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Podcast No. 119: Matt Buckley

Matt Buckley was a teacher and a coach. He is a writer, a cowboy, realtor and a poet.
He was also an outstanding athlete. From 1971 through 1973, Matt was part of Butte Central’s back-to-back-to-back state champion football teams. He played in the Montana East-West Shrine Game, earned postseason honors on both sides of the ball at Carroll. As a senior, Buckley earned All-American honors as a 210-pound defensive tackle.
In the boxing ring, Buckley posted a perfect record in his four years at Carroll College.
Today, when he’s not working with some young horses or reciting one of his many poems, Matt is working as a relator for Century 21 Shea Realty.
Forget the Dos Equis guy, Matt Buckley really might be the most interesting man in the world. By so many accounts, he is also one of the toughest men this old mining camp has ever seen. Thankfully, he might be the nicest, too.
Listen in as Matt talks about his playing days and the many players he played with and the coaches he played for. Listen as he talks about training horses and the peace and tranquility he feels when he rides. Listen as he recites a poem about the late, great Ed Yeo.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Thriftway Super Stops. Register for the TLC app today because everybody deserves a little TLC.
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Podcast No. 118: Capt. Brant Bristol

A little more than three months ago, Butte-Silver Bow Fire Dept. Capt. Brant Bristol was seriously injured when a roof partially collapsed during a fire on Yale Avenue.
The 2005 Butte High graduate sustained a fracture and a dislocation of his C5 and C6 vertebrae. He was life flighted to Missoula for surgery before returning home to being a long road to recovery.
Today, Capt. Bristol is doing very well. He is said he is pain free and working toward returning to the fire department this fall.
His eagerness to return to the job after such a horrible injury is not a surprise to those who know Capt. Bristol well. Whether it is playing hockey or racing up buildings in Seattle and Portland, Capt. Bristol is as competitive as they come. If I am ever stuck in a fire, I want Capt. Bristol coming for me.
Yesterday, I sat down with Capt. Bristol inside the Vault at the Metals Sports Bar and Grill for this fun conversation.
Listen in to hear Capt. Bristol discus the being injured in the early-morning fire, and listen to him discuss how he got through the long, tough days afterward.
Listen to how he got into firefighting, how he is thriving after receiving a kidney from his brother, Justin, in 2011 and how he is looking forward to getting back on the job.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Casagranda’s Steakhouse. Eat where the locals eat.
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Sometimes less really is more

My favorite scene from the great 1992 movie “A River Runs Through It” does not involve fly fishing.
Instead, I like the part when young Norman Maclean is learning writing from his father. Or, as Norman put it, he was attending the “School of the Rev. Maclean.”
“So, while my friends spent their days at Missoula Elementary,” Norman the narrator says, “I stayed home and learned to write the American language.”
The scene shows young Norman writing and presenting his work to his father, who marks it up and says, “Half as long” as he hands it back.
Norman delivers another draft, and the dad hands it back one more time. “Again,” he says, “half has long.”
The third draft is satisfactory to his father, who says, “Good, now throw it away.”
Then Norman and his little brother, Paul, went fishing.
I think about that scene often when writing. It reminds me that when writing or speaking, less is almost always more.
Of course, that might sound a bit ironic coming from a guy who posts columns of 1,200 to 1,300 words each week. Well, the first drafts are often twice as long. So, there’s that.
When it comes to news and sportscasters, though, they seem to strive for the opposite. Many tend to add unnecessary words in an effort to sound smarter.
ESPN text-message reporter Adam Schefter is the worst offender. “Shefty” cannot every say “right now,” or “as of now” or “currently.” Rather, he says “at this particular point in time.”
Maybe he gets paid by the word.
As George Carlin once said, I don’t have pet peeves. I have major psychotic bleepin’ hatreds.
While you will see a lot of these examples watching the news, I notice them more when watching or listening to sports commentators. In an effort to hopefully help — and to give myself a little therapy — below are some common examples of the misuse of words, excessive words and words that just don’t make sense.
That said: About 20 years ago, someone trying to sound smart — probably on the ESPN show “Around the Horn” — started saying “that said” instead of “however.” That turned into “that being said.”
It is a million times worse when a writer uses that phrase because it isn’t said at all. It’s written.
RBI instead of RBIs: Back in the 1990s, a SportsCenter anchor joked that when a player drives in multiple runs, he should be credited with RsBI instead of RBIs. After all, he said, it stands for “runs batted in,” not “run batted ins.”
That led to the movement where writers and commentators refer to somebody having a game with “three RBI.”
This is as silly as it is enraging. When a player drives in a run, he is credited with an RBI. When he drives in another run, he now has two RBIs.
If you explain that to your English teacher, I’m sure she will understand.
RBIs is the way we talked from Ty Cobb through Pete Rose. There is no reason to change it because a SportsCenter anchor was once being snarky.
A lot of tread on his tires: This one is almost exclusively used when talking about running backs. I heard it 37 times last week alone, and it is almost always used 180 degrees incorrectly.
“He has a lot of tread in his tires,” a commentator will say about a back who is nearing the end of his career.
You don’t want that guy because “he has a lot of tread on his tires.”
You do not want to buy tires from someone who says this. As anyone who has ever been stuck in the mud in Alabama can tell you, tread on your tires is actually a good thing.
Foot in the ground: I promise you will hear this the first football game you watch on television this season.
The color commentator will talk about a runner making a cut, and he will say, “He put his foot in the ground and changed directions.”
If a running back really did put his foot in the ground, he isn’t going anywhere.
This is one of the many football sayings that are off the charts on the annoying scale. They are right up there with calling a draft pick a “plug and play” player or referring to a ball carrier as a “north-south runner.”
What if you’re playing at Naranche Stadium or Vigilante Stadium in Helena? Those fields run east and west, and a north-south runner would be horribly ineffective playing there.
These are all on the same level of silly as saying the defensive lineman is “pinning his ears back” or a linebacker is putting his “head on a swivel.”
Draft capital: If someone refers to draft picks as “draft capital,” just walk away from him.
Suddenly football reporters and fans are trying to sound like economics professors?
Using $5 words does not make you sound smarter. It exposes the opposite.
You should also walk away or turn the channel if you hear phrases like “sexy pick,” “down to their last strike” or “golf shot.”

The Aaron Rodgerses of the world: If you turn on ESPN for five minutes, you will hear someone talk about the “Aaron Rodgerses of the world” or the “Patrick Mahomeses of the world.”
There is only one Aaron Rodgers. Every day I count my lucky stars that we don’t have two — for multiple reasons.
Room: When the Bears traded for D.J. Moore, a lot of people said things like, “The Bears receiver room just got a whole lot better.”
What? Is Moore a painter or an interior decorator?
OK, so each position group meets in a different room at each team’s headquarters. But Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson can all walk into a room, and it doesn’t make the room better.
The company, on the other hand, is a different story.
Honestly: When people tell me they are being honest, I just assume that they are lying all the times when they don’t tell me they are being honest.
Also, don’t tell me “Personally.” If you say “I think,” then we will gather that it is your personal belief.
The idea of: You will hear this almost every minute you watch sports or listen to sports radio.
“Well, Jim, I like the idea of running the ball here.” “I like the idea of drafting a quarterback.”
It’s like they invented the concept with the ultra-deep thinking that is only possible from a person with a 200 IQ.
Albert Einstein can talk about the “idea of” his theory of relativity or his quantum theory of light. You are just watching sports on TV.
To your point: This is one you will hear from the talking heads of cable news as well as those arguing sports on Get Up or First Take.
“To your point, Jim …”
The word they are looking for is “also.”
On the planet: “LeBron James is the best basketball player on the planet.”
The inference there is that there are other basketball players doing great things on the moon. Who knows? Maybe they are.
Maybe Neil Armstrong had some mad hoop skills. Perhaps Marvin the Martian can really knock down the three.
These are just a few examples of things that drive me up the wall when I watch sports or attempt to watch the news.
Some of these come from people trying to sound smarter than they are. Others are just plain silly. The list was much longer. But I ran it through the School of the Rev. Maclean a couple times and knocked it down by more than half.
Feel free to add some of your own in the comment section. Trust me, it is very therapeutic.
Now, throw it away.
— Bill Foley, who is still upset about Alanis Morissette’s misuse of the word ironic in 1995, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 before that billionaire weirdo ruins it. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Podcast No. 117: Ray Jay Johnson and Steve Schulte

Ray Jay Johnson and Steve Schulte have been best friends since they were kids.
They were also both legends playing for the Butte Central Maroons. Schulte still holds the school record with his 2,683 career rushing yards from 1976 through 1978. He also is the only person to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the Butte High-Butte Central football game. With his brother Pat on the play by play for the radio, Steve took the opening kick back 89 yards for a score to start the 1978 game.
Schulte, a two-time All-State running back, went on to play football at Carroll College before starting his coaching career. He had a successful run in Browning. He also coached at Montana Tech and Carroll College before taking over as head coach at Butte High. After several years as the head man, Schulte returned to Butte High as an assistant coach, and he was part of the 2012 State championship team. He was also an assistant coach for the 2011 Butte High State championship softball team.
Steve was a bench player — and goon — for BC’s 1978 Class A State championship basketball team. Ray Jay Johnson was a star on that team.
Ray Jay was a two-time All-State basketball player. He was just the third player in school history to earn All-State twice in hoops, joining Danny Hanley and “Jumpin’” Joe Kelly.
Ray Jay was known to shoot the ball, and he was also known for his hard-nosed defense and taking a charge or three when needed. He was a long-range shooter whose records might still stand if he had a 3-poitn line in his day.
Ray Jay went on to have a solid career playing at the College of Great Falls. He was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.
Whenever Ray Jay starts to tell stories, he will eventually bring up the name Steve Schulte. Whenever Steve tells a story, you better believe he is mentioning Ray Jay. That is why we had them on together. Earlier today, I met with the Hall of Fame story tellers at the Coaches Corner at Metals Sports Bar and Grill for this fun conversation.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Lone Peak Physical Therapy. Call today and start feeling better as early as tomorrow.
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Salvaging some good from unspeakable tragedies

A little more than a week ago, Bernie Boyle asked me to officiate the “Boyles’ Buddies” basketball game.
The game is the Special Olympics version of the Burgman/Boyle Classic. The Butte High-Butte Central alumni portion of the event is no longer played, but the Special Olympians are making sure that the Burgman/Boyle legacy carries on.
Being asked to officiate is one of the best honors of my life because I think so highly of those Special Olympians. I also think the world of the Burgman and Boyle families.
Immediately, a fun column popped into my head about refereeing that game, which will be played at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at East Middle School.
Special Olympians are the salt of the Earth. If they ruled the world, there would be no war and no hate. Rather, we would live in a world where everyone loved one another.
Just before I sat down to write that column, though, I watched the KXLF News and saw that the daughter of my old buddy Mark Doherty was killed in a head-on collision near Manhattan.
Delaney Doherty was only 17. The young woman, who was elected student body president at Manhattan High School for the 2023-24 school year, posed for her senior pictures just a few days before her death.
Hearing the news of her tragic passing brought me back to the morning of Aug. 10, 2015. That is when word spread that Kyle Burgman and Casey Boyle were killed in a crash while turning the corner from East Park Street to Shields Avenue.
Casey and Kyle both graduated from high school in 2006 — Casey from Butte Central and Kyle from Butte High. They were the best of friends who once faced each other in one of the best Butte High-Butte Central basketball games of all time.
Known as the “Burgman Game,” Kyle Burgman almost singlehandedly led the Bulldogs past the Maroons in a game that came down to the last shot at the Maroon Activities Center. While an ugly feud about playing the game in BC’s new arena threatened the rivalry, the players for the Bulldogs and Maroons made sure the game was one for the ages.
John Thatcher, Burgman’s coach at Butte High, said Kyle was one of the top 10 basketball players in Butte history. Nobody in his right mind would challenge Thatcher when it comes to basketball in the Mining City.
Kyle was also a great interview, much like his father, Dale. He was a young man who was nice to everyone. He was smart and funny.
Those same qualities defined Casey Boyle, who was particularly loved by the special needs students he taught and coached at Butte High.
Eight years after his death, those Special Olympians still love Casey like no teacher I have ever seen. That says so much about him because Special Olympians can seem to spot authenticity better than most. They are not fooled by the disingenuous.
While Kyle was one of my favorite athletes I ever covered as a sportswriter, Casey stood out to me because of his big heart.
In February of 2015, my grandpa passed away at the age of 89. It was a great run by a great man, but I was still heartbroken.
Casey was bartending at the Knights of Columbus the afternoon we held my grandpa’s funeral reception, and we had a long talk about my grandpa and life that, to this day, gives me much comfort.
It was during that conversation that Casey also strongly suggested that I watch Peaky Blinders on Netflix. That ranks as one of the all-time great recommendations.
Aug. 10, 2015 was one of the darkest days in the history of our town. We didn’t lose just one incredible young man with a bright future. We lost two of them.
We all hurt for the Burgman and Boyle families and the many friends of Casey and Kyle.
On Aug. 10, 2016, the first Burgman/Boyle Classic was played at the Butte Civic Center, and it raised money for the Burgman/Boyle Scholarship.
In the eight years since the tragedy, the Burgman and Boyle families raised and awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships to students of Butte High and Butte Central.
You cannot put into words how remarkable that is. They turned their hour of despair into a vehicle to help others.
It could never truly ease the pain or comfort the loss, but that scholarship speaks volumes about those families. They salvaged something good from an unspeakable tragedy.
Like with the Burgmans and Boyles, I also think the world of the Doherty family. Mark’s brother Scott was my best friend in high school. There were times when I spent more time at the Doherty residence than I did at my own house.
His parents, Dennis and Lynn, always treated me like I was one of their own. So, too, did his younger brothers, Mark and Mike.
Dennis started my first KC basketball team, and we had so much fun playing and fighting with some of the older players in the league alongside Dennis, Scott, Bill Melvin, Tommy Mullaney, Mikey Drew and an occasional ringer like Brian Noctor or Eddie Dunfee.
In 1997, I got to cover the Butte American Legion Old-Times Game for The Montana Standard, and I led the story with Mike striking out his older brother Mark. That was a big deal for Mike, a Butte Miner, because Mark was an outstanding player at the University of Jamestown.
I probably played up the brother angle more than I would have because I had so much fun talking with the brothers and their parents during and after the game.
Mark was a grade behind me, and we always got along well. He graduated from Butte Central in 1994.
For years, I followed Delaney growing up Mark’s Facebook posts, photos and videos. I think I paid more attention because my oldest daughter has the same name, and the same spelling.
I stopped seeing those posts in 2020. That’s when Mark and I got into an online argument about COVID-19.
Regrettably, I got a little self-righteous, and it cost me a Facebook friend. But it didn’t cost me a friend. Later that year, I wrote a column about a health scare that I went through, and Mark was the first person to send me a note wishing me well.
In May of 2022, I saw Mark for the first time in years. He was at Stodden Park to watch his Delaney play softball for Manhattan during Butte Central’s LaVerne Combo Invitational. He introduced me to Delaney, and it was so great to see him beam with pride when he watched her roam the outfield for the Tigers.
What Mark and his wife, Chantel, are going through now is impossible to even fathom. My heart aches for them, Dennis and Lynn, the Doherty family and all of Delaney’s friends.
Their wound will never completely heal. A wonderful young woman was taken away from them way too soon.
Manhattan Youth Softball is already looking to honor Delaney by raising money to construct batting cages in her name at the high school field. You can donate money via Venmo (@manhattanyouthsoftball) or by sending a check to P.O. Box 810, Manhattan, MT, 59741.

There is absolutely no way that such a project will ease the great pain that will surely last a lifetime. Your donation, no matter how large, cannot bring her back. It cannot dry the tears.
But the project can help make sure the memory of Delaney Doherty lives on for generations to come. You can help turn the Doherty family’s hour of despair into a vehicle to help others.
You can help salvage a little bit of good from an unspeakable tragedy.
— Bill Foley can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 before that billionaire weirdo ruins it. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.















