It's Stick Gabriel taking a little bit of time off, so we thought we
would replace some of the best interviews from over the last several months. Please
enjoy the best of the Big Blue Insider, joined now by Kenny Brooks,
Kentucky's new women's basketball coach. And I say new coach, but you've been
on the job for a little while, but welcome to my show. Well,
I appreciate it. You know, it's been a it's been a wonderful
month. It's been a whirlwind, learning a whole lot about UK and just
really trying to put a rock together. But I've enjoyed every minute of it.
What have you learned about UK? Very passionate fan base, and I
tell you they're everywhere. You know when I talked to When I talked to
Mitch, at one point he talked about the state of Kentucky being University of
Kentucky fans, and he wasn't joking. You know, it doesn't matter where
I go, I can get recognized a lot of different places and a very
passionate fan base. So at good food, a lot of good food.
So I'm looking forward to just really learning even more about the whole whole state
the whole big Blue Nation. And uh, it's been a lot of fun
so far. Though, anything in particular that's that's tickled your palette in terms
of the food, Well, I did. I went to a restaurant and
uh and and I like ribs, but I like them a certain type of
way. And uh, as soon as I ate them, you know,
it was like, these might be the best ribs I've ever had in my
life. And so I'm a kind of ear I I I eat to live,
I don't live to eat, and so usually if I get onto something,
I might go back to it like three or four or five times and
uh, until I have to go to something different. But those ribs really
stuck out to me and they were fantastic. That's awesome, that's great to
hear. Well, there's a lot more to learn. Uh, But let
let us get over to basketball. And before I talk to you about your
team, I've got to ask you. You played under Lefty Drissel at James
Madison. What was that like? Oh, it was the craziest experience of
my life. It was the best periods of my life. When I played
for him, I thought he was a little crazy. Uh, and I
thought I thought he I thought he was doing things to us. And what
I what I later learned in life, uh and as a coach, is
that he was doing things for us. You know, he taught me.
He taught me how to be a better basketball player. He taught me how
to be a better uh, a better husband, a better father. Uh.
And he also taught me how to incorporate family into your basketball team.
And uh, you know, he always had his wife around, He always
had his family around, and when they were around, he was always very
affectionate. I loved on them. And uh. Then he then he would
go to practice and yell at us. So I found out that you could
merge the two. But you know, I actually worked for him for a
year. He actually was the one who gave me my first coaching job.
And uh then being around him in that aspect, just coaching, not just
the player coach was really eye opening for me. And it taught me a
lot. And uh and so until the day that he passed, Uh,
it was it was really you know, he was very inspirational to me.
The conversations that we would have even up into his passing, they were they
were just meant so much to me because he meant so much to me,
and I owe him, you know, pretty much everything that I've gotten so
far. He doesn't get the credit for starting midnight man this, but really
he did. I mean just the midnight practice. And of course everybody knows
what he said about making Maryland the UCLA the East, so kind of a
self promoter. But lost in all of that coach, the fact he was
a pretty good basketball coach, wasn't it. Yeah he was. He was
excellent basketball coach, great motivator, He was an innovator, as you just
talked about. You know, he was always thinking outside the box. You
know, if NCLA says you couldn't practice until October to fifteenth, when most
people were doing it at nine o'clock or ten o'clock the next day, he
did it at twelve o'clock. As you mentioned, starting the midnight madness and
just pushing the envelope. But you know, he he came up in an
era as a coach where you know, the NCAA tournament wasn't as accessible as
it is now. You know, one team out of every conference went I
think it was a champion and uh and so it just wasn't what it is
today. And if it was, who knows, who knows how he could
have, you know, gotten his teams to play and go out and compete
for national championships. But uh, just to be around him. You know,
he always motivated you, you know, to get the best out of
his players. Uh. And and I find myself doing a lot of things
that he did with my own twist on it. But you know, very
influential man in my life, frevant influential man. And uh in basketball.
And uh one of my claims of Thames was he got inducted to the Basketball
Hall of Fame finally. And uh. He went on in his speech he
talked about two of his former players being head coaches, and I'm thinking to
myself, he's about to say my name, and then all of a sudden,
he paused and he went in a different direction, and I talked to
him. I talked to him about a week later, and he said,
Kenny, I've meant to say something about you in my speech, but I
forgot your name at the moment. And I said, coach, that that
is fired with me. Long as you were thinking about me during your moment,
that that was special for me. That's great. And then quickly I
just wanted to know about you coached at v m I, which I think
is interesting. What's it like at a at an institute, like that's kind
of different from your basic four year school. Yeah, it's almost like full
circle Lexington to Lexington, where I started, where I came, and where
I am down and uh, you know, so now it was it was
it was an eye opening experience. Uh. It taught me a lot about
the recruiting and uh and it kind of it kind of helps in today's world
even though it's much different. But when we were recruit young men to v
m I, we we were able to lurel them in because of the education
and know what the DMO degree would do for them. Uh. But probably
the harder part was keeping them there. And we would get them there,
they would go through the first year of the of the military and uh and
it was really hard to keep them there because they wanted, you know,
some of them wanted a pavilion life. They wanted a civilian college like and
uh so I had to learn how to, you know, make sure the
guys were taken care of, they were good. Uh, and you had
to recruit them, but you also had to rerecruit them while they were there,
and uh, and this and it kind of it kind of bodes well
for this day and age with the with the transfer portal and you're you're constantly
now and you know, you're getting kids in and and you have to make
sure that you're recruit them, but you also to make sure you re recruit
them to make sure that they continue to want to stay at the universe that
you are now. So so it taught me a lot. It taught me
that you know, you don't you don't take no for you don't. You
don't let the nose balk you down. You have to continue to fight and
continue to you know, just try to continue to recruit. And uh,
that was a hard place to recruit for it. It was also a hard
place to maintain and keep kids. But it taught me a lot and I
think it really helped my helped shape my recruiting, uh mentality, And uh,
here I am today. You know, it's interesting you say that because
having spent my career on TV and radio and getting to know a lot of
sales people, and they've told me, you know, you you can't let
the know you just have to keep going. And obviously that's what you've done
with recruiting and now here you take this job and I got to think,
for the first time in your career, you've had to build a roster almost
from the ground up, and there are a lot of coaches having to do
that right now. How daunting a task was that when you first took this
job, Very daunting and I wouldn't recommend it. It's exhausting to the point
where you know, not only do you need bodies that you need the right
type of body, you need the right type of mentality. And so you
know, I think you put yourself in bad shape if you're just trying to
just go grab somebody. Because in the portal that says they average twelve points
and twelve rebounds, you know, you still have to vet it, make
sure that it's it's a good situation, not only for you, but for
both parties, you know, because like like I mentioned before, you're constantly
re recruiting and you want you want to be a good situation for both parties.
So it was tough. It's been very very tough act on myself,
on on my staff who I'm I'm extremely proud of, and uh, they've
done a wonderful job, not only trying to get accimated to lexings and people
don't people don't understand how hard it is to transition and you bring a whole
new staff and everyone's trying to get to learn the new procedures, uh the
new surroundings, trying to build a roster at the same time, and uh
so, so many people say are you settled yet? And I just kind
of think I get tickled, and I'm like, I'm the furthest thing for
being settled. But my but my assistants has done a tremendous job and we
kind of piece it all together. We're taking kids around on campus to you
know, to tour campus, and I feel like I'm wanted the student appings
to myself because I'm learning, you know, a lot about the university.
So but it's it's been it's been challenging. I think we've done a really
good job to date. We're still not finished, but I like the direction
that we're going in and uh so, we're not just trying to put together
a team. We're trying to put together culture. And I think we've got
some kids coming in that are going to really help help set it off.
Because when I went to Virginia Tech. Eight years ago, there was no
transfer portal, right, so pretty much what you had was what you inherited
and that's what you have to go with. And now with the freedom of
movement with the transfer portal, you know, it allows kids to be able
to move, but it allows coaches to be able to put together, you
know, a whole new roster, you know, really quickly. So it's
been challenging, exhausting, taxing, you know, whatever as you you want
to use, but it's been exciting as well. UK women's basketball coach Kenny
Brooks my guest. We'll have more with a coach after the break. We're
listening to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. More to come here on
six point thirty w LAB. It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Best
of the Big Blue Insider. We're talking with Kentucky women's basketball coach Kenny Brooks,
who, of course has been on the job for about a month,
coming over from Virginia Tech, building a new roster and as coach said,
a new culture at Kentucky And in terms of that roster, coach, having
covered this program for quite a while myself, I can't remember the last time
I saw this much size on the UK roster, which is obviously, as
you well know, something you need in general in women's basketball today and especially
in the SEC. Right, Yeah, exactly, And it's something that it's
been a recipe for our teams for the last five years. You know,
we had Elizabeth Kitley, who was a three time for All Americans ACC Player
of the Year and it allowed us to do so many different things. And
so that was the blueprint that we were continuing on. And you know,
we want to be able to play through our post players. And I'll tell
you one thing, when we walked through an airport, no one will mistake
us with a soccer team, So they're definitely going to know that we're a
basketball team. But I think you need that height. You need that height
to be able to rebound. And rebounding is probably one of the big keys
in the SEC. Every time we would go up against an SEC opponent when
I was at Virginia Tech, uh, the key to the game was always
rebounding and uh. And obviously if you want to rebound the basketball, you
gotta have some athletes. You got to have some size and that and that's
something that you know, it was just a recipe for us. And we've
got a couple of young ladies coming in. Albeit they're they're young players,
but I think they're going to mature into players that can be uh a force
in the SEC because of their height. You know, the six seven six
five sixty four. Uh, got a couple of six three kids, So
so that that's that's something that we look for. Our defense is predicated on
protecting the rim, so you've got to have some some shot blockers back there,
but you also got to have some long players on the wing. So
that's been our recipe. We're going to stick to it. That's like,
that's how we like to play, and I think it's going to be I
think it's gonna go well for us. What is your defensive style, your
philosophy. You know, you got to dumb it down for for the the
masses, but but what do we expect. Well, it's not very complicated.
It's uh, it's uh. If you want pressing and trapping and causing
havoc all over the place, it's probably not the place you're going to come
to and see that. We don't do it that. I think someone I
was doing a podcast not too long ago, someone brought it up to me
that we were out of three hundred and sixty three teams, I think we
were like three hundred and sixtieth in forcing turnovers. And it's because we like
to rely on accountability. You know, we want to make sure that we're
guarding the paint and we're going to make sure that we're going to contest shots,
and then we want to be in great rebounding position to rebound the basketball.
And although we were we were three hundred and sixtieth out of three sixty
three and forcing turnovers, we were in the top ten percentile of defensive efficiency.
So we really we really guard the paint, we really contest shots,
and we like to rebound the basketball at a high cliff and those are all
those are all things that we led the ACC in or the top of the
ACC is the defensive efficiency and rebounding, and then I think that leads to
us getting out on the break and then we've had a really good offensive efficiency.
So I'm not one of those helter skelter coaches where we're going to press
for forty minutes and you know, all that kind of stuff. We'll we'll
put some pressure on you in surprise areas, but mainly we're going to protect
the thing. Are you a zone man a man? A mix which you
know what if you had asked me two or three years ago out of scoff
at the zone. But by necessity we've had to do a little bit of
it. And and uh we went to zone a little bit last year,
more than probably ever in my career, just because we were tall and we
were long. We just weren't the most athletic, and so we had to
mix our defenses up to keep people off balance a little bit. But primarily
man a man. That's what I love, because I love the accountability of
it. You know, against the zone, you can always say, well,
I didn't know whose coverage it was, well, and a man of
man, we know whose coverage it was, and so so that's part of
the accountability part of it. But but I'd like to be primarily man a
man, but we will sprinkle some zone in there by necessity. You have
nine players on your roster officially, do you anticipate going to thirteen or fifteen
with walk ons or have you decided that yet? Now we haven't decided yet.
I mean obviously, like I mentioned earlier, I think it's a bigger
key to get the right right type of players, right type of people.
Sure, a great working number for us would be about twelve, twelve or
thirteen, and so you just want to be able to maximize and be very
efficient, you know, with your with your players. One time I went
to fifteen and I just felt like it was it was it was it was
crowded. Yeah, So we've all working number for us has always been good
twelve or thirteen players, and if we can get that, that's what we'll
be happy with. We still were still waiting on a couple recruits, you
know, making decisions. We've got the recruiting shutdown coming up next week and
then we'll get back at it again the week after. You have an international
flavor to this roster, a couple of kids from Australia, from Canada,
Portugal. You have an assistant from Lithuania. Is that unusual for you or
is that always something you've looked at the international side of things, you know,
I think it's kind of just kind of goes. You have to evolve.
And I do have an assistant coach who is from Lithuania, who is
you know, heavily involved with the international scene, and you know she's you
know, very knowledgeable and you know, so she's being able to bring a
few players to light. But some of it too, it just happens to
you know, we recruited George A. Moore to Virginia Tech and she just
happened to be from Australia. And then a lot of times when you get
a player like that who has as much success as a player like Georgia does,
it really makes your program more attractive to even more international players. Sure,
because these players are coming over and you know, they want a mirror
of success, and Georgia was a blueprint. So it's kind of opened up
a couple of doors for us. But also a lot of it has to
do with with coach rad and and her connections, you know, with with
the players over there because she goes over and uh she coached on the junior
national team I think summer ago, and you know she's able to see a
lot of these players and what they can do and how how their abilities could
translate, you know, to the to the American college game. And uh
so it's been very very successful for us being at Virginia Tech, where you
know, we weren't the household name. We had to build it up.
We had to build it up. And and you know, because you know
the kids over there, they don't dream about coming to sup Virginia Tech.
So we had to make Virginia Tech very attractive and uh and so now and
being at the University of Kentucky a little bit more name recognition, you know,
hopefully that it would open up some even more doors for us. And
with the success that we've had with for the international players, you know,
those two couple together, it could open up a lot of doors for us.
You have one player right now in your roster from Kentucky, Cassidy Road
from Virgie. Uh do you know much yet about Kentucky girls high school basketball?
Did you get into Kentucky much recruiting from Virginia Tech? We we did.
We we we recruited a couple young ladies from Kentucky. Always aware of
players in Kentucky and uh so, Uh, I know, I know that
it's very important. You know, there's a player of our caliber that we
make sure we go after her with due diligence. It's also got to be
a good fit. It really does. And I think Big Blue Nation,
you know, they they want to win. You know, they would love
to win with Kentucky players, but I think they still want to win.
And so so we're we're diving in hard. We're diving in hard and trying
to get to know the state even more and uh and trying to cover the
state and make sure that you know, any young lady that is good enough
player to help us win basketball games that we're on it. And but you
know, you get into a situation where when I was at Virginia Tech,
we had one young lady on our roster from Virginia and that was my daughter.
So you know, so but you know, Hokey Nation loved us because
we were winning. And so, you know, it's just it's a different
it's a different era. It's a different age where sometimes you get a kid,
you know, and they want to get away, and so you have
to respect that too, but you also have to just go out and you
do your due diligence, but also try to keep you know, all the
Kentucky kids at home. So what we're looking forward to it you know,
we're getting settled right now and pretty much our main focus right now is to
get a roster together, a good roster together. And as soon as we're
able to put that to bed, we're able to dive into the younger players
in the state of Kentucky to make sure we get them on campus and introduce
them to our new staff and our new philosophies and new culture and what we're
going to try to do at KAY. You introduce them to an upgraded facility
as well. What were your thoughts on Memorial Coliseum when you saw it?
How close are they to being done? Well, it's still in the scale
to the stages, so you have to when you come over, you have
to use your vision goggles. That's the way selling recruit, you know.
So I'm I'm a big HGTV fan, and I like the thirty minute episodes
where you see the beginning of it and then you get to see, you
know, a couple of commercials later, you get to see the finished product.
Right. Well, that's not that's not the case here. You know,
it's taken a little while, and uh everything I've been told that it's
on schedule to be done in uh in August sometimes, and uh, but
it's gonna be It's gonna be a huge selling point because I think the intimacy
of the building is going to be fantastic for women's college basketball. And uh,
you're going to get sixty five hundred people in there. It's allowed.
It's going to give you a home court advantage. Uh, brand news,
beautiful new locker room. Those are all things that you have to have in
this day and age. You have to have, you know, a great
program, you have to have in il you have to have facilities because you
know, these kids are going from campuses to campuses and a lot of times
in the early stages are there, they're comparing and you want to put yourself
in position and give yourself a chance to recruit these kids. And I think
the renovations to Memorial would definitely help. And then you know, obviously the
ever ever changing landscape of nil and things of that matter, just they're really
really important, and it's just just the whole the whole thing is shifted in
the last two, three, four or five years, you know, from
year to year of the importance of little things like that, and so this
is no this is no different, and you know Memorial is definitely going to
help them. Coach, thank you so much for joining us. I'm looking
forward to meeting you you as well. Thank you for your time. You're
listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider. More to come here on
six thirty w l a P. It's Dick Gabriel, Welcome back to the
best of the Big Blue Insider, joining us down on a celebrity hotline as
a longtime friends of the show and a pretty successful college volleyball coach, and
that is Craig Skinner, coach. Welcome back from Japan. I don't remember.
I've been there a couple of times. I don't remember if I ever
knew how to say welcome them back. But how did that go? I
don't think I can tell you that. Either I can say thank you Orgato
and then hello can eat you up. That's about it. It sounds good.
It was a phenomenal trip and what a life experience for all of us
that had the chance to go, and and our players just had a really
new, cool experience the way to play the game of volleyball, and and
also had some challenging bonding times together and overall huge success. Well, let's
talk about a couple of those things. First of all, the bonding.
This isn't the first overseas trip that that your team one of your teams has
made Have you always seen the results you hoped in terms of pulling kids together?
Yeah, yes, because you know all our you know, we're all
Americans typically, and you know we have you know, people coming from all
over the place, you know, on different background of different families, different
socio economic backgrounds and all of the above. And the one of the coolest
things they get a shared experience together that none of them, none of them
have ever seen, done or felt before. And so having that to pull
from during the season and challenging times, I think it's it's crucial. And
all of these kids have traveled as athletes, but as you said, generally
within the confines of the United States, but anybody who's gone overseas, especially
to Asia, I found, uh, that is that is so different,
isn't it. It brings some challenges, but it's kind of fun, isn't
it. Yeah. I mean the sleep deprivation, the way of life,
the you know, the long hours and the plane and you know, trucking
your bag through airports and trains and buses and you know all that stuff.
It's it's you know, we're very fortunate and privileged to be able to travel
the way we do here in the United States, and that's a whole different
experience. And so absolutely, and the players there in Japan, I mean
they say take such pride and passion for all of their possessions, and that
was a really neat experience. And it was leadership from the top down,
from the seniors to the freshmen. In those colleges, the seniors were the
one doing the work showing the freshmen how to get it done. When you
were coming back, could you tell or did you talk to them about the
trip? I mean, I got to think they really enjoyed it. Oh,
for sure. We had the last day, we had a kind of
a debriefing meeting with everybody and they shared some amazing different thoughts and experiences about
what they saw, felt and witnessed and and you know, so that this
our team, I think, really did a good job of having great perspective
on what it was all about. You mentioned at the very beginning that they
found a different way to play volleybody you mean that literally? I mean,
is there a different style you all played over there, or what? Oh?
Absolutely, I mean you know that the one thing that the Japanese are
very aware of who they are and what their strengths are and they do everything
to maximize them, and so we're more physical, taller, higher above the
net, but very execute the skills and defensive possessions as well as any teams
that we've played since I've been in Kentucky. And so it was very difficult
to terminate the ball. And you know, you just see just typically balls
that were kills by us were being played right back and and so you had
to earn it and it was really cool to see your team kind of have
to figure that out. That's great. How many matches did you play?
We ended up playing five matches, and they're all against college teams there who
are all every maetative, and we ended up winning four of them. Two
of them went to distance. The five sets, and but you know,
there, I think there was only two blowout sets. We got blown out
in a set and we we blew a team out and a set, and
other other than that, it was it was pretty close. That's that's perfect
for what you need on And one last question about this trip. It's not
the same, I know as moving a football team, but that's a lot
of people to take a long way, and there's lots to do with visas
and passports. Who gets the gold star for organizational skills? Oh, I
mean christ and Sanford, our director of operations, was amazing with all of
that. And Katie Eiserman, you know, our administrator. You know,
it's huge in that. And then we have a company called Bring It Promotions,
a guy named Tim Kelly has been taking us on tours ever since and
they do an outstanding job of keeping us dialed in and organized and itineraries planned
and just just you know, amazing behind the scenes work from everybody. Excellent.
Well, let's get back to one of the original reasons I called you
was because of the American Volleyball Coaches Association First Served Showcase. It'll be here
before you know it, right August twenty seventh over in Louisville, and that
gives you a head start on your what does it mean to your program to
begin the year with an event like this so close to home. Well,
first of all, this showcase used to happen about ten or fifteen years ago,
and we were part of it in twenty ten. But to be able
to do this and play three or four days before everybody else in the country
at the final four venue an hour up the road and our fans have a
chance that our fans need to buy tickets soon because the teams that are there,
Louisville, Wisconsin, and Nebraska all all have a great following. And
so we need to, you know, show up in blue with all those
red schools that are could be in this event and show what we're about,
so a big blue nation. We need you to start buying tickets on I
believe it's June thirteenth or fourteenth, but at an unbelievable event that we have
the privilege of being invited to. And man, are you biting off a
big chunk You just read it off three programs that are among the best in
the country. You know, I could see those fourteens being ranked one through
four pre season. They will be very highly ranked, and they will travel
and they will be eating up tickets. And I don't have any doubt that
this is going to be a sold out event so at the young and it's
going to be hyped all over the place, and of course I know we'll
do our part and can't wait to see some Blue in the crowd for sure.
Yeah, and it's going to be somewhere on one of the ESPN flavors,
but yeah, we urge you to get there. You face Nebraska and
U of L plays Wisconsin. People who follow the Kentucky program might know that
you your first year job prior to Kentucky was at Nebraska. Craig, what's
it like for you? And it's been quite a while since you were there,
but still I know what it meant to you to work there and learn
there. What's it mean to you when your team faces off because you've played
Nebraska a few times during your head coaching career. Yeah, I mean it's
it's, you know, one of the most respected, you know, sports
program and all of college sports, you know, with the following they have
the commitment they've had to volleyball itself. And I was fortunate enough to work
in that program, And if I didn't work in that program, I wouldn't
be in the in the seed I am today. So you know, certainly
have a lot of respect for them, and and you know, obviously enormous
amount of you know success with national championships and you know, we were able
to win one here a few years ago and still haven't beaten Nebraska yet,
So that's on the on the bucket list. And then what not a better
time to do it in August twenty seventh, So you know, great chance
for our program and certainly to be mentioned in the same breath as them now
as an honor for me personally, but also for everyone of all the Kentucky
I know you gave him a run during the nca Tournament one year, but
yeah, you need you need to check that off the list. Every basketball
fan in Kentucky knows how Kentucky basketball became what it is the grassroots with the
Adolf Rupp and then through the years, how did Nebraska become such a power
in women's volleyball? Man they you know, it started back in the eighties.
A guy named Terry Pettitt was the coach there and he always tells the
story is he was peddling tickets door to door and he would he would bring
out he would bring out folding chairs when they first started matches and what their
their coliseum was in Nebraska campus, and they started with you know, a
couple of hundred, then in a thousand, and then you know, by
the time it got to the mid nineties and they were selling out four thousand
in their coliseum, and then they had to you know, start over and
go to the demanding center and now they're getting eight or nine thousand people every
game, and then had ninety two thousand people in the football stadium last August
for a preseason match. I mean, it's it started from the ground up
and they did the leg work, and you know it's it's uh. You
know that Terry Pettitt John Cook has done an unbelievable amount of that program in
the sport of volleyball so well. And that said, you referenced this past
year during the postseason when you got some some great crowds and during a regular
season what it was like when you first got here to Kentucky And obviously it
was a great opportunity for you as you as a head coach for the first
time. But why did you think that you could get You haven't quite gotten
to where Nebraska is with crowds, but you're getting there. Why did you
think that was possible at UK? To be honest, I had several chances,
you know, to be a head coach prior, and I wanted to
be the head coach at a program that was the flagship institution of the state
and had no pro sports in the state. Because the fans live and die
by their wildcats, and that's certainly proven true to this point. We still
got, you know, some steps to go, but from where we started
with about seventy five people in the stands our first match to where we are
now is the marathon away. But we got another marathon to go, and
you know, wouldn't want to do it in any other place. Yeah,
man, I remember covering in the eighties. Lexion had hosted the Final Four
and it was so great. That's where I kind of got the bug,
which, as you know, I've had for quite a while. But it's
been so much fun watching watching the program grow. But I don't know if
I ever heard that from you that you had other opportunities to be a head
coach. How tempting was it to do the knee jerk thing and say yes?
Or maybe it wasn't a knee jerk thing. I mean it was.
It was a good feel I you know, I was offered the Iowa State
job around the same time and interviewed there, then came to Lexington and had
lunch with Mitch and and to it around. It just felt like a place
that my wife, Megan and I belonged, and you know, you just
have a feeling sometimes, and the same thing with recruiting. I mean,
recruits have a feel and that's where they belong. And you know, so
I got that feeling when I was here, and I'm like, this is
this is where we're going. And we thought we'd be here five years and
here we are almost twenty years later, and then doing the same thing.
So raising your kids and hoisting a national championship trophy. And I've talked to
Mitch occasionally when you he's gotten really passionate about something and I can't imagine what
the hard cell's like when he's trying to hire somebody. Well, it's you
know, he's a pretty pretty authentic natural guy and he wants people that you
know, kind of you know, see the blue collar, down to Earth's
mentality that that he does. And you know, so, I mean,
you're not you don't have to sell a tank and to come to Kentucky.
It's just a pretty pretty special place. We're talking with Kentucky volleyball coach Craig
Skinner. We're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider want to come
here on six thirty w lap. Hey, it's Dick Gabriel and you're listening
to the best of the Big Blue insider talk about Craig Skinner, Kentucky head
volleyball coach, about the Wildcats opening games or game in the ABCA First Serve
Showcase coming up August twenty seven. Keep an eye out for tickets. This
is going to be a big deal with the Wildcats taking on Nebraska, Louisville
taking on Wisconsin. These are power house programs and it would be great volleyball
coming up August twenty seventh. Let me ask you a little bit before I
turn you loose about your roster. You've got new faces, as always,
that's all part of college sports. Kids come and go. But Emma Groham
is back, eleanor Bevan Molly tells you you've got in Brooklyn and Aaron Lamb.
You've got the core of what could be a pretty special team, don't
you really really good group of upper classmen returning. We have a couple,
you know, red shirt freshmen that didn't play last year. They're super athletic
and have a chance to be special for us. And then a freshman class
for well three freshmen and a transfer d Laney Hogan from Xavier. But the
freshman class is super athletic. You know, got a chance to impact our
program. And you know, so the blend of upper class and a freshmen
is exciting and you know, but the margins are thin against teams like Nebraska
with cottin Louisville, and you know, so we got to do over part
you know this in August and training to to's see how we can separate ourselves.
The freshman couldn't go to Japan, right, We actually were able to
take our freshman this year. Change that rule a couple of years ago,
so we took three of them. Unfortunately, one of them got hurt our
first day of practice that you couldn't make the trip, but you know,
they they were able to come and it was yeah, you're having that,
you know, a couple of week bump and time with us is huge for
pre seasons. Yeah, just not just the bonding, but learning the way
that you want things done, I mean live, live action, right,
absolutely, No, it's huge. For sure. What are we going to
see from your team in terms of the way you plays are going to be
more of the same. You're gonna have to tweak things. I mean every
year is different. I know. Yeah, our balance probably distribution might be
a little different, but we want to spread the net from antenna to antenna,
go with speed. And you know, I think are blocking and serving
has taken another step up this spring, which was a point of emphasis.
So we were I think we were the number one first of all side out
team in the country last year, and we needed to score some more easy
points of the blocking defense. We spent a lot of time this spring working
on that and I think it's paying off and you know, hopefully we see
some of that in August and September. Emmac grom is a three time All
American. Not a bad focal point, right, I mean, when you
can build around somebody like that coach on the floor, that's pretty obvious question,
Craig. But how big is that for you? Well, you always
say that, you know, you don't realize how good a quarterback or setter
you have until they're gone. And you know, I mean, Emma is
a special talent. She's led the country and assists a couple of times,
and just a superior athlete. And with her experience, you know, coming
back, it allows us to put our energy and focus on some other things
that we need to shore up. So Yeah, it's a great luxury to
have a player like her with us again. And Brooklyn Delay got a chance
last year to blossom because you were juggling some injuries and when the kids got
healthy and came back, she made you play her, didn't she. I
mean she she picked up a lot of early experience. That a real bonus
for you. I think, Yeah, we knew what the talent she was
coming in, but you never know how quickly the freshmen are going to adjust.
And you know, when she got the opportunity to play in the back
row midway through the season, she became one of the best attackers out of
the back row in the country. And her attack percent is out of the
back row is unlike any attack percents we've ever had there. And so she
grabbed that opportunity, ran with an elite competitor, and she's getting a chance
this summer with the USAU nineteen team and oh wow, to try and qualify
for the World Championships. So she leaves to compete with usas you and fourteenth
And yeah, special player. One other question about a player that's Eleanor Bevin.
It was only the libre of the year as a true freshman. You
have had I don't want to say luck, but you've had success with Libro's
defensive players, setters. You know, you've had some some of the big
kids as well do incredibly well. But what is it about your program?
I guess it is I know a lot of its talent evaluation and development.
But it's been such a mainstay in your program. You know that that started
in the first year we came to Kentucky. I've always felt like that you
if you had good liberros, you had good setters, you had a chance.
And you know, I've always felt like that. I think that if
you have those two positions, I think in any sport you know where you're
have the numbers we do. If you have two or three positions anchored down
every year, you have a chance to compete, and then you fill that
around with people that gets a job done. At crunch time, you're always
in the conversation when you have players, good players in those two positions.
And I think that, you know, you can say that for every top
ten team, they have a good setter and they have a good liberro,
and we certainly don't ever want that to change. Well, I'll let you
go so this. This is a really challenging time in college athletics for you
coaches, really for everybody with a portal with NIL, but particularly in the
SEC. Now you've got two teams coming in one in particular, it's going
to make your life a lot more difficult with Texas and Oklahoma joining the league?
Are you looking forward to that? Did you cringe when you heard it?
How do you feel about that? You know, I don't. I
don't want to say we've ever gotten comfortable, but winning seven SEC championships in
a row, you know you kind of like, oh, what else do
when you do? But it certainly doesn't get let you have any comfort at
all. And you know, Texas has won the last two national championships,
so they have the target on their back and you know, we got to
figure out a way to challenge them for our our conference championship and then compete
for national champs So I love the opportunity with situations like this, and that's
why it came to the SEC because Florida was dominating our league, and you
know, it was a great chance to kind of go after a program like
that and this will be no different. Thank you so much. I appreciate
it. Take care you're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Our number two is next here on six point thirty w lap. Hey,
it's Stick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Our number two
taking a little time off, so please enjoy the best of the Big Blue
Insider. Joining us now as a guy who's been with us many times here
on the Celebrity Hotline. That's Tim Sullivan, veteran sports writer. He is
a freelancer over and Louisville, contributes to Louisville's Leo Weekly. And Tim,
welcome back. Haven't talked with you in a while. Since then, so
much has happened. But and I don't want to sound like I'm dragging you
in to talk about, you know, the rest in Peace segment of the
show. But we've lost some important people over the last couple three weeks,
including Willie Mays. And you tweeted that you got to see him play once
in the All Star Game in nineteen sixty nine. What were your memories of
that and of just Willie Mays in general, because you worked on the West
Coast for a while. Yeah, well, you know, I was fourteen
years old when the All Star Game came to Washington, and you know,
we were the two closest cities were both American leagues, so I never really
got to see all the great stars of the National League, which was really
dominant at that time, except in that nineteen sixty nine All Star Game.
And I looked up the box score last night and I saw that Willie Mays
didn't even start the game. He pinch hit and hit a fly ball to
the right field, and that was the extent of it. I don't think
he played the field. He probably was on a plane by the time the
game ended. But that was the only time I saw Hank Aaron play,
and Roberto Clemente and William Covey, a lot of really great stars who unfortunately
that was before interleague play, so there was no opportunity and I wasn't going
to drive to Philadelphia as a fourteen year old. Yeah, and we've talked
so much about Willie Mage over the last couple of days, and I never
got to see him play in person, obviously on television, but from everything
I've read and seen, I believe he was the greatest all around player in
the history of the game. Do you share that or who else do you
put up there. Well, I think he kind of stands alone in that
regard. Mean, Bob Costas was analyzed that an interview I guess he did
yesterday, and you know he said that Ted Williams or Hank Aaron might have
been better hitters. You know, it's hard to compare him to the stars
of the segregated era, Babe Ruth and Na Cob. But you know,
in my experience, you know, I never saw anybody who could do everything
that he did. I think he let the league in stolen bases four times
and home runs four times, and you know it just was such a dynamic
player in center field. I remember growing up, the kid across the street
was a big Willie May's fan, and I was. I was a Mickey
Mantle fan at that time, and we had some vigorous debates. But as
time went on and Mantles injuries accumulated, his run kind of the two in
the mid sixties, I mean, it was pretty clear that that May's had
surpassed him. And you know, you know, for most of my life,
he's been the greatest living ball player, and he may have been the
greatest ballplayer of them all. That's very subjective. But you know, Ruth
pitched, which gives him an extra dimension. But I don't. I don't
think he could run like likely May. You know what's fascinating to me is
having read so much about him over the last few days. The catch of
the Vic Wurtz fly ball in the Polo Grounds, the massive polo grounds.
Willie May said that wasn't his best catch, and he talked about a couple
of others, including one where he knocked himself out running into the wall against
the Dodgers. When he woke up, there was Jackie Robinson standing next to
him, just to make sure that Willie had caught the ball. So when
even Willie May says that wasn't his best catch, that to me is staggering.
Well when you when you think about it, I mean this is this
was a catch in the World Series, so it has a special cachet.
Uh to me. One of the most remarkable things about that catch is how
quickly he got the ball back to the infield and held a runner. Yes,
but I've seen you over the head catches. I think Jim Edvans may
have done that a few times. But I remember watching the game of the
week, probably the mid sixties from San Francisco, and he went up and
his memory serves his foot was like in the in the in the stomach of
the left fielder went up and went up catch the ball. I mean,
I'd like to see a replay of that. I don't I don't know that
I have for probably fifty years. But he he was indelible, and uh,
you know, I think if you look at at the numbers, you
might conclude that that the Hank Aaron was was was the better hitter. But
boy Uhmed and everything. Yeah, there's a there was a great line.
He had a hit a triple once and then somebody wrote the only man who
could have caught it hit it. Yeah, and then you know, we're
all reminded that he lost a couple of seasons to service. And I always
think about that howling wind in San Francisco that robbed him of home run.
So, uh, we have also lost Jerry West And you tweeted about him,
and I talked on the show right after tim that with my dad going
to West Virginia, U he was from Fairmont. I grew up a Jerry
West fan. I knew who he was, and I didn't realize until I
read it no, but that Wes was not a fan of the nickname Zeke
from Cabin Creek because he really wasn't from Cabin Creek. But the bottom line
is a tremendous player who has denied so many opportunities to win a title.
He did win the one, but also was the architect of championship teams.
So when you put those two facets together, he was absolutely one of the
all time greats, wasn't he. Yeah, well, I think he's in
the Hall of Fame for three different achievements. You know, one is an
executive, one as a player, and then I think he was in there
also as a member of the Olympic team in nineteen And you know, I
was talking to somebody. I guess it was a few days ago, and
I so, here's a great trivia question for you. And you named the
only player in baseball, football, and basketball to be named the MVP of
the championship from a losing team, and he was one of them. Yeah,
you can get the other two. I'm gonna be really impressed. Uh,
Chuck Howley for good, I do not know baseball. Bobby Richardson,
no kid, when the Pirates won on Masarowski silm Run. Oh yeah,
I remember reading about that series, Tim where the Yankees scored one thousand runs
and the and the Pirates scored a handful of runs, but they scored just
enough four times. So But anyway, getting back to West, I don't
know if you watched any of these made for TV series, but I I
don't have HBO, so I didn't see the one. But uh, in
reading about him, I didn't realize that he was such a tortured soul because
you could understand it because they could not get past the Celtics. Did you
know much about that? You know, I I remember reading about that,
and you know I watched some of those games as a very young boy.
But you know, he was such a dynamic player, and he and Baylor,
Algian Baylor were you know, tremendous combo. But you know, the
Celtics were so stacked in those days, and you know, if you could
get past Pablo Cik and Sam Jones, you had to deal with Bill Russell.
So you know, I think he was kind of a filtering of the
Windmill in a way. I mean, just they were a little bit out
manned, although you know, they they took him to the wire several times
and before they finally got wilt and broke through. But you know, he
was tremendous fun to watch. And I was talking to Bob Galvano about the
nineteen seventy shot that he made the force overtime against end up losing the game.
But I mean, what everybody remembers is that shot. Yeah. I
mean, sometimes the guy from the losing team is more compelling than the winner,
just because of, you know, the burden he as the bear and
the performance that he has to do to keep his team in it. And
I always think of Jerry West as this noble warrior who is just a little
bit out of his depth when it came to the overall talent on his team
versus the Celtics. Yeah, and he played three times with West Virginia and
the UK Invitational tournament has three double doubles, so obviously one of the best
players ever to come through lexing. And we're talking with Tim Sullivan, freelance
sports writer over in Louisville. You're listening to the best inside talking to Tim
Sullivan, foreland sports writer based in Louisville. And Tim, before we talk
more sports, I did want to ask about a tweet of yours that came
a couple of weeks ago, when you said you were fortunate enough to accompany
a D Day veteran back to Normandy when you were with the Cincinnati Inquirer.
I didn't know that you had done that. Tell me about that. That
must have been an incredible experience. It was. It was really one of
the most memorable things I've done in my career. And you know, as
the fiftieth anniversary of D Day was coming up, I had the idea that
maybe there was a D Day veteran in town who would be willing to retrace
his steps, and I talked to maybe half a dozen of them, and
they're probably all gone now, but you know, I found a gentleman named
Erry Wecter. It was a medic and hit Utah Beach on that morning and
you managed to survive. And we went to England and France and you know
other places that he had stopped during his his time, and it was just
it was an honor really to be a part of that. And we went
before the fiftieth anniversary, so all of our stories could be prepared before that
exact date. But I remember we were walking through a museum somewhere in France,
and I I didn't sense that I was getting the reaction that that that
I had hoped for. And I said, Harry, would you mind wearing
your VFW hat? And he did, and this this gentleman comes over to
him and says, thank you for saving me country. That was. That
was pretty emotional for I think for all of us. And I think back
to that trip and pat Ready was a photographer from the Inquiry. He was.
He came along and documented it, and I remember spending about an hour
and a half on Utah Beach waiting for him to get the light just right
for the main photo. And it was worth it, I think. And
and I miss Harry, and he's been gone now probably twenty years. But
that was. That was a tremendous assignment. One of my next door neighbors
several years ago was a veteran. In fact, he played a key role
in getting the World War Two memorial erected in Washington, d c. And
in fact, they sent an honor flight to get him when they unveiled it.
Archie Deadman. But he told me one story about World War Two.
But as you probably know, veterans don't like to talk, especially D Day
veterans about what happened there. Did you get Harry to open up a little
bit about his experience, Not as much as I would have hoped, And
you know, he was kind of reticence and did not go into great detail
about V Day itself. You know, there were some interesting stories about,
you know, when he was stationed in England waiting for the invasion, and
some of the things that happened to him, you know, along the way,
but very terse when it came to the battle itself. But there were
you know, there were some veterans who were much more animated and detailed,
But Harry was a wonderful guy and I wouldn't have traded him for any of
them. Yeah. Well, let me shift you back to sports. You
have tweeted and written as well about the Kentucky Speedway and that was such a
great place to be on racing weekends, and then the races go away,
and now that's a big parking lot. Do you have any hope that we're
going to see significant races there again in the near future. I would say
the near future is pretty unlikely. The NASCAR schedule is packed and in order
to get a race, you basically have to take one from somebody else,
right, you know that's here. I mean the owners of the track.
They on eleven tracks, and they decided to move the Quaker State four hundred
to Atlanta, which is another track they own, and you know, that's
kind of the heart of NASCAR country. So I don't know what kind of
attendance they've had there. NASCAR doesn't announce attendants. Sometimes you can find it
in documents, you know, when they apply for refunds or or subsidies from
the state. But I think it's pretty unlikely that that you'll see racing there
anytime soon. Although h Denny Handlin, the driver, was talking about the
shift to more mile and a half tracks, and he mentioned Kentucky Speedway on
his podcast last month. Uh, you know, his possibility. But you
know, he added that there'd be a lot of work that had to be
done. You know, it's been almost four years now since the last race,
and I don't know that they've done a lot to maintain the track,
and it probably needs a lot more than a pay job at this point.
But you know, the big problem I think is that the culture of our
racing now is such that states are throwing millions and millions of dollars at operators
and NASCAR to attract and maintain races. And state of North Carolina I think
divided forty five point eight million dollars among seventeen tracks. Now that's and including
eighteen million at North Wilkesboro, which is a very small track and had not
had a race in decades. But they managed to spend enough money to attract
the NASCAR All Star Race, and they've had that a couple of years now.
You know, I don't quite understand how attract that size can command races
when Kentucky's feed ways much bigger. Yeah, and presumably could could draw a
significantly bigger crowd. But if you look at the statistics and the the refunds
that they've gotten on sales tax, tell me where you want to know.
But from the first NASCAR race and twenty eleven, the first Quaker Stay four
hundred to the last one, the decline in sales tax refunds that they received,
which was a reflection of attendance pretty dramatic. I mean, I think
the last year was three hundred and fifty three thousand as opposed to a peak
of you know, one point one four million. Wow. You know,
so we don't know what the actual attendance was, but that includes concessions and
food and you know, anything that charge sales tax on, so you get
a pretty good glimpse of it. I don't see the political will to subsidize
the track to any greater extent that it's already been, and it doesn't appear
that the owners are in any great rush to do anything. They're making money
off of the parking of forwards XS inventory, and I don't know if that
covers all their costs. But they do have ten other tracks that all have
NASCAR races, so I don't think they're hurting too much. Tim Sullivan is
a freelance sports writer who has worked on the West coast, Cincinnati, Louisville.
Works out of Louisville now and you can see some of his work in
Leo Weekly, among other places. Tim, thanks so much. Good talking
to you, Chick. My pleasure any time they're listening to the Best of
the Big Blue Insider. More to come here on six point thirty w LAP.
It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider.
Joining us now the Road Warrior Brian Milo, He, like a lot
of us, was out in Omaha to cover those Kentucky Baseball Wildcats. And
Brian, I like to call you, mister Baseball. Having played as you
did at the college level, what was it like for you going to Omah.
I don't know if you've ever been there for the Cosworld Series, but
to go and cover a team you have covered for so long, it had
to be like, you know, making a pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
For you, it was. And I think of another Louisavillion ned Baty,
who passed a couple of years ago, in the movie Rudy, when he
said, this is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen. You
know, it was a big deal for me. I had never been to
Omaha to cover the College World Series, order to be at the College World
Series, but I was there in March to cover more heads eight that's right.
And my hotel room was right behind home late and I remember telling my
dad, I mean, you opened the curtains and there's the statue, And
I told my dad, maybe this is foreshadowing for the baseball Wildcats, And
sure enough it was. Yeah, Hotter and blazes. But still, you
know, some broad enough breeze so we could survive it. But still the
entire town was full of baseball fans literally, wasn't it. Yeah? It
was. And when I checked out yesterday morning, there was a gentleman at
the hotel. He said, people just don't understand. This is a ten
day Christmas celebration for the city of And I didn't think about that. But
when you also factor in how many Little League teams and I say little League,
they're baby Bruce cal Ripken whatever they're calling them in these days, perfect
game, what have you. There were more than six hundred teams in the
Omaha area from age eight to eighteen, I guess that were participating in tournaments.
And they purposely do that so the kids can also come to the College
World Series. And I thought, what a genius marketing move to hold those
tournaments in the same city at the same time, so to speak, so
you can go and enjoy it. And you see the city just open up
its arms in a way that maybe only Oklahoma City does for softball. That
it's unique because football, they're all over the country. Basketball you're all over
the country. And then you only get four teams to the final four.
Well, baseball, you get eight and you bring in ages from five to
ninety five. I've been to Oklahoma City for the College World Series when Kentucky
went, but our hotel wasn't right in the middle of downtown, nor was
the stadium, So I can't draw that parallel. But yeah, I think
you'll agree that Omaha has a bit of a reputation just it's Omaha. It's
Nebraska's in the Midwest. But you talk about vibrant, I mean the architecture,
the buildings are fascinating, They're gorgeous, and downtown is lit up.
And I don't mean just the office lights in the buildings. I mean all
these art projects are lit up. And it's just fascinating, isn't it.
It is, it's and I think it's just the aura. Omaha knows who
it is, if that's such praise, and they know for these ten days
they must be perfect. Yeah, if the picture ever throws a perfect game
or a no hitter, the city of Omaha, if it was a picture,
they know for ten days they have to be flawless. And you don't
see you don't see problems. Outside of the stadium. People are friendly,
they're getting along for the most part. Yeah, you may have a discussion,
a heated discussion about which team is better or who's going to win,
but you see people all of the time, Hi, her, are you
good morning? Good morning? Hey, go Cat, go Aggie's go Gators,
whatever, And it is just a fraternity of baseball people that it was
so enlightening and refreshing to see people genuinely happy just to be at a location.
And then afterwards you go out and you see these same people and they're
rehashing the game from earlier and for the games and just a it is.
As I mentioned on social media, it's the highlight of my career. I've
been to like you, been to final fours, Bowl games, Kentucky derby,
PGA championships, on and on and on. Nothing in my professional life
will ever equippse what took place this past week because it was the first time.
As I mentioned in the postgame interview to Nick minzion, I said,
you know, for decades it was the question was when will Kentucky get here?
And now the question is when will Kentucky get back? That's right,
because we've all had a taste of it. Although as you know, I
was there forty years ago, but not covering Kentucky. That's a different animal.
And to see I still talk about I don't remember who it was.
It might have been a Tennessee fan who predicted on Twitter the UK fans would
not show up in Omaha. Could not have been more wrong. And Tom
Hart took up for the Big Blue Nation from the SEC network. And you
know I gauged it. I mentioned this on the show last night, Brian.
But I'm sure you saw the omavalls Oma pack, you know, with
different T shirts. I tried to find an Oma Cats T shirt for a
friend of mine and I found one store that had three shirts remaining. They
were all like two X and three X. I couldn't buy one. That
to me was as good a barometer as any. You couldn't find an Oma
Cats shirt? Do you need a large shirt Oma Cats? Yes? Well
I bought something else. But let me find out. I know a guy.
Oh, you know a guy. Okay, you know a guy you
mentioned the postgame news conference with Nick, and I really think he was a
hit. I think UK was a hit. The dugout, the style,
the way they won the game. The town was talking about him. They
absolutely and Nick Minze he captured the variable fan the X factor. Well who
do we root for? You know, that day before and I said this
on social media again, he just and I don't know if he meant to
do it. Nick is very calculated now true, but I don't know if
he understood it at the moment. Maybe he did, and to his credit,
he probably did. But I think he just coined the baseball phrase for
the Wildcats, let it be the Cats. And when he said, if
you're looking for a team to root for, if you let it be the
Cats, and I just thought, that's gold, Jerry, that's gold.
You know, he just hit it. And sure enough people from Florida were
wanting the Cats to win. For Florida State fans, they were wanting the
Cats to win. Other teams that don't like Texas, A and M were
wanting Kentucky to win because they are there for the first time, and they
did. And when you win the way they did the first time, North
Carolina fans were rooting for Kentucky to be in C state because of all the
rivalry elsewhere of the other seventeen means, Carolina adopted UK to beat in the
states, and then Florida State fans were cheering for uk to beat Florida.
I mean it was Bucky was the X factor in that tournament in terms of
the fans, and they nailed it. Bryan Mile and my guest from WKYT
were listening to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. More to come here
on six thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel, Welcome back to the Best of
the Big Blue Insider for talking with Brian Mylin, sports director WKYTE back from
Omaha after the weather delay in the tournament and then the weather delay with his
flight, But it's all worth it. In that moment, Brian, I
told somebody, I said, I had to blink and reprocess Mitch Day's home
run and I had to shake my head like did I just see an instant
replay of something else? This is an incredible moment that anybody was there will
never forget. You talked about it earlier, but and you having seen a
million baseball games, that's got a rank right up there with you. It
does. And the thing about it that I don't think you think about at
the moment, because there's a great quote that says baseball is wonderful in its
rehash. It's endless because we lived that moment. But if you think about
it, the pits takes less than a half a second to get the home
plate, the ball is hit and it goes out of the park in less
than three seconds. And all of that takes place in a matter of four
to five seconds. The swing, the ball landing, and then the celebration
takes a long time, but in our imagination we see it in slow motion.
And it dawned on me the next day or two days later watching batting
practice. The ball flies out the fast, but in the moment you're so
caught up in everything. But for those who watched it, for the rest
of their lives, that will be in slow motion. And the video of
from the first from the third day dugout, they got nick in Gill going
down to one knee in that emotional moment. I mean, it was the
perfect ending to Kentucky's first game in the College World Series. It really was,
and it's it's a timeless moment that for those who were there, they
will be able to cherish that for the rest of their lives because the sound
of the unexpected is what's so beautiful in baseball. You wind up the toy
over and over again, and nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens,
and all of a sudden, you know, it's just like, oh my
gosh, it's the unexpected, and Mitchell Daily has the moment of a lifetime.
And for Kentucky's first win at the College World Series, there is a
walk off. I mean, my gosh, you know, and it's almost
perfect that you can debate this all you want, but for Mitch Daily to
do it a guy who had played not just I've been to Omaha, but
had played in a couple of College World Series with a Texas team that is
synonymous with success in the World Series. But his career had just kind of
gone sour. With all due respect, you know, freshman All American,
but his numbers dwindled. They recruited over him. You know. Somebody I
could not get more details, but somebody said to me when I was down
in Texas. Yeah, it's a shame the way his career ended up at
Texas with him and the coach. And he hasn't said much about it,
but he just moved on. And for him to make that statement I thought
was perfect. Yeah, you know that that is the one thing about sports
and certainly baseball, since I'm a baseball guy and you are too in many
ways, and that it just hits harder when there's a story in baseball,
and yeah, the guy all American. This people put expectations on others that
are justified, maybe not justified, but in his career maybe. Yeah,
it didn't take off the way it was supposed to buy people's prognostications. But
I think if you ask Mitchell Daily at the end of the day, yet
it worked out perfect. I mean, it's just that there is a redemption
in sports, and especially baseball that just hits home. And for people who
say, well, sports isn't important for this you go. You don't see
two hundred thousand people showing up to Omaha if it's not important. And for
Mitchell Daily and for Ryan Nicholson to have the tournament he had, golly,
just wonderful and I'm so happy. I was so happy for the baseball Wildcats
and the fans because baseball was the only SEC Kentucky was the only SEC baseball
team that had never gone to Omaha. They'd never been and now they go
and it's just okay, the sporting the sports is complete. You've had softball
go to the World Series. You've had Obviously, basketball and football do their
things, and other sports have won championships and gone to national tournaments, made
runs, what have you. But baseball complete the picture. I think my
greatest fear was that they lose to and go home. You know, I
told you for years the only box score that I ever kept of a game
I did not play in was that twenty one inning UK kent State game from
twenty twelve. Well have another box score to put with it, and it's
the box score of NC State of the NC State game. And when you
watch UK and you watch the other teams, the other teams at the end
of the day, because UK gets eliminated, they were more talented because they
moved on and they won. But the infectious attitude of Kentucky when you look
at INC State, they looked tight the three or four days they were there.
You look at some of the other teams, they looked tight. Yeah,
UK ran out of gas, but they were with the exception of that
seven run inning and the way the Florida game played out, UK was having
fun. Even the Texas A and M game, You're like, hey,
we lost, but we've got another day when you saw some of the other
teams, they were like, yeah, we lost, and we probably know
we're done. And maybe UK had that in the back of their head a
little bit after that seven inning game or that seven run inning where things just
fell apart in a hurry. But by gosh, they captivated the fans over
there, and I think Nick Minzione has a huge hand to play in that
because of his attitude. I'm not sure when's the last time the College World
Series had a coach like Nick Minngione who is like, hey, we are
here, baby. Most of the coaches, and most in any sport,
you know, they're stern, They're straightforward. They get to the point they
don't have a lot of personality. What coach Menzone was able to provide.
Omaha, you know they want them back again just because the kids reflect the
attitude of their coaching staff. And you see NC State Elliot event, he
is just he rarely smiles. Tony Botello rarely smiles, Kevin O'Sullivan rarely smiles.
But it was just a breath of fresh air to see a first timer
with the attitude they had. He's a charmer, no question about it.
So is Brian milein from WKYT and and to watch for his work, although
not today because he's resting from the trip back to Omar. Thank you,
Sarah, we'll talk again soon. You got it. Thank you Dick that
I'll do it for now. Time only for heroes, fools and flakes,
and our hero tonight, of course, is Willie Mays, the say Hey
Kid, passing at ninety three years old. And as his son said,
he was somewhere in that celebration of the Negro leagues and Willie May's life.
And again a tip of the cap to Fox for the production job they did
on the telecast on the opening the musical number with Jean Batiste, it was
just fantastic. But all the history there unfolding right before our very eyes was
really entertaining and very informative. And another tip to Fox I mentioned it earlier
for allowing Reggie Jackson the time it took to tell his story, which was
quite frank and quite frightening. And every time, you know, you've read
dozens and countless of a counts of things like what Reggie went through, you
know, when it comes to athletes just trying to play ball, and it's
just amazing that these guys made it through and don't harbor more bitterness than they
do. But just just an eroic situation altogether. Last night down in Alabama.
Are fool tonight. Well, it's the media, not in general,
but anybody who takes part and has a hand in the coverage of Bill Belichick
and his social life. Evidently he's dating a twenty four year old. Yes,
it's weird. I know, he's seventy two and he's twenty four.
There's ring camera video out there of him leaving her place with his shirt off
or something like that. But it's just And this is the New York Post
and other supposedly reputable media outlets, but come on, do we really care
about this? I mean, it's a waste of time. I've seen so
many stories about it. I finally broke down the red one and it's just
odd. And of course the Daily Mail in London having a big time with
it TMZ having a big time with it. But folks, it's not worth
your energy, it's not worth your time. But anyhow, that's the fool
for this week, our flake. Kind of a flaky situation up in Canada
when the Florida Panthers were flying into the Edmonton International Airport. One of the
air traffic controllers had a little bit of fun. This is, of course,
ahead of tonight's championship game. The air traffic controller made an announcement,
I got about a two hour hold for you, or whatever it would take
for you to be low enough on fuel that you have to divert from Edmonton.
I just hope the team had a sense of humor and got the joke.
The Oilers are still trying to become you're talking about flaky situation, the
first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup in thirty one years. Panthers took
the first three games and Edmonton came back, took the next two, and
they host to night at eight o'clock when ABC just a few minutes coming up.
So maybe they can push it to a game seven. And there's nothing
better in playoff hockey, especially a game seven. That'll do it for now.
Thanks for joining us for this special edition the best of the Big Blue
Insider. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington. Have you
ever been convicted of a felony or at misdemeanor? That's the robbery Karthiff,
that's earthing convicted Yeah no, never convicted. A name