Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dicabrielle with you
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday tournament a week some teams have already
Speaker 1: entered the tournament brackets, and of course we'll find out
Speaker 1: this weekend where the Wildcats land in the NSA big show.
Speaker 1: But of course they've gone to Nashville intent on winning
Speaker 1: the SEC tournament. Mark Pope made that perfectly clear before
Speaker 1: the Wildcats left. We'll have it for you right here
Speaker 1: tomorrow night, nine thirty ish tip off, but our coverage
Speaker 1: begins for real at seven o'clock. The casts our boys
Speaker 1: get started at an eight o'clock. It's network coverage with
Speaker 1: Cameron and Dave and then Tom and Jack will have
Speaker 1: the call. Probably be a little bit of philled, but
Speaker 1: you know how these tournaments go. Somebody could get into
Speaker 1: overtime and some of these games take forever. But it
Speaker 1: is going to be an interesting, interesting week for the Wildcats.
Speaker 1: We'll see just how well Kentucky place in its first
Speaker 1: SEC tournament under Mark Pope. It has been literally a
Speaker 1: season for the record books thanks to all those quad
Speaker 1: one wins, but just also because of the way this
Speaker 1: season has unfolded with Polpe being hired and the injection
Speaker 1: of enthusiasm into the program, the big wins, the puzzling losses.
Speaker 1: It just been a lot of fun. It really has been,
Speaker 1: you know. And by the way, last night, I watched
Speaker 1: a little bit of the Gonzaga Saint Mary's game before
Speaker 1: I nodded off. Gonzaga wins again the West Coast Conference
Speaker 1: Tournament championship, and when it did it. By doing so,
Speaker 1: it avenged two regular season losses to Saint Mary's and
Speaker 1: the Gales had beaten Gonzaga twice. And then Gonzaga turns
Speaker 1: it around last night fifty eight fifty one. It was
Speaker 1: an ugly game. I watched like the first half of
Speaker 1: the first half, and I was surprised at how ugly
Speaker 1: a game it was. But this is what Gonzaga does.
Speaker 1: And you can knock the WCC, the West Coast Conference,
Speaker 1: and I will not the strongest, but Saint Mary's has
Speaker 1: a good program. That's a good team obviously, But man,
Speaker 1: and the Gales, by the way, beat Gonzaga last year
Speaker 1: in the title game. It ended Gonzaga has run a
Speaker 1: four straight conference championships, ten of eleven and it's an
Speaker 1: amazing stat when you look at mark few in that
Speaker 1: tournament fifty three and six through his career in that
Speaker 1: tournament fifty three and six, and of course Gonzaga. Every
Speaker 1: time Gonzaga wins a game, it helps Kentucky, whether it's
Speaker 1: RPI and whatever. So Gonzaga once again coming in won't
Speaker 1: win the national title, but coming in after beating Saint
Speaker 1: Mary's late last night. Speaking of Kentucky's chances, bet MGM
Speaker 1: has released some of the odds, and of course Auburn
Speaker 1: is the favorite at plus three twenty five, meaning a
Speaker 1: bet one hundred dollars you win three twenty five if
Speaker 1: Auburn wins the title. Duke is next, of course, at
Speaker 1: three point fifty. Duke now the top ranked team in
Speaker 1: the country after Alabama's went over Auburn, then Florida at
Speaker 1: six hundred, Houston at eight hundred, Alabama is at twelve hundred,
Speaker 1: Tennessee is at fifteen hundred. Tennessee is a sixth betting choice,
Speaker 1: which seems a little high to me, but a lot
Speaker 1: of people still like those balls. Then you'd get quite
Speaker 1: a jump to Michigan State at twenty two hundred. Saint
Speaker 1: John's and Iowa State are at twenty five hundred. Bet
Speaker 1: one hundred, and if either one of those teams wins
Speaker 1: it all, you win twenty five hundred bucks. Where are
Speaker 1: your Wildcats? Their next thirty five hundred bet? One hundred
Speaker 1: win thirty five hundred. If Kentucky wins it all, if
Speaker 1: you truly believe in those cats, hey, you could win
Speaker 1: some bucks. If they take it, then it's Texas Tech, Kansas, Arizona,
Speaker 1: Gonzaga and Maryland. When the season began, would you have
Speaker 1: believe that Kansas, at least in terms of betting odds,
Speaker 1: would be a longer shot than Kentucky. Be honest, no,
Speaker 1: of course not. But that's the way the season is
Speaker 1: unfolded for the Wildcats. But you have also thought Saint
Speaker 1: John's would have been a better bet than Kentucky. Well
Speaker 1: maybe because of Beatino, But it's just been that kind
Speaker 1: of year. That's why it's fun, and that's what it's
Speaker 1: all about. It's all about the fun. There's a lot
Speaker 1: going on. Girls Sweet sixteen underway today as we pre record.
Speaker 1: Can't give you any scores, but I have been in
Speaker 1: Rapperina all day long and we'll be going back tonight.
Speaker 1: Thanks to the miracle of digital technology and having this
Speaker 1: conversation with you while I'm working that event. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it's that time of year. The boy Sweet sixteen
Speaker 1: is next week, so it's a lot of fun this
Speaker 1: time of year, no question. Baseball Wildcats had fun last night.
Speaker 1: They beat Nordernillan. That was the game they added when
Speaker 1: they lost to Weather lost the game to EKU, so
Speaker 1: they added nord In Illinois the last minute and beat
Speaker 1: the Huskies nine to two. It was at nine to
Speaker 1: any game because they couldn't get that ten run rule
Speaker 1: thing happening. But multi hit games for Sean Montoya, Luke Lawrence,
Speaker 1: who else got one. Devin Burks had a double at
Speaker 1: a couple of runs batted in among his two base hits.
Speaker 1: There was only one home run that was hit by
Speaker 1: Northern Illinois, but the Kentucky's Nick Misgione was able to
Speaker 1: try it out. Six different pitchers got some work out
Speaker 1: of the bullpen. Starter with Nate Harris goes five innings,
Speaker 1: gives up one in and run, struck out two, and
Speaker 1: then five relievers came on and got some work, which
Speaker 1: is vital going into Southeastern Conference play. The Wildcats open
Speaker 1: up Friday night at six point thirty against Georgia SEC
Speaker 1: play begins. Georgia's got a good team, But then again,
Speaker 1: you're talking about the SEC, and you know, when you're
Speaker 1: talking SEC, you're talking the best league in the country,
Speaker 1: as you well know. And the Bulldogs are ranked number
Speaker 1: three in the country. Kentucky's twenty third, but Georgia's number three.
Speaker 1: You can see the game on SEC Plus. You can
Speaker 1: hear the game on our sister station ninety eight point
Speaker 1: five FM, because there might well be Kentucky basketball on
Speaker 1: the air on Friday, depends, of course, on what happens Thursday.
Speaker 1: There's more going on, of course. But one of the
Speaker 1: stories that's out there, did you see the video of
Speaker 1: the high school track runner in Virginia who in a
Speaker 1: relay race, came upon it was kind of battling with
Speaker 1: another runner for positioning, and beat her in the head
Speaker 1: with the baton. She has since released a video She's
Speaker 1: all weepy the w ONEm talking about the woman who
Speaker 1: did the hitting and is terribly upset because she has
Speaker 1: received threats and criticism and keeps claiming that she didn't
Speaker 1: do it on purpose, and she clearly did. And the
Speaker 1: woman who took the blows suffered a concussion and a
Speaker 1: possible skull fracture. And here's what got me. You know,
Speaker 1: the arms were flailing, but she clearly hit the woman.
Speaker 1: After the race, this gual. This woman's down injured, the
Speaker 1: woman who hit her, and her coach never even bothered
Speaker 1: to go over and check if this kid was hurt
Speaker 1: and never apologized, and now is claiming that she is
Speaker 1: a victim. It's just nuts. But google it. You'll find
Speaker 1: it if you're really interested. But that was one of
Speaker 1: the craziest things I've ever seen. Coming up at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour, John Clay's going to join us
Speaker 1: from the Harrow Leader. John has just been inducted into
Speaker 1: the US Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. So we'll talk
Speaker 1: to John about that a little bit later on our
Speaker 1: Unforgettable Guard Sean Woods. He'll talk basketball, but as he
Speaker 1: worked that Great Crossing Frederick Douglass game last night, Great
Speaker 1: Crossing wins by one bucket and therefore goes to the
Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen. And Frederick Douglass had an open look for
Speaker 1: a three at the end but couldn't hit it. So
Speaker 1: Malachi Marino, the future Wildcat, he and his teammates from
Speaker 1: Georgetown are going back to the Sweet sixteen. Also our
Speaker 1: West n BUA chief Gary Moore will join us as well,
Speaker 1: this being Wednesday. Coming up, in our next segment, we're
Speaker 1: going to talk a little bit more about Junior bridgmane
Speaker 1: and we got the word that he had died yesterday
Speaker 1: after we had already pre recorded our show. But we'll
Speaker 1: talk a little bit in our next segment and we'll
Speaker 1: hear from not just a speech that Bridgeman made about
Speaker 1: what helped make him successful, because man was he successful,
Speaker 1: but Shaquille O'Neal talked about it. You probably know because
Speaker 1: you cannot avoid his commercials. Shack is the most visible
Speaker 1: retired athlete when it comes to selling products and things
Speaker 1: like that, and he is crazy successful, so is Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: He's just not as VISI and other athletes around the world.
Speaker 1: But Shaquille O'Neal said that Junior Bridgeman helped him get
Speaker 1: started in the business world and was his mentor. Basically,
Speaker 1: was a great player at Louisville. One of my all
Speaker 1: time maybe my all time favorite UILL player when I
Speaker 1: was young, Just a tremendous athlete, help U of L
Speaker 1: get to the seventy five final four when Kentucky was there.
Speaker 1: Those teams should have played for the national title, but
Speaker 1: lost him way too young, just seventy one years old,
Speaker 1: and had a heart attack while he was making a
Speaker 1: speech at a fundraiser for the boy Scouts, which comes
Speaker 1: as no surprise when you talk about Junior Bridgeman. So
Speaker 1: we'll talk about him after the break, and then a
Speaker 1: little bit later on we'll talk about the basketball Cats
Speaker 1: with John Clay and Seawan Woods here on six thirty WLAP.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider. Coming up
Speaker 1: in just a couple of minutes, we're going to hear
Speaker 1: from Hall of Famer John Clay. He is now a
Speaker 1: member of the US Basketball Writers Hall of Fame. It's
Speaker 1: been on the show many times just to talk about
Speaker 1: the Wildcats in his role as a commis for the
Speaker 1: Herald Leader, but now he's a Hall of Famer. So
Speaker 1: we'll talk to John. Coming up at the bottom of
Speaker 1: the hour, hour number two. It's Wednesday, so we'll talk
Speaker 1: with unforgettable guard Sean Woods about the upcoming SEC tournament,
Speaker 1: and of course, our Westen Bureau chief Gary Morrow, have
Speaker 1: some thoughts about the passing of Junior Bridgeman as well.
Speaker 1: Gary living in Louisville, now and before he moved to
Speaker 1: LA he worked here in Lexington and then moved to Louisville,
Speaker 1: so quite familiar with Junior Bridgeman, who believe it or not.
Speaker 1: Growing up in Louisville and rooting for both UK and
Speaker 1: U of L, I had favored UK players. My first were,
Speaker 1: of course, Dan Issel and Mike Pratt. And my first
Speaker 1: faves of U of L players were West Unseled and
Speaker 1: Butcher Beard. But I came to really like and respect
Speaker 1: and he became my favorite U of L player, Junior Bridgeman.
Speaker 1: This year, my second year of UK, I sat out
Speaker 1: with my sophomore year. My first semester, I went to
Speaker 1: a lot of Louisville games that was the seventy four
Speaker 1: to seventy five season. I say a lot, probably you know,
Speaker 1: four or five, but followed them as I was following Kentucky,
Speaker 1: you know, the Kevin Greevy jimman' connor team. Then I
Speaker 1: came back to school that second semester in the spring.
Speaker 1: Well that was nineteen seventy five, when both teams were
Speaker 1: heading for the Final four, and I really really believe,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people did, that those two teams
Speaker 1: would collide in the National Championship game and they should have.
Speaker 1: Kentucky beat Syracuse. Louisville lost to UCLA and John Wooden.
Speaker 1: Denny Crumb lost to his old boss who held back
Speaker 1: that famed UCLA press until the last couple of minutes
Speaker 1: of the game. Then he throws it to the U
Speaker 1: of L. They start to turn it over and UCLA
Speaker 1: wins it. I think it was in overtime and goes
Speaker 1: on to beat Kentucky. That was tough. But what I
Speaker 1: remember about Junior Bridgman, that team, Junior Bridgeman, Alan Murphy,
Speaker 1: Philip Bond, those guys was everybody was excited as well
Speaker 1: they should have been about the super Kittens and Denny Crumb,
Speaker 1: trying to stir the pot, talked about the recruiting class
Speaker 1: that included junior Bridgeman out of East Chicago, Washington, and
Speaker 1: he said I'll take my recruiting class over their recruiting
Speaker 1: class any day now, and said he thought Alan Murphy
Speaker 1: was a better scorer than her shooter or whatever, than
Speaker 1: Kevin Greevy. I don't remember what he said about Bridgman,
Speaker 1: but it boy got everybody's attention, I will tell you that.
Speaker 1: But I rooted for Bridgman when when he left U
Speaker 1: of L and went to the NBA, was drafted by
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Was part of a trade that brought then
Speaker 1: Leuel Cinder, who had just become Kareem abdul Jabbar, to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles and sent Junior Bridgman to Milwaukee, where he
Speaker 1: became an absolute fixture with the Bucks and became an
Speaker 1: incredibly successful businessman. And if you read it anything about
Speaker 1: Junior Bridgeman since his passing, you've seen reference to that.
Speaker 1: Junior came on the Big Blue Insider many years ago.
Speaker 1: I think it was still called Sports Nightly at that point,
Speaker 1: and I would I would replay the interview, but the
Speaker 1: archives were lost, I hate to say. Anyhow, he was
Speaker 1: gracious and classy, of course, And here's a clip when
Speaker 1: he was talking at a symposium about early successes. You
Speaker 1: know he was. He got into Wendy's, he invested, he said,
Speaker 1: in four or five Wendy's restaurants, and it took off,
Speaker 1: and he became a billionaire, not just in Wendy's but
Speaker 1: in other ventures. But this is a talk he gave
Speaker 1: about what led to his success was basically being decent
Speaker 1: to his employees, being kind to other people.
Speaker 2: We started off like most companies at that time, if
Speaker 2: you're black and you're gonna get involved, they're gonna put
Speaker 2: you in the black area of town. And so it's
Speaker 2: no different. We started in Milwaukee because I've spent all
Speaker 2: those years there with five stores in the in the
Speaker 2: inner city of Milwaukee, and they were not very good restaurants.
Speaker 2: But I figured if he worked at it, you could
Speaker 2: turn things around. And I'll tell you, the average volume
Speaker 2: of those five restaurants was only six hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 2: a year. And you're not making any money at that volume.
Speaker 2: Today those restaurants and my son runs them, so we
Speaker 2: still have a lot of them, but they do over
Speaker 2: two million.
Speaker 1: Dollars in sales.
Speaker 2: And how do you do that by getting involved with
Speaker 2: the people and letting people know that you care about them? Now,
Speaker 2: how do you do that? Back at that time in Milwaukee,
Speaker 2: if you got stopped for any traffic violation, they took
Speaker 2: you to jail. It was a crazy law that I'm
Speaker 2: glad they've changed. But where was all of our people
Speaker 2: that they were in jail? So we were bailing people
Speaker 2: out every day. And I could take you through other
Speaker 2: things that we did to help show people that we
Speaker 2: cared about them. And once they realized that we cared
Speaker 2: about them, then they cared about the business and they
Speaker 2: cared about us. And we grew, and as we grew
Speaker 2: and added more stores, we were able to promote people
Speaker 2: from a general manager to a district manager to an
Speaker 2: area operations person. And after a while we had a
Speaker 2: whole lot of people making over one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 2: a year. And you would say, you know, how did
Speaker 2: that happen? And it was in what I would call
Speaker 2: a real American dream. You could come go to work,
Speaker 2: if you had just natural common sense and you were
Speaker 2: willing to work hard, you could make a good living
Speaker 2: for yourself. And we had people that went on from
Speaker 2: there and became franchised Z's on their own. So turn
Speaker 2: around and it was a matter of helping people. And
Speaker 2: then one day I looked up and we had two
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy five Wendy's restaurants.
Speaker 1: It's an incredible story and today the equivalent, best known
Speaker 1: equivalent is Shaquille O'Neal. And if you heard or read
Speaker 1: anything about him, and I've heard him interviewed on podcasts
Speaker 1: about his ventures into the business world, and yes, you
Speaker 1: see him all over commercials. Bridgeman didn't do a lot
Speaker 1: of them, but Shaq certainly does. And it's not just
Speaker 1: that he's lending his name to a product. He has
Speaker 1: a guy who guides him through the business world. I
Speaker 1: heard him say. People come to him all the time
Speaker 1: with ideas, Hey invest in this, here's a product, whatever,
Speaker 1: and he always, if he has any interest at all,
Speaker 1: he turns to his business partner and that's how they
Speaker 1: figure things out. But one of the first mentors basically
Speaker 1: my word for Shaquille O'Neil, and I'd never heard this
Speaker 1: was Junior Bridgeman, and he told that story on the
Speaker 1: TNT set.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this one really hit hard for me. A lot
Speaker 3: of people don't know this, but I've patterned my whole
Speaker 3: business acumen after Junior Bridgman. You know, they always tell
Speaker 3: us stories about our seventy five percent of athletes zero
Speaker 3: five years after they're done playing go broke. And I
Speaker 3: never wanted to be that, so I always started looking
Speaker 3: at people. Michael of course magic. But I remember one
Speaker 3: time before list came out and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I know I'm on this list. All the commercials I
Speaker 3: do and I saw his name, I reached out to
Speaker 3: him and we started talking. And you know, he had Wendy's,
Speaker 3: I started Big Chicken, you know, Pepsi and coke. So
Speaker 3: everything that he did I tried to pattern after him.
Speaker 3: I just actually just talked to him the other day
Speaker 3: because we were getting ready to do business. So my
Speaker 3: condoleces goes out to his partners, shawls, to his family,
Speaker 3: his daughter, his son. But this one really hit hard
Speaker 3: for me because he was definitely somebody that I look
Speaker 3: up to. I know, I get a lot of credit.
Speaker 3: Oh you do this and you do that. If it
Speaker 3: wasn't for Bridgeman, I wouldn't have known where where to stay.
Speaker 3: Because I watched this man. I was like man, and
Speaker 3: I'm always the type I used jealousy as motivation, Like, man,
Speaker 3: this man got this man got four hundred windies, let
Speaker 3: me do something. This man got free distribute, So like
Speaker 3: I used that and I had a conversation with him,
Speaker 3: and he was so nice to me. Nice to go
Speaker 3: to this function that he held doing the Derby and
Speaker 3: Louisville was just a nice, humble young man and he
Speaker 3: gave me all the.
Speaker 1: Secrets like he just did.
Speaker 3: He opened the book and was like, hey, what matter
Speaker 3: of fact, I'll help you out, make a call for you.
Speaker 3: It's actually how I got into Papa John's also because
Speaker 3: he lives in Louisville, and you know he knew it,
Speaker 3: so you know, it was definitely your dear friend. And
Speaker 3: I got the news at home and I had to
Speaker 3: sit down for a while, and I actually forgot We
Speaker 3: had to work. That's why I was kind of running late.
Speaker 3: But this this one hit hard. So Charles, the Brigman family,
Speaker 3: my condoleces goes out. This one hurts a lot.
Speaker 1: One final note my pal Paul Rodgers, the radio voice
Speaker 1: of Louisville Cardinals. At one point they tried to high
Speaker 1: Junior Bridgeman as the radio color commentator. He had done
Speaker 1: a little bit of TV, was great at it, crushed it.
Speaker 1: They we thought, man, this guy'd be great on the
Speaker 1: radio at all of our games. And they went to
Speaker 1: him and they said, hey, how about it? And ninety
Speaker 1: eight percent of athletes would jump on that, and Junior
Speaker 1: Bridgeman said, no, I don't think so. I'm too busy.
Speaker 1: I mean, that is something he knew that if he
Speaker 1: did it, he would want to do it right and
Speaker 1: throw himself into it the way he threw himself into
Speaker 1: all of his business ventures, and he knew because of
Speaker 1: all those business ventures, he didn't have a time, so
Speaker 1: he turned it down. I don't remember who they ended
Speaker 1: up hiring. I think this was after Jock Sutherland ever retired,
Speaker 1: But the bottom line was he was a fixture in
Speaker 1: U of L basketball, in the community, in the Milwaukee community.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I was stunned. Seventy one years old, he's
Speaker 1: less than two years older than I am. And feel
Speaker 1: for his family and his friends. Back in just a minute,
Speaker 1: John Clay, new Hall of Famer from the Herold Leader
Speaker 1: and the US Basketball Writers Association Here on six point
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bull Insider. My
Speaker 1: next guest has been with us on our celebrity Highline
Speaker 1: many times, but this is the first time we can
Speaker 1: adjust John Clay as a Hall of Famer. He is
Speaker 1: being voted into, has been voted into, and being inducted
Speaker 1: into the US Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame with
Speaker 1: some pretty big name people. John, Congratulations. Yeah, you've been
Speaker 1: around for a while, but much deserved.
Speaker 4: Oh thank you, Dick.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Honored to go in and I'm really tickled to go
Speaker 4: in that My old colleague Chuck Culpember is also going in.
Speaker 4: We're in the same class. And then Bob Holt, to
Speaker 4: my long conference from Arkansas, unfortunately passed away during the
Speaker 4: football season. He's also a member of the class that's
Speaker 4: going in. So bittersweet about Bob that I am' relled
Speaker 4: to go in and thrilled to go in with Chuck.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and unlike you, Chuck has bounced around to a
Speaker 1: number of yeah of really fine publications, but someone out
Speaker 1: of business or whatever. But when you signed on with
Speaker 1: the Herald Leader, did you anticipate staying there for a
Speaker 1: long time? I'm not saying forty years, but were you thinking,
Speaker 1: because I know what it was like when I came
Speaker 1: out of school. You just want a job, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think about the next five years. You just
Speaker 1: think about making the rent. But what were you thought
Speaker 1: when you signed up?
Speaker 4: Do you recall, Yeah, well, I mean, I mean I was, like,
Speaker 4: you know, every ambitious kid as sports trader, probably you're
Speaker 4: ultimately you'd like to work at Sports Illustrated or you know,
Speaker 4: something like that. But uh, but as I got older
Speaker 4: and had a family of my own, and uh, you know,
Speaker 4: my family's close, My wife's family's close. Uh you know,
Speaker 4: kids of my own. Uh you know you're you're ambition
Speaker 4: for doing something like that kind of face, and uh,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm very happy to be. I've always felt
Speaker 4: a very lucky to get the job that I got,
Speaker 4: to be able to do the job that I do,
Speaker 4: and to be able to do it, you know, reporting
Speaker 4: on the team that I followed growing up and with
Speaker 4: so many people that I know around has been special
Speaker 4: to me. So I can't complain. My friends all tease
Speaker 4: me that I never had a real.
Speaker 5: Job, so I can't.
Speaker 4: I can't complain.
Speaker 1: Yeah, people say that to me when I talk about
Speaker 1: working like working You know.
Speaker 4: You're right when you start to games.
Speaker 1: That's right. You go to games, watch the kids bounce
Speaker 1: a ball or throw a ball. But when you started,
Speaker 1: like all of us on the newspaper level, you do
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything, don't you. You didn't just drop on.
Speaker 4: To the UK beat, No, no, no, yeah, I started
Speaker 4: out doing high schools. I started out UH stringing for
Speaker 4: the UH back when I was in high school for
Speaker 4: the Winchester Son Neil Bryant, which was my first sports
Speaker 4: editor there. I did some win and talk to him
Speaker 4: and he let me do stories covering everything from junior
Speaker 4: high basketball games to freshman football games. I even worked
Speaker 4: for we do Friday night games for the Paris Daily Enterprise,
Speaker 4: which our friend Tom Leach also wrote for back in
Speaker 4: the day. And then you know, and then as on
Speaker 4: the staff at the Colonel when you were there at
Speaker 4: the Kentucky Colonel and kind of you know, moved on
Speaker 4: from there. And then yeah, when I started out the
Speaker 4: Hero Leader, I was doing high schools. Then when the
Speaker 4: papers merged, when they started out with the Old Leader
Speaker 4: in the afternoon paper and the Herald the year after that,
Speaker 4: and then when the papers merged, I worked on the
Speaker 4: sports copy desk, but I still got to write some.
Speaker 4: But I was basically a copy editor for two three
Speaker 4: years and did that until eight nineteen eighty seven, when
Speaker 4: they decided that basketball had become so big that they
Speaker 4: needed one person to just concentrate on basketball full time,
Speaker 4: and that was Jerry Tiffin. And then I was fortunate
Speaker 4: enough that they gave me the football beat. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I did a lot of different things, and over the years,
Speaker 4: as it's been in all of our job with the
Speaker 4: internet and everything, things change out tell people the job
Speaker 4: I have now is certainly not the job I had
Speaker 4: ten fifteen years ago. But for somebody like myself, and
Speaker 4: I'm sure you probably feel the same way, some of
Speaker 4: the new challenges have been good for people like this
Speaker 4: who kind of stayed in the same market for all
Speaker 4: those years. You do have different challenges and different things
Speaker 4: you have to learn, and I think that's kind of
Speaker 4: helped in a way.
Speaker 1: I agree, But I think people miss picking up the
Speaker 1: newspaper on the doorstep, you know. I mean, of course
Speaker 1: you get you get the game story instantly. Your man
Speaker 1: Ben Roberts has got to hit send on his computer
Speaker 1: as soon as the game's over, and then and then
Speaker 1: keep writing. But back it up a little bit. You
Speaker 1: went from the copy I don't know if I knew this,
Speaker 1: You went from the copy desk to the football beat.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm still writing some but I was basically the
Speaker 4: high school reporter, or one of the high school reporters,
Speaker 4: and for the Herald back in the day, back your
Speaker 4: friend of mine, Jean MacLean was around right at that
Speaker 4: time for the Herald and so forth. And then when
Speaker 4: the paper smart, you had the Harold sports section, the
Speaker 4: Leader sports section were merging and you already had you know,
Speaker 4: Mike Fields at that time was doing high school as
Speaker 4: he did for years and years, and you had the
Speaker 4: Harold Leader high school writers. So I kind of got
Speaker 4: moved into a sports copy desk job, which at the
Speaker 4: time I was not crazy about it, but I think
Speaker 4: it actually helped me because, you know, learning another side
Speaker 4: the business and helped with editing and so forth. But
Speaker 4: I still wrote. I still wrote some, especially I covered
Speaker 4: a lot of women's basketball back then and girls' basketball.
Speaker 4: But and then and still did you know, some writing too,
Speaker 4: But I did also a lot of copy desk work too.
Speaker 4: And then, like I said, they decided in eighty seven
Speaker 4: to split the UK because Jerry when he first got
Speaker 4: here he did both football and basketball. People kind of
Speaker 4: forget that. But so then I did football. I did
Speaker 4: football from nineteen eighty seven till two thousand. When Chuck
Speaker 4: left to go to the Oregonian in two thousand and
Speaker 4: that was fortunate enough to get his get his job.
Speaker 4: But I remember when how Mommy came and got the job.
Speaker 4: And you remember Chris Hatcher. Yep, he came up with
Speaker 4: pal as you know at that time. I think he
Speaker 4: was even like a graduate sister of ball right her assistant,
Speaker 4: and he handled the quarterbacks. And I remember talking to
Speaker 4: Chris and Chris said, how long have you been covering football?
Speaker 4: I said, since nineteen eighty seven, Chris goes And Chris
Speaker 4: is the heck of a guy, Chris Goes Man, You've
Speaker 4: seen a lot of losing football.
Speaker 1: I had a similar conversation with Rich Brooks, you know,
Speaker 1: but I said, you know what, though, you you flirted
Speaker 1: with greatness year coach. We're talking to John Clay, who
Speaker 1: was one of the newest members of the US Basketball
Speaker 1: Writers Association Hall of Fame class of twenty twenty five. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've got to think that working that copy desk made
Speaker 1: you a better writer, because, man, with the summery intern
Speaker 1: for the Louisville Times, I worked my butt off just
Speaker 1: so the city desk slotman and the copy editors didn't
Speaker 1: have to fix my stories.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: So you're really lean into it, don't you.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I think, you know,
Speaker 4: it kind of helps you learn learn the business from
Speaker 4: the ground up. And you know, talking about when Adrian
Speaker 4: wargin Ow the you know, the ESPN, you know, the
Speaker 4: WOJE bombs and so forth. And when he announced the
Speaker 4: last I guess last year about this time or whatever,
Speaker 4: that he was going to leave ESPN it was going
Speaker 4: to go back to his alma mater, Sam Bonaventure as
Speaker 4: their GM. I read a story in which he said
Speaker 4: that of all the jobs that he had, always the
Speaker 4: most challenging job and the best job, is being a
Speaker 4: high school writer. Because when you're covering high school sports,
Speaker 4: you're keeping your own stats. A lot of people take
Speaker 4: their own pictures. You're down there, You're in these press
Speaker 4: boxes that you have to squeeze into, or you may
Speaker 4: be down on the sidelines, and it's, you know, trying
Speaker 4: to keep stats, and it's raining and so forth. It's
Speaker 4: a great education for I don't know how many times, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, I was afraid I was going to get
Speaker 4: locked into a football stadium trying to write your story. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I think I remember one time Jean got locked in.
Speaker 4: Jean McLean got locked in covering a high school football game.
Speaker 4: I remember the first time, you will appreciate this stick
Speaker 4: the first time I met the great Bob White, who
Speaker 4: recently passed away. For a long time career journal high
Speaker 4: school beat writer writer, he and Mike ro Both legends
Speaker 4: of the state were covering high school. The first time
Speaker 4: I met Bob White, I was covering a lot yet
Speaker 4: I was at the Herald Leader. I was covering a
Speaker 4: Lapiet basketball game and they had a little table set
Speaker 4: up for the media, and I was sitting there and
Speaker 4: Bob White came and sat down beside me. And the
Speaker 4: whole time, I'm thinking, that's Bob White. That's Bob White,
Speaker 4: because I'd read him, but I hadn't met him. And
Speaker 4: then Bob turns to me and says, are you from
Speaker 4: the Herald? And I said, yes, from the Herald. He goes,
Speaker 4: where are you going to write your story? And I said,
Speaker 4: I think I can go back to the office and
Speaker 4: write it from there. He said, they told me I
Speaker 4: could use the vice principal's office, but it's locked. I
Speaker 4: don't know where I'm going to write my story. I
Speaker 4: don't know where I'm going to send my story. Man,
Speaker 4: I'm thinking, so, whether you're Bob White or just me
Speaker 4: starting out, you face the same challenges when you're covering
Speaker 4: high school high school sports.
Speaker 1: In college, I was the Courier Journal stringer here in
Speaker 1: Central and Tom's the last one they ever had because
Speaker 1: they started cutting back saving money. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I learned the hard way. You got to call ahead.
Speaker 1: Is there a phone in the press box, nope? Is
Speaker 1: there electricity nope? Can I use an office nope? You
Speaker 1: know I got locked into the Henry Clay Football Stadium
Speaker 1: once and in Bryan Station they had no way from
Speaker 1: nothing nowhere from me to work. I had to drive.
Speaker 1: I think I've told you. I had to drive to
Speaker 1: the old Jerry's on on South Broadway and phone it
Speaker 1: in from the lobby. People are in there, you know,
Speaker 1: ordering a Patty Meltw on the phone. I'm tying up
Speaker 1: the payphone for twenty minutes dictating a story. But man,
Speaker 1: you learn, you know. Yeah, and now now you appreciate
Speaker 1: being able to hit send, uh and right, make sure
Speaker 1: your story.
Speaker 4: You can go to the you can go to McDonald's
Speaker 4: and use their wireless.
Speaker 1: That's true too.
Speaker 4: Or yes, Jerry Peck and those guys, they just got
Speaker 4: it so much easier.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, right, Hey, you got a shamelessly pl PENNERA
Speaker 1: that's your home for home away.
Speaker 4: From home, that's right, yeah, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Well if you see John in the Panera, that's a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer will work. We'll talk more with John
Speaker 1: on the other side of the break here on a
Speaker 1: Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking
Speaker 1: with John Clay of the Harrow Leader. He is the
Speaker 1: newest member of the US Basketball Writers Association Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame class at twenty twenty five, going in with his
Speaker 1: former colleague and his buddy Chuck Culpepper, who, by the way,
Speaker 1: was one of our narrators for the documentary the Cameron
Speaker 1: Mills and Jason Epperson and I did on the ninety
Speaker 1: eight championship team Out of the Blue. We had. We
Speaker 1: had Chuck and a couple of Mark Coombs and Daryl
Speaker 1: Bird read read their copy that would They were our narrators.
Speaker 1: And this is a guy who travels the world and
Speaker 1: just somehow finds finds an interesting nugget to write about.
Speaker 1: You're covering the same team basically, John Dafterday, you do
Speaker 1: branch out, cover other things, cover the reds and all.
Speaker 1: But what kind of a challenge is that to be
Speaker 1: working in the same market covering the same team for
Speaker 1: so many years. Background is great, context is great, but
Speaker 1: it's the same team year after You're the same I
Speaker 1: should say school year after year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, like you say, I mean
Speaker 4: there's advantages and its advantaged kids. I have a lot
Speaker 4: of you know, institutional knowledge or historical references with Kentucky
Speaker 4: sports football and basketball. But it is a challenge when
Speaker 4: you're writing about the same team. Luckily, you know, for
Speaker 4: better or worse, especially under Cal under cal Perry, you know,
Speaker 4: the members of the team seem to change every year,
Speaker 4: and it's been a little bit that way in football,
Speaker 4: so it gives you more new things to write about.
Speaker 4: One of the things I thought I was fortunate enough
Speaker 4: for doing doing football for so long. UK football obviously basketball,
Speaker 4: you know, probably more interested in basketball than football, though
Speaker 4: I always contend there's always been a great core interest
Speaker 4: in UK football, but there were more when you're covering
Speaker 4: a team that's got a five scholarship players and a
Speaker 4: bunch of walk ons, there's more opportunities for stories and
Speaker 4: features and that type of thing, and there is in
Speaker 4: the uh you know, I go back to one your
Speaker 4: another reference point that you can appreciate is Dave Kindred.
Speaker 4: I read Dave Kendred, you know, growing up in the
Speaker 4: in the career for twenty years, and they've always said
Speaker 4: you know, there's a lot of good stories in the
Speaker 4: losing locker room as well as the winning locker room.
Speaker 4: And I think that's that's true as well, and so uh,
Speaker 4: you know, I think that was a good education for
Speaker 4: me as well to learn for on the beat for
Speaker 4: football as well. But yeah, I mean it as advantageist
Speaker 4: and disadvantage, but I think overall it's an advantage. Like
Speaker 4: I said, I've always enjoyed writing about uh, you know,
Speaker 4: the the athletic department and the university that I followed
Speaker 4: and ruduft growing up and knowing that the people that
Speaker 4: I know, friends, family, colleagues, people around in Central Kentucky
Speaker 4: and Kentucky writing for you know, the same teams that
Speaker 4: they you know, love and follow and want to know
Speaker 4: more about. So that that's been good as a columnist.
Speaker 1: Explain to folks what your mission is, what is your job?
Speaker 1: Because people I know complain you know that that you're
Speaker 1: not objective, you're showing your bias, and I try to explain, well,
Speaker 1: that's his job, you know. I mean, uh, but but
Speaker 1: it's not the same obviously as covering a beat and
Speaker 1: talk a little bit if you would about well, it's
Speaker 1: a terrible way to phrase the question, isn't it to
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer? But when you move from being
Speaker 1: a beat writer to a columnist.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean with colmist, you have more freedom to
Speaker 4: give your opinion. I mean that's basically you're more of
Speaker 4: like an opinion columnist, so you can give your point
Speaker 4: of view, your opinion on something instead of just reporting
Speaker 4: it as a straight beat reporter objective. Although I do
Speaker 4: think it's that even that has kind of changed over
Speaker 4: the years. More I think beat. I mean, you want to.
Speaker 5: Be the objective as possible as a.
Speaker 4: Beat but I think they look for you to be
Speaker 4: more of like an authority as a beat writer that
Speaker 4: you know as much or more than anybody else on
Speaker 4: the beat, and people look to you for, you know,
Speaker 4: for that information. My whole thing about you know, being
Speaker 4: a columnisteamed with that beat writer. I mean, you have
Speaker 4: to think about the audience if you want, you want
Speaker 4: credibility with your readers. You want your readers to believe
Speaker 4: what you write. And then even if they as an
Speaker 4: account as accumist, even if they disagree with your point
Speaker 4: of view, if they feel like that you're being fair
Speaker 4: and you're making you know, it's it's honest and it's
Speaker 4: what you really believe. You're not trying to get clicks,
Speaker 4: as we would say now or you know, but I
Speaker 4: always said, if if a team's not going well and
Speaker 4: you're writing that everything's great, people are going to stop
Speaker 4: reading you because they know that's not true. And it's
Speaker 4: the opposite if they're doing well and you're nitpicking them
Speaker 4: and writing a bunch of negative things. Uh, you know,
Speaker 4: I think that they're not going to read you either.
Speaker 4: I think as I've gotten older, I probably have been
Speaker 4: a little more I don't think lenien is the right word,
Speaker 4: but maybe had a little different perspectives than athletes that yeah,
Speaker 4: than I once did. And I think that's just part
Speaker 4: of growing older. The majority I was probably more apt
Speaker 4: to when I first started out to you know, be
Speaker 4: more critical than probably you know I am now. But
Speaker 4: you know, also, you know social media and then it's
Speaker 4: changed so many things, it's changed their jobs. Now. I
Speaker 4: used to get a lot of emails. I don't get
Speaker 4: nearly as many emails now because people can't you know,
Speaker 4: they tell me what they think on Facebook or on Twitter,
Speaker 4: or you know, they have a direct line to you
Speaker 4: almost you know, your followers and so forth, so you
Speaker 4: know that's that's changed as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I agree, but it's always interesting because sports
Speaker 1: fans have opinions. Everybody has opinions, right, and when they
Speaker 1: don't like yours, well you're biased, you know, you're not
Speaker 1: objective or whatever. What they're saying is you don't agree
Speaker 1: with me, so right right, you know, but that's okay,
Speaker 1: that's that's part of the fun. I mean, it's like
Speaker 1: there's a ballgame on one day, we spend six days
Speaker 1: talking about it right.
Speaker 4: Right right, and you and you'd rather have that than
Speaker 4: not have any feedback at all, because then they're not
Speaker 4: reading you. So you want them to whether they agree
Speaker 4: or disagree with you. And then, you know, it's funny
Speaker 4: when I do get emails. A lot of times I'll
Speaker 4: get an email you know, you don't know what you're
Speaker 4: talking about and really ripping me. And then I'll reply
Speaker 4: to them and say, you know, well, you know, I'm
Speaker 4: sorry you disagree, blah blah blah, and they'll write they'll
Speaker 4: come back at you, but they're a little softer, a
Speaker 4: little soft, like maybe they didn't experience the experience. John Adams,
Speaker 4: I'm sure you probably know John longtime. Collins occidently asked
Speaker 4: me one time first when internet started up, because do
Speaker 4: you get a lot of nasty emails? And I said, yeah,
Speaker 4: I did, I get a few. He goes, what do
Speaker 4: you How do you reply? So well? I tell him,
Speaker 4: you know, I understand their point of view and blah
Speaker 4: blah blah. He goes, I don't. I tell them they're nuts.
Speaker 4: I tell them they're crazy. John can get away with that?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, I wonder how that worked out
Speaker 1: well before I let you go, John, It's obviously a
Speaker 1: special time for you, being voted into the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame and you are covering a heck of a story,
Speaker 1: aren't you? With this with this UK team? And really
Speaker 1: down the road with U of L as well? But
Speaker 1: oh yeah, it's the kind of season that sort of
Speaker 1: in your lap and there have been all kinds of
Speaker 1: twisting turns and obviously we don't know where it's going
Speaker 1: to end. But it's been kind of fun, hasn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And going back to what you said earlier about
Speaker 4: being here a long time and covering the same team
Speaker 4: for so many years, and this year I think it's
Speaker 4: been an advantage. Have been really neat because obviously I
Speaker 4: was around, I was not the primary basketball beat writer,
Speaker 4: and I wasn't the commist. Chuck was the commist when
Speaker 4: Mark Pope lay. In fact, when Chuck came, Chuck was
Speaker 4: in town a while back and he went to see Mark,
Speaker 4: and Mark told him, Chuck, you have not changed a bit.
Speaker 4: You're still the same one I was here the first time.
Speaker 4: But you know, that's been really neat because they got
Speaker 4: to know Mark a little bit when we covered him,
Speaker 4: and I've talked to him a couple of times over
Speaker 4: the years when he was coaching elsewhere. I did a
Speaker 4: story on when he got his first job at Utah Valley.
Speaker 4: So it's been great to see Mark tackle this job
Speaker 4: and the job he has done. I mean, I just
Speaker 4: think he's set the right tone. He's been exactly what
Speaker 4: the doctor ordered. Nothing against cal Perry. I had no
Speaker 4: beef with John. You know, John had his good points
Speaker 4: and his bad point. But I think John knew and
Speaker 4: everybody knew it was time for a change and time
Speaker 4: to move on. And I think Marcus done an incredible
Speaker 4: job putting a new team together and fighting through the
Speaker 4: injuries and having the season they had. And I think
Speaker 4: may more importantly, I think he set the tone for
Speaker 4: what the program should be and will be under him
Speaker 4: in the future.
Speaker 1: Is John Clay. He is now a Hall of Famers
Speaker 1: US Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame. Follow him on
Speaker 1: Twitter ex whatever at John Clay IV and of course
Speaker 1: in the pages of a Herald Leader or online Kentucky
Speaker 1: dot com. Thank you, sir, congratulations, Well.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Dick, and I certainly remember our days at
Speaker 4: the Colonel and how you helped me when I was
Speaker 4: just a good aspiring journalist and you were an old
Speaker 4: experienced student journalist, you and Steve Ballinger and all those guys.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Yeah, well, I was happy to
Speaker 1: do it, John, thanks so much. Thank you. That's it
Speaker 1: for our number one coming up in our number two
Speaker 1: Unforgettable Guard, Sean Woods, and our West End Bureau chief Garrymore,
Speaker 1: all of that ahead here on the Big Girl Sider
Speaker 1: six point thirty.
Speaker 6: Nobody I like the saying.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Cider has promised. Here
Speaker 1: is our unforgettable Guard, Shawn Woods. A jersey hangs in
Speaker 1: the rafters and we always talk about the Wildcats, and
Speaker 1: we will, but we've got a couple other things. To
Speaker 1: talk about little high school basketball. But first, you're younger
Speaker 1: than I am. But I know you know the name
Speaker 1: Junior Bridgeman, and he comes from up in the part
Speaker 1: of the world that you're kind that you're from. How
Speaker 1: shocked were you to hear the news of his passing?
Speaker 5: It was very shocking because we grew up in the
Speaker 5: same city. I am from each Chicago, Indiana. I say
Speaker 5: Gary because a lot of people don't know Eachicago is
Speaker 5: that they're both right next to each other. They call
Speaker 5: it the region. We got Gary, hemmon Eachicago. You know Maryville,
Speaker 5: you know that type of deal. Crown Point is the
Speaker 5: county seat of Blake County. But I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 5: how close I am the Junior Bridgeman. His sisters were
Speaker 5: my Sunday school teachers, good Anti patrist Church.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 5: So I've known Junior Bridgeman. He's known me all my life.
Speaker 1: My goodness, his mother I.
Speaker 5: Knew his mother, Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 4: And I was.
Speaker 5: Born in nineteen seventy when Each Chicago Roosevelt won the
Speaker 5: state championship Indiana High school state championship in nineteen seventy,
Speaker 5: and then Each Chicago Washington, which that's where Junior Bridgeman
Speaker 5: went one of the nineteen seventy one It's it's right
Speaker 5: now still East Chicago back then was probably one of
Speaker 5: the one of the basketball meccas of the world that
Speaker 5: region when you had Gary Chicago, all those big time
Speaker 5: players and it's the only city that produced two state
Speaker 5: championships back to back with different schools.
Speaker 1: Wow, no kidding.
Speaker 5: And I'm gonna tell you who's on this basketball team. Okay,
Speaker 5: you're a Kentucky Colonel fan. You remember Kentucky Colonels. Okay,
Speaker 5: Jim Bradley. James Bradley was that played on the Kentucky
Speaker 5: turn Colonels. He was the darling basketball player back then
Speaker 5: at Eachicago rolls that when they were on the state
Speaker 5: championship in nineteen seventy. Okay, the next year, and then
Speaker 5: he went to Chicago Roosevelt the next year. Each Chicago
Speaker 5: Washington won it. Okay, remember the name a guy by
Speaker 5: the name of Pete Turkovich who went to UCLA. Absolutely, Okay,
Speaker 5: he was on that team. Remember the big time pitcher
Speaker 5: named Tim Stoddard. Yeah, he was on that team with
Speaker 5: Junior Bridgeman.
Speaker 1: He played basketball and baseball at NC State.
Speaker 5: Tim stotted was a power forward for that each Chicago
Speaker 5: Washington nineteen seventy one state championship team. Junior Bridgeman's real name.
Speaker 5: People don't even know it. His real name is Ulysses
Speaker 5: Ulysses Bridgeman, junior.
Speaker 1: Right, And when he checked into a U of L game,
Speaker 1: John Tong always announced him that way and number or
Speaker 1: whatever unless he's Junior Bridgeman. I thought that was so cool.
Speaker 5: And he wasn't even the league scorer on that team.
Speaker 5: Turkovich was the league and scorer on that team that
Speaker 5: went on to play and win national championships at us LAW,
Speaker 5: John Wooden Wow and then Pete Turkovich. After years gone by.
Speaker 5: They had two guards on the team. Their name was
Speaker 5: Darnell adel and Rubin Ruben Rubin Bailey, and they were
Speaker 5: the quickest guards in the state of Kentucky, in the
Speaker 5: state of Indiana. And uh, I think Darnell Ado ended
Speaker 5: up going to n C State. I don't know where
Speaker 5: Ruben Bailey went to. But Darnell Adell came back, took
Speaker 5: Easchicago Washington the state championship and guess who he Guess
Speaker 5: who he coached. Kenny Laughton, who was the baseball player
Speaker 5: for the Cleveland for the Cleveland Indians. We're all grew
Speaker 5: up together. Kenny Laughton and I grew up together. He's
Speaker 5: two years older than me, three years older than me actually,
Speaker 5: but we played Little League, Beast football, baseball, all that
Speaker 5: stuff together. And then Tim started came back and won
Speaker 5: the state championship at Each Chicago Central, which was they
Speaker 5: combined ISA Chicago Roosevelt to Chicago Washington and made it
Speaker 5: Each Chicago Central.
Speaker 1: Amazing. So I know.
Speaker 5: Junior Bridgeman big time. I mean I've been knowing him
Speaker 5: all my life, and man in Each Chicago's Morning too,
Speaker 5: because he's one of their favorite sons.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I remember when Denny Crumb signed him out of
Speaker 1: there and people were really excited. Of course I didn't
Speaker 1: know anything about him, but I learned very quickly. But
Speaker 1: and I mentioned in the previous segment, I'd had him
Speaker 1: on the show at one point. Just such a class act.
Speaker 1: But you know, known for his entrepreneurial efforts as much
Speaker 1: more than his basketball. I mean, you talk about a
Speaker 1: success story and an example for pro athletes. You don't
Speaker 1: have to go broke after five years, you.
Speaker 5: Know, I say they're on the news talking now. You know,
Speaker 5: even Doc Rivers, all these people talking, you know, we
Speaker 5: take in uspn The one thing that the NBA missed
Speaker 5: out on was him coming to rookie camps and and
Speaker 5: and things like that and really mentoring and listening to
Speaker 5: his story on helping these young men who are gonna
Speaker 5: make so much money, but in five years they're gonna
Speaker 5: be broke. He was the guy they missed on that
Speaker 5: should have been the poster child of how you do this?
Speaker 5: You know, Magic Johnson is one, now Michael Jordan's another.
Speaker 5: But I'm gonna tell you something. I remember I used
Speaker 5: to get in trouble. Everybody knew that I was great
Speaker 5: friends with guys that played for the University of Louis,
Speaker 5: of the Ewie Sullivans of cok these holders, the Boo
Speaker 5: Brewers and the Jerome Harmers, you know, the Bradford Smiths
Speaker 5: and things like that. When we would go out okay
Speaker 5: and then go get us a burger at Wendy's. There
Speaker 5: were several times where I went to one I think
Speaker 5: it's a Horsebourne Lane of somewhere where he was in
Speaker 5: the back flippenburger and he was the owner and he
Speaker 5: was known for that oh wow regiment would be in
Speaker 5: the back and you wouldn't even know who he was,
Speaker 5: and he would be in the back with the regular workers,
Speaker 5: flipping berger.
Speaker 1: Setting an example.
Speaker 5: Yeah, setting an example, man.
Speaker 1: That's a great story.
Speaker 5: Man, right, it becomes you know, makes the billionaire club man.
Speaker 5: He checks out on us, and that's unfortunate.
Speaker 1: It is. Well, I knew you knew of him, or
Speaker 1: you knew him, but I didn't realize it was that tight.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I knew you were from the same part
Speaker 1: of the world. So my condolence is to everybody up
Speaker 1: there and everybody in the extended Junior Richmond family. Well,
Speaker 1: let us move off to a happier topic, and that
Speaker 1: is high school basketball. Sweet sixteen begins next week for
Speaker 1: the boys, begins. It's already underway today for the girls.
Speaker 1: But you worked last night the telecast online of the
Speaker 1: eleventh Region championship, and I know how much you were
Speaker 1: looking forward to that game. And it didn't disappoint and
Speaker 1: future Wildcat and his teammates great crossing. They beat Frederick
Speaker 1: Douglas by two, survived a three pointer at the at
Speaker 1: the end. And now Malachai Moreno is going back to
Speaker 1: the Sweet sixteen. He had a decent game, did he not?
Speaker 5: He did what he was supposed to do in a
Speaker 5: game like that.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
Speaker 5: You know, as you, I don't care how good you are,
Speaker 5: you're marked man, especially if you're going to the University Kentucky,
Speaker 5: you know, playing in the state of Kentucky, so on
Speaker 5: and so forth, and you're six to eleven and you're
Speaker 5: playing against a bunch of people that are pretty much
Speaker 5: midgets to you. And this is what I am impressed
Speaker 5: with him about, even when he's in an unfamiliar territory,
Speaker 5: because the reason why he's one of the best big
Speaker 5: men in the country is because when he's playing out
Speaker 5: in those AAU tournaments and those camps against some of
Speaker 5: the best big men in the country, he dominates. But
Speaker 5: what's impressive with him is he dominates even when he's
Speaker 5: playing against smaller guys, like he doesn't look out of place.
Speaker 5: I mean, his his his quarter awareness is impeccable. He
Speaker 5: can score in a telephone boost with a bunch of
Speaker 5: mitcht because he's got great footwork, he's got really good handle,
Speaker 5: and he's got great hands. He gets the ball to
Speaker 5: the rim quick. I think he's a very underrated defender.
Speaker 5: As you saw last night, he blocked everything that got
Speaker 5: to the rim. And kudos to Douglas for being resilient
Speaker 5: and giving themselves a chance to even have it, you know,
Speaker 5: to have a chance to win under those circumstances when
Speaker 5: you're playing against a dominant player like that. But I've
Speaker 5: been impressed with with Malachi just with the skill level,
Speaker 5: and he's only gonna get better. One thing he hasn't
Speaker 5: shown that I've just seen in warm up this. He
Speaker 5: can shoot the fifteen footer, but he just doesn't shoot
Speaker 5: it in high school because he doesn't happen. And that's
Speaker 5: gonna be a major. That's gonna be something when he
Speaker 5: gets to Kentucky because Mark Polk is real big on
Speaker 5: improving your shot because you're gonna shoot all day in practice,
Speaker 5: that's what you're gonna do. You're gonna shoot all day,
Speaker 5: so you can't get do nothing but get better as
Speaker 5: a shooter and become more confident. So that's gonna be
Speaker 5: a part of his game that people haven't seen that
Speaker 5: he is capable of doing. But I love his efficiency, He's.
Speaker 4: Never out of control.
Speaker 5: I love his his his his mental you know, output
Speaker 5: you know, approaching a game. I mean, I'm just highly
Speaker 5: impressed with him. And then he's got another great player
Speaker 5: that's going to more head too. I mean, that team
Speaker 5: is really good. But man, I got to give a
Speaker 5: lot of credits to Douglas at Larry Garver for the
Speaker 5: job he did coming in as a first year coach,
Speaker 5: come coming in out of college, you know, and it's
Speaker 5: a it's a major adjustment, you know, when you're preparing
Speaker 5: for the likes of you know, the MIAK and and
Speaker 5: and when you got to play those money games against
Speaker 5: some of the best coaches in the country, right and
Speaker 5: now you're coming here and you got to develop these
Speaker 5: guys to prepare against some these high school you know, situations.
Speaker 5: And he did a marvelous job all year of even
Speaker 5: being the second best team in the regions, the eleventh region,
Speaker 5: then making a championship game and had a chance to
Speaker 5: win last night even when he got down thirteen to fourteen,
Speaker 5: they were down ten with two minutes ago. When he
Speaker 5: comes back and had a chance to win, Yeah, I
Speaker 5: had a.
Speaker 1: Shot in the air. He is Sean Woods. We talk
Speaker 1: with him every Wednesday, the former UK point guard. We'll
Speaker 1: come back and talk about those Wildcats on the other
Speaker 1: side of the break here on the Big Moon Sider
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP, Welcome back. We're talking with Sean Woods.
Speaker 1: We talked with the Unforgettable Guard each and every Wednesday.
Speaker 1: And Sean, before I asked you about this year's Kentucky team,
Speaker 1: you talked before about playing in the SEC Tournament. You
Speaker 1: guys had one shot because of the sanctions it on
Speaker 1: and you won it. You Claubert Alabama, I'm wondering where
Speaker 1: you check in. I have a pretty good idea all
Speaker 1: this debate. John Calipari has said it again. You know
Speaker 1: I couldn't care less about the SEC Tournament. I know
Speaker 1: you wouldn't do that as a co WHI and Pope
Speaker 1: has gone to one hundred and eighty degrees in the
Speaker 1: other direction. Can you imagine going into a tournament like that? Uh,
Speaker 1: not as a coach, but as a player. Hearing your coach.
Speaker 5: Say that, I think that that that's ludicrous. I mean,
Speaker 5: that's I don't even get that. I mean, I've never
Speaker 5: heard of coach in winning a game is not important.
Speaker 5: I've never seen that, especially in college athletics. You want
Speaker 5: to win every game, you want to win every tournament,
Speaker 5: you want to you know to tell your guys that
Speaker 5: that's not important. What type of what type of example
Speaker 5: does that set?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 5: So what if they come in and don't take a
Speaker 5: serious and you lay an egg and you're already on
Speaker 5: the bubble tournament? That makes totally no no sense at all.
Speaker 5: And that's one of the reasons that he fell out
Speaker 5: here because yep, everything is important. History is important.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 5: We own the SEC. We want to continue to have
Speaker 5: made success in the SEC, just like Kansas owns the
Speaker 5: Big Twelve has. I mean, they had a tough year
Speaker 5: this year, but that's like Bill Sepp going to tell Kansas,
Speaker 5: we're not worried about winning the Big Twelve championship. And
Speaker 5: and because if you get to I even heard him
Speaker 5: say this, if you get to the championship, you better win, yes,
Speaker 5: because if you don't win, you still you're gonna do
Speaker 5: tire because you're gonna play tools Deal Wednesday. Well, if
Speaker 5: you win, you still got to play Tuesday Winnsday. That's right,
Speaker 5: What does that make.
Speaker 1: It doesn't No? All right, let's let's let's put that
Speaker 1: to Ben and let's talk about these wildcats. You and
Speaker 1: I have talked all year. You have been polite and understanding,
Speaker 1: but firm and your belief that they just weren't good
Speaker 1: enough defensively. But in the last two or three weeks, Sean,
Speaker 1: they've made a move forward at least as far as
Speaker 1: the analytics are concerned, UH, to be not just better
Speaker 1: at defense, but now one of the better teams in
Speaker 1: the country over the last two or three weeks defensively,
Speaker 1: what have you seen when it comes to their defensive improvement, Dick.
Speaker 5: It became a priority, That's what happened. It wasn't a
Speaker 5: priority before. I thought that Markan was just really gung
Speaker 5: ho on showing the world how smart they were from
Speaker 5: an analytics standpoint, in this offense, that they're running this
Speaker 5: high power, high scoring, shooting threes thing. That defense really
Speaker 5: wasn't and it hasn't been if you watch him throughout
Speaker 5: his career, it hasn't been important. But now you're at
Speaker 5: the SEC where defense is the jergernaut. Most of the
Speaker 5: best teams in this league are great defensively, And he
Speaker 5: knew that he had to change, and he had to
Speaker 5: change real fast and make that more of a priority
Speaker 5: than his offense. And when he realized that he wasn't
Speaker 5: going to get through thirty threes up because defenses from
Speaker 5: other teams weren't going to allow that. Right, he make
Speaker 5: a change too, And in order for him to make
Speaker 5: a change, he had to start getting more stops yep,
Speaker 5: to win games. So that's what that means, you know
Speaker 5: what I'm saying, And I'm sure going in from here
Speaker 5: on out, he better be working in the summertime on
Speaker 5: his shell defensive principles and and making that just as
Speaker 5: much of a priority as it is shooting threes and
Speaker 5: and coming up with all these wizardry plays uh the
Speaker 5: offensive end, because that ain't gonna win. That ain't gonna
Speaker 5: cut it as he saw it. And from a recruiting standpoint,
Speaker 5: he better start getting find the guys that that that
Speaker 5: that fit the mode of a Lamon Butler.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Those are hard to.
Speaker 5: Find, yes, but that's got to be his recruiting model
Speaker 5: because in the SEC, the SEC is built on tough
Speaker 5: minded guy, tough minded defensive guys, and you can't win
Speaker 5: at this level, especially in the SEC, if you don't
Speaker 5: have that type of mentality. So from recruiting standpoint, he's
Speaker 5: got to start getting guys not just can shoot the basketball,
Speaker 5: but love playing relentless defense. And he's got three chances.
Speaker 5: He's got three guys that he's got to go get
Speaker 5: uh to to to go along with these freshmen. But
Speaker 5: I would put a billboard up, a poster in his
Speaker 5: office with the the Mott Butler's picture aren't saying gets
Speaker 5: where I'm going. I gotta find much like this.
Speaker 1: I've only got a few minutes left, but you have won.
Speaker 1: You have won a conference tournament as a player and
Speaker 1: a coach, and you know what it takes that kind
Speaker 1: of grind to win day after day after day, and
Speaker 1: it takes it takes people, it takes some depth. Do
Speaker 1: you think this Kentucky team has what it takes to
Speaker 1: pull it off? Because Auburn's awfully good, Florida is awfully good.
Speaker 5: My thing is this, Dick, If La Mott Butler can
Speaker 5: get through this tournament unscathed, they have a chance. I
Speaker 5: just I just think that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: And the only thing that scares me is winning three games.
Speaker 5: They haven't proven in the last two months that they
Speaker 5: can put constring along three games in a row at SCC.
Speaker 5: So that's what scares me right now is can they
Speaker 5: win three games in a row if they you know,
Speaker 5: and and we'll see you know that that's that's the
Speaker 5: million dollar deal because you're going against the juggernaut and
Speaker 5: everybody in this in this tournament from who's playing tonight
Speaker 5: on Wednesday night can beat him tomorrow, to beat us tomorrow.
Speaker 5: So you know, you saw Lennon Hamilton last night, you know,
Speaker 5: lost and they were favorite to win, playing against somebody
Speaker 5: who had played the night before. It doesn't matter. It's
Speaker 5: tournament time now did It's tournament time, and the mentality
Speaker 5: has changed and switched. And that's why some people are
Speaker 5: really disgusted with John Caliperry making those those deals about
Speaker 5: nothing's important. You're in the postseason, everything's important.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. You know, interestingly, you guys beat Alabama,
Speaker 1: beat him handily. They were seventeenth in the country and
Speaker 1: you beat them. But like you said, that was your
Speaker 1: one shot. You didn't score in that game. But your job,
Speaker 1: I got to think, was to handle Hollywood Robinson that night,
Speaker 1: you know, and he got his twenty two, but it
Speaker 1: took him thirty eight minutes and eighteen shots. And meanwhile
Speaker 1: your teammates were running all over Alabama. So everybody has
Speaker 1: to hone in, don't they no doubt about it.
Speaker 5: And everybody's got to step up, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: You know, you got to start getting some production from
Speaker 5: some people that you haven't been doing. And that's what
Speaker 5: tournament times all about. And you know the good thing
Speaker 5: about Kentucky is you got a couple guys that haven't
Speaker 5: been that started to get their legs on them a
Speaker 5: little bit. They're starting to produce and they're going to
Speaker 5: need all the production they can get from everybody that
Speaker 5: comes in that game, that comes in the game starting tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Well, coach, I've enjoyed talking to you. We'll keep talking
Speaker 1: through the tournament. But are you working the boy sweet sixteen?
Speaker 5: I am working the girls for now and the boys.
Speaker 5: I'm on tonight. Douglas is playing Simon Kitton tonight at
Speaker 5: eight o'clock, so I'll be on tonight with that one.
Speaker 5: And then, you know, the fortunate but unfortunate situation is
Speaker 5: because the NC DOUBLEA Tournament, the men's tournament is pushed
Speaker 5: back for two weeks, right right, So we'll see, you know,
Speaker 5: we'll see if Douglas is in, I mean, if Great
Speaker 5: crosses in and we're still doing the eleventh region games.
Speaker 5: Covering them, then I should be doing it well.
Speaker 1: Whatever happens, I hope to see you soon and I
Speaker 1: appreciate the input and we will chat again next week.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, hiy body.
Speaker 1: It is true though that Seawn only got a chance
Speaker 1: to play in one SEC tournament because of course Kentucky
Speaker 1: was on probation those first couple of years. But they
Speaker 1: did make the most of it. Jamal Mashburn against Alabama
Speaker 1: at twenty eight points thirteen rebounds, had a double double.
Speaker 1: He was the only Wildcat other than Jamel Martinez in
Speaker 1: double figures. Jamel had twelve points in twenty four minutes,
Speaker 1: eight of those at the free throw line. I remember
Speaker 1: they kept putting him on the line and he got
Speaker 1: it done. He also had six rebounds. Pelfrey had nine
Speaker 1: points and six rebounds in that game and four assists.
Speaker 1: But one thing I remember about Jamel Martinez is Rick
Speaker 1: Patino at one point said, you know, if it weren't
Speaker 1: for the probation, we wouldn't even have recruited Jamel Martinez.
Speaker 1: Remind have said a player like Jamel, But I thought
Speaker 1: that's a hell of a thing to say. But the
Speaker 1: guy came through and he was the heck of a
Speaker 1: competitor coming up our Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore, six
Speaker 1: thirty WLP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. It's Wednesday.
Speaker 1: That means we go down the interstate to the west
Speaker 1: end of it for our West End Bureau chief Gary
Speaker 1: Moore a long time our West Coast Bureau chief, and
Speaker 1: he worked in at Los Angeles. Now he was in
Speaker 1: LA the Louisville area and joins us every week with
Speaker 1: two guys into six packs. Sir, ye're up. Well, we're
Speaker 1: still kind of in shock over.
Speaker 7: Here in Louisville after the news of Junior Bridgeman yesterday,
Speaker 7: one of the obviously one of the all time great
Speaker 7: University of Louslle Cardinal basketball players, but also a great
Speaker 7: businessman here and around the world, entrepreneur, philanthropist here helped
Speaker 7: so many causes. In fact, he was speaking at a
Speaker 7: charity event yesterday when all this happened. Gosh, I just
Speaker 7: remember Junior Bridgeman was part of that great nineteen seventy
Speaker 7: five Crumb team took UCLA John Wooden's last team to overtime,
Speaker 7: lost by a point. Had they won that game, yep,
Speaker 7: there would have been your dream game, right yeah, and
Speaker 7: then he went on to the Bucks. Was part of
Speaker 7: that Kareem Abdul Jabbar trade.
Speaker 1: Sure was.
Speaker 7: He was drafted by the Lakers and they shipped him
Speaker 7: and some other guys over to Milwaukee, and he was
Speaker 7: I think before they even had the sixth Man Award.
Speaker 7: He probably would have qualified, definitely would have won that.
Speaker 7: Over several years, he had a lot of great seasons
Speaker 7: with them, and then he became, you know, a franchise.
Speaker 7: He owned several I mean, gosh, over one hundred Wendy's
Speaker 7: and Chili's and then Coca Cola. And I didn't know this,
Speaker 7: but a few years ago Forbes magazine ranked him as
Speaker 7: the fourth wealthiest retired athlete in the world. Wow, behind
Speaker 7: Michael Jordan, David Beckham, and Arnold Palmer. He went on
Speaker 7: to buy you know, a piece of Milwaukee Bucks. He
Speaker 7: was a billionaire and above it all, just a really
Speaker 7: great guy and.
Speaker 1: A role model for athletes, like, look, here's what you
Speaker 1: can do. And he wasn't part of that insane money group,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean he made good money as an
Speaker 1: NBA player, right, but invested wisely and did his research
Speaker 1: and I had it actually had him on the show
Speaker 1: once and he was He was my all time favorite
Speaker 1: U of L player growing up in Louisville. That's right.
Speaker 7: You were here when he was doing stuff. Yeah, from
Speaker 7: well he was part of you know, as part of that.
Speaker 7: So this second time that Dinny went to the final four,
Speaker 7: that's right, seventy two and then seventy five, and just
Speaker 7: that's a huge loss. And I think that, well we
Speaker 7: move on here to the second bit. I think that
Speaker 7: with the Cards playing tomorrow night in the tournament, I
Speaker 7: don't know if this is gonna be one of those
Speaker 7: things that gives them a little added push. But you
Speaker 7: never know, right, Yeah, you never know something like this
Speaker 7: is gonna go on. Well, let's let's talk a little
Speaker 7: bit about that. Tomorrow night. Louisville set to play at
Speaker 7: seven on ESP and to the number fourteen. Cards are
Speaker 7: a second seed in the tournament, led by, of course
Speaker 7: ACC Coach of the Year deservedly Pat Kelsey and first
Speaker 7: team All ACC and Defensive Player of the Year as well,
Speaker 7: CHUCKI Hepburn. How about d guard point guard. Obviously, this
Speaker 7: is one of the greatest Louisville teams I think ever,
Speaker 7: not just record wise, at twenty five and six in
Speaker 7: the regular season. But for a program, in terms of
Speaker 7: a program reviving aspect of it, you can't say enough
Speaker 7: about what they've done to try and make people forget
Speaker 7: the last couple of years. However, I think if Louisville
Speaker 7: does not get sharp shooting guard Rain Smith back one
Speaker 7: hundred percent, I don't know actually how far they can go.
Speaker 7: I would love to see them go obviously to File four,
Speaker 7: but let's let's be realistic here. Can they get to
Speaker 7: at least a sixteen or an Elite eight? I don't know,
Speaker 7: But after the season, you know what, I'm not going
Speaker 7: to count them out because people picked them ninth to
Speaker 7: finish ninth in the preseason ACCS, so who knows, Dick.
Speaker 1: I was surprised they were picked to finish that high.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just so interesting with the two fan
Speaker 1: bases now kind of battling in a different way. If
Speaker 1: they've battled for decades, but now it's like which teams
Speaker 1: had the better season, the more surprising, the more satisfying,
Speaker 1: you know, And it's apples in orange as it really is.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what. The one thing Kentucky fans
Speaker 1: had gone for him as their program had not basically
Speaker 1: hit college basketball rock bottom, which is what Louisville and
Speaker 1: in terms of teams that were ranked and rated and
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, they were just almost hopeless. So
Speaker 1: Duke fans can see all they want. Their coach did
Speaker 1: a great job, yeah, but hit the challenge he had
Speaker 1: paled in comparison to what Pat Kelsey found.
Speaker 7: No question about that. Our third swig here in the
Speaker 7: six pack. Also tomorrow night, UK getting into the SEC
Speaker 7: Tournament again. These conference tournaments. Both Kim Mulky and I
Speaker 7: hate them, two finer advocates against these needless buddy grabs.
Speaker 7: You will not find, of course, both fan bases, like
Speaker 7: you're talking about, expecting much better results than in recent
Speaker 7: months of March. I think UK is probably a lot
Speaker 7: better going into this, a lot more obviously more battle
Speaker 7: tested for a run. So let's talk a little bit
Speaker 7: about that. We know, if you've followed UK basketball anytime
Speaker 7: in the last few years, we know only too well
Speaker 7: what coach cal used to say, you know, the only
Speaker 7: tournament I really care about, right, And how'd that work out?
Speaker 7: In the last nine years or so well, as we've seen,
Speaker 7: the Cats are arguably in the toughest basketball conference this season,
Speaker 7: and maybe in history, certainly in the SEC history. I
Speaker 7: think this is probably the season UK beat eight top
Speaker 7: fifteen teams. They're only the third team to ever do that, yeah,
Speaker 7: in history. So depending on the draw and if they
Speaker 7: stay healthy, how far do you think that they can go.
Speaker 7: What's their ceiling?
Speaker 1: You said it yourself, you know, it depends on the draw.
Speaker 1: And it's it's like that for a lot of team,
Speaker 1: for Louisville, for a lot of schools. But we're going
Speaker 1: to see just how tough the SEC is because you're
Speaker 1: going to have twelve to fourteen teams in there, you know.
Speaker 1: And a Fogler when he first joined the league and
Speaker 1: people were complaining that more schools, more teams weren't getting in.
Speaker 1: I think the year probably are only five SEC teams
Speaker 1: only had gotten in. But Fogus said, hey, beat some people,
Speaker 1: you know, and then we'll see. Well, you know, the
Speaker 1: SEC won eighty nine percent of its non conference games
Speaker 1: this year. Now, of course in conference games they only
Speaker 1: broke even. They were just five hundred. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that I think both Kentucky and Louisville can get
Speaker 1: at least to the second weekend. But as you said,
Speaker 1: depends on. Obviously everybody's staying healthy in the next week
Speaker 1: or so, but depends on matchups, depends on how games
Speaker 1: are officiated in that first weekend when there are so
Speaker 1: many refs, you know who may not have a lot
Speaker 1: of tournament experience. You know, if you can survive all that,
Speaker 1: you got a shot and moving on.
Speaker 7: But this this year, it was just thinking about this,
Speaker 7: you want to think out loud, the way they're going
Speaker 7: to sprinkle a lot of the SEC SEC teams around.
Speaker 7: I wouldn't be surprised if the final four is all SEC.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's a certain potential possibility.
Speaker 1: Well, look at the College World Series, right, you know,
Speaker 1: for ACC, for SEC. Look at the College Football Playoff
Speaker 1: the way they like to see it. It's not great
Speaker 1: for college sports, but it's great for the SEC.
Speaker 7: Our fourth swig here and uh, we're gonna talk a
Speaker 7: little bit more about this later, but in the what
Speaker 7: you done for us Lately department, we saw that n
Speaker 7: C State fired basketball coach Kevin Keats Gee, what did
Speaker 7: he do last year in March. We'll get to that
Speaker 7: in a little bit later on Tay somebody else that
Speaker 7: entered the portal that was kind of a surprise, Steve
Speaker 7: prom down to Murray after I guess it's third lackluster
Speaker 7: season down there. They had him for a four year
Speaker 7: contract there. Steve's second act at Murray started three years
Speaker 7: ago with the athletic director at the time from UK
Speaker 7: Kevin's does Assault Kevin Saal yep. And then Kevin bailed
Speaker 7: for just a few months later for the ad gig
Speaker 7: at Wichita State.
Speaker 1: Is Alma materia.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so then they hire former Murray State quarterback Nico Yanko.
Speaker 7: He's the new Murray State ad And of course, you
Speaker 7: know what can happen if a new boss comes in
Speaker 7: and you ain't his guy. That's right, not just in sports,
Speaker 7: happens and happens in every business pretty much. So I
Speaker 7: have a question for you, seeing how the portal and
Speaker 7: the nil landscape has really changed since the days of
Speaker 7: well campaign Cameron Payne, John Morant, Murray is Murray State
Speaker 7: delusional to think that they can get back to those
Speaker 7: top twenty teams?
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you the same question because
Speaker 1: Murray's had so many good teams through the years, teams
Speaker 1: that a couple of them that either beat somebody in
Speaker 1: the tournament or throw a scare into somebody. But that
Speaker 1: was pre obviously way before nil before the portal and
Speaker 1: all that. So now I really look at Murray State
Speaker 1: as one of those outpost schools. You know, unless a
Speaker 1: fairy godfather or mother comes through with some nil bucks.
Speaker 1: Playing time is not the sirens song that it used
Speaker 1: to be. You know, some kids would go in and
Speaker 1: you know, hey, I can get some minutes here playing
Speaker 1: for the Racers or John Morant. You know, you find
Speaker 1: a guy like that and he sticks around for a while. Now,
Speaker 1: a John Morant's gone after one year if you stumble
Speaker 1: into a great talent like that. So I feel for
Speaker 1: Murray State. I think college basketball better when a team
Speaker 1: like that is viable. But I just don't see how
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen.
Speaker 7: Well, you know, Murray's my hometown, and I've heard some
Speaker 7: people down there say things like, well, Steve started five seniors.
Speaker 7: Maybe these were the best guys he could get. Now,
Speaker 7: under the circumstances, we'll see Fitzwig and the six pack.
Speaker 7: Are you ready for some baseball? You realize the twenty
Speaker 7: twenty five Major League season is less than a week
Speaker 7: away from starting officially next Tuesday. Dodgers and Cubs in
Speaker 7: Tokyo two games Tuesday, the eighteenth, Wednesday the nineteenth Tokyo Dome,
Speaker 7: and those are six to ten starts, by the way,
Speaker 7: six to ten am in the freaking morning for us
Speaker 7: here in the East three time zone, even worse at
Speaker 7: the Pacific, and keeping with their yearly tradition, the Dodgers
Speaker 7: have already won pitcher lost for the season before it
Speaker 7: even begins. Michael Grove relievers out for the season's shoulder surgery.
Speaker 7: But still, I tell you, LA looks like repeat World
Speaker 7: Series defenders to the rest of MLB. So I ask you,
Speaker 7: who are you going to take this year to win
Speaker 7: it all? La or the field? I'm going to take
Speaker 7: Los Doyers.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll take the field simply because injuries happened, you know.
Speaker 1: But they've now got a manager with an incredibly fat contract.
Speaker 1: You got to wonder what kind of pressure is he
Speaker 1: feeling now? You know, it's not financial pressure. He's set
Speaker 1: for life if he wasn't already. But Dave Roberts, you know, signed,
Speaker 1: They wanted to hang on to him. But he did
Speaker 1: a nice job of managing that roster, didn't he And
Speaker 1: it wasn't he wasn't super smooth last year, and they
Speaker 1: still had to do some work. But let me ask
Speaker 1: you this, why in the world is it so important
Speaker 1: to open the great American pastime? And this is not
Speaker 1: I'm not being a nationalist. I mean, if you want
Speaker 1: to have a game like that in Japan, I think
Speaker 1: that's fantastic. But why in the world take that away
Speaker 1: from Cincinnati, The traditional season opener with the parade and
Speaker 1: all the history that is eminently manageable, and the fact
Speaker 1: that Major League Baseball has let this happen is really
Speaker 1: sad to me.
Speaker 7: I'm with you one hundred percent. I'm sure you are
Speaker 7: one hundred percent on that because I'm a traditionalist on
Speaker 7: stuff like this, not so much a traditionalist in that
Speaker 7: I don't believe that you can't change things in the
Speaker 7: game like the pitch clock and some other things. But
Speaker 7: keep it, keep it on this shore. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 7: why don't you do Cincinnati first, then go over to
Speaker 7: Japan and do those games have Cincinnati for And you know,
Speaker 7: but that's gonna mess up, you know, I guess the
Speaker 7: scheduling or whatever, the bottom clock stuff, whatever it should
Speaker 7: it still should be in Cincinnati every year, period, exclamation point,
Speaker 7: no question, about it.
Speaker 1: Let's make that happen.
Speaker 7: I'm working on it. Okay, our sixth and final swig
Speaker 7: here on Monday. Legendary coach back, legendary human. Yeah got
Speaker 7: Davenport hung it up after twenty seasons at Bellermann and
Speaker 7: forty seven years of coaching overall, with forty six of
Speaker 7: those here in Louisville. Of course, he coached Ballard to
Speaker 7: a state championship, a Division two national championship with the Knights,
Speaker 7: and he saw their transformation to D one and that
Speaker 7: Atlantic Sun Championship their first year at that level. I
Speaker 7: was at Freedom Hall three years ago when they won it,
Speaker 7: and they should have gone on to the Big Dance
Speaker 7: except for that horrible, inane anti student rule that the
Speaker 7: NCAA still cripples schools with when you make them move
Speaker 7: up to A D one to D D one from
Speaker 7: D two, that rule, like I guess the NCAA in
Speaker 7: general needs to go. But beyond coaching, Scotty one of
Speaker 7: the most and you know, I know, you know and
Speaker 7: anybody else who's met him, of the most positive, most
Speaker 7: motivational human beings you will ever meet. And he's a
Speaker 7: Louisville guy through and through, as are you. So when
Speaker 7: you think of Scotty? What comes to mind for you? You
Speaker 7: know what comes to mind right away?
Speaker 1: What might have happened at U of l if instead
Speaker 1: of Kenny Payne and who I elect greatly as a person.
Speaker 1: What might have happened if U l had hired Scotty,
Speaker 1: who you know took the high road said, I'm not interested.
Speaker 1: You know, if they had turned to him, he would
Speaker 1: have run down Waterson Expressway to take that job. What
Speaker 1: might have happened now Kelsey wouldn't be there right now.
Speaker 1: But I don't believe Cardinal Nation or whatever they call him, says,
Speaker 1: would have suffered for two years as they did under Kenny.
Speaker 7: Completely agree. He spoke to us at the Louisville Roadary
Speaker 7: about a year ago. No notes, and you're laser focused
Speaker 7: on every word, he says. If you ever ever have
Speaker 7: the chance to hear Scotty speak for five minutes, fifteen whatever, Yeah,
Speaker 7: don't miss the opportunity, you know, because you've seen him
Speaker 7: and you've worked with him for a long time.
Speaker 1: But well, he's been on the show and he will
Speaker 1: be again at some point, I hope soon. So, but
Speaker 1: I hope he gets a little bit of a vacation. First,
Speaker 1: he is Gary Moore. He is our West End Bureau chief,
Speaker 1: and we're going to talk more with Gary on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break. Some hot reeds coming his
Speaker 1: way on the big Boon Sider six thirty wlap. Welcome back.
Speaker 1: We're talking our west ENDBUA chief, Gary Moore. He mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier during two Guys in a six Pack the situation
Speaker 1: at NC State firing a coach eleven months, not even
Speaker 1: a year removed from the final four. That's one of
Speaker 1: our hot reads. Kevin keats eight seasons in Raleigh, but
Speaker 1: he's done, dismissed. On Sunday, just before Gary, the ACC
Speaker 1: Network rolls out a documentary about last year's season called
Speaker 1: why Not Both of course men's and women's teams both
Speaker 1: make the Final four. Now, when that word first came out,
Speaker 1: of course, there was a bit of an uproar. What
Speaker 1: how can you fire a guy who was just off
Speaker 1: the final four? But quite frankly, he and I'm glad
Speaker 1: he got his buyout money. But he was about to
Speaker 1: get fired anyway, wasn't he. Yeah?
Speaker 7: Last year, right, and before they went on this run,
Speaker 7: there was a word that you got to get you
Speaker 7: better get through this tournament some way, somehow. I just
Speaker 7: loved his line though. On Sunday I am officially entering
Speaker 7: the portals.
Speaker 1: That was great.
Speaker 7: You know, there's a guy right there who's not too serious.
Speaker 1: About it all I know. But n C State, you know,
Speaker 1: and I realize they're going to play third fiddle forever
Speaker 1: to Carolina and Duke. But they've had their moments, they've
Speaker 1: won national titles. For crying out loud, they should not
Speaker 1: be rated one twenty four on Ken Palm, behind Middle
Speaker 1: Tennessee and Jacksonville State. They lost nine straight this year.
Speaker 1: Not only that, in the ACC, with you know a
Speaker 1: zillion teams, fifteen teams get to the tournament, the conference
Speaker 1: tournament not so fast in C State. You know, you
Speaker 1: don't get a Lifetime Achievement award for last year's final four.
Speaker 1: They'ren to make the ACC tournament field. So he's got
Speaker 1: to sit down and look at, you know what what
Speaker 1: got him to the final four and figure out how
Speaker 1: can I do that again? Not just a hot hand.
Speaker 7: That's one of a lot of primo openings. You know,
Speaker 7: we got Indiana that's going to be opening up. He's
Speaker 7: at Florida State down there, of course Murray, we mentioned that,
Speaker 7: but there's a few of those out there. That's a primo.
Speaker 7: That's a great gig.
Speaker 1: And more to come now, yep, no doubt.
Speaker 7: Of course.
Speaker 1: Our second hot read for mister Gary Moore, Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: who has a job, and a highly paid one at that,
Speaker 1: and he's really good at it, now has another job.
Speaker 1: He is essentially the assistant general manager and air quotes
Speaker 1: or maybe not air quotes. Had his alma mater of
Speaker 1: Davidson that was the only team of a give him
Speaker 1: a scholarship. Other schools allowed him or would have allowed
Speaker 1: him to walk on. He said no, I'm a scholarship guy,
Speaker 1: and he got one. And boy is David isn't happy
Speaker 1: about that, and so are the Golden State Warriors. Well
Speaker 1: now his school, which is in the A ten, needs
Speaker 1: nil help. So they went out and hired this guy,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, to be an assistant general manager. And that's
Speaker 1: part of a trend. Now is this to trendy Gary
Speaker 1: or is this the future? And is Steph Curry going
Speaker 1: to lower big time talent to Davidson? I also wonder
Speaker 1: is stef gonna contribute? I won't say donate, but contribute
Speaker 1: to the nil, cause I.
Speaker 7: Would think you're right on all of those accounts. I
Speaker 7: think it's a great idea. Well, we're seeing what's going
Speaker 7: on in college football with a lot of the general
Speaker 7: managers because you've got such a huge bunch of players,
Speaker 7: are huge rosters to deal with to get these guys
Speaker 7: in there, and the coaches like I can't do it.
Speaker 7: Somebody needs to go and check out some of these guys.
Speaker 7: And what the money that talk to the agents. I
Speaker 7: got ex's and o's to deal with over heareh and
Speaker 7: a smaller scale. That's what basketball is going to be,
Speaker 7: you know has come to and I completely agree with
Speaker 7: that is a great idea. Holy cow with the greatest
Speaker 7: shooter of all time, and all of a sudden I
Speaker 7: flashed on, Wow, if Pete Mayrovitch was still around, would
Speaker 7: he do the same thing down at LSU.
Speaker 1: Maybe Kentucky steps in line. We'll see. But to your point,
Speaker 1: ten miles down the road in Chapel Hill, Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: hired Michael Lombardi. Yeah right, you know who was a
Speaker 1: former NFL general manager. Now he's the GM at U
Speaker 1: n C. So I do believe this will be a trend.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to start rolling really quickly.
Speaker 7: I think you almost have to. I think it's it's it's,
Speaker 7: you know, definitely a necessity now with all the money
Speaker 7: and with all the agents and with all yeah, right,
Speaker 7: it is. It's part of the deal.
Speaker 1: Well, part of our deal. Every week is talking to
Speaker 1: Gary Moore. You can see him on Twitter.
Speaker 7: Or x at still a little too close at the
Speaker 7: profile picture that's at nine to five five Gary, same
Speaker 7: joint we find you at at Big Blue Insider one.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the tournaments, my friend.
Speaker 7: You two buddy.
Speaker 1: Thanks, that's going to do it. Thanks to Gary, Thanks
Speaker 1: to John Claygan. Congratulations of being inducted into the US
Speaker 1: Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame. Thanks to Sean Woods,
Speaker 1: one of the many players John has covered through the years.
Speaker 1: And enjoy the tournaments, everybody. That's it. Good night from
Speaker 1: the garage and Lexington.
Speaker 7: Three Finals. Because Google mill.
Speaker 6: Any type statue tact contacting anything only sacked sectsthing left
Speaker 6: to lack them from typing, doning