@BradLoganTOC@CoachMikeBianco@NCAABaseball Not going to lie the bus trips were the best if you can make a long bus trip together you can win it all. Trust me bonds are made on that bus great card games for sure
@ItsTheSituation@lauren_pesce And to the ones who are struggling check out one of Mike’s new clinics. You fought hard for our country don’t fight this battle alone
Today we honor and remember the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Memorial Day is a moment to pause, reflect, and recognize the courage, service, and selflessness of those who gave everything for the freedoms we have today.
To the heroes we have lost and the families who continue to carry their legacy forward, we thank you and we honor you.
❤️🤍💙
I signed to UCLA my junior year of high school and was told I was going to start Day 1.
Opening Day at UCLA?
I was sitting the bench. 😭
I had 2 choices:
1. Complain, pout, and blame the coaches
OR
2. Find the holes on the team and become valuable.
So for 3 weeks, I sat the bench.
I showed up early.
Stayed late.
Cheered for my teammates.
Dragged the field every 3rd inning.
Meanwhile, I studied the team.
The middle infielders were doing well.
Third base wasn’t.
So I told the coaches:
“I can play third.”
Then I noticed something else:
Offensively, we were either hitting home runs or getting out.
I saw the gap.
If I could become a tough out, get on base, and bring energy to the team…
I could create value.
Then we played Miami.
The starting third baseman was hitting .115.
They gave me a shot.
I went 2 for 3 with a walk.
Played solid defense.
Brought energy.
I never sat the bench again.
Eventually, I became team captain…
and we were ranked #1 in the country.
One thing baseball taught me:
Opportunities don’t always go to the most talented player.
Sometimes they go to the player who becomes the most valuable.
Freedom isn’t free and it never will be…Today we remember our true Heroes…May we never forget the ones that gave all! Thank you isn’t enough and thank you to our men and women that continue to serve! God bless the #USA 🇺🇸
Today is our nations Memorial Day. Enjoy your day and take a moment to remember the true meaning of this day. A day to pay our respects to all those who have given their lives in our country's defense. God bless these brave heroes and their families.
@shegone03@realbenmcdonald@LSUbaseball Agreed Jeff never thought I’d see Jay Johnson let this go in maybe this is the element in the locker room which shows in the record. Umpires and coaches need to handle this
40 years ago today, Val Kilmer walked into his Top Gun audition wearing ugly green shorts. He didn't want the part. He thought the script was silly and tried to bomb the audition by reading his lines flat. They gave him the role anyway.
On his own, he invented a whole backstory: Iceman grew up with a father who ignored him, which made him desperate to be perfect at everything. He kept the rivalry with Tom Cruise going off-camera too. The cast took sides. The movie became the biggest film of 1986, made $350 million, and every pilot at every airport for the rest of Kilmer's life would call him Iceman.
Then in 2014, throat cancer. The surgery saved his life but took his speaking voice. By 2017 he could only get out a few broken words at a time.
Years later, when they started making Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise told the producers "We have to have Val." So the writers gave Iceman the same illness. In the new movie, Iceman is an admiral who's also dying. Most of their big final scene together is just Maverick reading Iceman's words off a computer screen.
But Iceman does speak one line out loud. "It's time to let go." That line was made by an AI. A small London company called Sonantic used audio from his old movies to build him a new voice. They had way less to work with than they normally need, so they made over 40 different versions and let Kilmer pick the one that sounded most like him. (Spotify bought Sonantic for around $95 million a few weeks after Maverick came out.)
Both Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer had tears in their eyes while filming the scene. The director said it looked like two old friends saying goodbye. Maverick made $1.4 billion.
Val Kilmer died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025. He was 65. That one AI-made line was the last thing he ever performed on screen. The actor who didn't want the part, telling Maverick it was okay to let go.
On this date in 1986 "Top Gun" was released in theatres. The film stars Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, and Tom Skerritt. #80s