Thursday on Newsmakers Week: Kevin Guy, Tony La Russa and Andrew Barroway

Every day of Newsmakers Week, the major decision makers of our community answer our questions. It takes an incredible time commitment from our teams and event hosts to come to our studios but it makes the interviews much more conversational. I think conversations give you, the listener, more content and, hopefully, more entertainment.

The questions don’t end with us. We’re reading your questions from twitter to the major players sitting in our studio. Every day, I’ll give you a quick run down of my highlights from the day. These are quick snapshots of our conversations as I remember them and not direct quotes. Feel free to give me your highlights @doug987FM.

Here’s what happened Thursday:

KEVIN GUY

He’s won three straight ArenaBowls as head coach of the Rattlers. He’s been to four straight. Yeah, the first one that he lost still burns. :02 left on the clock. Jacksonville inside the two. He calls timeout and talks to seven of his eight players in the huddle. Jacksonville scores the winning touchdown in the US Airways Center. Guy finds out later that the eighth man entered the huddle late while talking to the defensive coordinator and they weren’t on the same page.

How did the conversation go to a four-year old football game? The story relates to the 2015 season for the NFC West Division champs. Either the Seahawks come back with new fire — granted, they got to the Super Bowl, but their September and October left their chances in doubt — or the weight of losing in that fashion was too much to handle. Butler’s interception is an even bigger story if it affects the Seahawks for years to come.

Despite three championships, the home loss to Jacksonville still invokes a passionate response of frustration. Even though he gives credit to that game to lead them back to future championships, three isn’t enough when he could have had four.

Did Seattle’s Super Bowl loss close the window on more championships or force the window to stay open longer than expected?

TONY La RUSSA

The starting rotation is unimpressive. The offense appears weak on paper. Defense looks good but has a hole depending on who starts.

La Russa didn’t say any of those things. That’s how I felt going into the conversation. After listening to La Russa, my opinion hasn’t changed. I think the Diamondbacks are going to struggle to reach third place in the West. After listening to La Russa, I’m not concerned, either. Speaking to him during commercial breaks is even more eye-opening than on-air. No one matches humility and confidence better than La Russa.

I’m buying stock in the La Russa way. Over time, things will turn around for the Diamondbacks. My concern is La Russa’s success has so much to do with his ability to communicate with players and out-think the opposing manager. Neither of those two skills will do him much good in his executive role. The issue is fitting those strengths into his current role.

ANDY BARROWAY

Just a good dude.

Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but he was very nervous going into the conversation. Not because it’s meeting Ron Wolfley, but because he’s not a guy that seeks out personal attention. All of us have this image of how an owner should sound. No one ever allows an owner to be normal. Andy is a regular guy who has never done a radio interview and was nervous.

The reason I bring that up is it’s important to understand that the uneasiness at times in his voice are not to be taken as a shakiness in his commitment. From the time that Jerry Reinsdorf was denied ownership of the Coyotes until this morning, I’ve never completely believed in the long-term future of the team. I do now.

When the first person you talk to about being a team owner is your son, that verifies you’re not investing into a hedgefund with plans of moving or getting out as soon as the market dictates. When Barroway said that his son was the first person he shared the news with on the NHL Board of Governors agreeing to his purchase, there’s a sense of pride. If you call your partners, that means you’re excited to move the team to Vegas. A call to other investors means that “Step 3” of your plan has been accomplished. He didn’t make secret calls to “Execute order 66.” He told his son, they own the Coyotes.

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