guy.
Um, he's just doing a bang up job.
Just a really solid dude.
And, uh, we're so happy to add him to our coaching staff.
And, um, then we got, uh, we mentioned Brandon Pond, who pitched
for us last year, uh, transfer here from Lynchburg College.
He's helping out with the pitching.
Uh, Ryan Moore, who was an All Conference USA pitcher for us here, um, retired from
ProBall, and he's back helping us out.
Uh, with the pitching as well.
Um, John Keane is our, our Director of Baseball Ops.
And, um, so yeah, so there's a few more, um, kind of player development,
uh, pitching guys to add to the staff and it's, they've been great.
They're, you know, these young guys are so talented.
Proficient at the analytics part of it.
Um, and that's been really, really cool to see their input and how
much they're putting into that.
And I think it's been really helpful for our pitchers for sure.
CB: So did I hear you guys have a data Analyst team now?
Coach Finwood: Yeah.
So they, Mike was able to work with our, um, gosh, it's somebody in the math
department, I guess, but, uh, they, they have a group, they have a actual class.
Baseball analytics.
Uh, undergrad or grad students, but yeah, they've been out to practice a few times,
you know, they're, they're, they're in the, you know, I walk in and I see them
all around the table and I call them the propeller heads, the nerd, the nerd
meeting, you know, they start talking to my eyes go cross cause I'm an English
major, like numbers, uh, they, they, they, they got it all, but they've got the You
know, the algorithms and all this stuff.
So they're taking stuff off the track, man.
And this stat file thing, I couldn't tell.
I'll have to get Mike on here to explain it sometime.
But
CB: yeah, because I'm definitely curious to see how that influences things.
Coach Finwood: They're running a whole class on this, which I think is awesome.
Cause some of these people are actually interested in that side of baseball.
Yeah.
Coach Finwood: And so they're getting, you know, which baseballs, you know,
every year goes more and more to the analytics side and, and so they're
getting, uh, you know, some real hands on experience at this, um, through
our, our program, which is neat.
CB: Well, I know one of your former players, uh, Joe Homaker, who's
the pitching coach at Princeton.
He teaches that class at Princeton, which we always like to joke
that, uh, you can go promote you.
You can go teach at Princeton.
Coach Finwood: There you go.
Yeah.
You can do anything.
So, yeah, that's cool, that's cool.
I'm bummed we're not playing Princeton this year.
I know.
No home game, so we're gonna try to get it back on the schedule when we get there.
When we get the, uh, the stadium back and, you know, I miss, uh, Coach Bradley
and, you know, especially when he brings Bruce Hornsby in the dugout for us.
That's super cool.
CB: Never a bad time.
Um, well, I know we said we're gonna let you go, but you
did bring it up a minute ago.
I want to make sure, you know, we, this is the first time we've had the podcast
since, uh, since we lost, uh, Coach Guzzo.
Um, and so just want to take a minute, you know, I mean, I know
for me, he was such a special guy.
He's just one of the first day I ever met him.
It was like, I mean, I, I went to games when he was coaching
back in high school and went out.
I really never met him then.
And then when you brought him back to help coach you, um, the 1st day I met him,
it's like, I had known him for 30 years.
Like, it's just who he was.
Uh, just, I, I was very fortunate that last year, uh, some point
point around June or so, I got to spend about 2, 3 hours at his condo
with him, just hanging out, talking and just, just being around goes.
And so I was, I was glad I had that kind of last, uh, last
time to hang out with him.
Yeah.
Coach Finwood: Wow, that's cool.
And if you've been in his condo, like, no sportsman has anything on his place
as far as memorabilia goes, right?
CB: That it was great.
I like I was as I was walking up the steps I saw he had a couple like
couple verlander things and I was like, oh, that's amazing And then you
turn the corner and it's just like it's like, uh, yeah It's like any
member beauty shop would be shamed.
It's it's amazing
Coach Finwood: I mean, I used to tell him man if you want to sell
all this stuff on ebay, you can make a million dollars probably
easy
Coach Finwood: he had like whole sets of figurines of of like, you
know, the 1928 yankees or something.
Yeah It was incredible.
Yeah, unbelievable.
Well, I'm
CB: bringing
Coach Finwood: him up CP like what a guy, you know, uh, just larger than life
legend of a guy that, um, I saw they, they inducted him into the Virginia
baseball coaches hall of fame in December.
And that was neat.
He certainly deserving of that, but he, you know, he'll, we're
wearing, uh, stickers on our helmets this year, say guz GUZ, uh, just
to honor him for this season.
And we'll find a, we'll find a space in that ballpark to, to keep that alive.
I know there's pictures out there on the outfield wall and, uh, Maybe
CB: put it next to the concession stand.
Coach Finwood: Hey, that'd be perfect.
We need to name maybe the hot dog after that.
The hot dogs,
CB: the Tony Guzzo hot dog stand.
Coach Finwood: I'll never forget, you know, him sitting in the dugout.
And it'd be one of those days where the guys down there cooking
the burgers and, you know, it's 15 minutes before game time.
We're all in there and he's sitting on his chair in there
and the wind just shifts over.
And so the, the, the smoke from the burgers kind of blows into the
dugout and he, and he, He goes, Ooh, cheeseburgers, and he sent one of the,
he sent one of the managers with a 20.
And you'd peak down, he'd have them somewhere hidden.
In the dugout and you peek down there about the sixth inning and he's kind of
hunched over to his house in that thing.
It's the most Guzz moment ever.
We can have a whole episode on, on Guz's eating habits too, by the way.
Uh, that, that's a story for, uh, You can do
CB: a podcast series, never mind an episode.
Coach Finwood: You absolutely could.
So, you've never seen a guy go through a, a giant, uh, Sam's Club
jar of mustard like Coach Guz could.
So,
I
Coach Finwood: appreciate you bringing him up, man.
Yeah.
Big loss for all of us, obviously.
And, uh, it was a really wonderful tribute we were able to have at the bud that day.
And, you know, yeah, that
CB: was, that was outstanding.
I was so glad you guys were able to, it was, it was nice that everyone got
to have that because, because that's the thing is it was a loss, but at
the same time, all you can do is think about how wonderful he was and how lucky
we all were that we got to have him.
Coach Finwood: That's, that's the best way to put it.
My dad used to say, we all end up just being stories, man, make sure
they tell some good ones about you.
And.
He certainly, uh, checked that box.
Gary: Well, coach, we're going to let you get onto dinner.
Thanks so much for hopping on.
We look forward to having you on some more episodes here in the future,
but uh, really appreciate you.
Coach Finwood: Yeah.
Let's do it again next week.
That was fun.
Thank
Coach Finwood: you.
And, uh, have a good, uh, have a good evening, everybody.
Go monarchs.