The Joe Gaither Show reacts to Eli Gold's departure from Crimson Tide Sports Network?
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00:00 But there's a time for everything.
00:04 Yeah, the part that stings the most on the 4th and 31 is you just know Chris Stewart
00:13 would have had this epic classic.
00:17 For Stewart's sake, I'm happy he was able to do the SEC Championship in the Rose Bowl.
00:22 Obviously, there wasn't that one, you know, SEC Championship was phenomenal.
00:26 We were both there, but there wasn't that one ridiculous play where all was lost and
00:31 then it wasn't snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
00:35 So that makes it sting a little more with specifically the 4th and 31 call.
00:40 But yeah, it wasn't good.
00:43 I mean, there's no other really way to say that.
00:48 And you know, maybe that's even sugarcoating it a little bit.
00:53 It's unfortunate.
00:54 It is reality.
00:55 You know, someone just said Eli never goes over the top.
01:00 I want my play-by-play announcer to go over the top.
01:03 Like, not all the time, because then it gets watered down a little bit.
01:07 I'll give you an over-the-top Eli Gold call that stays in my head all the time.
01:12 Right after the '09 National Championship win, you've won the Rose Bowl, Eli Gold comes
01:16 out the roses in this grand old stadium.
01:19 We're once again crimson red.
01:22 Like, that was exciting.
01:25 It was the first time in 17 years.
01:26 That was excitement.
01:27 That was history.
01:29 I can't think of another.
01:30 Like, you got Devontae Smith down the side.
01:33 You get the 2nd and 26th, I guess, it's an okay call.
01:36 It's an okay call.
01:37 I listened to that this morning.
01:40 You just get so much more meat with Chris Stewart as far as who's on the field, what's
01:47 been happening.
01:48 And it's the same in basketball.
01:50 Where the guys are.
01:51 What the time and score is.
01:53 How many timeouts each team has.
01:56 Like the basics of football.
01:58 Like, you're a radio man, Eli.
02:00 You know this.
02:01 No one's watching.
02:02 We need you to tell your information.
02:04 And so, it becomes, Michael, where do you balance the, you're a legend, absolutely.
02:10 You've been doing it since 1988, right?
02:14 Versus, maybe you've kind of fallen off your game.
02:17 I heard him yesterday on one of his...
02:19 Dude, he was doing the media tour yesterday.
02:22 Telling his side of the story.
02:23 And I guess, this morning.
02:24 He was basically saying, yeah, the university did imply that there was performance-based
02:31 reasoning to make this decision.
02:34 And like, look, you're not going to shove...
02:36 I don't know.
02:37 It just seems like the right place at the right time.
02:40 And Eli, you've got to have a little bit of awareness about yourself to say, you know
02:45 what?
02:46 I've been doing this since 1988.
02:47 So, longer than I had been alive.
02:49 So, like...
02:50 A few years before I was alive, yeah.
02:53 Respect to you for that.
02:55 But it's just a time and a place for everything.
02:59 I think you're at the right time and at the right place for this transition.
03:03 It's just unfortunate to me, the way that Eli's maybe received it.
03:10 You can be upset, absolutely.
03:11 You absolutely have a right to be angry, upset, unhappy.
03:17 Your feelings are valid.
03:18 But don't urinate on the last 35 years of great work and a great relationship.
03:26 I heard him yesterday talking about the university offering him a ticket package and parking
03:30 packages and different perks and amenities.
03:33 And he turned it all down.
03:34 I wonder, Michael...
03:36 And it sounded like he turned it all down in a bit of emotion.
03:41 I wonder if six months from now, a year from now, if he will regret the way that he's gone
03:48 about these last 40 hours.
03:49 Yeah, parking pass might be the biggest benefit in that whole thing.
03:56 Getting free parking in Tuscaloosa for the game.
03:58 You asked where they find that balance between those two factors.
04:02 I guess yesterday you saw where they find that balance.
04:07 I wish it wasn't the case.
04:12 It's hard to blame Eli, but again, he had to hear...
04:16 I'm sure he listened to Chris Stewart.
04:19 He actually hasn't really mentioned Chris Stewart that I've heard during his farewell
04:24 tour.
04:25 I think they're very professional with one another, but I'm not sure that they're close,
04:31 per se.
04:32 Yeah, no, I think that is probably accurate.
04:37 Because 1988 is like...
04:40 He could have just said, "All right, I thanked the university for 36 years, and I'm going
04:46 to hang it up now and go do other things."
04:49 He could have stayed working.
04:52 He says he's going to stay working, and that's great.
04:53 You still can't work as long as you want to.
04:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]