Robert Saleh 0:00

You know, th this past week, I I I really think that uh we had a real really, really productive week. You know, when you look at, you know, both line of scrimmages offensively and defensively, I thought an offense on Tuesday had a really great day running the football, protecting cam uh protecting the quarterback, and I think that translated into the end of the game, and so did the defensive line. I thought the defensive line did a really nice job with regards to the run game and uh the front seven. And I think that carried on into the into the game. So there's a lot of really good things that we're we're able to pull from the tape that were that we did pull from practice, but but again, there's always gonna be things to work on, there's always gonna be things to get better at. And and right now, when you look at it, there's you know, winning one-on-ones in the past game, both offensively and defensively, are gonna are always, always for the history of football, always be an urgent matter.

Russell Ries 1:02

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you, wherever you're listening from. It's Saturday, August 15th. My name is Russell Ries, and you are listening to the National Sports Report. Alright, well, we started today's show with a clip from Titans head coach Robert Sala, speaking about the last week out in San Francisco. The Titans started the week on Tuesday with a joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers. It was the first time that the Titans knew look offense and defense could test themselves against a team that was not the Titans. Practice started off very physically. There were a number of fights that seemed to be instigated by the 49ers defense against the Titans' offense. A couple of Titans offensive linemen were eventually kicked out of practice. Cam Ward even got involved in a little bit of the pushing and shoving when a hit was laid on Carnell Tate on the other side of the ball. San Francisco's offense really did have a lot of success against the New Look Titans defense. However, this is the same defense that they have been playing against in practice for a number of years now, given that Robert Solo was the defensive coordinator in San Francisco before coming to Tennessee. So, in a way, the San Francisco 49ers offense is more accustomed to practicing against a lot of these concepts than maybe even the Titans' defense is to running them right now. So it's it's a bit of a mixed bag there. It's hard to say that you know the defense got torn apart. Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens with the Titans' defense when they go up against some teams who haven't practiced against Robert Salah's defense every day, all day for years, next week against the Seahawks, and then the week after against the Bears, and of course on into the season. Cam Ward looked pretty good on Tuesday. He was 16 of 23, according to Titans Online. Jim Wyatt with about a 70% completion rate. He had one interception and two touchdown passes during red zone work. All in all, a pretty good day for the Titans offense against the San Francisco 49ers first team defense, which is no slouch. Then on Thursday, the Titans and 49ers met for the first preseason game of the sea of the season. It was the first game under Coach Sala, and the Titans ended up winning 19-13, although it's not really that important what the score is during the preseason because the starters only played a few series, and then the backups came in. All in all, Cam Ward did not look nearly as impressive as apparently he was on Tuesday. He was only 5 of 12 for 57 yards. The opening drive was great. He led a 95-yard touchdown drive, topping with a Tony Pollard touchdown run, a few big hits, one to Calvin Ridley, and another screen pass to Gunnar Helm. But after that, Cam kind of looks out of sorts, had some mechanical issues setting his feet improperly and missing some easy passes. Some other highlights from the game, though, include the running game looking really good. Kicker Joey Sly, who's been having some issues in practice, has apparently put those behind him. He was four for four during the game, including three field goals of over 50 yards. That'd be nice for the Titans if they don't have to worry about that. And Joey Sly has such a big leg that he can be a threat from way downtown. The Titans' defense did kind of get carved up by San Francisco's backup offense a lot more than you would hope. But again, the caveat of the 49ers understand the Titans' defense. Titans players are still learning to play it, and this would have been the basic no-frills vanilla version of the defense because the Titans don't want to put anything on tape for the rest of the league. All in all, it's it's nice to get a win. Cam's play on Thursday is a bit more concerning. However, as I said last week, I firmly believe that the action and activity in practice on Tuesday is a much more indicative look at where things stand. You've got a lot more continuity, you've got a lot more playtime for Cam. You got the first game jitters out on Thursday. This was the first time he played in a quote unquote real game since the Jaguars game when he dislocated his shoulder back in January. So while it's disappointing to maybe not see Cam playing up to what our expectations might be on Thursday, I fully believe that really Tuesday is the more instructive of the two days, and he had a better performance then when he was actually playing against the first string defense versus on Thursday when it was primarily backups. Here's Robert Salah the day after the game talking about Cam and his development.

Robert Saleh 6:06

You know, we've uh the the good news is going back and digging in on the film, like every play that Dave's called yesterday, we've run in practice. And uh you guys have been there and you guys have seen flashes of of Cam and the entire offense operating at a very high level. And it's as simple as just time on task. You know, he's every single one of those plays, he's executed flawlessly in practice, and he's got to be able to have the confidence in not only himself but his teammates to just execute, get your feet down, play with great technique, and deliver the football just like he has. And you know, we're gonna we're gonna continue to harp on all the technique, the fundamentals. We're gonna continue to rep things at a high level, and but it's it's just reps.

Russell Ries 6:46

Okay, so like I said, I still believe that Tuesday's joint practice is probably more instructive than Thursday's game. You you want to see better looks out of Cam during the game, but a closed practice allows the team to actually use more of their offense and defensive system. A preseason game is going to have a more simplified, stripped down versions of those systems. And going into the game, we don't know if Cam and Coach Brian Dable had a specific set of things that they wanted to work on. Maybe it was like, hey, I really just want you to work on taking the check downs. Or, you know, maybe it was I want you to work on the mechanics, in which case that's a little bit of a problem. But it's hard to know what the goal of that preseason game was for the you know 20-something plays that Cam was in. He had a lot more plays on Tuesday in a full practice versus you know just throwing 12 passes in a preseason game. So despite the doom and gloom from Titans fans right now, I'm gonna reserve judgment on all of that until we know more and see more. And the next chance for us to see more will be next week when the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks come to town. First for a joint practice on Friday, and then for Sunday night matchup at Nissan Stadium. So this is gonna be another good opportunity. This might tell us a lot more. Cam actually looked really good against the Seahawks defense last regular season. I think it was one of his better games, even though the Titans lost. And we will be able to see him going up against a whole different team, a different defense, a defense that hasn't practiced against his offense and hasn't doesn't know anything about what he's trying to accomplish. And on the other side of the ball, we'll see the defense going against an offense who hasn't practiced against them either. So what will I be looking for? Again, I'm gonna be deferring more to what comes out on Friday out of practice, but during the game, a week from Sunday, I want to see how Cam throws. Does he look more comfortable? Can he hit some of those easy layup shots that he kind of missed last time? Are things just a little calmer? Cam kind of pushed himself. The timing was a little ahead of pace. I'd also curious to see how the offensive line holds up. They actually look pretty darn good, the starters at least, with Fernando Carmona in that right guard spot on Thursday night. And do we see that continuity? Does Carmona, the fifth round pick, stay as the right guard starter? That would be quite the coup for the team to have found a starting right guard in the fifth round. And if so, can he continue to play at the level that he did last Thursday? So these are some of the things that I'll be hoping to hear out of practice next Friday and then looking for during the game a week from Sunday against the Seahawks. Another fun little caveat about the Seahawks visit is that they are featured on this year's Hard Knocks, the HBO show that goes behind training behind the scenes and training camp with an NFL team, which means by transitive property, the Titans will also be featured on Hard Knocks. So it should be fun to see some of that. Maybe hear some of what the team, the Seahawks, how they react to the Titans, their thoughts on Cam, their thoughts on any of the other players they uh go up against during that week. So that'll be a fun little thing. That episode will probably be at least a week after they visit, but another another thing to look forward to. All right, moving on now to Nashville SC. This past week they wrapped up Leagues Cup, which is for MLS, a mid-season tournament with MLS clubs and Liga MX clubs. As you may recall, last week Nashville SC lost 1-0 to Club Leone, which put them in a hole for the rest of League's Cup to get out of qualifying. This past Sunday, they beat Mexican side Atleticos de San Luis 4-1. It was a pretty resounding victory. Most of the regular starters were in. Most importantly, it included the return of Christian Espinoza, the big offseason signing for Nashville SC, who had been out since the World Cup break. Espinoza announced himself with two goals within 11 minutes in the first half. He looked excellent. He looked like the guy we'd come to know before the World Cup break. He also got to serve as the captain for the first time in a Nashville SC shirt. It was a great return for him. Encouraging, very, very encouraging to see him firing and to kind of see the Nashville SC that we had grown accustomed to before the World Cup break. Really offensive, dynamic, attacking, pressing team that uh is going to put opponents on their toes. That win gave them a little bit of hope of staying in Leagues Cup. Then on Wednesday, Nashville SC hosted Monterey at Geodis Park as well. Ahmed Qasim started the game with a goal 21 seconds in. It was actually the fastest goal in Nashville SC history. Reed Baker Whiting had another first half goal called offside because the ball appeared to brush off his arm. And then Monterey came back in the second half as they have been doing this whole tournament, scored two goals to eventually win 2-1 and knock Nashville SC out of the League Cup. It should be said that the team on Wednesday was heavily rotated, primarily because Nashville SC this evening takes on Inner Miami. It's a huge game, 7.30 at Geodis Park. It is a meeting of the top two teams in the MLS Eastern Conference, and I think the top two teams in the whole league right now. Nashville is two points ahead of Miami. The winner of this game will be in the lead for the supporters shield, which is what they call the number one team who has the most points by the end of the season. It's the supporter shield winner. In Europe, that would be the team that wins the league, but here in America, we then go to a playoff. The supporter shield is considered hardware, great thing. And right now, Nashville is in the driver's seat. So if they can win tonight against Miami in what is going to be a very hot game, I think temperatures are supposed to hit about a hundred degrees today in Nashville. And with heat index expected to push it up over a hundred and ten, Nashville will be firmly in control of their destiny. This continues a long history of Nashville, Miami clashes. Both teams came into the league the same year, 2020. Nashville fell victim to Messi in Miami in his first tournament in 2023. He came in for League's Cup, and there was a famous match here, the final that went to, I think, ten penalty shootouts. Nashville ultimately lost to Messi. It was his first trophy with Miami. One big question about Messi right now, though, is that his father, it was announced last Saturday, I believe, that his father has passed away, and his availability for tonight's match is still up in the air. Jorge Messi was a huge figure in Lionel Messi's life and his career, and obviously losing a father that you're that close to is devastating. Again, our our condolences to him and his family. But that will certainly play some role in what happens tonight. There has yet to be an announcement about Messi's availability.

BJ Callaghan 14:34

I think when you play against Miami, it's uh always uh uh needs a big collective effort. Obviously, it's a really talented team with special players, and for us, it's always about being collectively compact, hard to play through, but at the same time, I think there's opportunities when we have the ball that we can be good and dangerous as well.

Reporter 14:53

And then within the spot generally, do you feel the weight of this being one versus two? You know, whoever takes it will be firmly on supporter shield or at least really on the supporter shield. Is that their vibe around the team at all with how important this game is?

BJ Callaghan 15:07

I think you know, when we kind of come back off the League's Cup, we know that that's now concluded. Uh we basically have a really singular focus and mission, which is to be focused on the MLS season, and the objective is crystal clear, which is to compete each and every match to finish as high as on the table as we can. And we we know that the next opponent is Miami, an Eastern Conference foe. And you know, we want to we want to continue to remain at the top, not just through Saturday, but you know, as long as we can.

Russell Ries 15:38

Later in the week, Nashville SC is going to travel to New York Red Bull on Wednesday and then come home Saturday for a match against Columbus Crew at Geodis Park. That means three MLS matches in eight days, beginning with tonight's Miami matchup. It's a huge stretch for Nashville SC as they return to MLS play. And if they are able to get a result in all three matches, they could put themselves comfortably in the lead uh for the supporters shield and a great position down the stretch run. It'll be interesting to see how Nashville SC comes out of this week with those three three huge matchups. Something to look forward to. Moving now to the Nashville Sounds, who are currently 64 and 53. They are a few games back of the current division leader. Right now they're in Indianapolis for a six-game series, currently tied 2-2 after a 9-1 win over Indy last night. They've got two games left in Indy, one today and one tomorrow, before they head to Norfolk for a six-game series, which starts on Tuesday. Norfolk is one of the weaker teams currently in the league, and it would be a strong chance for Nashville to make up some ground on St. Paul and Memphis, a couple of the teams that they've been chasing for the division lead. Other notes in sports around Nashville this weekend. Nashville Stampede, which is the professional bull riding team that represents Nashville, has an event this weekend at Bridgestone Arena. It started yesterday, goes today and tomorrow. And if you want to go check out some professional bull riding and support the home team, this is the annual event to do so. So if you're curious about bull riding, get on down to Bridgestone Arena and support Nashville SC. Also, Vanderbilt Door Jam is coming up next Sunday, August 23rd. As I've mentioned a number of times on this show, that is Vanderbilt's way of kicking off the new athletic year. That'll be 2 to 4 p.m. at Memorial Gym with Vanderbilt Women's Volleyball to follow right after Dore Jam at 4 p.m. So come down to Dore Jam next Sunday, August 23rd from 2 to 4 p.m. Stay for the volleyball. Alright, my guest this week is Lisa Carter. Lisa is a longtime Nashville, a successful real estate investor, and a commercial real estate agent. I asked Lisa to come on to the show this week to help me break down what the process might look like for Music City Baseball as they began to research and discover opportunities to build a stadium around town. How did they go about acquiring land? What would have to happen once they've found the site and ultimately where it should go? I thought it was a really interesting conversation with Lisa about the stadium location, but I also enjoyed hearing about her own sporting exploits and adventures throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy my conversation with Lisa Carter. All right, Lisa. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. How are you?

Lisa Carter 18:53

Hi, fantastic, Russell. Happy to be here. Looking forward to the conversation.

Russell Ries 18:59

Thanks, me too. I Lisa and I know each other outside of my sports podcast world through some real estate stuff. Lisa's always kind and generous to my wife with her time. And I appreciate you continuing that habit by going to talk about sports and of course a little bit sort of real estatey stuff. But I want to dive right in with some of the questions that I like to ask everyone, starting with what is your favorite sport to play?

Lisa Carter 19:23

So my favorite sport is is tennis. Played tennis in college. Started playing tennis around 15, which is which is late. I wish I had been in a position to have started earlier because I would have I would have done everything I could to play professional tennis. I loved it. I would play hours. I would get to the court at 7 a.m. and I didn't leave until 7 p.m. Because I I loved it that much. If I didn't have anybody to play with, I'd hit it off the wall. So tennis is definitely my favorite sport. Also played basketball in high school, so I understand basketball very, very well. Enjoy that. Anything, anything with a ball rustle, I really enjoy. Played golf yesterday. I can't play tennis anymore, but I I play golf. I try to play a couple of times a week, if at all possible. And yeah, so yeah, tennis is my favorite, followed closely by football and golf.

Russell Ries 20:31

Where do you like to play golf? Again, you prefer to play.

Lisa Carter 20:34

So yesterday I played at Legends. Shout out. That's where I typically play. I'm at a point in life where you know, if I have to go to a public course and wait and have a six-hour round, it's not as much fun to me. And I spent a lot of time in Florida, and those courses are really focused on the pace of play. People, especially ladies, they think, oh, I can't go out and play golf because I don't, I'm not any good. Most of the guys out there are horrible. They're hackers, right? They're kicking the ball. I mean, they're topping the ball, they're hackers. So, ladies, get out and play. The only thing that we really care about is the pace of play. Just make sure that you're keeping up with the group in front of you and keep it moving. But yeah, I so for that reason, I tend to play more private courses than public. But I love Ted Rhodes, I love Hermitage. There's some really, really nice Montgomery Bell. There's some really nice public courses in the Middle Tennessee area. We're very, very fortunate.

Russell Ries 21:39

Yeah. As one of those hackers, let me just apologize to you.

Lisa Carter 21:46

No, it's okay. But I love to see guys playing from the tips who drive the ball ninety yards, and they think, you know, it's like, dude, really?

Russell Ries 21:57

Yeah.

Lisa Carter 21:58

Come on.

Russell Ries 22:00

Uh my wife is a much better golfer than I am, and you should get her out sometime. But real quick story, my mother-in-law once got us like a joint lesson with a pro at McCabe. And we went out there and so he's got us on the driving range and you know, he does a little something with me, and then he goes over to my wife, and she's just got a beautiful natural swing. She's a fantastic athlete. And about 15 minutes into this hour-long lesson, the guy turns to me and goes, Look, you know, just keep doing what you're doing, but I'm gonna work with her. Totally get it, man. It's totally cool. Yeah, that's about the pace of uh of our golf. She she's awesome at it. I I always say if I get one good drive, one good chip, and one good putt, like that's me for the day. And we'll go speed. Um, that's a lot of fun. Yeah. Did you hear about they've got that new indoor indoor golf?

Lisa Carter 22:56

The 18 hole, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I did. That's interesting. I it just feels claustrophobic for me, but you know.

Russell Ries 23:05

Yeah, I'll be curious to check it out, but if it's a price like top golf is, I'll probably only check it out once.

Lisa Carter 23:11

Yeah, yeah. All right, so more about the drinks.

Russell Ries 23:14

Yeah. Coming off of that, what is your favorite sport to watch?

Lisa Carter 23:19

Probably, well, I'm gonna probably go with I'm gonna go with tennis. There's nothing like the majors of a you know, Wimbledon, Australian Open. There's nothing, nothing quite like that. The Super Bowl, the Super Bowl is good, but it's more of a corporate event now. But it's still it can be some quality football, but I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with the tennis major as my favorite to watch.

Russell Ries 23:46

Nice. Do you have a particular player that that your favorite or just sort of general?

Lisa Carter 23:52

Oh, let's see. Love Carlo Alcaraz, the way he plays. My favorite all-time tennis player, probably John McEnroe. Because I was a left-handed tennis player, and coming up, there were no women left-handed players, but I love the fire of John McEnroe. I loved his, I loved his energy around the game. You know, Serena, the goat. Yeah, absolutely. And Coco Golf, I think she, now that she has really worked on her serve the past couple of years, and she's gotten a lot of criticism for it, but people forget Tiger Woods changed his swing, you know, after he won four majors. So, you know, Coco and her serve, you know, now at the 120, 121, it's gonna be something to deal with. I just hope she will serve in Bali a little bit more, but yeah, probably so long answer. Sorry.

Russell Ries 24:55

No, no, I'm here to ask, but uh talk to you about this. Yeah, I love that.

Lisa Carter 24:59

So, yeah, those are my those are my tops.

Russell Ries 25:01

Right on. I uh I want to go on a little, Terina, because recently they have featured her in a GLP one ad. You know, like uh it's kind of like you've got the greatest female athlete of all time telling me I need to lose weight. Like just uh if if if Serena needs it, there's no hope for me. That's all I'm saying.

Lisa Carter 25:25

Well, if you remember her her coach in her last couple of years after she after she had the baby, she came back. The coach is like, you're too heavy, you can't move. And you know, for us women, middle-aged women, it's it's hard for us to it's hard for us to drop. But when your husband actually owns the company, it kind of makes you being a spokesperson, you know.

Russell Ries 25:49

That part I did not realize. That okay makes a lot more sense than yeah, okay. Understood. Yeah. All right, so what would you say is your earliest sports memory?

Lisa Carter 26:03

My earliest sports memory was oh gosh, it was eighth grade. Russ, we were we were, it was a basketball tournament, and we had struggled all season, but we were we we knew we were pretty good, and we were playing the best team in our conference. And it had gotten down to like the last you know, 45 seconds or so. I'm I'm a point guard. My my job is to make sure everybody's in their play. I'm the quarterback of the basket on the basketball court. My job is to make sure everybody's in their in their right position. And I remember coach called a timeout. We went in the huddle, he drew up the play. Crowd is going wild because it's you know basically a tie game. We we break the huddle, we come out, the inbounder gets me the ball, and I am watching the clock. I'm like, okay, okay, okay, all right, oh boy, I can't, I don't want to mess this up. And then I see my center get open, and I just lob the per the best plat the best pass of my entire career. I lobbied to her, she scores. It was just that's probably my favorite, favorite. Yeah, it has to be. That's an awesome. It wasn't me hitting the score, but getting, you know, having my head up, making executing that pass and that pressure.

Russell Ries 27:28

So yeah, at least I think I think that speaks a lot to the person I know you to be sort of the leadership, the facilitating, driving other people to success. I think I think that's a beautiful memory, and I appreciate you sharing it with me.

Lisa Carter 27:42

Oh, thank you. I hadn't thought of that in years. Oh my gosh.

Russell Ries 27:47

What uh what school, what team was that?

Lisa Carter 27:50

That was Hall's Halls Junior High. Yeah. Do you remember the name of your center? Uh sorry to put you on the spot like this. I don't know her. I don't remember her last name. I think she's married now, but her name was Camille. Yeah.

Russell Ries 28:05

Cool.

Lisa Carter 28:05

Yeah.

Russell Ries 28:06

Okay. Well, that that's probably one of the best early sports memories that I've heard so far on the show. So thank you for that. All right. So, how did you end up in Nashville?

Lisa Carter 28:17

So the first 16 years of my life, my mom had me very young. And, you know, for her to be able to support to support me, she knew she had to go to college. So she moved to Nashville to attend Tennessee State University. She had a good support system. I stayed with my grandparents in Halls, and then I guess I was a junior in high school. I moved to Nashville to live with my mom full time. So that's how I that's how I got here and went to Franklin High School, home of the rebels, when I was there. So yeah, played basketball at Franklin. I was playing tennis. Did I was not on the tennis team at the time, but uh fortunately at that point, you know, I had I was I was able to get some private coaching. And like I said, I played tennis every day, all day during the summer, and walked on the tennis team at Lipskam and played pay played college tennis.

Russell Ries 29:23

So that's really cool. Man, I um I was a decent-ish lacrosse player in high school, and I got a couple of offers for division three, like really low ball, low-level ball. That is, and I remember just thinking like, wow, this is division three, and the amount of time that they ask of athletes in college was kind of insane to me. And I didn't end up doing it, but I'm impressed by anyone that played collegiately, like the dedication, the commitment is really, really astounding. So kudos to you. That's that's really awesome.

Lisa Carter 29:56

Well, thank you.

Russell Ries 29:58

Okay, so you've been in Nashville a while, you've you've seen the city grow and become sort of a more and more of a sports team, sports city, I should say. What would you say is your favorite Nashville sports team if you had to pick?

Lisa Carter 30:12

You know, I'm gonna say the Titans, just because they are the impetus, right? I remember uh, you know, I have seen Nashville grow go through so many changes. When I was a senior in high school, Russ, we would go four-wheeling out where Cool Springs Mall is, right? Some of my friends' family owned some land around there. So we would go out there, build a big bomb bonfire, and go four-wheeling. And now, you know, with when the Titans came to town, it's just like Nashville, it just exploded. It was, I know there were there was a lot of controversy around them in the beginning, you know, building the stadium and what it would mean to traffic, etc. But it really, it really, the Titans really ushered us into the growth that we have seen. And I don't think we can deny that as a real estate community and as a sports community. I think the National Sports Council would probably echo that that sentiment, but the Titans really ushered us into where we are today, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent, depending on your perspective. But, you know, being able to go downtown when the NFL draft came to town. What a what a what a phenomenal experience that was as a as a native Nashville, right? I just had a I had a ball, and people were so glad to be here. And I think Nashville has some unique qualities that I hope we we will never lose, but I also hope we will do some things that will help that will help usher in continued growth as we expand our sports footprint.

Russell Ries 31:56

Yeah, I totally agree with what you're saying about the Titans. It it feels like it was really the pivotal sort of before and after the Nashville BT, you know.

Lisa Carter 32:05

Yeah before Titans. Yeah, absolutely.

Russell Ries 32:08

And yeah. So what do you think of the new uniforms, the redesign, new logo and everything? You like it or yeah, yeah. Yeah, wait, all right, jury's still out, wait and see.

Lisa Carter 32:18

It's it's not the it's it's it's not the uniform. It's it's not the uniform, it's not the logo, it's it's it's the product. We want we want to we want to know our players and love our players. And I think we're different from other markets in that in that sense that we want these guys to be a part of the community. We want to high-five them in a grocery store, and you know, so I I think you know, every every organization does a refresh at some point. I understand the timing of it as a business owner, but I just you know, I think it's more the product than an attitude that we that we're that we need to see.

Russell Ries 33:06

Fair. So given that, what do you think about uh sort of the Cam Ward, Robert Saleh era kicking off now?

Lisa Carter 33:13

I'm excited. I was a little uh but I I think he brings I don't want to say we need an old school mentality, but I think what the Titans have lacked in the past few years is a nasty defense and a brutal offensive line. Based on what I'm hearing, we're starting to see some of that on the offensive line. We're starting to see some guys really show up and have an attitude, and that's what we need. I remember the Benji Olsons and the Zach Pillars, and I remember, you know, Hopp, right? I remember those guys. And if you touched McNair, you were going to you would hope to be able to walk off the field, yeah, because you were punished for it, and I think we need to get back to that, and I think that's what once we see, I think people want to see a team that's united, a team that's that's fighting together, and a team that's gonna, you know, stand up and support each other. And I think that's what Sala is trying to build. And I I I think Jeff and and Latham and and Cam, you know, I love the fact last year that Cam said after our first win, it's like, who cares? We got to do it, we gotta get better. We we made a lot of mistakes in this game. That's what that's what you want from your leader. So yeah, I'm I'm excited. I look forward to seeing what what we do tonight.

Russell Ries 34:45

Yeah, me too. I uh I couldn't agree more with everything you just said, too. I feel like last season, I think it was the first Texans game, and they Zhaushire, the former Titans linebacker, laid that late hit on Cam, and nothing happened. Nobody and everybody just walked off the field.

Lisa Carter 35:03

No enforcement, yeah.

Russell Ries 35:04

What are we doing here, guys?

Lisa Carter 35:06

Like right, yeah.

Russell Ries 35:08

I don't think we'll see that again.

Lisa Carter 35:10

And that's what I love about the predators. The the predators, they were not, you know, the best team in an NHL last year by by by some. But those guys would hit you. They would hit you. They didn't they didn't play around. So I'm hoping to see I'm hoping to see more of that from the Titans this year.

Russell Ries 35:35

Yeah, yeah, I yeah, totally agree. And I want it to be sort of like what the Preds were maybe last year, where like, all right, well, we we beat them, but gosh, they really like we feel it.

Lisa Carter 35:46

Yeah, we paid for it.

Russell Ries 35:47

Yeah, yeah. Totally.

Lisa Carter 35:49

We won the game, but I'm not sure we won the battle.

Russell Ries 35:53

That's such a great way to put it. The physicality of yeah, the physicality has to, you have to from it, like I said, from an offensive line and a defensive perspective, we have to insert our will. And I think if we do that, it's gonna give Cam swagger, it's gonna give the offense some some swagger. So it'll be interesting to see. I know I heard last yesterday that there were like six fights in the practice, joint practice with San Francisco. So what were those fights, right? It's it and I heard that somebody had touched Cam and it didn't go over very well. So we'll see. That's what I hope. That's what I hope to see. Yeah, we'll know pretty quickly. Yeah, yeah. Oh man, okay. Well, we touched on some great Nashville. Nothing to apologize. This is what I want. I want to talk Nashville Sports. It's a podcast for talking about Nashville sports. You're doing exactly what I hoped you would, which is talking about Nashville sports. So this is great. But you mentioned, you know, the draft and and some great names of Titans linebackers or linemen of the past. And it leads me kind of into my next question, which is what is your favorite Nashville sports memory or moment?

Lisa Carter 37:09

Wow. I I this I feel like this has been beaten like a drum, but I was in the stadium for the Music City Miracle.

Russell Ries 37:18

Oh, okay.

Lisa Carter 37:20

Yeah. Nothing never felt anything like that. You know, I'm hugging people I'd never I'd never seen before and will never see again, right? I've never seen them again. That was probably probably my best and favorite Nashville sports memory.

Russell Ries 37:39

Yeah.

Lisa Carter 37:40

Yeah. I also got to be in the this the arena when when Pekka played his last game, and that was kind of special. That is yeah, that was that was pretty cool. So yeah.

Russell Ries 37:54

You know, I actually just bought tickets this week for the final Nissan Stadium home game. It'll be the first Titans game I've gone to in years, but you know, it's like gonna be the last last one ever there.

Lisa Carter 38:05

So I thought, yeah, need to do that. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

Russell Ries 38:09

Yeah, pretty excited. It'll be January 3rd, it'll be cold. Uh, but you know, seem yeah, seems like I love Titans, I love Nashville history, just a culmination of all those things. I gotta be in the building for that one. And I think as we get closer, I think more and more people are gonna start to realize the significance of that, and the ticket prices are gonna go up a lot. So I was like, I'm just gonna do this before games are played, before anyone's really thinking about it too much.

Lisa Carter 38:36

Thinking about, yeah. Yeah, good job.

Russell Ries 38:39

Excited for that for sure. All right, who would you put on your Mount Rushmore of Nashville sports? And now this is specific to you, it's not who you think should everyone would agree, but for you, who are your Nashville sports Mount Rushmore?

Lisa Carter 38:54

Gosh, this is gonna sound crazy. I'm gonna say the AD for Vanderbilt, Candace. Yeah, I I think what she has done at Vanderbilt, the leadership she's shown in some very difficult spots, being in the SEC, being an African American, being a woman, bringing in, bringing that football program, hiring the coach, bringing that football program where to where it is, where you know, your quarterback is now mentioned as a Heisman candidate last year with with Pavia. I I just think I I you know I I think she's done an incredible job with with that with that program. So I'm gonna start with Candace. If if I if I have one other, I'm gonna say Del Greco, the kick former Titans kicker, just because you know there's so many games on his on his foot that he had to to step out on the field and take care of. Can't mention it without Eddie George and and Steve McNair, Chris Johnson, who's now uh Derek Henry, I think, has been underappreciated or was underappreciated. He deserved a ring here. Unfortunately, we weren't able to deliver because of some administrative decisions, in my opinion. But yeah, those are my those are my top five.

Russell Ries 40:30

Those are great answers, all of them. And uh I had Ricky Thrash on recently, he's an associate AD at Vanderbilt, and he also knows Candace Lee as a so that it's sort of like, well, that's your boss too. But no, I mean what she's done there. I mean, anyone who's been in in Nashville and followed sports in Nashville for even like 10 years, you know. I asked him, I was like, do the students there, do they understand what what it used to be? Because it's it's like a golden era at Vanderbilt right now. I I don't know that you know the last time they were rolling like this was in the 1910s when you know Sewanee was the other powerhouse football team.

Lisa Carter 41:09

It's uh it's and they wore the leather helmet.

Russell Ries 41:12

Yeah. I mean, and he's like I don't know if they really, I'm not sure if they fully appreciate it, but they are all they're all in, they're loving it. And um yeah, I think what she's done is incredible.

Lisa Carter 41:24

It is basketball, football. I think I think Coach Corbin's gonna have the baseball team back at the top very, very soon. But you know, in uh navigating that whole NIL era now throws a totally different wrench into the sports programs, and just having the the smarts and the capacity to navigate that and help your program navigate that from the AD, being the voice in the community. You know, she's also supported women's professional sports here. So I I just I think Candace is is at the top of my my my mount rush more of Nashville sports.

Russell Ries 42:09

Makes total sense. And I would add too, you know, the handicap of being the only private university in the SEC.

Lisa Carter 42:15

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Russell Ries 42:18

Crazy. It's a great, great answer. I'm very bullish on the women's basketball team, too. I think it's the best ticket in town. I say this every time I bring them up, but you can go see a top five ranked nationally team, and you know, you can get in the door for some games for a dollar, which is insane. Yeah, Michaela Blake's is amazing. Aubrey Galvin, the the she was a freshman last year, awesome. I think they're gonna be even better this year. And apparently the women's soccer team is right up there as well.

Lisa Carter 42:48

So yeah, the tennis team works very well. Yeah, their golf team is is exciting, so yeah, they're they're doing a great job on West End.

Russell Ries 42:57

That's awesome. Great answers. All right, so this is a little bit more, this is a hot take ish one. Do you have any national sports conspiracy theories or hot takes that you want to share?

Lisa Carter 43:08

Oh, conspiracy theories. Oh, that we're getting a major league baseball team next year. They're gonna have a stadium that's that's secretly underway, under construction right now, it's on Tennessee State's campus. I mean, that's the that's the conspiracy theory, right? Um, I do think Nashville will will get a major league baseball team just because it's you know the city. I think we have some infrastructure challenges that we're gonna have to address before that actually happens. But yeah, I I think that's that's my that's my conspiracy theory.

Russell Ries 43:48

That's a great theory. And actually, I had Nancy Schultz from Music City Baseball on the show actually on July 4th. And she is one of the people, she's on the board there trying to bring the team to town, the National. stars and she said pretty much confidently that she thinks the team will be announced by twenty twenty nine when Commissioner Manfred has to retire. So she thinks he wants it uh locked up by then. So I'm with you.

Lisa Carter 44:15

I think it's gonna get an existing brand.

Russell Ries 44:20

I think it's gonna be an expansion. At least that's how it sounds.

Lisa Carter 44:23

Okay.

Russell Ries 44:23

And I want to ask you more in your capacity as a commercial real estate agent and very knowledgeable real estate person about some of the things you just touched on like infrastructure and like where we might put a baseball team in just a moment. But first I want to get through my last Nashville question, which is the only non-sports related one, and that is what is your favorite restaurant in town?

Lisa Carter 44:47

Oh Ross, right now my favorite restaurant is in NUCO. It's N O K. It's in East Nashville. I think I've had everything on the menu at least once and it never disappoints. It is just it's an American Asian fusion and it's phenomenal. It's hard to get a reservation but it is absolutely delicious. But I I'm I'm a I'm a foodie so even I can't cook like your wife but but I like a good restaurant I like a good restaurant experience. So that's that's my favorite right now.

Russell Ries 45:27

That's awesome. Actually Nancy Schultz who I just mentioned she said the same thing. So there you go. Well okay so that brings me into what's your favorite restaurant right now oh man well I would have said pelican and pig but they closed yeah in the spring and we actually had gone a week before they announced they were closing.

Lisa Carter 45:47

We didn't know but I loved that place it was so the best smoked cork shops and the ripped corn the ribs or corn ribs or oh my gosh that place was awesome.

Russell Ries 45:59

It was you know I I'm a sucker for some of the old Nashville stuff. I really love Anatolia uh Sonobana right there like sort of the old line said places yeah gosh I haven't really gotten out a lot lately you know we have a young a youngster we recently went to the new uh Chinatown in Aniak and I didn't eat anything there yet but gosh I saw some dishes that just looked cool like really really good and I you know I think that's something that Nashville has always still missed is like really real authentic Chinese like kind of stuff you can get in Atlanta at like Masterpiece or North China eatery. And hopefully some of that is out there at the new Chinatown area in Antioch. But yeah I don't know I'm not sure what I would say because Pelican and pig went went away but and when I was a kid I would have said Kobe Steakhouse that was like go to it's your birthday we're going to Kobe every birthday right we need we need high end hibachi to come back too that's another thing I want yeah I want to watch a guy catch a shrimp tail in his hat you know I want to see him spin the egg make the little volcano with onions I want the whole thing. Absolutely absolutely all right so pivoting now into you are as I've mentioned a real estate professional you're a commercial real estate agent you've built businesses in the real estate world and you were nice enough to come on I kind of dragged you on but I said let's talk about the fact that there will probably be a baseball stadium and they on their website on the National Stars website have said that they would really like to have not just a stadium but a whole sort of complex similar to what's down there in Atlanta with the battery I think they call it and you know looking at it it seems like about 40 to 100 acres depending on how how large they go with it.

Lisa Carter 48:08

But just as as someone who's involved in commercial real estate especially what kind of considerations do people need to give to looking for sites and you mentioned some of the infrastructure like how how does your mind approach a problem like that that I think a lot of people probably wouldn't understand or know how to start thinking about yeah that's I I a complex that size the price of the challenge that the the baseball brain trust will will face is the cost of acquisition the land itself I know they wish they had purchased the land three years ago or four years ago but you know here we are right they that that's the tough piece is the the price per square foot of raw land developable land the second challenge is is it buildable Nashville has a lot of rock and when you talk about a stadium of that size the weight of the building the parking lots they I'm sure they're going to want mixed use where there's you know some affordable housing some high end housing some hotels so the the the cost of blasting rock and making that something that's that's usable is also something that's really probably weighing on their minds. And I don't represent them I'm just hypothetically speaking yeah that's something that they're probably really really thinking about and challenged by and then they my sense is they would want it somewhere on the riverfront somewhere east bank you know somewhere along the river and that real estate going back to my number one real estate now is extremely expensive so for example the it was just announced last week cool cool springs the owner of Cool Springs Mall just sold their parking lot one of their parking lots for $11 million so that they could build mixed use apartments retail on the first floor they've already gotten the tenant for like 7500 square feet of retail space on that first floor and they haven't even broken ground yet you know the deal has just been inked so when you think of that five acres or so being 11 million and you're looking at 140 100 acres it's it's a really expensive price tag just for the facilities and they haven't even gotten the team right so but Nashville has the capacity they can they can absolutely get it done it's just looking at finding a site does it have good road access good highway access is it gonna even if it doesn't have interstate egress and ingress can it easily be added and will T dot cooperate in order to get those you know those exits in place so they they my guess is it's probably gonna have to move out of downtown bringing more people into another area of town which would which would be fun and the challenge with that is Nashville does not have public transportation. So those are three big hurdles that the new major league baseball brain trust will have to solve for as they bring a team here.

Russell Ries 51:56

Yeah and that's a lot to take in too so I think you're right like ideally down on the river somewhere I think Nancy said to me that they tried to get the industrial site over there in East Nashville and I think that didn't weren't able to secure it. Given that sort of these requirements that you've laid out are there any places that spring to mind to you as feasible?

Lisa Carter 52:23

Like for example would would some of the land out by Opry Mills kind of on that part of the river I mean I know it's flood prone so maybe that's an issue but that's an issue would that be sort of something or or what would you think yeah you know I I I would probably have them take a look at TSU does have quite a bit of land available along the Cumberland close to Ted Rhodes they probably would love to do something in North Nashville bring more from a city perspective bring some revitalization bring some new dollars into that area and the historical piece you know around the Ted Rhodes golf course and and and North Nashville and the Jefferson Street corridor you could easily get people from downtown out that way so I'd I'd also recommend you know White's Creek is a beautiful beautiful area they could kind of spread out create a city within a city if they wanted to so those are probably the top two I know there's some stuff already major development going on at Rivergate need a New York developers is revitalizing that that area so I I think they have some choices and I I I know that they probably want to be closer to downtown than the White's Creek area that I mentioned but I think it's they have some choices.

Russell Ries 53:57

How does acquisition of land that size work like I'm thinking of you know the famous story of Walt Disney like surreptitiously buying up all of our Orlando before anyone knew so it could keep the price down. I figure you're an organization they're doing it yeah yeah so it it may already be happening right now where absolutely absolutely yep that's how the East Bank project happened right an investor started buying parcels back in the late 90s.

Lisa Carter 54:27

It's also how the gulch happened investors started buying that land dirt cheap way you know 10 20 years ago with with the vision of this is going to be worth something at some point.

Russell Ries 54:42

So if if so National Stars for example tried to go to Whites Creek area which would would work great for me living in Englewood let's go.

Lisa Carter 54:51

But you know I I don't know that there I'm I'm no expert on this maybe there's tracts of land where they could just get everything they need but it may also be the kind of thing where you need to buy up hundreds of different people's interests and do they do that through intermediaries to kind of keep it on the low or they do there's there's a commercial broker now calling that knows every landholder in the White's Creek area who's making those calls and and talking to them about you know what number works for them. And a lot of these transactions you're exactly right they will never disclose that we're we're doing an assemblage for a major league baseball stadium. But what they will do is go in and you know just say I can't share you know who the end buyer is but I'm representing them and here's here's what we'd like to offer you. And that takes a lot of patience like I said it's it's a it's years of process. Some of these conversations you know yeah they they take years to happen to get assemblages of that size.

Russell Ries 55:59

Man amazing stuff and I wonder just as sort of a just as me as some guy is there a way to like look and see oh lots of stuff is getting bought up in this area a lot of commercial real estate getting snapped up in in there or you know is there a way to kind of get your finger on that public record.

Lisa Carter 56:16

It's public record yeah it's not like a commercial real estate Zillow though or anything right yeah correct yeah it's it's a it's harder to find on the commercial side but when you're looking at the Whites Creek area you know they're buying farmland it's not zone commercial today. So they're buying farmland or residential land a house with five acres or 10 acres because their acquisition cost as a resident on five acres is totally different than it would be if it was zoned R20 right if I can do or R15 I could build all these units on it. So they're they're they're quietly going about hey L they're quietly going around getting those assemblages together is my guess.

Russell Ries 57:05

Yeah so it may be happening somewhere now and we wouldn't know we couldn't really you don't know yet yeah yep it's really interesting stuff is there any other considerations that would come into place when this happens especially something like this Nancy told me that they are working with the architectural firm that designed the Sydney Opera House which I thought was really awesome and audacious and cool but would there then be kind of considerations like would the architect go are we're gonna want certain things or is it more of a get the land then design the thing or how does how does design influence where they might go and what they might do?

Lisa Carter 57:49

You know I I think they're probably getting some renderings but it typically they want to have the land so that they understand elevation and the scope and what the infrastructure costs are going to be and then the architect and the civil the civil engineer is the most critical piece. So when they put something an LOI for a track of land they're going to have a civil engineer come in during that due diligence period and say yes this this soil will support you know a two-ton building and we can't have underground parking you know we can blast the rock we can we can get the the utilities underground you know we can't have road fundage for for retail it what you know the cost of getting internet access i'm sorry interstate access to the site so the civil engineer it's it's a team that they're working with during that due diligence and then once they have probably two or three parcels under LOI the architect can come along and say based on what the engineer has shared with them here's the elevation here's the pitches here's what here's some possible renderings for each site that's that's my guess and that's probably the process that they're kind of going through right now.

Russell Ries 59:15

So the civil engineer is really kind of the that's the critical piece yeah and then that'll be everything from roads to sewage to yep water lines electricity roads manholes yeah all of that man it's really interesting it it's kind of amazing this era of Nashville that we're in right now thinking about sort of potential for this ballpark.

Lisa Carter 59:41

I think about the East Bank and like when it's taken in its totality we're really just redesigning a whole downtown and I don't know that there's ever been it's gonna be brand new has there anybody ever been anything like that before at least in America can you think of like a whole downtown great question to the size and scale of Nashville I don't think so I I I really don't think so and you know as we talk about the the stadium even after they go through all of that due diligence and engineering they still got to get the Metro Council to approve the rezoning that will most certainly be required for something of this size then the community has to come out and say yes or no and then so yeah it's a lot of moving parts but yes I don't know of any city that's gone through what what we're what we're seeing in our downtown area. I mean you got the east bank you have the new T Pack building there are three hotels already approved and and you know about to break ground in the next six months down in that area you have the Oracle campus we're gonna see more development in midtown so yeah it's it's gonna be interesting how Nashville evolves that is really interesting. Are there any other large projects sort of in the pipeline that aren't getting maybe talked about that that are interesting to you um you know we we talk about the development that's happening in Nashville the the downtown quarter but there's also you know Justin Timberlake and is doing some some a golf course in in White Creek. We're also seeing major development south of Nashville in the Franklin Goose Creek area so uh Nashville is Nashville is growing and it's affecting the surrounding counties as well so it's like a bomb goes off and then it just kind of permeates through to the next three or four counties that that that touch us. So it's gonna be it's gonna be fun.

Russell Ries 1:02:00

Something along those lines that I've always found curious it seems like it pushes every direction but out towards Ashland City is there a reason that Ashland City Highway and sort of that section of North Nashville isn't having the same development yeah that's a that's a really good question.

Lisa Carter 1:02:19

What happened when the city the reason Ashland City is kind of cut off is because they don't have city water city sewer it's so the city was expanding its sewer umbrella Nashville now has we have sewer lines out to Nolansville but we don't have sewer lines out to Ashland City right and that's because the cost the Ashley that is such a it's it's really just all rock in that direction and the city determined the expense of getting those lines out there just didn't warrant it. So that's why the glow the growth in that area is is a little bit slower. But it's so beautiful Russ. It's such a picturesque area I think you're gonna see more in the next few years but that's my understanding that's the reason why cool infrastructure.

Russell Ries 1:03:17

I've always wondered about that and thought oh maybe it's the landfill maybe it's the prisons out there I don't know but that makes a lot more sense than my random conjecture uh well Lisa this has been really interesting and I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me.

Lisa Carter 1:03:31

Any final thoughts any anything else that I should have asked you that I didn't think to you know I I as I as I work with new investors and season investors the best time to buy real estate is now when you look at the the developers at in in these pockets they've owned this land for a number of years so they're not make we're not making any more dirt so if I can help anyone in their commercial real estate investing pursuit my name is Lisa Carter. My email address is lisa dot carter at svn.com and I'll be happy to help.

Russell Ries 1:04:12

I will put your contact info in the description for this episode so anyone wants to they can reach out I highly encourage you to if if you're thinking about it Lisa is as we say good people thanks again Lisa I really appreciate you taking the time and so glad to have you come on and talk.

Lisa Carter 1:04:28

Thanks Russ I enjoyed it I enjoyed the conversation best wishes.

Russell Ries 1:04:33

Thanks all right well I want to thank my guest Lisa Carter it was a lot of fun speaking to her this week thanks to you for tuning in as always if you'd like to reach out to us we're available on Twitter and Blue Sky at NSH Sports Report we also are available for communication in a link below also added Lisa's contact info down there. Feel free to reach out with her I really recommend it. She's a wonderful person great to work with otherwise thanks for listening hope you have a great weekend and we'll talk to you next