Ex Rockford Lightning Coach Chris Daleo Knows His Mouth Can Get Him In Trouble

We were delighted to invite the former Rockford Lightning coach onto the show to talk about the old days and what he's been up to lately.

The Rockford Lightning were a very big part of my childhood. My grandpa bought season tickets the first year they were in town. He and my grandma were at pretty much every game. If one of them couldn't make it, I was lucky enough to be the one who got to use the extra ticket.

Then when my grandpa died in 1990, my grandma continued to buy the season tickets and I was the one that went to the majority of the games with her. We knew the people around us. Grandma gave me five dollars every game to buy what I wanted at the candy table. One time I was even selected to play the free throw shooting contest at halftime and hit 10 out of 12 to win a 50 dollar Toys R Us gift certificate. It was easily the biggest sporting accomplishment of my life and it happened when I was 12. I guess I can relate to Chinese gymnasts through that.

The players were often moving in and out of town so the personalities that you were drawn to was a lot of the times who ever was coaching the Lightning.

And they had some personalities.

Of course there was the fiery Charlie Rosen, who was a good friend of future Bull's coach Phil Jackson. I remember Charlie getting kicked out of a lot of games and distinctly remember him flipping double birds to the officials on his way out of one game. It was awesome.

And there was Mauro Panaggio. I was pretty young when Mauro was the coach and I'm pretty sure I thought he also played Coach on Cheers. I was a confused child.

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And then you had Chris Daleo. I think mercurial is a great way to describe Chris. I remember him stalking the sidelines fondly. His time with the Lightning was short but very memorable. An NBA job might have been the next step for him had some personal relations gone differently.

Chris goes over that and what it's been like the last 5 years coaching in Thailand.

We thank Coach Daleo for his time a look forward to his next visit.