Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big bluin Sider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday edition of our program, and of course
Speaker 1: the midweek brings us each and every week if we're
Speaker 1: not preempted. Sean Woods, the all the Unforgettable guard whose
Speaker 1: jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp, and West End
Speaker 1: Bureau chief Gary Moore. They will both be with us
Speaker 1: in hour number two. Coming up a little bit later
Speaker 1: at the bottom of this hour. Bernie Scruggs, former Kentucky quarterback.
Speaker 1: He played under John Ray in what was it sixty nine,
Speaker 1: seventy seventy one were his varsity seasons, and those were
Speaker 1: high school years for me, and I remember listening to
Speaker 1: Kaywood Lefford on the radio. Those were not good Kentucky teams.
Speaker 1: And I remember as I delivered my newspapers on Saturday afternoons,
Speaker 1: listening to Kaywood described the exploits of those UK teams.
Speaker 1: It just came so agonizingly close, but in true UK
Speaker 1: football fashion back then, just couldn't quite over the hump
Speaker 1: on most days, but on one magical day, Bernie Scruggs
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine, a sophomore who was filling in
Speaker 1: for the injured Stan Forston, who was the starting quarterback
Speaker 1: in the season opener against Indiana, a wild game that
Speaker 1: saw IU beat Kentucky fifty eight to thirty. I distinctly
Speaker 1: remember listening to that game thinking, man, Kentucky scoring a
Speaker 1: lot of points, but every time they scored, Indiana would
Speaker 1: score even more. So anyhow, Bernie came in and subbed
Speaker 1: for Forston in the Indiana game and then started the
Speaker 1: Old miss game and they pull off the upset of
Speaker 1: ninth rank Mississippi, which featured all everything and now legend.
Speaker 1: He was a legend back then as a high schooler
Speaker 1: Archie Manning and of course better known now as the
Speaker 1: father of Peyton and Eli and the grandfather of arch Manning.
Speaker 1: But seriously, he's probably better. He was probably better than
Speaker 1: all three of those guys, plus Cooper, who was a
Speaker 1: tremendous wide receiver at Ole Miss Or had a great
Speaker 1: career ahead of him, but then he was diagnosed with
Speaker 1: a medical condition that made it too dangerous for him
Speaker 1: to play keep playing football. So anyhow, and he is
Speaker 1: Arch's dad, So anyhow, Bernie Scruggs will open our broadcast
Speaker 1: on Saturday. We've been calling upon former Wildcats to deliver
Speaker 1: a little monologue, little speech to open our broadcast. Bill Ransdell,
Speaker 1: Jojo Kemp Dermoni Dawson, and this week it be Bernie
Speaker 1: Scruggs taking us back to that day when the Wildcats
Speaker 1: upset the Rebels and didn't do much else that season,
Speaker 1: but man, what an upset. Ten to nine was the
Speaker 1: final score. Kentucky blocked an extra point, Bernie Scruggs scored
Speaker 1: Kentucky's only touchdown. Arch Manning scored for Ole Miss on
Speaker 1: a sixty four yard run. In the first half. Kentucky
Speaker 1: forced atting four turnovers, including two or three in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter alone, including a fumble at the three yard
Speaker 1: line by all Miss taking it into score. Wildcats forced
Speaker 1: a fumble and then picked off an arch Manning pass
Speaker 1: that basically assaulted the game away or not an arch
Speaker 1: man em an Archie Manning pass. So Bernie will open
Speaker 1: the broadcast, and I had a conversation with him, which
Speaker 1: I will share coming up at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: But as I said, as long as I've covered Kentucky football,
Speaker 1: and I've been to functions and events, and of course
Speaker 1: he played before I got here. He played what three
Speaker 1: or four years before I got to UK, I hadn't
Speaker 1: never had a chance to meet him or talk to him.
Speaker 1: So he had a chance to zoom with him. And
Speaker 1: we'll hear from Bernie Scruggs at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: He'll share the story of that game and other stories
Speaker 1: from back in the day. Those were some dark days
Speaker 1: for UK football. But the John Ray era gave way
Speaker 1: to two different things, and they were intertwined. Frank Kersey,
Speaker 1: the man they hired to replace John Ray, and Commonwealth
Speaker 1: Stadium because John Ray lobbied like mad for upgraded facilities,
Speaker 1: including a new stadium. He said, I got to have
Speaker 1: a stadium that I can recruit to. John Ray had
Speaker 1: been to the mountaintop. He had worked for Ara Parsigen
Speaker 1: at Notre Dame as his defensive coordinator. John Ray was
Speaker 1: known as the guy who finally came up with a way,
Speaker 1: at least one way to beat the wishbone. Texas and
Speaker 1: Oklahoma Nebraska. They were killing everybody with a wishbone, and
Speaker 1: John Ray came up with what he called the mirror
Speaker 1: defense and basically had his linebackers mirror the movements of
Speaker 1: the offensive backfields and it worked. So he was the
Speaker 1: hottest defensive coordinator in America when Kentucky hired him away,
Speaker 1: and of course things didn't quite work out. But not
Speaker 1: only did he lobby for Commonwealth Stadium, but he signed
Speaker 1: Sonny Collins, and Sonny was one of the greatest running
Speaker 1: backs and still is one of the greatest running backs
Speaker 1: in the history of UK football. But Bernie scro Rugs
Speaker 1: was the man who led the Wildcats quarterback. The Wildcats
Speaker 1: today went over all missed so well. Here from Bernie
Speaker 1: at the bottom of this hour, and as I said,
Speaker 1: we'll hear from Sean and Gary coming up in our
Speaker 1: number two. We need to start off, though, with this
Speaker 1: bizarre story involving of all things UNLV football. That's right, Nevada,
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. There's a quarterback out there who has announced
Speaker 1: that he will no longer play. He will not finish
Speaker 1: the season with the Rebels. Matthew Sluka released via x
Speaker 1: via social media a statement saying I've decided to utilize
Speaker 1: my red shirt year and will not be playing in
Speaker 1: any additional games this year. He said, I committed to
Speaker 1: UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me
Speaker 1: which were not upheld after I enrolled, meaning he didn't
Speaker 1: get his money. He didn't get his nil money. Goes
Speaker 1: on to say, despite discussion, it became clear these commitments
Speaker 1: would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my
Speaker 1: teammates the best of luck this season, hopeful to continued
Speaker 1: success of the program. By the way, UNLV is three
Speaker 1: and oh and has beaten, among other teams, Houston and Kansas,
Speaker 1: so it appears that he was promised X amount of
Speaker 1: dollars and did not get them. However, subsequent to that,
Speaker 1: a man named Carl Reid Carl Reid Junior, who goes
Speaker 1: by coach Reid Live on Twitter, is an analyst for
Speaker 1: two four seven Sports, was a successful high school coach
Speaker 1: in the Saint Louis area. He has tweeted, did not
Speaker 1: quote any sources, didn't at attribute it to anything, but
Speaker 1: he wrote all financial commitments for UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluca
Speaker 1: were completely met, but after wins against Kansas and Houston,
Speaker 1: Sluca's family hired an agent and they collectively feel that
Speaker 1: his market value has increased. Per a source, And however
Speaker 1: you feel about unnamed sources, this is eminently believable. It
Speaker 1: really is. Sluca came over to UNLV because they needed
Speaker 1: a transfer portal QB. Their QB from last year pretty good.
Speaker 1: Jaden Malava or Mayava came on and had a great
Speaker 1: season and then left for Georgia but then decommitted and
Speaker 1: now he's at USC. He's the number two behind Miller Moss.
Speaker 1: Sluca played at Holy Cross. He's a fifth year senior
Speaker 1: and had a pretty good career there. Won twenty two
Speaker 1: for one, ninety seven passing for seventeen hundred yards, twenty touchdowns,
Speaker 1: five picks in twenty twenty three. Not bad, So clearly
Speaker 1: he's got skills. I mean Vegas is three and oh
Speaker 1: right now, they had two quarterbacks left. One guy is
Speaker 1: thrown one pass, another guy played but didn't throw any passes.
Speaker 1: In another game, they beat Utah Tech to open the season,
Speaker 1: so what a mess at UNLV. We'll talk about this
Speaker 1: with Sean Woods, who of course himself a coach and
Speaker 1: has had several D one basketball jobs, And we've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about the nil with Sean. So this is
Speaker 1: a new twist, isn't it. While we're talking college football.
Speaker 1: The top ten most watched games a week four, they
Speaker 1: might surprise you the top game was not Tennessee Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: even though it wasn't quote prime time. Like I've said before,
Speaker 1: to me, Saturday from noon on is prime time. They
Speaker 1: like to say it's from six o'clock on, but is
Speaker 1: it really On a college football Saturday, that's when the
Speaker 1: TVs go on. Come on USC at Michigan. I guess
Speaker 1: it's understandable. Was the top rated game, and that was
Speaker 1: a three thirty game on CBS, which forever had been
Speaker 1: the SEC time slot. Now it's the Big ten time
Speaker 1: slot and it's still CBS. So they got six point
Speaker 1: three two million viewers. However, they measure it for Southern
Speaker 1: calim Michigan, big win for the Wolverines. Tennessee Oklahoma was second.
Speaker 1: That was, of course the SEC game on ABC at
Speaker 1: seven thirty pm. Six point twenty seven million, so not
Speaker 1: too far behind. The third game kind of surprised me.
Speaker 1: Illinois Nebraska on Fox, which was a Friday night game,
Speaker 1: so maybe it shouldn't surprise me since it was Friday night,
Speaker 1: but the folks who did not go off to high
Speaker 1: school games watched that one to the two in a
Speaker 1: four point two to one million. Illinois won that one
Speaker 1: by a touchdown in overtime, and Nebraska had a touchdown
Speaker 1: taken away by review. About halfway through that one quarterback
Speaker 1: throws it up in the end zone. Receiver and defensive
Speaker 1: back come down with it. Defensive back ends up with
Speaker 1: a football, but generally that kind of position goes to
Speaker 1: the offense. I did not see the play. I don't
Speaker 1: know how or why it was called an interception, but
Speaker 1: it ended up costing Nebraska the game at Nebraska. About that.
Speaker 1: The fourth game among the highest rated games, Marshall at
Speaker 1: Ohio State. That was the big noon game on Fox.
Speaker 1: Three point nine to six million. That's the power of
Speaker 1: the Buck guys drawing eyeballs. Number five, coach Prime in
Speaker 1: prime time Saturday night, Baile They're in Colorado, three point
Speaker 1: six million. Six game Ucla at LSU on ABC. That
Speaker 1: was the three thirty game on ABC. Seventh Florida and
Speaker 1: Mississippi State. Again the power of the SEC. These are
Speaker 1: two mediocre teams in the Southeastern Conference. That was the
Speaker 1: ESPN noon game, the eighth most watched game, Utah at
Speaker 1: Oklahoma State Fox at four o'clock. Now you're starting to
Speaker 1: get in just the other games. Ninth with Arkansas at Auburn.
Speaker 1: That's the ESPN Another ESPN three thirty game and number
Speaker 1: ten ABC's ACC game NC State at Clemson noon drew
Speaker 1: fewer than two million viewers. So it's amazing to me.
Speaker 1: I guess it should be because those are two of
Speaker 1: the highest profile programs, USC and Michigan at three thirty
Speaker 1: timeslod on CBS still golden. And I got to think
Speaker 1: if Tennessee, Oklahoma had been moved to three thirty or
Speaker 1: sliding for three through that might have outdrawn Southern Calm Michigan.
Speaker 1: So we'll keep an eye on that kind of thing
Speaker 1: for you. But with everybody changing conferences and conferences changing networks,
Speaker 1: it's interesting to see where viewers are going up next
Speaker 1: way here from the football Wildcats. More to come, all
Speaker 1: on the Big Blue and Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up Saturday, Kentucky
Speaker 1: and Old Miss a game you'll hear right here on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP. Bush Hampden talked to the media yesterday.
Speaker 1: One of the questions was about crowd noise. They're expecting
Speaker 1: a big one down there. Although it's not a huge stadium.
Speaker 1: It is loud, there's no question about that, but it's
Speaker 1: not nearly as big as say Nayland Stadium in Knoxville
Speaker 1: or an M Stadium, But they do need to deal
Speaker 1: with communications. You got the helmet comms right now, but
Speaker 1: also they can turn the hand signals if need be.
Speaker 1: So Hampden answered a question about comm's and how they're
Speaker 1: going to handle things on Saturday.
Speaker 2: Again, we have practiced as if our quarterback Colm has
Speaker 2: not worked at times as well. You know, so quarterbacks
Speaker 2: know that from the standpoint of our signal operation, you know,
Speaker 2: we don't think it's going to be a huge effect,
Speaker 2: but again, you know, get those environments. You know, we
Speaker 2: just got to do a great job communicating playing fast
Speaker 2: one in the pre snap things we've been talking about
Speaker 2: since we've won.
Speaker 1: No word yet on Chip training him. He had been
Speaker 1: cleared to practice this week, but Mark Stoops stopped short
Speaker 1: Monday of saying training them would play. Also talked about
Speaker 1: it on his Coaches show. They've got to make sure
Speaker 1: that that injured hand, that left hand is strong enough
Speaker 1: to grip the football. You know, if running backs have
Speaker 1: to use both hands to grip the football. And this
Speaker 1: is a strong guy, a big guy, a power runner,
Speaker 1: so you know, no matter what hand he's going to
Speaker 1: carry the football. They're going to be grabbing at it.
Speaker 1: Defenders will be ripping at it. And this is a
Speaker 1: really good Miss defense with all kinds of transfers. I
Speaker 1: think ten of their eleven starters are portal guys. It's
Speaker 1: a portal program and most of them came from SEC programs,
Speaker 1: so they know what they're doing. Maybe they weren't playing
Speaker 1: a lot where they used to be, or maybe they
Speaker 1: were offered more nil bucks at Ole Miss, but they're
Speaker 1: good players, so train them is going to have to
Speaker 1: deal with that if he plays. Hamden talked about what
Speaker 1: they are hoping he'll bring whenever he gets into a ballgame.
Speaker 2: I think there's just the two things.
Speaker 3: One will be leadership.
Speaker 2: We've talked about the guy that's played in big games,
Speaker 2: knowing what it's supposed to be like.
Speaker 3: And I think the.
Speaker 2: Second thing is just from the side standpoint of big back,
Speaker 2: you know, big physical back. So we're anxious to get
Speaker 2: them back, obviously and to take them one day at
Speaker 2: a time.
Speaker 1: It's Bush ham Dan. Of course we'll be calling the
Speaker 1: offense for the first time as the UK coordinator when
Speaker 1: the Wildcats play at Ole Miss, and you'll hear it
Speaker 1: right here on six thirty, wlap UFL released it's basketball schedule,
Speaker 1: and you already know that the Cardinals take on those
Speaker 1: Kentucky Wildcats Saturday, December fourteenth. Time and TV to be determined,
Speaker 1: But the Cards have a couple of exhibition games starting
Speaker 1: October twenty first under Pat Kelsey, first game, first real
Speaker 1: game is against Moorhead State on November fourth, Then they
Speaker 1: played Tennessee. These are all at home, Bellerman and Winthrop,
Speaker 1: and watching looking at that Bellerman game on the schedule
Speaker 1: reminds that that was not the first red flag under
Speaker 1: Kenny Payne, but it was one of them. Because you
Speaker 1: might recall the Cardinals in that first disastrous year under Kennedy,
Speaker 1: and neither one of them was wants to write home about.
Speaker 1: They lose to leonor Ryan in an exhibition game. And
Speaker 1: then the Cardinals lost to Bellerman on a Wednesday, November
Speaker 1: the ninth, back in twenty twenty two, and it was
Speaker 1: a one point loss, all right. If you might recall
Speaker 1: all that Kenny Payne's first three games as the head coach,
Speaker 1: they beat Shamanad after they beat Lamar, Lenoir Ryan, and
Speaker 1: that was an exhibition as well. But then they lose
Speaker 1: by a point to Bellermant, then a point to Wright State,
Speaker 1: and another one point game the app State. So we're thinking, well,
Speaker 1: he's he's got him close. You know, they're they're they're
Speaker 1: doing good things, but just can't quite. Then they got
Speaker 1: blown out by Arkansas by twenty six points, destroyed by
Speaker 1: Texas Tech. These were games in the Maui Invitational, and
Speaker 1: blown out again by Cincinnati, and it just kept getting worse. Maryland, Miami, Florida.
Speaker 1: Say these were all by twenty points or more. He
Speaker 1: finally got a win over Western Kentucky and then Florida
Speaker 1: A and M back to back wins, but went right
Speaker 1: back to the losing. But when they lose to Leonore
Speaker 1: Ryan in an exhibition and lose to Bellerman in the
Speaker 1: season opener, and no disrespect to Bellerman, but come on,
Speaker 1: it's Louisville. You got to win that one. That was
Speaker 1: an absolute red flare under Kenney Payn And I was
Speaker 1: one of many who thought it would get better, but
Speaker 1: it got worse. Speaking of getting worse, terrible news or
Speaker 1: an announcement by Brett Farr of the Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: quarterback for the Packers. He disclosed during a congressional hearing yesterday.
Speaker 1: He was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and he was
Speaker 1: talking to the House Ways and Means Committee on welfare reform.
Speaker 1: You know, his company had received two million bucks that
Speaker 1: it shouldn't have. But long story short, far making headlines
Speaker 1: today for a different reason. And of course you gotta
Speaker 1: wonder did all those and he believes it did. All
Speaker 1: those hits that he took as the tough rugged I'm
Speaker 1: not coming out of a game quarterback for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers had something to do with this diagnosis of
Speaker 1: this deteriorating disease. I hate that for anybody. All right,
Speaker 1: Coming up next, speaking to quarterbacks, Bernie Scruggs led the
Speaker 1: Wildcats to the upset of Ole Miss, ninth rank rebels,
Speaker 1: back in nineteen sixty nine. That's all I had here
Speaker 1: on the Big Blue and Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up Saturday, Kentucky
Speaker 1: at ole Miss, and our celebrity monologue will be delivered
Speaker 1: by none other than Bernie Scruggs. He quarterbacked the Wildcats
Speaker 1: back in the early seventies, and he led Kentucky to
Speaker 1: the upset win over then ninth ranked ole Miss in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine ten to nine. Kentucky had lost or
Speaker 1: Indiana fifty eight to thirty on opening day, but a
Speaker 1: week later held the ole Miss to nine points, and
Speaker 1: thanks to a missed extra point or blocked extra point,
Speaker 1: the Wildcats with one touchdown for Bernie Scruggs beat ole
Speaker 1: Miss here in Lexion in ten to nine. And I
Speaker 1: caught up with Bernie when we recorded for the opener
Speaker 1: and for the opening of the broadcast. So here's my
Speaker 1: conversation with UK quarterback Bernie Scruggs. Tell me what it
Speaker 1: was like going into that game, Bernie, because you guys
Speaker 1: had had that wild game with Indiana, so I think
Speaker 1: you probably knew you could score points, but here you
Speaker 1: are playing against one of the best teams in the country.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, to tell you the truth, Stan Jones, excuse me.
Speaker 3: Stand Forston was the starting quarterback at that particular time,
Speaker 3: and he got hurt early early in the game against Indiana,
Speaker 3: and I can remember still walking over the field and
Speaker 3: at that time, I think I had two touchdown passes
Speaker 3: against Indiana, and we were throwing the ball well, and
Speaker 3: I was feeling my own red shirt freshman rich shirt
Speaker 3: sophomore at that particular time, and I thought we had
Speaker 3: an opportunity to beat Ole Miss. I really did so.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of our players felt the same way.
Speaker 3: We scored the points, uh, and you know that's usually
Speaker 3: enough to win. But they they were underrated. I think Indiana.
Speaker 3: They they had a good quarterback named Harry Gotzo and
Speaker 3: a couple of wide receivers. I think one of his
Speaker 3: name was Jade Butcher. I still remember that because it
Speaker 3: was such an odd name. And uh, they were a
Speaker 3: good team. So we felt like we were in the
Speaker 3: game even though the score really didn't indicate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So because of that, that's why you were competent
Speaker 1: against Ole Miss.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I felt like we were going to put
Speaker 3: some points up and it was that Old Miss game
Speaker 3: was a really hard hitting ball game. It was Ah.
Speaker 3: I don't know how many people realize, but that defense
Speaker 3: that we had, we had Dick Palmer at one end,
Speaker 3: Dave Hard at the other. We had Dave Rohler, Bill
Speaker 3: bush All had Joe Fetish built linebacker with Wilbur Hackett,
Speaker 3: and I mean five out of six of those guys
Speaker 3: played pro and played for a while. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: they were they were a good defensive unit, So I
Speaker 3: felt like we had a good chance to beat these guys.
Speaker 1: You had to get excited every time they turned them over.
Speaker 1: Because it wasn't just those turnovers in the fourth quarter either,
Speaker 1: was it.
Speaker 3: No, it really wasn't. We played them tough the whole game.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, John Ray was confident going into the game, wasn't.
Speaker 1: He was quoting the newspaper beforehand is saying he thought
Speaker 1: you all would win.
Speaker 3: Well. I think I think he was confident up until
Speaker 3: we went down to Halbard. I think that that's uh,
Speaker 3: that was a telling moment for us. I think he
Speaker 3: kind of got shook at that point.
Speaker 1: Remember he came in right away and was talking about
Speaker 1: going to the Sugar Bowl. And he later told me
Speaker 1: many years later, he said, I had to pump some
Speaker 1: excitement into the Kentucky fans. He said I couldn't come
Speaker 1: in and say, folks, it was going to be another
Speaker 1: four years and we need a new stadium. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: he said he'd do it again the same way. So
Speaker 1: he kind of put it on you guys, didn't.
Speaker 3: He Yeah, he he was. He was an interesting character,
Speaker 3: he really was. He had he had a really good
Speaker 3: assistant coaching staff, at least on the offensive side. I
Speaker 3: loved George Sepsick. I thought he was exceptional. He was
Speaker 3: a he was a teacher, and he didn't get overly excited,
Speaker 3: and he didn't he didn't jump down your throat if
Speaker 3: you made a mistake. And he he taught footwork as
Speaker 3: as well as anybody I've ever been involved with. And uh,
Speaker 3: I enjoyed playing for him.
Speaker 1: So he was a quarterbacks coach.
Speaker 3: He was the offensive coordinator, all right, and he yes,
Speaker 3: he was a quarterback coach.
Speaker 1: Basically talking to former Kentucky quarterback Bernie Scruggs. He led
Speaker 1: the Wildcats, he and his teammates to an upset win
Speaker 1: over Ole miss Back in nineteen sixty nine. And the
Speaker 1: great Archie Manning, hey, by the way, quarterback to quarterback,
Speaker 1: How good was Archie Manning?
Speaker 3: To me? He was the best in the four years
Speaker 3: that I played.
Speaker 4: He was.
Speaker 3: He was quick, he was agile, he was never got shook.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed watching him play. I like Pat Sullivan a
Speaker 3: lot too, but it was he was. I thought Archie
Speaker 3: was athletically the best.
Speaker 1: You were from Atlanta originally? Is that correct? Yeah? What
Speaker 1: brought you to Kentucky?
Speaker 3: Well, coach Brashaw. He was the coach of the All
Speaker 3: American Game, I think in sixty four sixty five and
Speaker 3: my high schol coach was at the Atlanta UH Stadium.
Speaker 3: He did concessions and it was it was involved in
Speaker 3: all that and he got us uh uh to be
Speaker 3: ball boys for the for the All American Game. And
Speaker 3: I met Coach Bradshaw, and uh he was he was
Speaker 3: a He was a really good man. Uh. I know
Speaker 3: there's a lot of negative press about him, but he
Speaker 3: was He was never ever untruthful, uh in any way
Speaker 3: to me or any of the people that I know
Speaker 3: that were recruited by. He was just he was just
Speaker 3: a hard nose marine. That's what he went. I mean,
Speaker 3: he was a good man.
Speaker 1: Some people think he just tried to be the second
Speaker 1: coming of Bear Bryant. Did you feel that way?
Speaker 3: Uh? I did? I didn't.
Speaker 1: Uh, well, you would know, uh I thought he.
Speaker 3: I thought he had mellowed a little bit by the time.
Speaker 3: By the time I got there. There people that told
Speaker 3: me stories that I you know, I had a hard
Speaker 3: time believing, but I'm sure they because I've seen some
Speaker 3: of the times that he would come down off of
Speaker 3: the tower and come out onto the field and grab
Speaker 3: a guy by the face masses.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you ended up playing for John Ray,
Speaker 1: who was one of the hottest names in the country.
Speaker 1: He was a decoordinator for Notre Dame and had figured
Speaker 1: out a way to beat the wishbone in Texas and
Speaker 1: all that. It had to be exciting. When Kentucky signed him.
Speaker 3: We were extremely excited. I thought he would do us
Speaker 3: a good job. We were a good team through the
Speaker 3: first eleven on both sides. Yeah, we lacked depth, not
Speaker 3: a shot at Kentucky high school football, but it just
Speaker 3: wasn't as as strong as as the Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia,
Speaker 3: Florida kids that you really had to have to build
Speaker 3: a good back then.
Speaker 1: Well, and they had gone through a stretch of time
Speaker 1: and not a lot of people knew about they had
Speaker 1: ended it by the time you got there where they
Speaker 1: recruited very few kids from out of state. Bar Bryant
Speaker 1: put that in place, and nobody really knew about that
Speaker 1: because he up and left and Bland Caryer was stuck
Speaker 1: with it. Charlie Bradshaw was stuck with it. And by
Speaker 1: the time you know you came around, they had finally
Speaker 1: gotten around to recruiting out of state kids. That's set
Speaker 1: Kentucky football back quite a bit.
Speaker 3: Didn't it it? Did you know? You've got you've got
Speaker 3: your major metropolitan areas in Kentucky and have great football.
Speaker 3: The Lexington's, the Louisville's, Bowling Green places like that. There's
Speaker 3: good football all those bigger cities. But you can't find
Speaker 3: that outside of that. It's just not there. And if
Speaker 3: you look at a state like Georgia, where I'm from,
Speaker 3: we never took a fiddle thestall or basketball was just
Speaker 3: another good sport for us, but it was the thing
Speaker 3: that drove attendants attendants and things that were paid for
Speaker 3: were paid for by the football.
Speaker 1: Well, you had spring football too, didn't you.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: Jerry Clayburne fought for that from the day he got
Speaker 1: to Kentucky, got back to Kentucky.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're talking to Bernie Scruggs, former Kentucky quarterback led
Speaker 1: the Wildcats to the win over Old miss Back in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine. And it's more to come on the
Speaker 1: Big Blue and Sider here on six thirty coming up Saturday, Kentucky,
Speaker 1: Mississippi and former UK quarterback Bernie Scruggs has been tapped
Speaker 1: to open our broadcast. He led the Wildcats to an
Speaker 1: upset of Mississippi back in nineteen sixty nine. Not a
Speaker 1: great Kentucky team. Ole miss went to the Sugar Bowl.
Speaker 1: That you beat Arkansas on the Sugar Bowl, but the
Speaker 1: ninth rank Rebels came in and Kentucky pulled off the upset,
Speaker 1: had a chance. After we recorded the opening monologue for
Speaker 1: the broadcast, to chat with Bernie. Here's the rest of
Speaker 1: my conversation with former Kentucky quarterback Bernie Scruggs. Have you
Speaker 1: been keeping up with the Wilcats and Mark Soops what
Speaker 1: he's been doing, because suddenly Kentucky now is competitive in
Speaker 1: the SEC. Well, not suddenly, it's taken a while.
Speaker 3: Well, I just I'm extremely impressed with the fact that
Speaker 3: he realizes that it's not the quarterbacks, it's not the
Speaker 3: running backs. It is the offensive and defensive line that
Speaker 3: he has built in his assistant coaches that have stayed
Speaker 3: with him, that are the people that they coach these guys.
Speaker 3: They do a heck of a job and you can
Speaker 3: you can win with an offensive and defensive line, but
Speaker 3: you can lose with just a quarterback.
Speaker 1: That's right. You would know.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: And of course you played at soul Field and I
Speaker 1: when I got to Kentucky, I stayed in Boyd Hall
Speaker 1: right across the street, and we used to jump the
Speaker 1: fence and go play touch football over there. But of
Speaker 1: course they had just opened Commonwealth Stadium, and John Ray lobbied,
Speaker 1: as A said earlier, so hard for a new stadium
Speaker 1: and anymore of the facilities, both the practice and game
Speaker 1: facilities weren't he as you know in the SEC are unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Of course, so the salaries. But isn't it amazing where
Speaker 1: SEC football is now?
Speaker 3: Yes, it really is, and it's it's just to me,
Speaker 3: it's the way it ought to be. I'm a football guy, uh,
Speaker 3: and I'm glad that I'm glad that Stoops is there,
Speaker 3: and I'm glad that he's built the program that he has,
Speaker 3: and I'm glad that that the people of Kentucky, who
Speaker 3: probably have as good as fans as anybody in the country.
Speaker 3: They're awesome. Uh. You can see that every home game.
Speaker 3: They don't they don't walk out. They were walking out
Speaker 3: of Oklahoma. They don't walk out of Kentucky. They will
Speaker 3: they wait till the game is over. They have a
Speaker 3: big time, and they cheer them on, and they're loud,
Speaker 3: and they're they're wonderful people.
Speaker 1: Do you think much back to that that went? Over? All?
Speaker 5: Men?
Speaker 1: I mean sad to say, you guys didn't win a
Speaker 1: lot of games, but you had your moments and that
Speaker 1: one was just phenomenal. How much do you do you
Speaker 1: think back on that one?
Speaker 3: Occasionally I'll go back and look at at the schedule
Speaker 3: and wonder how we actually were three and eight or
Speaker 3: whatever we ended up being front year, and I would
Speaker 3: I would look at that and we would I'd see
Speaker 3: where we lost a seven to six game. We never
Speaker 3: scored enough points and that that that to me was
Speaker 3: something that that was the result of the kind of
Speaker 3: football that was played back then, and everything was kind
Speaker 3: of defensive oriented, and I wish if we were playing
Speaker 3: an offense like they have now, I think it would
Speaker 3: have been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: Well, you played more of an option attack, did you not?
Speaker 1: You ran it as much as you threw it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we had. Like I said in sixty nine, that
Speaker 3: was my sophomore year. Coach sets put in the Notre
Speaker 3: Dame offense that they ran, and it was to me,
Speaker 3: I really liked it, and it was it was a
Speaker 3: lot of an option, but you do play action passes
Speaker 3: and and things that were the things that successful teams
Speaker 3: around the country were using. And it was our first
Speaker 3: year to run that, and we all got used to it,
Speaker 3: and then we in seventy I felt like it was
Speaker 3: my best year playing because we'd had a year of experience.
Speaker 3: And then in nineteen seventy one, they they got all
Speaker 3: excited about the Wishbone for some reason. I was I
Speaker 3: was a senior, going, oh my gosh, So we had
Speaker 3: to learn another offense and it was not what I
Speaker 3: wanted to do. I think we don't. I think we'd
Speaker 3: have been a three or four game better team in
Speaker 3: seventy one if it stuck with the with the program.
Speaker 1: What did you what?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 1: How would you describe the offense you had been running
Speaker 1: that Notre Dame offense? Was that the veer or run
Speaker 1: past option stuff?
Speaker 3: It was? It was play action, It was an I formation,
Speaker 3: split back, Uh, it was it was it was various formations. Uh,
Speaker 3: and they were, uh, you'd have twins on one side
Speaker 3: with a splitting end.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: We just spread the field out and and me it
Speaker 3: was it would have been easier for the backs that
Speaker 3: we had to find openings then running the wishbone.
Speaker 1: Well, it takes a different kind of alignment to run
Speaker 1: the wishbone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we didn't have them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it takes all.
Speaker 3: Said we had, we had a good start to eleven,
Speaker 3: but you can't run the wishbone with a good start
Speaker 3: to eleven. Yeah, you got to have a good twenty
Speaker 3: two or more.
Speaker 1: Speaking of the offense you were running against, ole Miss,
Speaker 1: I read two or three newspaper accounts before I rang
Speaker 1: you up, and a couple of them said that the
Speaker 1: last minute or so, you just basically you the quarterback
Speaker 1: just kind of played keep away from all miss. Do
Speaker 1: you remember that where you just had to hang on
Speaker 1: to the football and then ye, stay away from their defense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was something that didn't didn't go over well,
Speaker 3: but that's what they told me to do.
Speaker 1: Uh why didn't it go over well?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean we were we were dropping back and
Speaker 3: instead of just going ahead and taking a knee, they
Speaker 3: wanted me to run around a little bit back then. Oh,
Speaker 3: I see, and that's what I guess, that's what they
Speaker 3: were talking about.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that wasn't something that would sit real well
Speaker 3: with the opposing team's coaches.
Speaker 1: I can understand that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Were there any other games in your career that really
Speaker 1: stood out? I think that probably had to be the
Speaker 1: biggest upset, especially given the fact that they had the
Speaker 1: marquee quarterback and that that Ole Miss team lost a
Speaker 1: couple of conference games. It went on and and uh
Speaker 1: one to beat Arkansas on the Sugar Bowl. That's a
Speaker 1: great team. But any other big games stand out in
Speaker 1: your mind?
Speaker 3: Uh as far as wins, Uh, I enjoyed the the
Speaker 3: North Carolina State game. We beat them pretty solidly. Uh.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: I felt really comfortable with that one. And there were
Speaker 3: there were there were several. The older you get, the
Speaker 3: more uh the more you think back on I wish
Speaker 3: I had this playback or I wish I had that
Speaker 3: play back. Yeah, there were there were. There were a
Speaker 3: couple of them that I wish I had back at
Speaker 3: Tennessee game one for one, Ah, that was that was
Speaker 3: a disaster in my mind. It took me years to
Speaker 3: get get over it. Really.
Speaker 1: Is that the one where the guy intercepted the lateral?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the uh we were when you when you were
Speaker 3: running them the veer you're reading reading the tackle and
Speaker 3: I was reading the tackle, getting getting ready to pitch
Speaker 3: in the the guard on the defense broke through and
Speaker 3: tip the ball and the guy that I was reading boom.
Speaker 3: He was gone with it and we were about to score. Yeah,
Speaker 3: made it fourteen, and he was. I mean, the pitch
Speaker 3: was so wide open, it was It was something that
Speaker 3: I wish I had it back, But you know how,
Speaker 3: that's the kind of stuff you just can't worry about
Speaker 3: for your.
Speaker 1: Whole fourteen point swing. One thing I've noticed, though, Bernie,
Speaker 1: and I'll let you go with this, I do appreciate
Speaker 1: your time, is that when I've been around guys who
Speaker 1: are having reunions ball clubs, it doesn't matter what the
Speaker 1: sport is. They never talk about games, scores, stats. They
Speaker 1: just talk about stuff that happened in the locker room
Speaker 1: and the dorm, on the buses, on the practice field,
Speaker 1: and that's where the laughter comes. Is that the case
Speaker 1: with you? You when you get together with your guys.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean, uh, I always liked the the older guys.
Speaker 3: I felt like I was a little more comfortable with them,
Speaker 3: but uh, I didn't feel like I was competing with
Speaker 3: them as much. The Jeff Enno uh Uh, Dick Palmer,
Speaker 3: uh uh, Dave Roverer. Uh they were Jack Matthews. I
Speaker 3: don't know if you remember Jack Jack back. And and
Speaker 3: He's he's a he's a doctor. He's he's helping my
Speaker 3: daughter Emma that you met earlier. He's helping her to
Speaker 3: try to get into med school down and uh uh
Speaker 3: he's uh, he's a good person. And Bobby Fanel Uh
Speaker 3: he went through he's he's a lawyer, big time lawyer
Speaker 3: down in Rome, Georgia. And he's been a teammate and
Speaker 3: a friend for my whole life.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I recognize all these names. Of course, Jeff
Speaker 1: became a great friend when he worked with us on
Speaker 1: the radio, never for eight years, and you know, watch
Speaker 1: my kids grow up. So but no, I I do
Speaker 1: enjoy hearing hearing guys get together and just tell stories
Speaker 1: that have nothing to do with the ball games, but
Speaker 1: everything to do with what made you guys brothers. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I sure appreciate it, and I'm looking forward to putting
Speaker 1: together the broadcast open. We'll send you a copy of it,
Speaker 1: Bernie and uh and uh it, I'm sure it'll turn
Speaker 1: out well.
Speaker 3: Well, good to meet you. I've heard only good things
Speaker 3: about you, so thank you. Good good to hear you.
Speaker 1: Ever get up here this way again, holler at me, Well.
Speaker 3: I'll be up here with the sixth. I mean you
Speaker 3: can't get away from Cainland that long.
Speaker 1: You got that right. Thank you, sir, and great to
Speaker 1: meet you, and I hope to see you it soon.
Speaker 3: All right, good one.
Speaker 1: That's former Kentucky quarterback Bernie Scrudge. You'll hear open our
Speaker 1: broadcast on Saturday as the Wildcats visited Ole Miss. Coming
Speaker 1: up next our number two unforgettable guard Sean Woods and
Speaker 1: West m Bureau chief Gearnymore. And he're on the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider six point thirty WLAB. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. Joining us down in our celebrity hotline
Speaker 1: as he does each and every Wednesday, is the Unforgettable
Speaker 1: guard Shawn Woods. His jersey hangs in the rafters of
Speaker 1: RUPP and we have been talking for weeks and weeks
Speaker 1: about UK basketball, basketball in general, but also to sports
Speaker 1: in general. Sean, the NIL, the portal, all of that
Speaker 1: which is radically changed college athletics. And this isn't new.
Speaker 1: This one's sort of new, and I talked about it earlier.
Speaker 1: Matthew Sluka UNLV quarterback says he will no longer play
Speaker 1: this season, and in fact, he has led the Rebels
Speaker 1: to a three and old record, including wins over Houston
Speaker 1: and Kansas, but he said I'm in the red shirt
Speaker 1: my year and not play in any additional games. He
Speaker 1: said he committed to UNLV on certain representations that were
Speaker 1: made to me which were not upheld. After I enrolled.
Speaker 1: He didn't get his money. And I guess we should
Speaker 1: have seen this coming, should we not? Because for one thing,
Speaker 1: remember this happened with a kid who committed to Arizona State,
Speaker 1: but before he even played a game, he transferred to
Speaker 1: Georgia because the deal fell apart. And this happened to
Speaker 1: Florida as well. So, man, they need some guardrails, don't they.
Speaker 5: Without a doubt, you know, if there's a signed contract,
Speaker 5: then you should be able to sue the school that
Speaker 5: promised you all these things, because that's a breach of contract.
Speaker 5: Now we're doing nil just on shake of handshake and
Speaker 5: just about you know, taking somebody's word. Then shame on
Speaker 5: the student athlete for taking that type of situation and
Speaker 5: shame on the school for having bad representation of hying
Speaker 5: the kids.
Speaker 1: You know, it's twofol, it really is. And uh, of
Speaker 1: course they sign they signed with these collectors. You bring
Speaker 1: up an interesting point. They signed with a collector or
Speaker 1: they make the agreements with collectives. You know, but I
Speaker 1: would love to know, Yeah, legally, is the school libel
Speaker 1: you know, is that a part of the school or
Speaker 1: is the school got any hand in this? Because you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, this is this is new ground. And
Speaker 1: by the way, the kid who committed to Georgia de
Speaker 1: committed that quarterback ended up a USC very second string.
Speaker 1: So but anyhow, I would really love to know the
Speaker 1: legal ramifications. You got to wonder what a case like
Speaker 1: this really helped create guardrails, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: It would have to if it's you know, I just
Speaker 4: that lets you know how loose this situation is. You know,
Speaker 4: how to the n C double A, uh say it's
Speaker 4: okay to do this and get in I LS and
Speaker 4: then they don't have any guidelines to govern it. They
Speaker 4: have guidelines to govern everything else. But now there's no
Speaker 4: governing situation. There's no rules and regulations when it comes
Speaker 4: to nil.
Speaker 5: Things.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's you know, when you talk about money,
Speaker 4: when you sign a contract to go to school. You know,
Speaker 4: you sign a one year national, one year financial degree.
Speaker 4: That's a contract that you signed with at school. It
Speaker 4: should be the same with the nil deal, you know.
Speaker 4: You just you talk about you know, thousands of dollars
Speaker 4: in there, and there's no contract stating that someone is
Speaker 4: at calls. If somebody's that uh, it's held to the
Speaker 4: fire to pay that that that young man or young
Speaker 4: woman to come play at that school, because that's really
Speaker 4: what they're doing this for for the most part. And
Speaker 4: shame on the young man or the kid or whoever
Speaker 4: is representing them in this type of situation that there's
Speaker 4: no paper trail, you know, so nobody's liable and all
Speaker 4: of this is bad publicity or another bad situation and
Speaker 4: gives that school particularly a black eye when it goes
Speaker 4: to recruiting someone else.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right, because the next kid is going
Speaker 1: to say, well, how do I know I'm going to
Speaker 1: get my money? Right?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And you bring up an interesting point too about
Speaker 1: the NCAA, because, as we've said before many times, that
Speaker 1: is the member institutions. The schools have got to get
Speaker 1: together and agree on this. And you've been a college
Speaker 1: basketball coach for so long, mentally at schools that are
Speaker 1: known as mid majors as opposed to the power conferences,
Speaker 1: and trying to get those two factions to agree on
Speaker 1: things is almost impossible. There are more than three hundred
Speaker 1: schools playing basketball, more than one hundred playing D one football,
Speaker 1: and to put guidelines together that are best for everybody,
Speaker 1: that sounds like an impossible task. Do you think that
Speaker 1: can really happen? Because they got to get together on this.
Speaker 4: Well, what it's gonna do, it's it's gonna get worse
Speaker 4: before it gets better. You know, it's gonna get a
Speaker 4: lot worse before you better. I think so, because there
Speaker 4: we're talking about no guidelines. Yeah, so whenever you have
Speaker 4: a situation where no guide, no rules and regulations, now it's.
Speaker 5: You know, that's with anything, you know.
Speaker 4: So so there are is gonna be some lion sheeting,
Speaker 4: scheming and and not not you know coming forth, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, you say, okay, all right, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna go to Georgia, and Georgia tells you, okay, we're
Speaker 4: gonna give you ninety thousand dollars. We're gonna give you
Speaker 4: one point two million dollars okay, and then you don't
Speaker 4: receive any of it, yeah, or you start getting short
Speaker 4: changed because they can't come up with it. And that's
Speaker 4: going to happen a lot. Because what's scary is when
Speaker 4: you have schools out there trying to set up organizations
Speaker 4: to raise money, that means that they don't have the money.
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, this was this wasn't.
Speaker 4: So, but you but you're throwing out things that you're
Speaker 4: throwing out numbers that are that are false. You know,
Speaker 4: let's let's take let's take for instance, and I don't
Speaker 4: want to be harp on this, but okay, the Johnson kid,
Speaker 4: for the most part, knows where his money is coming from.
Speaker 1: Jasper Johnson.
Speaker 4: Okay, he knows where his money is coming from. A
Speaker 4: lot of kids don't know where their money's coming from.
Speaker 1: Don't they need better guidance? I would think that's pretty obvious.
Speaker 4: It's guidance, it's everything. But how many schools have a
Speaker 4: legit either legit in I l a bag or set
Speaker 4: up in hand? How many? Yeah, you're talking three extra
Speaker 4: three four five million dollars ten you know, sooner later
Speaker 4: it's going to be ten million. There's a budget, yeah,
Speaker 4: because it's only gonna get worse. It's not gonna get
Speaker 4: It's just like the NFL, NBA and everything else. Saturdays
Speaker 4: are going up, back, going down, right, and college afflents
Speaker 4: is gonna be the same thing. They're not going they're
Speaker 4: not going down, they're going up.
Speaker 1: And to be clear, the one rule that the schools
Speaker 1: agreed upon was that the school itself cannot hand the
Speaker 1: bag of money to the kid. Now, this is this
Speaker 1: is all just you know, smoking mirrors. They basically set
Speaker 1: up the nil I shouldn't say smoking mirrors because these
Speaker 1: these collectives are legit, but it's hand in glove with
Speaker 1: the school. It's like a recruiting arm for the school.
Speaker 1: So even though the school will be and as you
Speaker 1: point out, you know, the school doesn't have that money budgeted.
Speaker 1: Hey we need help, you know, So we're turning to boosters,
Speaker 1: were turning to fans, you know, and then now they're
Speaker 1: passing the half basically to raise this money.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's it's it's like I said, it's
Speaker 4: gonna get worse before it gets better, because you're you're
Speaker 4: offering somebody something that you don't even have, right, Yeah,
Speaker 4: and then you're hoping to get it and then every
Speaker 4: kid wants in io money, especially at the power of fives.
Speaker 4: They may not get the big bag of one point
Speaker 4: three million dollars, but they got to get something. They're
Speaker 4: gonna there's a base. And you know, my thing is
Speaker 4: is this, when are the boosters gonna get pissed off
Speaker 4: because there's only gonna be one national champion, There's only
Speaker 4: gonna be one conference champion. There's only gonna be one
Speaker 4: conference tournament champion. You know. So at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, you're giving all the money for you're chasing.
Speaker 4: You see what I'm saying, You're paying for national championships
Speaker 4: that you're not going to get.
Speaker 1: And how many boosters will say, well, that's fine, this
Speaker 1: was fine, and I'll do it again next year. You
Speaker 1: got to wonder about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, like you go. You know, I got
Speaker 4: a friend of mine that's coaching in major school right now,
Speaker 4: and I asked him, I said, you know, you guys,
Speaker 4: you know doing an else. You said, I have to
Speaker 4: raise my own money, you know. And I got this
Speaker 4: kid blah blah blah blah blah. I can only give
Speaker 4: her so and so on and so okay, and I'm
Speaker 4: saying to myself. If that kid's pretty good, you know,
Speaker 4: you and I raise his money to keep her for
Speaker 4: or hear him for one year. Yeah, exactly, because you're
Speaker 4: your your your letter intent or or whatever is only
Speaker 4: last for one year. Your financial lady greer only last
Speaker 4: for one year. So you can't even hold them accountable
Speaker 4: even for a semester. They can leave you now for
Speaker 4: a semester at the end of the year. In the semester.
Speaker 4: So you know, we all say, okay, should have been
Speaker 4: getting paid. Yeah, kids should have been getting paid for
Speaker 4: having more living expenses, not to buy extra like a
Speaker 4: brand new car, their house, their mom will house. Not
Speaker 4: by getting your education paid for and being an amateur athlete.
Speaker 4: Now everybody's looking for the bag to take care of
Speaker 4: their mom before they even get to the pros.
Speaker 1: And you know, I find it rather amazing that people like, well,
Speaker 1: these coaches are making so much money, which some coaches.
Speaker 4: Are, but you know what, the coaches are professionals. Professionals.
Speaker 1: They went to college, they got a degree, they worked
Speaker 1: their way to that job.
Speaker 4: And now it's like an engineer. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: The engineer is a professional. You know, there's no capital
Speaker 4: he went to school, he got certified to be this.
Speaker 4: He paid His kids aren't getting anything coming straight out
Speaker 4: high school and they're asking for a million dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, some of them are paid more than the coaches.
Speaker 2: And.
Speaker 4: Coaches are even scared to even taking you as a
Speaker 4: freshman because they rather have what a men major transfer
Speaker 4: that has experienced playing college athletics more so than a
Speaker 4: top matched kid that doesn't have any experience. And you've
Speaker 4: given him more money than you've given a kid that's
Speaker 4: been in college for two three years.
Speaker 1: That's right, It's crazy. It is crazy. Sean Woods is
Speaker 1: our guest. We'll come back and actually talk some basketball
Speaker 1: with Sean on the other side of the break here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue
Speaker 1: Sider with chatting with Sean Woods. We do that each
Speaker 1: and every Wednesday with the unforgettable guard. Before I ask
Speaker 1: you about the Wildcats, we've talked about Caitlin Clark, who's
Speaker 1: playing up in Indiana where you're from. She is finding
Speaker 1: that playoff basketball is a little different, isn't she.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's any rookie, you know, ask the kids
Speaker 4: from Minnesota. You know, he had a great run against
Speaker 4: he had to go up against the juggernaut and they
Speaker 4: weren't playing. And he even said it, I didn't train
Speaker 4: to play for in the finals. I trained to just
Speaker 4: be good during the season. Now, you know, with the
Speaker 4: experience now, hopefully him and the rest of that young
Speaker 4: team which with with with our guy, they fella would
Speaker 4: train now because they got a little taste of it
Speaker 4: to get to the end, you know, And that's what
Speaker 4: experience teaches us, you know, to you know, with any
Speaker 4: athlete to you know what I'm saying, each year you
Speaker 4: get better. And now you know, and now he knows that, hey,
Speaker 4: I got to do a little bit more of my offseats.
Speaker 4: The good thing is he played on the Olympic team
Speaker 4: with guys that know how to do that. So that
Speaker 4: was a great experience for him. And I look forward
Speaker 4: to him, you know, pray, you know, bar any injuries
Speaker 4: that excuse me, Minnesota can get there, you know, to
Speaker 4: go a little further, you know, get to the finals
Speaker 4: with that experience, knowing what they know now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, talk about it. The Edwards that raises the question
Speaker 1: I've always been meaning to ask you. Uh, we talk
Speaker 1: a lot, probably too much about the way your senior
Speaker 1: year ended up and you all had just a hell
Speaker 1: of a run that year and the year prior. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you had a great team, won the SEC unofficially. But
Speaker 1: your last season, Sean as you all as you guys
Speaker 1: worked out, trained, practiced under Patino, and I know how
Speaker 1: intense that way. I don't know firsthand, did you realize
Speaker 1: and you're again coming off an SEC best season, did
Speaker 1: you feel like you guys had it in you to
Speaker 1: make the final four because you had a kid named
Speaker 1: Mashburn who was pretty good.
Speaker 4: Yes, we did. We that was a goal. And then
Speaker 4: that's why we were so hurt, not because it was
Speaker 4: a great duke game, the Kentucky game. We were hurt
Speaker 4: because our goal was to get to the final four
Speaker 4: and have a chance to win the national championship. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and that's all we thought about. That's all we talked about. Uh,
Speaker 4: that's all we worked for that off season. I don't
Speaker 4: think nobody even went home that season that that that
Speaker 4: off season, wow, you know, and and uh it was
Speaker 4: that that was it, you know, we had. And the
Speaker 4: good thing is we had Rex and Kenny around us
Speaker 4: all the time they were in the NBA, and there
Speaker 4: were times that they couldn't keep up because we were
Speaker 4: so driven in the weight room dealing with rock our workouts.
Speaker 4: You know, they would come every year every two three days.
Speaker 4: They didn't come every day because they didn't have to,
Speaker 4: and and uh, we would be mad at them. But
Speaker 4: you know, we we worked, man. It was it was
Speaker 4: you know, we we did some crazy things mentally and physically, uh,
Speaker 4: to just prepare us for the long haul. And we
Speaker 4: thought we were ready. We thought we had had advanced
Speaker 4: because that year before when we couldn't go to the
Speaker 4: NCLA tournament, I think we beat two out of the
Speaker 4: three teams that were that were in the final four
Speaker 4: that year.
Speaker 1: Amazing. And you know what it comes down to, You
Speaker 1: guys weren't afraid to dream about being great. And I've
Speaker 1: read about coaches who have to urge their players. Don't
Speaker 1: be afraid to dream about being great, you know, don't
Speaker 1: be afraid to think about getting there, because yeah, you
Speaker 1: might be disappointed. There's only one team that's going to
Speaker 1: raise the trophy at the end of the year. But
Speaker 1: from what I understand, you know a lot of kids
Speaker 1: just don't want to mentally go there because they're afraid
Speaker 1: they're going to be disappointed. I guess was that part
Speaker 1: of Patino's genius.
Speaker 4: We were so hungry and we were so much of
Speaker 4: being underdog that that's all we had was a dream,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. You know, we weren't pampered.
Speaker 4: We were pampered because of the appreciation, and we were
Speaker 4: so humble by being and being able to wear the uniform.
Speaker 4: But we were dreamers, man. We wanted to make our
Speaker 4: own mark and be considered one of the greats, even
Speaker 4: though going in nobody gave us a shot of being
Speaker 4: a great, and all four of us, you know, ended
Speaker 4: up being in the rafts and really doing some things
Speaker 4: that Kentucky has never had an appreciation for, except for
Speaker 4: that team because of you know, us being an underdog, right,
Speaker 4: you know we were. You know, we're top five in
Speaker 4: the country and we're still underdogs. Yeah, you know, every
Speaker 4: time we come out on the court, you know, that
Speaker 4: other team looked more athletic than we did. You know,
Speaker 4: they looked better than we did. You know, they looked
Speaker 4: more athletic everything. And once that ball went up, it
Speaker 4: was a different ballgame. And our fans really appreciated that
Speaker 4: because we were them. Yeah, you know, we were Kentucky.
Speaker 4: We were Eastern Kentucky. We were Western Kentucky. We were
Speaker 4: the coal miners. We were you know, the racetrack you
Speaker 4: know owners and things like that, were the tobacco owners,
Speaker 4: we were everything. Yeah, and we represented all that and
Speaker 4: that's what, you know, made us so significant, I think
Speaker 4: as far as you know, being a Kentucky basketball player
Speaker 4: at that time.
Speaker 1: There's the story that Patino liked to tell later about
Speaker 1: in the locker room after the game, and he says
Speaker 1: he pulled out the Sports Illustrated that had the Kentucky
Speaker 1: Shame cover and asked you guys not to let the
Speaker 1: one game defind you. Did that really happen? And how
Speaker 1: long before you were able to really take I don't
Speaker 1: want to say comfort, but to go back with pride
Speaker 1: and look at what that team accomplished. I know it
Speaker 1: still stings, but did you allow yourself to feel anything
Speaker 1: positive about that game?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 4: You can remember, you know, I thought I was just
Speaker 4: as good as any guard in America. John thought he
Speaker 4: was just as good as anybody there. Richie, we all
Speaker 4: did so that when he brought that out, Yeah that
Speaker 4: you know it, It made sense after the fact, But
Speaker 4: doing that talk, there was nothing he could say to
Speaker 4: us to really make us feel any better. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, it was the end for us, especially US four,
Speaker 4: and what we had put in. We only had one
Speaker 4: shot at it, right and yeah, you know, as you
Speaker 4: get older, you know, you say the same things. I
Speaker 4: became a coach, so you know, I had to use
Speaker 4: the same type of tactics and him to really make
Speaker 4: my team feel good and appreciate the work that they
Speaker 4: put in, because you don't appreciate it why you're going
Speaker 4: through it a season, you know, you don't never look
Speaker 4: back into the seasons over with. And at that time,
Speaker 4: we just weren't ready to look back yet because we
Speaker 4: really thought that we were just as good or better
Speaker 4: than do that we showed it and you know, as
Speaker 4: you saw, you know, the two best teams in the
Speaker 4: country at that time, whoever got the last shot won.
Speaker 4: But that you know, now he's looking back on it
Speaker 4: what we went through because of the probation, you know,
Speaker 4: but you got to remember before probation and Eddie Summons
Speaker 4: said that was Rex and yeah and that that taste.
Speaker 4: They were pretty good. They made it to the Swiss
Speaker 4: team the final eight. You know, then here comes the
Speaker 4: bombshell from now we're taking two three steps back because
Speaker 4: a couple of guys left. It wasn't the probation that
Speaker 4: made us not as good of a team. It was
Speaker 4: that some key guys left. You know, Eric manuel Man,
Speaker 4: you know, people forget how good he was and how
Speaker 4: good he could have been. You know La ron Ellis,
Speaker 4: who still played in the NBA. You know Chris Mills,
Speaker 4: you know who's the only player in Kentucky history basketball history.
Speaker 4: People forget they got a triple double and he was
Speaker 4: six seven playing the wings, I mean, playing to swing
Speaker 4: for three spot. So we were destined to be a
Speaker 4: great team. Unfortunately, because of probation and n T DOAA
Speaker 4: sanction and things like that, coaches left, players left. So, yeah,
Speaker 4: you do start over. But guess what, though, Dick, A
Speaker 4: lot of schools start over, Arkansas starting over, Kentucky's starting
Speaker 4: over again, you know. So what makes us so significant,
Speaker 4: what makes us different? It was because we were left,
Speaker 4: so to speak, with four Kentucky guys, including Regie Hansson
Speaker 4: at the time, you know, And that's what the Pride
Speaker 4: came in and started, and people thought, well, these guys
Speaker 4: weren't good. Well, Reggie Hanson was pretty Dargo good you know,
Speaker 4: we're all were good, so we couldn't think of ourselves
Speaker 4: as underdogs. We had to think of ourselves and had
Speaker 4: the compasses like anybody else. We're just as good as
Speaker 4: we belong, or we never would have won any game.
Speaker 4: So that mentality didn't hit us. It hit the fans
Speaker 4: and the massive, but in our own camp, in our
Speaker 4: own locker room, there was no doubt that we could.
Speaker 4: We could be highly successful.
Speaker 1: Shawn Woods is an unforgettable His jersey hangs in the
Speaker 1: Raptors are rouugh. We talked to him each and every week. Coach,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4: Okay, gick, no prouble.
Speaker 3: Buddy.
Speaker 1: Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore is up next here on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Joining us as he does each and every Wednesday, schedules permitting,
Speaker 1: is our West End BUA Chief Gary Moore on the
Speaker 1: other end of I sixty four, longtime West Coast Bureau
Speaker 1: Chief back in LA the Louisville area, and joins us
Speaker 1: every Wednesday with a little bit of this and that.
Speaker 6: Two guys in a six pack, us two guys, six
Speaker 6: things to talk about forget about Bama and Georgia, forget
Speaker 6: about your pack and the Vikings, Trinity, and x about
Speaker 6: Friday night Cardinals Stadium. Now you're in alum of Trinity.
Speaker 6: My cousin, Skeeter Duggans was a quarterback for the Rocks.
Speaker 6: We got the Rocks in this one, right, Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6: we just be man.
Speaker 1: Oh and I didn't realize we had to snap a
Speaker 1: four game losing streak to Mail How about that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they're gonna come out. I think they're gonna win
Speaker 6: this one going away too good.
Speaker 1: It was Friday Night. So we'll get to some of
Speaker 1: those other games in just a little bit.
Speaker 6: But first, our first swig on the six pack here.
Speaker 6: As we know, the NFL has never been more popular, Dick,
Speaker 6: in my humble, anything but humble opinion, NFL officiating has
Speaker 6: never been more fed up. Sunday, Philly Starr wide receiver
Speaker 6: Davonte Smith took a vicious, cheap shot to the head,
Speaker 6: which I don't know if you saw that or not
Speaker 6: from a Saints defensive tackle, Christian there's irony in a name,
Speaker 6: Christian boyd Yes.
Speaker 1: While Smith was being.
Speaker 6: Pushed back, his forward progress had been stopped and then
Speaker 6: Boyd came up and just knocked him sense of away.
Speaker 6: He got concussed on his hit today, God his helmet off.
Speaker 6: No penalty flag either. Two years ago, owner Jeffrey Lourie
Speaker 6: of the Eagles wondered an NFL meetings if there could
Speaker 6: be automatic ejections future suspensions for those hits like the
Speaker 6: one that Boyd inflicted on defenseless Smith. I'm telling you,
Speaker 6: somebody is gonna get Darryl stingleyed or worse one of
Speaker 6: these nights, Dick with some of these hits that are
Speaker 6: coming in and there's no flags or repercussions or anything.
Speaker 6: And how the NFL replayed geniuses in New York didn't
Speaker 6: catch it as beyond me. They're supposed to.
Speaker 1: Watch all of these plays.
Speaker 6: It's just like, why the not so eagle eyed officials
Speaker 6: missed or just ignored two crystal clear examples of pass
Speaker 6: interference we've seen in two primetime nights in a row
Speaker 6: that was a cost team's potential points. Sunday night, we
Speaker 6: saw it right there the Falcons driving in the end zone.
Speaker 6: Receiver Kyle Pitts got a bear hug from the Chiefs
Speaker 6: defender well before the ball arrived wasn't a problem for
Speaker 6: the Chiefs. The week before they got a great pass
Speaker 6: interference call on the Bengals. Then the next night, Monday Night,
Speaker 6: Bengals receiver T Higgins interfered with on that two point conversion.
Speaker 6: I ask you, is it time to bring back reviewing
Speaker 6: non calls of pass interference like they did for a
Speaker 6: year in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that was such a mess. Maybe if they
Speaker 1: can and figure out a way to tweak that. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the answer is on that, but if
Speaker 1: ever there were a time that calls for it, right,
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right, now is the time. But you might
Speaker 1: recall two three years ago and now I think this
Speaker 1: is what prompted that rule. That ill fated rule was
Speaker 1: the playoff game, and course, siddenly enough, it was the Saints.
Speaker 1: They got hosed. One of their receivers got cross body
Speaker 1: blocked out of bounds by a hopelessly beaten defensive back.
Speaker 1: Had no choice but then and you knew he had
Speaker 1: to interfere or else. Game over and all the officials
Speaker 1: looked at each other and that was that. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if they can figure out a way to
Speaker 1: clean it up.
Speaker 6: Maybe, yes, second swig and a six pack. NFL officiating
Speaker 6: it so consistently inconsistent. I think the teams who win
Speaker 6: close games probably think afterwards, well, at least the refs
Speaker 6: didn't screw us over today, which may come in a
Speaker 6: handy on Sunday when your Packers play one of two
Speaker 6: ginormous early season games on a screen near us. Packers
Speaker 6: two and one season the three and zero Vikings in
Speaker 6: Minnie Haha. Packers number one rushing team in the NFL,
Speaker 6: as you know, against the number two rushing defense.
Speaker 1: Something's got to give.
Speaker 6: Packer a two and a half point favorite. And Sunday night,
Speaker 6: Buffalo at Baltimore, that's gonna be wild. The Ravens are
Speaker 6: at a two and a half point favorite in that
Speaker 6: game at home. The Bills are the number one scoring
Speaker 6: team in the NFL, but the Ravens have the number
Speaker 6: one overall offense. Former coach Jim Herrick once said about
Speaker 6: great games, gonna be another ball burner there, Dick two
Speaker 6: Monday games, opening clunker seven point thirty Titans in the Dolphins,
Speaker 6: then eight point fifteen. My Seahawks at Detroit Lions are
Speaker 6: a four point favorite. Of course, before all that, we
Speaker 6: have to mention that the Cowboys are playing at the
Speaker 6: Giants tomorrow night. Go Jents, and we're also gonna be
Speaker 6: on the lookout between now and Sunday for the next
Speaker 6: stupid syntax who emerged from the big mouth of Bengals
Speaker 6: corner Cam Taylor britt or the zero to three Bungals
Speaker 6: visit Carolina, which apparently is no longer a gimme on
Speaker 6: their schedule, even though the Cincinnati is a four and
Speaker 6: a half favorite. I've seen people that are actually picking
Speaker 6: Carolina in this game. One prediction for you for your
Speaker 6: pack on Sunday that I can run with.
Speaker 1: I actually like my Packers because they played a really
Speaker 1: good run defense this past week against the Titans. Now
Speaker 1: we all know what the Packers defense did to will Levis,
Speaker 1: almost broke him in half, but as expected, they weren't
Speaker 1: able to run the ball super effectively until later in
Speaker 1: the game on the Titans run defense. So that meant
Speaker 1: Malik Willis had to do more back there, and he
Speaker 1: came through. He has thrived under Matte Lafleur. So I
Speaker 1: like my Packers in this one. Ironically enough, it's the
Speaker 1: former Bengals QB the Red Rifle Andy Dalton who might
Speaker 1: lead the Panthers to victory there. But I also like
Speaker 1: Buffalo until Baltimore realizes what it has with Derrick Henry.
Speaker 1: You can't be surprised if they keep stumbling the Packers
Speaker 1: get down early. Just vomit on the ball.
Speaker 6: If you're on the defensive side, and see what happens
Speaker 6: with men and they say Minnesota they can't pass it,
Speaker 6: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, are a third swig
Speaker 6: and a six pack. Let's move on to college football,
Speaker 6: where they still call targeting and pass interference in games.
Speaker 6: High noon Saturday, Oxford. You know this, UK plays at
Speaker 6: tops another's top six team, second time in three weeks.
Speaker 6: Number six Old miss It'll be on national television.
Speaker 1: ABC.
Speaker 6: Rebels now a seventeen and a half point favorite. Rebels
Speaker 6: have the nation's number one offense, number one passing offense,
Speaker 6: and not to be overlooked, the Rebels also have the
Speaker 6: number one defense against the run. UK has the nation's
Speaker 6: number sixth overall defense, and we both know they're gonna
Speaker 6: need an even better performance than two weeks ago against Georgia.
Speaker 6: Also high noon Saturday, my three and one Hilltoppers at
Speaker 6: three and one Boston College acc Network for that one.
Speaker 6: BC's a thirteen point favorite, and then you've got number
Speaker 6: fifteen U of L at number sixteen Notre Dame three
Speaker 6: thirty Saturday. It's gonna be all but unwatchable, Dick, you
Speaker 6: know why it's.
Speaker 1: On Peacock only Peacock. Pe freaking tok. We got to know.
Speaker 6: I'm not subscribing. If you put the Super Bowl on it,
Speaker 6: I'm still not buying Peacock. Irish a six point favorite,
Speaker 6: not only looking for revenge for losing here last year,
Speaker 6: but also for postseason legitimacy. As get this, the Cards
Speaker 6: are going to be the only ranked team coming to
Speaker 6: South Bend this season so far, and if the Cards
Speaker 6: play like they did on this past Saturday, they will
Speaker 6: lose that game. All three Kentucky teams on the road,
Speaker 6: all three are tough games, I would say, even though
Speaker 6: U of L has got the best shot for a
Speaker 6: W this weekend. What do you think?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I agree with you. I'm not quite a believer
Speaker 1: in Notre Dame, but I don't know what I'm seeing
Speaker 1: yet in U of L. I watched the Toppers last
Speaker 1: week Man, that was it was a nail by. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was fun. What's odd? About the Kentucky Old Miss
Speaker 1: game is the scheduling obviously, Uh, you know, Bole Miss
Speaker 1: really hadn't played anybody, so you're going to rack up
Speaker 1: numbers like that. But they racked up the numbers. You know,
Speaker 1: they did what good teams do. They're a very good team,
Speaker 1: and they are chocked full of transfers, especially well on
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball. But I think ten of
Speaker 1: eleven starters on defense are transfers. So yeah, it'll be
Speaker 1: a challenge. But remember two years ago Kentucky went down there.
Speaker 1: It was a top ten matchup. Last time they went
Speaker 1: down there and the Wildcats had the game winning touchdown
Speaker 1: erased on a penalty, So it could be that kind
Speaker 1: of game.
Speaker 6: Fort swagten the six pack course, the game of the weekend.
Speaker 6: We talked about it a minute ago. A minute ago.
Speaker 6: Georgia at number four, number two, Georgia at number four,
Speaker 6: Alabama Crimson Tide Kirby Smart returning to Tuscaloosa Ware of course,
Speaker 6: he was by sab inside from.
Speaker 1: Two thousand and eight, twenty fifteen.
Speaker 6: Dogs currently a two point favorite Saturday Night, Saturday Night
Speaker 6: seven thirty on ABC. And I think the worst of
Speaker 6: what is it is? It Hurricane Helen. Now that should
Speaker 6: pass through the area by Friday, so the game shouldn't
Speaker 6: be affected by the weather. Getting to Bama might be
Speaker 6: a little bit tricky before that, but it should be
Speaker 6: okay for the game time on the only other ranked
Speaker 6: versus rank game on Saturday night you got on NBC
Speaker 6: at seven thirty, number nineteen Illinois, number nineteen, Penn State.
Speaker 6: I'll take the Lions of Mountain Nitney Net one, and
Speaker 6: I'm going to take the Tide to defeat the Dogs.
Speaker 1: At kidding Saturday night. Yeah wow, I don't know why
Speaker 1: I don't like either team? Can they can both teams lose?
Speaker 1: Can they tell?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, Kentucky made Georgia look mortal, didn't they? You know?
Speaker 1: But both teams are chock full of talent. I think
Speaker 1: Alabama maybe just a little more on the explosive side,
Speaker 1: but I could see that.
Speaker 6: Happening Fitswig on the six pack. One last chance maybe
Speaker 6: tonight to watch Caitlin Clark this season as Indiana fight
Speaker 6: to stay alive and their best of two out of
Speaker 6: three with Connecticut and the WNBA playoffs. That's going to
Speaker 6: be at seven thirty ESPN tonight if necessary, deciding game
Speaker 6: three would be Friday night in Indy. Of course, Clark
Speaker 6: was voted unanimous unanimous Rookie of the Year over the weekend.
Speaker 6: What was her reward for that well lousey shooting night?
Speaker 6: In Game one, she was guarded by quite the wingspan
Speaker 6: of Dewana Bonner six foot four is four inches taller
Speaker 6: than Clark. She also got a black eye Caitlyn did
Speaker 6: as de Journey Harrington accidentally poked her in the eye,
Speaker 6: further proof. In the off season Dick that the Fever
Speaker 6: had better get some sort of an enforcer. There'd be
Speaker 6: more accidents or quote unquote unintentional injuries. Of course, it
Speaker 6: doesn't help that Carrington is actually dating one of the
Speaker 6: members of the Fever, people who didn't know them. Because
Speaker 6: you got to keep Caitlyn out there, and she kind
Speaker 6: of had a little comeback, a little swat in the
Speaker 6: third quarter of that game. If you want to go
Speaker 6: back and look at that, the NBA saw a two
Speaker 6: hundred and thirty six percent increase in merged sales this
Speaker 6: year holding Clark's owned her own Wilson basketball You see
Speaker 6: this sold out in forty minutes, plus you had six
Speaker 6: six different TV partners that set viewership records for the
Speaker 6: the highest rated games they've ever had, all of those
Speaker 6: games that I were with the fever. So the league
Speaker 6: cannot afford to have Caitlyn out due to one too
Speaker 6: many cheap shots in the coming years.
Speaker 1: I don't think Debbie Antonelli, who is now in the
Speaker 1: Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor great broadcaster, got
Speaker 1: her start with Yes truly on the streaming channel and
Speaker 1: really on WKYT way back in the day when she
Speaker 1: worked at UK. She has become quite the expert because
Speaker 1: she does so many of Kaitlyn Clark's games. She calls
Speaker 1: it clarkonomics, and why not because when you look at
Speaker 1: those numbers, and we've talked about it before, you know,
Speaker 1: players who resent her are pushing back against her. But
Speaker 1: we have to ask, but all due respect, and you're
Speaker 1: all great players, or many of you are, where were
Speaker 1: these crowds? Where were the merch sales? Thank you before
Speaker 1: she got there again, the rising tide and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Be a good smart business woman and accept what it
Speaker 1: brings except clarkonomics and everybody eats.
Speaker 6: Is there a lot of jealousy in the w NBA.
Speaker 6: I think maybe some reverse racism of some sort. Some
Speaker 6: people have been raising questions our sixth and final swig.
Speaker 6: Let's talk major League Baseball. I don't want to talk
Speaker 6: about the Dodgers and the pres Potters are gonna catch
Speaker 6: them and probably get into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Hey, triple play to put them in the playoffs.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that was pathetic, unbelievable if the Dodgers had chances
Speaker 6: to get runs in that. But let's say, let's don't
Speaker 6: talk about the good teams. Okay, let's talk about Game
Speaker 6: two between two historically awful Major League Baseball teams again
Speaker 6: tonight Angels at sixty three and ninety four and of
Speaker 6: course those Chicago White Sox now sitting at thirty seven
Speaker 6: and one twenty. Last night, the sorry Socks defied their
Speaker 6: own nature rally to beat what maybe the worst la Anaheim,
Speaker 6: California Angels team in their sixty four year history, three
Speaker 6: to two. But make no mistake to Gabriel, the Socks
Speaker 6: will lose Game number one twenty one before Sunday and
Speaker 6: officially be the worst team ever. But they already are
Speaker 6: the worst team ever. Why well, of course they're chasing
Speaker 6: the sixty two Mets, they already tied with them in losses.
Speaker 6: But the sixty two Mets were an expansion team, as
Speaker 6: we know, and they were not only the losingest team
Speaker 6: in the majors the Mets were, they were also last
Speaker 6: in batting average er fielding percentage. White Sox are only
Speaker 6: last in batting average so far. White Sox are not
Speaker 6: only not a hapless expansion team, but they've won three
Speaker 6: World Series, the last one within our lifetime nineteen years ago.
Speaker 6: And with today's talent levels available and all the technologies
Speaker 6: you got at your hand, advanced minor league levels, more
Speaker 6: money than ever to go get good players, there's no excuse,
Speaker 6: no excuse for what's transpired in the South Sides, a
Speaker 6: failure from everybody, from the ownership down to the players.
Speaker 6: As they say, a fish rots from the head down.
Speaker 6: The White Sox have a dead flounder of an owner,
Speaker 6: while the Angels reek of a beached trout.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and years from now, speaking of trout, fans will
Speaker 1: look back on the Angels and say, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: they had the trout guy, they had the Otani guy,
Speaker 1: and they didn't win anything. At least when the Mariners
Speaker 1: had Randy Johnson and Ken Griffy Junior and a lot
Speaker 1: of other talented players. They won a bunch again, didn't
Speaker 1: win a World series, but they won a bunch of games.
Speaker 1: Gary Moore is our west End bureau chief. Will come
Speaker 1: back with hot reads for Gary in just a minute
Speaker 1: here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back.
Speaker 1: We're talking with our west End bureau chief, Gary Moore.
Speaker 1: We've heard two guys in a six back. Time to
Speaker 1: throw a couple of hot reds at Gary. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Giants Cowboys coming up tomorrow night. How about them Giants
Speaker 1: beating the Browns this past Thursday. The team with a
Speaker 1: really good defense, There's no question about that. And this
Speaker 1: was part of what was supposed to be an oh
Speaker 1: to eight run to open the season for the Giants.
Speaker 1: But Daniel Jones against honestly a good Cleveland defense, twenty
Speaker 1: four of thirty four for two thirty six, two touchdowns,
Speaker 1: no pick. They grinded out twenty one to fifteen. Gary,
Speaker 1: if he beats the Cowboys, if the Giants beat the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: is Daniel Jones off the hook at least a period
Speaker 1: of time, at least for a week. You know That's
Speaker 1: the way New York is.
Speaker 6: Yeah, It's like what, especially given he doesn't have a
Speaker 6: lot of capital to work with as we know so
Speaker 6: and neither does his coach, uh dabble it does not
Speaker 6: have a whole lot of capital going So if they
Speaker 6: can do that, if they can beat Dallas, and if
Speaker 6: they can kind of get some kind of semblance of
Speaker 6: a competitive team together, unlike the last couple of years,
Speaker 6: especially when they got rid of Barkley, who was such
Speaker 6: a great personality and a force for them. I know
Speaker 6: he had some injury problems, but look what he's doing
Speaker 6: already with the Eagles. Yeah, it'll buy him a little
Speaker 6: bit of time, but it's because how hated the Cowboys are.
Speaker 6: That's got to be their main rival, you know, And
Speaker 6: so I think that would definitely buy him some time,
Speaker 6: maybe more than a week, as I'm kidding around with,
Speaker 6: but at some point you're gonna have to win more
Speaker 6: than one of those games.
Speaker 1: I really like Sequon Barkley in college. I thought he
Speaker 1: was going to lead to Giants or help lead the
Speaker 1: Giants to great things. But yeah, but you know, he
Speaker 1: couldn't stay healthy and then he was playing for the Giants,
Speaker 1: so uh yeah, So I'm not an Eagles fan, but uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I do like what I see from him.
Speaker 1: Our second hot read still in the NFL. Travis Kelsey
Speaker 1: had a crucial drop the other night and and the
Speaker 1: camera caught him just glumly sitting on the bench with
Speaker 1: a goofy haircut, and he is he is not put
Speaker 1: up great numbers this year, and now he's catching flak
Speaker 1: people saying that he quote was partying too much in
Speaker 1: the off season, another was now working hard enough to
Speaker 1: get ready for this year. Is this merited the criticism
Speaker 1: of mister Taylor Swift.
Speaker 6: No, not at all, not in the least. You know, guys,
Speaker 6: I saw some of this. Todd McShay, f you wherever
Speaker 6: you are, because there's nothing, no correlation between that. Some
Speaker 6: guys will start out slow. Let me ask Todd and
Speaker 6: anybody else, what's the.
Speaker 1: Chiefs record right now? What are they are They did
Speaker 1: they get a bunch of defeats, Yeah, but they're looking
Speaker 1: at his performance and his numbers.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he'll be fine. Plus well, he's getting some more
Speaker 6: coverage too. That's the other thing they're they're finally by
Speaker 6: other teams are figuring out how to get this guy
Speaker 6: covered because he's been opened so many times before and
Speaker 6: Mahomes knows he's got an open shot with them. So
Speaker 6: if you look at some of these games where he's
Speaker 6: gonna have some drops, he's human. But I don't know
Speaker 6: if that's correlated with being around the summer. I mean,
Speaker 6: I don't know if if every day the time that
Speaker 6: they ended the Super Bowl run last year, he was
Speaker 6: supposed to be working out.
Speaker 1: So yeah, well, keep in mind that their best receiver
Speaker 1: from a couple of years ago is now a Miami dolphin.
Speaker 1: Pacheco is hurt. So yeah, more defensive attention on a
Speaker 1: guy like Kelsey and if even if he's not performing
Speaker 1: the way he did two, three or four years ago,
Speaker 1: he's thirty four. Yeah, that's getting up there in the NFL.
Speaker 1: That happens, guys. Good. Look at what happened to Gronk
Speaker 1: Rocks last year. He didn't have great numbers, but he
Speaker 1: made a huge catch in the Super Bowl when accounted
Speaker 1: the most. Gary Moore is our West End Bureau chief.
Speaker 1: Find him on X.
Speaker 6: Or Twitter at nine to five to five, Gary, where
Speaker 6: you're at.
Speaker 1: Blue Insider one. Thank you sir, every great week. See
Speaker 1: you next week and I'll do it for now. Thanks
Speaker 1: to Gary, Thanks to Sean Woods. Thanks to Bernie Scruggs
Speaker 1: listen for him opening our broadcast on Saturday. That's a
Speaker 1: good night from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 3: Mister Speacoley, that's name again. You're ripping the car, yeah, Bud?
Speaker 3: What's your problems