Speaker 1: Oh, oh, guess what day it is? Guess what day
Speaker 1: it is? Huh?
Speaker 2: Anybody, It's hump Day.
Speaker 3: Yes, it is hump Day. Welcome to the Big Blindsider.
Speaker 3: Dick Gabrielle with you on a Wednesday edition of our
Speaker 3: program after taking a couple of days off. More to come,
Speaker 3: I will warn you of that, but we are live
Speaker 3: on tape in the garage today with our usual Wednesday lineup.
Speaker 3: Aaron Gershan of the Cats Balls. Although he is a
Speaker 3: short time he has taken another job. We'll talk to
Speaker 3: him about that, but we'll get his thoughts as he's
Speaker 3: heading out the door on the football and basketball Wildcay
Speaker 3: and the baseball Wildcats as well. Sewn Wood's the unforgettable
Speaker 3: guard and the coach of La Famiya, the UK entry
Speaker 3: into TBT, the Basketball Tournament, and West n Bura chief
Speaker 3: Geary More will join us as well in our number two.
Speaker 3: It is summertime, but as always there is news about
Speaker 3: the Wildcats. It's the talking season, as you know when
Speaker 3: it comes to Kentucky football and coming up in a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks now, as he's seen media days down
Speaker 3: in Atlanta, so Mark Stoops will be front and center.
Speaker 3: He's the last guy to talk though, believe it or not,
Speaker 3: so we will have to wait a few days to
Speaker 3: find out what he has to say about his team.
Speaker 3: Some preseason honors starting to come in, and the Atlon
Speaker 3: preseason All Conference Team for Kentucky. And you know it's
Speaker 3: not going to be great going into this season. How
Speaker 3: much expected of the Wildcats. So now you've got Atlon
Speaker 3: with a third team offensive lineman Joshua Broun. One of
Speaker 3: the new faces, Alex Afari named fourth team defense. He
Speaker 3: has been moved to linebackers. He's an undersized linebacker. But
Speaker 3: coming up in a few minutes, we hear from a
Speaker 3: guy who was an undersized linebacker, Danny Trevathan, now in
Speaker 3: the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. All he did
Speaker 3: was become an All Conference linebacker and go on to
Speaker 3: win a Super Bowl in the NA so it can
Speaker 3: be done. So Afari named fourth team defense. Also fourth
Speaker 3: team defense defensive back j Q Hardaway. So some preseason honors.
Speaker 3: There will be more for the Wildcats. But unfortunately, as
Speaker 3: I said, not a lot expected of Kentucky this year,
Speaker 3: so you won't hear a lot preseason about Kentucky players.
Speaker 3: Good news on the recruiting front for the Wildcats. UK
Speaker 3: has managed to flip a four star wide receiver. He
Speaker 3: had said yes to Auburn, but now he says he
Speaker 3: will be a Wildcat. He's the fourth wide receiver to
Speaker 3: commit in the class of twenty twenty six. His name
Speaker 3: is Denarius Gray. He had been committed to Auburn since
Speaker 3: January of twenty four. He had visited Washington, NC State
Speaker 3: and Old Miss and two four to seven sports reporting
Speaker 3: the Ladamion Washington really like what he saw in Danarius Gray,
Speaker 3: so they kept after him and now he says he
Speaker 3: will be a Kentucky Wildcat. So there's a long way
Speaker 3: to go before signing day, but that's a good sign.
Speaker 3: Looking at the baseball side of campus, Tyler Bell another
Speaker 3: Accolade first Team Freshman All Americans, so named by D
Speaker 3: one Baseball. Tyler Bell right now is busy playing for
Speaker 3: USA Baseball, but maybe obviously the SEC All Freshman team
Speaker 3: and now a first team Freshman All American per D
Speaker 3: one Baseball. So congrats to Tyler Bell. There is a
Speaker 3: lot of information out there right now about UK's new
Speaker 3: blueprint for funds in athletics, the LLC model, but there's
Speaker 3: also news according to on three dot com Nick Roush,
Speaker 3: writing about the fact that UK has changed its employee
Speaker 3: ticket policy and pricing as a revenue sharing era kicks off.
Speaker 3: It actually kicked off officially yesterday July one, the beginning
Speaker 3: of the fiscal year. Schools have got to come up
Speaker 3: with a way to cover that twenty million dollars a
Speaker 3: year that they have to pay out the student athletes,
Speaker 3: and so they're looking for new revenue streams. At UK,
Speaker 3: kids will require tickets to attend big games. Back in
Speaker 3: the day, up until this past year, if you had
Speaker 3: a kid and you wanted them to sit on your lap,
Speaker 3: it was ten bucks. Now every person has to have
Speaker 3: a full priced ticket, regardless of age. Children two and
Speaker 3: under can still sit on appearance lap for free, though
Speaker 3: at volleyball, women's basketball, gymnastics, baseball softball, dis kound of
Speaker 3: tickets will be available for kids three to eighteen, senior
Speaker 3: sixty five and older. UK also phasing out in employee
Speaker 3: and faculty discounts this fall. Eligible employees get a twenty
Speaker 3: percent discount on up to two season tickets, as well
Speaker 3: as a twenty percent discount down from fifty percent on
Speaker 3: the Associated K Fund donation for the seats. In twenty
Speaker 3: twenty seven, discounts on tickets and k fund donations no
Speaker 3: longer apply for men's basketball and football, women's basketball and baseball,
Speaker 3: single game and mission for our university employees will transition
Speaker 3: to a paid model in twenty twenty six. No more
Speaker 3: employee discounts from twenty twenty seven on, and other sports
Speaker 3: will follow suit, but a lot of changes. Men's and
Speaker 3: women's soccer games are still free, but there had to
Speaker 3: be a way for Kentucky to cover this cost. And
Speaker 3: Mitch Barnard had said and has said more than once,
Speaker 3: and he also said it in an article on cbssports
Speaker 3: dot Com that they didn't want to immediately raise ticket
Speaker 3: prices across the board. He said he just didn't think
Speaker 3: that was fair that a fan base to tax them
Speaker 3: all the time every time they need more money. And
Speaker 3: he said, frankly, it's not going to be viable in
Speaker 3: the state of Kentucky because of the population in the state.
Speaker 3: It's just not as great as you know of other states.
Speaker 3: And a reminder, and we talked about this before the
Speaker 3: recent UK Board of Trustees meeting. The board approved a
Speaker 3: one hundred and forty one million dollar loan, which will
Speaker 3: include one hundred and ten million in capital investment loans.
Speaker 3: Thirty six million go to the improving of Kroger Field.
Speaker 3: They're also looking at exploring an entertainment district on campus.
Speaker 3: They're just looking at more ways to make money, and
Speaker 3: we talked about that a lot. They got to cover
Speaker 3: this bill. The things they're gonna do very likely raise
Speaker 3: the rent on Kroger Field for other events, concerts, probably
Speaker 3: high school games. They don't have a you know, they're
Speaker 3: not going to make a lot more money on TV
Speaker 3: and radio or advertising if you will, so they got
Speaker 3: to look around and do whatever they can. Maybe you
Speaker 3: also charge more money for Rupp Arena for hosting NCAA
Speaker 3: tournament events. But UK now with the model the LLC,
Speaker 3: which should make things easier, should allow UK to be
Speaker 3: more aggressive. And two schools in particular, Oklahoma and Mississippi State.
Speaker 3: According to cbsports dot com, they're athletics directors are examining
Speaker 3: what UK is doing right now. So there's a lot
Speaker 3: to it. Go to cbssports dot com. There's a really
Speaker 3: good article that will help you understand how the things work.
Speaker 3: But they, like I said, they got to cover that
Speaker 3: somehow twenty point five million. They can't you, and they're
Speaker 3: not right now gonna jack up your ticket prices, So
Speaker 3: it's worth a look. Speaking of big money, Shay Gildess,
Speaker 3: Alexander is rolling in it now. He's got a brand
Speaker 3: new contract. He has re signed with the Oklahoma City
Speaker 3: Thunder after leading OKAC to an NBA Championship. It's first
Speaker 3: new deal four years, two one hundred and eighty five million,
Speaker 3: called the Super Maximum Contract Extension. I would think so
Speaker 3: keeps him with the Thunder through twenty thirty thirty one.
Speaker 3: He is now the richest player per contract in league history.
Speaker 3: It's the richest annual salary for a player in league history.
Speaker 3: Pretty amazing. Led to the league in scoring thirty two
Speaker 3: point seven points during the regular season, average thirty points
Speaker 3: a game in THES and one of the few ever
Speaker 3: to win the MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
Speaker 3: Jordan did it four times, Lebron twice, Larry Bird twice
Speaker 3: and a few others but Sga in the conversation, and
Speaker 3: also the first player to win a scoring title NBA
Speaker 3: title in the same years since Shack did it back
Speaker 3: in two thousand. Michael did it six times, Jabbar, George,
Speaker 3: mikeh did it a couple of times, and Joe Folks,
Speaker 3: and it's just an incredible run for SGA, and that
Speaker 3: money is just crazy. And people are pointing out that
Speaker 3: Michael Jordan in his career made ninety three point nine million.
Speaker 3: If you saw the Last Dance, you know, he made
Speaker 3: an extraordinary amount of money through Nike and other endorsements,
Speaker 3: and he kind of kept his salary down so the
Speaker 3: bulls will be able to spread it around a little
Speaker 3: bit and sign talent new players around him. But people
Speaker 3: also pointing out that, you know, Jordan played back in
Speaker 3: the nineties and the early oughts. So I looked it
Speaker 3: up to see how much money in today's dollars Michael
Speaker 3: Jordan's ninety three million would be worth today. It would
Speaker 3: be worth one hundred and sixty two and a half
Speaker 3: million dollars. So SGA still got him. But as I said,
Speaker 3: Michael made so much money in endorsements and again kept
Speaker 3: his salary down a little bit just so the bulls
Speaker 3: could spread it around. Smart while we're talking about money,
Speaker 3: I would hope Shay gilgis Alexander is smart enough to
Speaker 3: keep an eye on his right now Malik Beasley under
Speaker 3: investigation in a federal gambling probe. It was so bad
Speaker 3: that Beasley, well, first of all, had borrowed six hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty thousand dollars from a marketing agency, was part
Speaker 3: of actually a two plus million dollar advanced, but they
Speaker 3: wanted the money back and he couldn't pay it. And
Speaker 3: then came word that he couldn't pay fourteen thousand dollars
Speaker 3: in rent at his historic high rise apartment building in
Speaker 3: downtown Detroit. A celebrity barber shop sued him for nearly
Speaker 3: twenty seven thousand dollars and one Cairo Cuts operates in Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: That's where he played for the Bucks for two or
Speaker 3: three years. And so, you know, I have this ongoing
Speaker 3: discussion with my buddy Doug Flynn, who now believes Pete
Speaker 3: Rose ought to be exonerated. Yeah, he bet on baseball,
Speaker 3: but he'd bet, as Doug said, well, so what baseball's
Speaker 3: in bed now? With fan duel and DraftKings in the
Speaker 3: gambling outfit. Still, my argument is athletes should not be
Speaker 3: allowed to bet, especially within their own league, their own sport,
Speaker 3: because you just don't know when a guy is gonna
Speaker 3: get upside down with his or her finances and start
Speaker 3: looking around for a quick payday. I'llah fixing games. And
Speaker 3: every time you think now that ain't gonna happen, a
Speaker 3: Malik Beasley pops up. Guy was in terrible financial trouble
Speaker 3: and evidently allegedly turned to gambling. Keep that in mind.
Speaker 3: Up next, I chat with Danny Trevathan, now member of
Speaker 3: the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here in the
Speaker 3: Big Blue Sider six point thirty WAP. Welcome back to
Speaker 3: the Big bluon Sider. Coming up in a couple of minutes.
Speaker 3: Aaron Gershan of the Cat's pause, but not for long.
Speaker 3: He is going to be moving on. We'll talk about that,
Speaker 3: and we'll talk of course about the basketball and the
Speaker 3: football cats. Say. Speaking of basketball cats, Sean Woods, the
Speaker 3: ex Wildcat, the unforgettable guard, will join us. He is
Speaker 3: also coaching the La Famia entry in TBT, the basketball tournament,
Speaker 3: and we'll talk about a roster addition, it popped up
Speaker 3: over the last few days. Also our West MBUA chief
Speaker 3: Gary Moore coming up in our number two. While I
Speaker 3: was taking a couple days off and of course over
Speaker 3: the weekend, had a chance to go to the Kentucky
Speaker 3: prof Football Hall of Fame banquet once again, and prior
Speaker 3: to the dinner, we talked with my pal Jim Dapolis,
Speaker 3: who was inducted this year. He's always shown up at
Speaker 3: the banquet as a supporter, but some of us wondered
Speaker 3: why he wasn't in, and sure enough now he is.
Speaker 3: But we also got a chance to chat with Danny
Speaker 3: Trevathan the night of the banquet. We talked to Jim
Speaker 3: a few nights prior to the banquet. We talked to
Speaker 3: Danny the night of. He, of course, a really talented
Speaker 3: and popular Kentucky linebacker, played for the Wildcats from eight
Speaker 3: to twenty eleven, played under Rich Brooks and then Joker Phillips.
Speaker 3: He was an All Conference performer at Kentucky, led the
Speaker 3: SEC in twenty ten in tackles with one hundred and
Speaker 3: forty for He might have been the leader again his
Speaker 3: last year, but he was injured, missed a couple of games,
Speaker 3: and I'd forgotten about this. He went through the draft
Speaker 3: evaluation process after his junior year, came back for his
Speaker 3: senior year and it helped him. He was drafted in
Speaker 3: the sixth round by the Denver Broncos. Even though he
Speaker 3: was quote unquote undersized. He was only two hundred and
Speaker 3: thirty seven pounds six feet tall, but so fast, and
Speaker 3: the Broncos saw that they signed him. He played for
Speaker 3: their Super Bowl champion team, super Bowl number fifty, led
Speaker 3: by Peyton Manning, and after four years he signed a
Speaker 3: free agent deal and finished his career the last six
Speaker 3: years with the Chicago Bears. Not as much team success
Speaker 3: with the Bears, but certainly had a great career. Ended
Speaker 3: up with seven hundred and forty one tackles, ten sacks,
Speaker 3: deflected thirty nine passes, picked off eight, and even had
Speaker 3: a pick six. We got to see that in the
Speaker 3: video when he was introduced at the banquet, But as
Speaker 3: I said, I had a chance to chat with Danny
Speaker 3: prior to that. He was already wearing the purple jacket
Speaker 3: you know in Canton it's a gold jacket. Well, the
Speaker 3: Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame, it's a purple jacket,
Speaker 3: which is a good idea for one thing, it's regal,
Speaker 3: it's a royal color. But the other thing, now, you
Speaker 3: got a lot of UK guys, a lot of U
Speaker 3: of L guys put purple or put red and blue together.
Speaker 3: He got purple. Danny looked pretty good in it, and
Speaker 3: he remembered me. He was surprised that I remembered him.
Speaker 3: Of course I'm gonna remember him. He was one of
Speaker 3: the greats and followed in the footsteps of the great
Speaker 3: Wesley Woodyard. We talked about that, among other things, the
Speaker 3: night of the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here's yours, truly,
Speaker 3: and Danny Trevathan, Well, what was your reaction when somebody
Speaker 3: gave you the call?
Speaker 4: At the time, I just play. But I felt honored.
Speaker 4: I felt blessed. I really know how hard I worked here,
Speaker 4: and you know, just to see people who actually see
Speaker 4: that work man and and then not go n noticed
Speaker 4: a lot.
Speaker 3: Of long nights. It felt great.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: When I got away from the game, I got to myself.
Speaker 4: I got thinking about my career and where I started,
Speaker 4: and this is one of the stopping grounds where I
Speaker 4: started to pick up my pace and started to see
Speaker 4: what type of world I was gonna be in, what
Speaker 4: type of profession I was gonna do. So it's an
Speaker 4: honor to be back here, and I'm looking forward to
Speaker 4: receiving this this jacket and just wearing it every day.
Speaker 3: For I know, I never thought it would look good
Speaker 3: in purple. Who ever thought red and blue would go good?
Speaker 4: But it's all about what it means, right, exactly exactly Royalty.
Speaker 3: Man, You're from Florida. You came a long way to
Speaker 3: play up here in the cold, but refresh you. Our
Speaker 3: people are listeners memories. What brought you here? Why was
Speaker 3: this the place for you? Well?
Speaker 4: I was looking, I was really close committing to Miami,
Speaker 4: and last second, Kentucky just beat LSU in that bowl
Speaker 4: where I think Braxton Kelly and Wesley Woodyard and.
Speaker 3: I stopped him on the yard. I was like, man,
Speaker 3: that deep just looking excite. I don't want to be
Speaker 3: part of that. You know, you know they want to
Speaker 3: up and coming. Nobody sees him coming.
Speaker 4: That's how people always looked at me in my life,
Speaker 4: like like I'm an.
Speaker 3: Underdog, but I can always fight my way up.
Speaker 4: So when I came here and they told me how
Speaker 4: the opportunity to play, I worked my tail off and
Speaker 4: I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 3: Well, rich Brooks appreciated your work ethic. That had to
Speaker 3: mean a lot to you.
Speaker 4: I think, right, oh yeah, we'll supposed man, that's like
Speaker 4: the follow that I never had.
Speaker 3: Man. You know, he really mentored me.
Speaker 4: Not only on the field, but off the field. Man,
Speaker 4: And I think that go I noticed a little bit.
Speaker 4: So I want to get him his credit for that
Speaker 4: and tell him that it's very appreciated. Him and his
Speaker 4: wife is doing great. And he was one of the
Speaker 4: main reason why I worked so hard just to see
Speaker 4: somebody really believe in you. That's all people need, somebody
Speaker 4: just to believe in you a little bit and push
Speaker 4: you towards that direction. And he was the guy who
Speaker 4: did that. So hopefully he sees this, and you know,
Speaker 4: he he he realized how much you mean to some people.
Speaker 3: You were not the biggest linebacker, but you might have
Speaker 3: been the fastest linebacker I've ever seen you. Plus at
Speaker 3: one point you were liveying and return kicks. You remember
Speaker 3: that then? Yeah, I think, didn't you do it launch
Speaker 3: in a blue white game? Yes, and it's spring game.
Speaker 4: Was like, I broke my wrist after that, and he
Speaker 4: was like, oh no, get him out of there.
Speaker 3: He was like, He's like, he can't.
Speaker 4: You can't have him out here running. But I was
Speaker 4: definitely wanting fast. Probably still I don't know how many
Speaker 4: people can beat me and racing still, but I hold
Speaker 4: my head high for that.
Speaker 1: One, and.
Speaker 3: It did. The game was changed when I got in
Speaker 3: the league. You know, they used to be like he's
Speaker 3: too small, he can't go type of play.
Speaker 4: But you know, once I got in that league, they
Speaker 4: was changing to shotguns, quick passes, you know, no huddles.
Speaker 3: So I came in right in time. You had to cover.
Speaker 3: I had to cover, and I love covering. My first
Speaker 3: person I covered.
Speaker 4: Was I think it was Jimmy Graham that had doing
Speaker 4: twenty oo gates and then I had a Julius Thomas
Speaker 4: on my team was crazy against and pay Many. Once
Speaker 4: pay Many knew my name and practice, I knew nobody.
Speaker 3: Nobody's gonna get over. Nobody's gonna get over what we mentioned.
Speaker 3: You came up in Florida, you end up playing in Chicago,
Speaker 3: you're playing Denver. You couldn't get away from the cold.
Speaker 3: But did you learn to How did you learn the
Speaker 3: cope of that orange and blue? All my life?
Speaker 4: That's true, even in high school, elementary I always had
Speaker 4: orange and blue, so I came with it to grow
Speaker 4: into it. Whether it's gonna be cold weather, it's gonna
Speaker 4: be hot, well, it's gonna be any adversary. I'm gonna
Speaker 4: face it for that orange and blue whatever any it's
Speaker 4: either been orange or has it been blue in my career,
Speaker 4: my whole life.
Speaker 3: Man, it's crazy to think about it. It means that
Speaker 3: much to me.
Speaker 4: So if I'm putting in a position where I can
Speaker 4: work my way up to the top, nobody's gonna stand
Speaker 4: in my way.
Speaker 3: I'll let you go over there. I know Wesley was
Speaker 3: a mentor to you. You talked about him being a
Speaker 3: bit of a role model for you. What was it
Speaker 3: like and he was big in Denver for a long
Speaker 3: time as well. What was it like having him as
Speaker 3: a mentor. Weshley was a brother man.
Speaker 4: Wesley was a guy who really cared about the and
Speaker 4: he was one of the youngest leaders I ever saw.
Speaker 4: You know, he didn't care about whether he was a
Speaker 4: freshman or sophomore, junior. He just wanted somebody who wanted
Speaker 4: to lead and it can work hard. And he saw
Speaker 4: that in me and.
Speaker 3: He pushed me towards towards being the leader.
Speaker 4: I saw him work not only just talk about it,
Speaker 4: but be about it. And Wesley was a guy who
Speaker 4: was humble. He treated everybody the same. He was just
Speaker 4: an outstanding person man. And I just talked to him
Speaker 4: not too long ago.
Speaker 3: He was playing a video game.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he wanted me to tell people,
Speaker 4: but yeah, he was playing the video games.
Speaker 3: He's kind of bad at it, but hopefully get better.
Speaker 4: But just to still have that opportunity to talk to
Speaker 4: him and you know, share with him.
Speaker 3: I told him even on the game.
Speaker 4: I know he didn't want me to get an emotional
Speaker 4: or whatever, but I told him, you know, I'm very
Speaker 4: thankful for what you did in my life.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: You know, I had a lot of men in my
Speaker 4: life that tried to come in and.
Speaker 3: Teach me things. So I took what I can from
Speaker 3: every man. It's not one person I could just pinpoint.
Speaker 4: I took everything I could from each and every man
Speaker 4: my life.
Speaker 3: And I try to make that who I ask and
Speaker 3: is Danny Travathan And yeah, he was a favorite of
Speaker 3: Rich Brooks. Although from day one I didn't bring this up.
Speaker 3: We had talked to Danny about it when he was
Speaker 3: a senior and he shrugged it off. He said, I
Speaker 3: don't even know Rich Brooks for four years called him Travathian,
Speaker 3: and so we were looking at each other like are
Speaker 3: we getting it wrong. It was Travathan, but Rich kept
Speaker 3: calling him Traviathian. But when you're the head coach, you know,
Speaker 3: call him whatever you want. But Rich Brooks never stopped
Speaker 3: singing his praises. And it wasn't just about you know,
Speaker 3: how fast he was, how good he was. He just
Speaker 3: loved him as a player, as a person, and as
Speaker 3: you can tell of the feelings were mutual between Brooks
Speaker 3: and Danny Trevathan. Good to see him, and congrats to
Speaker 3: Danny for now being part of the Kentucky Pro Football
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame. Tip of the Captive Frank Minifield for
Speaker 3: the event that he and his people put on. It's
Speaker 3: a lot of work but it comes off really well.
Speaker 3: Brian Milem stepped in for Rob Bromley, hosted to Dinner,
Speaker 3: did a marvelous job. So good night, a good weekend,
Speaker 3: and good to see Danny Trevathan. Aaron Gershaw next on
Speaker 3: six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bluinsider, joined
Speaker 3: now as we are each and every Wednesday, but not
Speaker 3: for long by Aaron Gershaw and the Catspaws. We'll visit
Speaker 3: again with him next week. But your short time you
Speaker 3: got a job lined up down in Florida, as I
Speaker 3: understand it, I do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I will be transitioning into a new role obviously,
Speaker 5: very very bittersweet for me, just a move that just
Speaker 5: kind of had to make for the family, and you know,
Speaker 5: one that was totally on my own, so it wasn't
Speaker 5: laid off or anything. And absolutely love it here. You
Speaker 5: know how much I appreciate you and Darryl and everyone
Speaker 5: that's given me my first opportunities here. And it's definitely
Speaker 5: bittersweet leaving Lexing thing because it's become home. But you know,
Speaker 5: it's part of life, and you know we're expecially for
Speaker 5: the next chapter, but definitely going miss talking you every
Speaker 5: week and being a part of things here. And you
Speaker 5: know I'll be watching every game possible though and have
Speaker 5: my thoughts.
Speaker 1: On it all. So I'm always all the way whenever
Speaker 1: you want me.
Speaker 3: Well, well, we'll talk greatest hits next week. So tonight
Speaker 3: we'll talk more about just working the beat. And another
Speaker 3: story at the cats paus website two four seven Sports
Speaker 3: about the fact that Kentucky's flipped yet another player. I
Speaker 3: got a wide receiver who had been committed to Auburn
Speaker 3: coming to Kentucky and I'll tell you, Ran, I don't
Speaker 3: know if it's coincidence or what, but since the Big
Speaker 3: Dog made his announcement, there's been a lot of positive
Speaker 3: recruiting news, haven't there.
Speaker 1: There have there has.
Speaker 5: It's hard, It really is hard to say whether it's
Speaker 5: by chance, whether it's simply you know, this time of
Speaker 5: the year and it's going to get busy no matter what.
Speaker 5: But it is very interesting. I think they're up to
Speaker 5: twelve commits if I have that right, maybe it's thirteen,
Speaker 5: and only two of them came before Marrow left, and
Speaker 5: then one of those two decommitted, Jarvis Strickland.
Speaker 1: The offensive tackles from.
Speaker 5: Paduca, who's probably going to be hitting to Louisville with
Speaker 5: all the crystal balls that are out there. Whole true.
Speaker 5: So it is interesting, but I think it just goes
Speaker 5: back to the philosophy change that Kentucky's kind of slowly
Speaker 5: been rolling out, and now that Mince Marrow is no
Speaker 5: longer here, they're fully going full blast on. And that's
Speaker 5: they are letting the position coaches recruit their positions. Obviously,
Speaker 5: the new wide receiver coach, Coach Washington is killing it
Speaker 5: on the trail. He's done a phenomenal job. And obviously
Speaker 5: that's where this wide receiver committed, this receiver, that's this
Speaker 5: position group. You know the foot from Auburn here the
Speaker 5: four star. But you know they're letting the position coaches
Speaker 5: recruit their position, and then they're not necessarily keeping those
Speaker 5: coaches in a specific geographical area, like obviously Marrow took
Speaker 5: over Ohio and went into Michigan with Steve Clinkscale while
Speaker 5: the clink was here, and you know John Sumrall when
Speaker 5: he was here kind of handles Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Speaker 5: Eddie Grant when he was the OC was going down
Speaker 5: to South Florida, and even the last couple of years,
Speaker 5: Mike Steups was going down to South Florida. Now it's
Speaker 5: just wherever you find players, go get them, and you
Speaker 5: know they've got an Mark Stewart has a win in Texas.
Speaker 5: Coach Watson has a win in Texas, like Brad White
Speaker 5: I think has had wins in Georgia, and I believe Alabama.
Speaker 5: Like there's no specific state where these coaches are recruiting.
Speaker 5: They're simply being told, Okay, get with the scouting department
Speaker 5: and recruit the best possible players at your position and
Speaker 5: bring them home. And that philosophy seems to be working
Speaker 5: out pretty well, and they're you know, they're just they
Speaker 5: fully embraced it.
Speaker 1: At this point.
Speaker 5: It was kind of a it felt like they were
Speaker 5: kind of I don't want to I'm not accusing Vince
Speaker 5: marylus in the match obviously, but I think they were
Speaker 5: kind of health back on going full blown to that strategy.
Speaker 5: And now that he's gone, it's made it easier to
Speaker 5: kind of just say, all right, well he's gone. Now
Speaker 5: we have no choice but to do this. And I
Speaker 5: think it's look, you either adapt and Mark Soups has
Speaker 5: said it, how many times you said this exact phrase,
Speaker 5: where you're their adapts or you die, Like there's no
Speaker 5: there's no in between. And you know, just as a
Speaker 5: professional sports fan, like when you when you're all invested
Speaker 5: in free agency in the trade market, like when your
Speaker 5: team does nothing, you're not improving. So Kentucky knew with
Speaker 5: all the struggles that they've had as a program, something
Speaker 5: had to change, and they decided this is a change
Speaker 5: they had to make. And you know, time will tell
Speaker 5: if it works or not. But I give them props
Speaker 5: for trying something different, and you know, it's obviously resulted
Speaker 5: in a in a plot of commitments here lately, and honestly,
Speaker 5: you know that you don't need that many more after
Speaker 5: this because you're going to be relying on that portal still.
Speaker 5: I know it's gonna you know, some of the fifth
Speaker 5: and sixtiar guys are going to get weaseled out not
Speaker 5: fit here. You have red shirts, but some of these
Speaker 5: six and seventh year guys are are pretty much in
Speaker 5: the be out of the game now with COVID years ending.
Speaker 5: But you know, the portal is still just here forever,
Speaker 5: and they're going to leave a certain amount of spots
Speaker 5: open for that portal, and they have a lot of
Speaker 5: shoes to fill just with graduating seniors on this year's
Speaker 5: roster and then whoever leaves. So you know they've done
Speaker 5: a they've done a really good job recovering, you know,
Speaker 5: since Marat's departure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there are two schools of thought here and
Speaker 3: then there's no one right way of doing it, but
Speaker 3: some some work other better than others. You can, as
Speaker 3: you said, divide things geographically. You've got this cluster of state.
Speaker 3: You have that, and the reason they do that, it
Speaker 3: was explained to me many years ago, is certain coaches
Speaker 3: have certain relationships with people at different high schools in
Speaker 3: around the country, you know, the so called pipelines, if
Speaker 3: you will, and if you can, if you've got a
Speaker 3: guy who's got a great relationship, say with a coach.
Speaker 3: Joker Phillips had great relationships, especially in South Carolina. You know,
Speaker 3: So you go to the high school coach who goes
Speaker 3: to the player and says, I know this guy, he's
Speaker 3: a great guy. Listen to him. And then you know,
Speaker 3: after that, oftentimes the head coach, the position coach will
Speaker 3: follow up. But that's the geographic way and the other
Speaker 3: ways you said is the position coach. And Jeff pi
Speaker 3: Correl's talked about this with us a number of times.
Speaker 3: The best relationship these kids have nine times out of
Speaker 3: ten is with their position coach, as opposed to the
Speaker 3: head coach, who's usually the CEO, and he'll have a
Speaker 3: good relationship with kids, sure, but they live with a
Speaker 3: position coach, and so you can see the value in that, right,
Speaker 3: no question about it.
Speaker 5: You build those relationships and like you said, that's the
Speaker 5: room you're living and that's the coach you're probably going
Speaker 5: to be closest to.
Speaker 1: Him the roster.
Speaker 5: I mean, yes, of course, Mark Jukes has good relationships
Speaker 5: with his players and has over the years.
Speaker 1: You know, go look at his.
Speaker 5: Relationship with Josh Allen and Mike Edwards music in Benison now,
Speaker 5: like when they were really had things rolling, and even
Speaker 5: the last couple of years, guys like Eli Cox I
Speaker 5: felt like they had like a weekly meeting and suits
Speaker 5: office like it is a huge part of It's a
Speaker 5: huge part of it. The head coach still has to
Speaker 5: have a really good relationship with his players, but they are,
Speaker 5: like you said, living in that position room. That is
Speaker 5: the coach they are going to be closest to you.
Speaker 5: That's the coach they're going to be working with the most,
Speaker 5: and that's the coach at the end of the day
Speaker 5: they ultimately trust the most in their personal development on
Speaker 5: the field.
Speaker 1: So build that.
Speaker 5: Relationship early, build a trust and see if you don't
Speaker 5: want to get that guy, you know, see if that
Speaker 5: guy doesn't want to come play for you in that room.
Speaker 5: And I think it's a it's a really good strategy,
Speaker 5: and again you have to adapt. It just comes back
Speaker 5: to that, and I think this is how a lot
Speaker 5: of the great schools around the country do it. I mean,
Speaker 5: you look at Georgia, look at Ohio State. That's how
Speaker 5: they go about business. And you know, I'm not, obviously
Speaker 5: not saying this move is going to turn Kentucky into
Speaker 5: one of those, but you want to replicate what the
Speaker 5: winners do, and I think this is the right most.
Speaker 3: By the way, you mentioned la Damian Washington or stepped
Speaker 3: in when Kiel Schwartz suddenly left for Nebraska. Mark Stoop's
Speaker 3: not happy about that. But as you said, and he
Speaker 3: also said he's gonna when he signed his new coach,
Speaker 3: whoever it might have been, he denounces back in December. Uh,
Speaker 3: there would be a little more in the contract to
Speaker 3: keep him in one place. And you gotta think, you
Speaker 3: gotta think now he's happy it was. However, he's locked
Speaker 3: down with Damian Washington because nothing but kudos for him, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's on a he's on a fantastic job. He's
Speaker 5: been definitely worth the money on the trail so far.
Speaker 5: And you know, it's been really nice too. I think
Speaker 5: in the wide receiver's room. And obviously we don't know
Speaker 5: exactly that room's gonna shake out, but we do know
Speaker 5: that he is for previous relationships with some of the
Speaker 5: guys in that room, like Jamury Macklin. He was with
Speaker 5: him at Missouri very early in Macklin Style's career. Same
Speaker 5: with JJ Hester, the transfer from Oklahoma who was originally
Speaker 5: at Missouri. Trendrick Law is from Shreveport, Alabama, just like
Speaker 5: la Damien Washington. So, you know, I think that it's
Speaker 5: really worked out so far in the relationship building process
Speaker 5: and in the recruiting process, and you know, obviously the
Speaker 5: biggest thing now it'll be on the field, But so
Speaker 5: far so the early returns there are really good, and
Speaker 5: it's really important to be really good, not just for
Speaker 5: recruiting and then what happened with coach Shorts, but we
Speaker 5: all know that room has had a lot of turnover
Speaker 5: at the coach at that wide receivers coach position has
Speaker 5: had a lot of turnover during SUPs of tenure. I
Speaker 5: think he's number seven or eight, so it it would
Speaker 5: be really nice to farm some stability there.
Speaker 3: Also had a relationship with bush hamdon ed Missouri. It's
Speaker 3: coming together. He is Aaron Gershaan of the Cats Paws
Speaker 3: for now and we will talk more with Aaron on
Speaker 3: the other side of the break here on six thirty
Speaker 3: WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Aaron Gershan of the
Speaker 3: Cast Balls. He's been covering baseball, football, and basketball for
Speaker 3: the magazine and the website. He'll be with him for
Speaker 3: another week and a half or so before moving on
Speaker 3: to another job, but plenty of time to talk Kentucky
Speaker 3: football and basketball. Shake Gilgess Alexander hits the Jackpod with
Speaker 3: a huge contract. Meanwhile, Jackson Robinson signs with the Cavaliers.
Speaker 3: Is an undrafted free agent and he's got some things
Speaker 3: to work on, some things to prove. Lamont Butler gets
Speaker 3: a free agent contract as well, so things are kind
Speaker 3: of falling into place for some of Mark Pope's ballplayers.
Speaker 3: But man, the headline an ex Kentucky player that can
Speaker 3: only help the UK brand right with SGA.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, no question. I mean that contract and wow,
Speaker 5: four years to eighty six, that's something else. And then
Speaker 5: obviously you know, coming off the what was the third
Speaker 5: player ever, fourth player ever to be finals MVPN regular
Speaker 5: season MVP. So just an incredible, incredible season by him,
Speaker 5: and what a career he's had after coming to Kentucky
Speaker 5: to be Quade Green's back up originally, so really, really
Speaker 5: impressive stuff from STA. But yeah, look, I mean Mark Pope,
Speaker 5: you gotta this is not a calver s folks thing.
Speaker 1: But ask anyone before the year or who was going
Speaker 1: to have more.
Speaker 5: Draft picks than the twenty five drafts, and I think
Speaker 5: everyone would have said cal including me. And you know,
Speaker 5: did a vote beat him two to one. So and
Speaker 5: one of the guys that was at Kentucky at one point.
Speaker 5: So that's really impressive to send two guys to the
Speaker 5: NBA in your first year, two fiftier guys when you know,
Speaker 5: we've talked about it on here in the past, like
Speaker 5: the NBA is a little hesitant with these fiftier guys
Speaker 5: just because how you know, they're already twenty three, twenty four,
Speaker 5: Just how long are they going to last, like last
Speaker 5: in the league compared to some of these others because
Speaker 5: they've played so much college basketball, you know, a lot
Speaker 5: of them at the highest level for five years.
Speaker 1: That's a lot on the body, you know.
Speaker 5: Obviously, Kobe Bray is a guy who became Mark Post's
Speaker 5: first ever draft picks, was on in a wheelchair two
Speaker 5: years ago, were having an injured So you know, how
Speaker 5: much is that gonna you know, Mariy Williams has had
Speaker 5: back issues obviously, Lamont Butler's had back issues and other injuries.
Speaker 5: Jackson Robinson I think probably gets a true UDFA deal
Speaker 5: if not sneaks into that second round if he doesn't
Speaker 5: hurt his wrists. And then Andrew Carr also has back issues.
Speaker 5: So like you see that why that's costing some of
Speaker 5: these fiftier guys some spots. I mean, Walter Clayton going
Speaker 5: eighteenth is mind boggling. But when you feel back the
Speaker 5: onion a little bit and you realize he's a fiftier guy,
Speaker 5: you know that's why. So it's still really impressive though,
Speaker 5: to send you know, five guys into the league, at
Speaker 5: least two being drafted. Look, Mary Williams got drafted to
Speaker 5: a spot where he is a real chance to make
Speaker 5: that team and possibly make an impact with some of
Speaker 5: their lack of center depth and some of the injuries
Speaker 5: going on in Boston. So I'm really happy for all
Speaker 5: those guys, and really cool to have such a success
Speaker 5: for Mark Popen, really good returns year one. That's only
Speaker 5: gonna help him in recruiting, and you know, on top
Speaker 5: of the SGA stuff. But you know, I think specifically
Speaker 5: for this era of Kentucky basketball. To get two draft
Speaker 5: picks and three udfa's and year one with all being
Speaker 5: fiftier seniors is really good.
Speaker 3: Just a couple of minutes left with Aaron Gershaan. But
Speaker 3: you wrote recently about Jalen Lowe, who really really wanted
Speaker 3: to be a Wildcat, played well at Pittsburgh and the ACC.
Speaker 3: But he's another guy who grew up watching the Wildcats.
Speaker 3: And we're hearing that from practically everybody. Mark Pope has
Speaker 3: brought in through the portal, another guy who truly appreciates
Speaker 3: being here.
Speaker 5: You guys are gonna love that guy. He's gonna give
Speaker 5: you plenty of sound bite. Just want to let you know,
Speaker 5: but nah, he is super pumped up to be here.
Speaker 5: What you know struck me is he was telling the
Speaker 5: story about how, you know, he didn't really specify when
Speaker 5: in life it was, whether it was as a young kid,
Speaker 5: whether it was at a high schooler. But at some
Speaker 5: point during his you know, prep career, he you know,
Speaker 5: made a list of eight schools that he wanted to
Speaker 5: get offers from, and you know he mentioned the three
Speaker 5: three of the blue Bloods, specifically Kentucky, Kansas and Duke
Speaker 5: and he said, I got heard from absolutely none of them,
Speaker 5: and that kind of you know, put a chip on
Speaker 5: his shoulder, and you know, look a lot of kids.
Speaker 5: He was still a top one hundred recruit, four star kid.
Speaker 5: I think he was a number five player in Texas
Speaker 5: that year. He goes like a lot of people be
Speaker 5: envious of his position, but he had a chip on
Speaker 5: his shoulder because he wanted to go to a blue
Speaker 5: blood and he wanted to hear from a blue blood.
Speaker 5: And then he goes on, you know, say, okay, so
Speaker 5: I hit the transfer portal and one day later, you know,
Speaker 5: Mark Pope is visiting me in my hotel of Minnesota
Speaker 5: where I'm training. So it's like, well there's that blue
Speaker 5: blood dream clearly, you know. And that's the good part
Speaker 5: of the transfer portal. We hear all the negative stories
Speaker 5: where you know, it's hurting mid majors and that's true
Speaker 5: at all, and it's you know, taking away some of
Speaker 5: the authenticity of the sport. And I agree with that
Speaker 5: as well. But there is the part of it too,
Speaker 5: where kids have these aspirations to play at places like
Speaker 5: Kentucky or Duke or Kansas or even you know, just
Speaker 5: schools like Florida or something like that, and maybe they
Speaker 5: weren't ready at that point in their high school career.
Speaker 5: Maybe they were overlooked, and they go out and they
Speaker 5: prove themselves and then they get that opportunity. And I
Speaker 5: think that's exactly what Jalen Lowe's story is. And he's
Speaker 5: an impressive young man. He definitely is a confident young
Speaker 5: man and he likes he likes the share. So you
Speaker 5: got he's going to be intrigued. Really this whole group
Speaker 5: that they like to share. So they're very, very confident,
Speaker 5: and you know, it's it's fun to see.
Speaker 3: I just got about a minute. But here's a great
Speaker 3: thing about him. He played in a really good conference,
Speaker 3: not not you know, a mid major with one or
Speaker 3: two I mean up and down. ACC was great prep
Speaker 3: for Kentucky, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question.
Speaker 5: I mean, look, it's not the ACC that we're all
Speaker 5: used to plug, right, you know, Still you go against
Speaker 5: I think he went against Duke at least two or
Speaker 5: three times in his career. He played against that really
Speaker 5: good Louisville team with Stuckey. Hepburn twice last year. So
Speaker 5: and you know, you go look at some of the.
Speaker 1: Non con games.
Speaker 5: He led them to a win over Mississippi State, who's
Speaker 5: obviously going to be a team on Kentucky schedule. So yeah,
Speaker 5: it's absolutely very good prep. It's not like you're getting
Speaker 5: a point guard from a mid major or even like
Speaker 5: I think you're even smaller than a mid major. You're
Speaker 5: not getting a point guard from one of the smaller
Speaker 5: conferences or a Utah Valley or something. You're getting you're
Speaker 5: getting a acc point guard who was a third team
Speaker 5: All Conference guy, who was a really productive player for
Speaker 5: two years. And you know, fans freaked out about the
Speaker 5: shooting splits a little bit, but you go look at
Speaker 5: what Pit was dealing with last year and you understand
Speaker 5: it a little bit. So I think I loved the
Speaker 5: addition from day one, and I was even more impressed
Speaker 5: getting to meet him in person for the first time.
Speaker 3: And he will make everybody better and that is the
Speaker 3: job of a true point guard. We know this. Aaron
Speaker 3: Gershan of The Catch Boss for Now a Gershon ninety
Speaker 3: nine on Twitter, Thank you, Sarah. We'll talk to you
Speaker 3: at least one more time next week.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, And I said.
Speaker 3: Aaron is moving on young guys with the career moves
Speaker 3: that happens in this business. But we'll talk to him
Speaker 3: one more time next week and we'll we'll keep him
Speaker 3: in the in the rotation, the wide rotation of anything
Speaker 3: pops up near where he is down in Florida that
Speaker 3: we think could help us. Of course, our bureau chiefs
Speaker 3: are a flung from border to border, like UK fans.
Speaker 3: The big Booing cider is everywhere. Coming up. Our number
Speaker 3: two with Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard and West n
Speaker 3: Bureau chief, give me Moore on six thirty think.
Speaker 6: Any such stake taking the show, anything anything on.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. It is Wednesday,
Speaker 3: which means we chat with our Unforgettable Guard, Shawn Woods.
Speaker 3: He is the head coach at Scott County High School
Speaker 3: and of course as the head coach of the TBT
Speaker 3: entry featuring mostly UK players. LA for Meia and we're
Speaker 3: going to talk about that in a minute. But Sean,
Speaker 3: I mentioned to you earlier I chatted with Danny Trevathan
Speaker 3: the night he was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame. And when he was at UK, you
Speaker 3: were in your college coaching career, primarily as an assistant
Speaker 3: then as a head coach in Mississippi Valley State. And
Speaker 3: I was struck by Danny's comments about rich Brooks. So
Speaker 3: you were kind of keeping an eye on UK from afar,
Speaker 3: but you're a football fan. Danny talked about how hard
Speaker 3: he worked and the faith that rich Brooks showed in him.
Speaker 3: And as I told you off the air, when Brooks
Speaker 3: was first hired, a lot of people first of all,
Speaker 3: didn't know who he was. Secondly thought he was too old.
Speaker 3: But I can tell you his players absolutely committed to
Speaker 3: playing for him, becase because of his relationship with these
Speaker 3: guys and the faith he had in them and the
Speaker 3: work ethic that he demanded, but coach them through. I mean,
Speaker 3: this guy, like you, it was a professional coach. And
Speaker 3: Travathan gives him so much credit for a ten year
Speaker 3: pro career in a Super Bowl ring. What comes to
Speaker 3: mind when you hear about relationships be it football, basketball, whatever,
Speaker 3: between player and coach like that.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful thing, Dick, And it's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why I miss coaching, you know, because as coaches,
Speaker 1: you know, we learn from players, we learned from kids.
Speaker 7: Meaning what I mean, it's just a you know, what
Speaker 7: you know, making a difference. You know that locker room,
Speaker 7: you miss, the camaraderie, you miss, you know, changing people's lives,
Speaker 7: helping them because you got to remember now when kids
Speaker 7: come into college, unlike now, they're straight out of high
Speaker 7: school and they're just starting to develop mentally, physically, emotionally, socially.
Speaker 7: And most coaches, especially with basketball, you're only dealing with
Speaker 7: thirteen to fifteen guys, and football you're dealing with more,
Speaker 7: way more than that. And so to for coach Brooks,
Speaker 7: I mean, that's kudos for him to have strong relationships.
Speaker 7: And it's hard when you're dealing with different positions, different
Speaker 7: sizes of the balls. You got position coaches. Normally it's
Speaker 7: your position coaches that you get close with because the
Speaker 7: head coach is overseeing everyone. But you know, for Rich
Speaker 7: Brooks to have close and intimate relationships with his players,
Speaker 7: of that magnitude speaks volumes. And you know, the biggest
Speaker 7: thing I get gratification I get with playing calls back,
Speaker 7: you know, just ask how I'm doing, you know, thanking
Speaker 7: you because it makes me feel and lets us know
Speaker 7: that we did make a difference. You know, because coaches,
Speaker 7: you know you it's two folds with coaches.
Speaker 1: First of all, you got a job to do, okay,
Speaker 1: So you got bottom line, you got your ad, you
Speaker 1: got your president, you got your booster saying you gotta win,
Speaker 1: you gotta win, you gotta win, okay. And then you
Speaker 1: have the kids that you're coaching. All right, sometimes you
Speaker 1: don't win, but you still got to love them. You know,
Speaker 1: you still got to have a relationship. You know, it's
Speaker 1: still a process, and you going through some things, you know, twofold.
Speaker 1: First of all, you're feeling the pressure after a loss,
Speaker 1: will win okay. Second of all, you gotta deal with
Speaker 1: the emotional ups and downs of the kids that you
Speaker 1: that you're coaching to help you get through those wins
Speaker 1: and losses. So when you're going through that type of deal,
Speaker 1: you know, most coaches forget about it. As a young coach,
Speaker 1: I did because I was just looking at the bottom
Speaker 1: line and trying to get to the next job. But
Speaker 1: my personality offset all of that because I'm a genuine
Speaker 1: a person and I you know, even though I'm coaching hard,
Speaker 1: I still like to have intimate relationships with my players,
Speaker 1: you know, knowing where they come from. You know, when
Speaker 1: you're recruiting you know that they're going through because you're
Speaker 1: you're figuring out, you know, who is this kid? Do
Speaker 1: I want him to coach? You know, do I want
Speaker 1: him to become in my program? You know what type
Speaker 1: of mindset does he have? And so you harness all
Speaker 1: that stuff and you take all that stuff in and
Speaker 1: that's what teaches you how to motivate, understand where they're
Speaker 1: coming from, so on and so forth. So you know,
Speaker 1: you have this thing. I have this thing and it's
Speaker 1: called I do have favorites as a coach, and it's
Speaker 1: it's a poem and it's and it goes like this.
Speaker 1: You know in a nutshell that I pay attention to
Speaker 1: the ones that pay attention to me, that that that
Speaker 1: that gives me everything that they got, that that ask questions,
Speaker 1: that do on the you know, and so on and
Speaker 1: so forth, not the one that you got to always
Speaker 1: get on. You know, they always the one, the rebellious one.
Speaker 1: Because it's just like in your family, if you pay
Speaker 1: attention to the worst kid in your family, what's that
Speaker 1: say to the other kids that are doing right? The
Speaker 1: only way I can get your attention is to act out, Okay,
Speaker 1: And most times in coaching, you do spend more time
Speaker 1: with the kids that are acting out because you've got
Speaker 1: to always discipline them. You're trying to bring them into
Speaker 1: your office and get them to do better, so on
Speaker 1: and so forth, and you deal less with the kids
Speaker 1: that are having on the ball that takes care of business,
Speaker 1: So you kind of miss out a little bit. But
Speaker 1: as coaches, sometimes we appreciate more the kids that we
Speaker 1: don't have to get on the most and do take
Speaker 1: care of business more so than the other one, except
Speaker 1: for we got to deal with the ones that don't
Speaker 1: take care of business the most because of discipline, action,
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. So it's complicated. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody thinks that they can be ahead coach, but it's
Speaker 1: more to it than just coaching the game that you're coaching.
Speaker 1: You know, it's relationships. How do you motive they how
Speaker 1: do you get kids to evolve as adults in a
Speaker 1: growth period Because they left their parents at eighteen, they're
Speaker 1: leaving you at twenty two, and when they go out
Speaker 1: in the world, okay, you're the last adult and and
Speaker 1: major influence in their lives. So their products will view
Speaker 1: in addition to their growth growing up with their parents.
Speaker 1: So you play a major deal. And when you get
Speaker 1: kids know that they grow up and really appreciate the
Speaker 1: trials and tribulations and the lessons that they got from
Speaker 1: their particular coach that speaks volumes. And when kids take
Speaker 1: that the rules and regulation that you empowered and instilled
Speaker 1: in them and go out into the real world, now
Speaker 1: that significant impact that you made is off the charts.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the situation that he was talking
Speaker 1: about with Coach Brooks.
Speaker 3: Talking to Danny, talking to Sean Woods. Yeah, I'll start
Speaker 3: that again, talking to Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard. We
Speaker 3: talked to him every week he as the head coach
Speaker 3: at Sky County High School. And by the way, I
Speaker 3: mentioned that Danny Treason went into the Kentucky Pro Football
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame, I need to point out that Sean
Speaker 3: and his teammates, the Unforgettables, were charter members of the
Speaker 3: Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame the UK Hall of Fame
Speaker 3: as the Unforgettables, And uh, that that had to be
Speaker 3: I don't think I've ever asked you about that, but
Speaker 3: that that had to be a special feeling to go
Speaker 3: in with those guys to share that and again as
Speaker 3: a charter member of the UK Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: It did, you know, because everything we did. You know,
Speaker 1: one thing Coach A Tina was great about, especially with us,
Speaker 1: was did he come in and shocked us mentally, physically,
Speaker 1: emotionally with the demands that he brought to us. Yes,
Speaker 1: he did. But the best thing he did was he
Speaker 1: made us have to depend on each other. That was
Speaker 1: the biggest thing that he did. And every thing that
Speaker 1: we did we did four and with each other to
Speaker 1: accomplish the goals that we did because those goals were
Speaker 1: not were major feats, as you know, because nobody gave
Speaker 1: us any type of thought that we would do the
Speaker 1: things that we did coming in with the personnel that
Speaker 1: we had, and we were just constant overachievers. And in
Speaker 1: order to overachieve, especially with a team, you got to
Speaker 1: have great camaraderie and respect and love for one another.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what we did. And that's the reason
Speaker 1: why we're so tight now because it wasn't one person.
Speaker 1: We didn't have a superstar. Even when Jamal Mashburn was
Speaker 1: with us, he was our leading scorer, but he wasn't
Speaker 1: the leader. He was just the guy that scored that
Speaker 1: was the most consistent scorer for our team. But he
Speaker 1: was part of that that unforgettable deal, even though he
Speaker 1: was younger, but he was part of us. Reggie Hashen
Speaker 1: was part of us. Derek Miller was part of us.
Speaker 1: Jeff Brastow was part of us. You know. So it
Speaker 1: was a collective deal, except we just happened to be
Speaker 1: the seniors at that particular time to play against Duke
Speaker 1: and stayed the longest in coach Betino's first three years.
Speaker 1: But man, Dick that our whole group is still a
Speaker 1: tight knit group. Our whole group is still still has
Speaker 1: major respect for one another. And so when we went
Speaker 1: into that Hall of Fame, that Innavro deal, it's like
Speaker 1: we were one. We still are one. It was never
Speaker 1: seaw Woods's team, was never Pales team, Darren's team, Richie's team.
Speaker 1: It was our team. And everything that we did we
Speaker 1: did together. And so all the accolades that we received
Speaker 1: we received together. And that's the reason why we are
Speaker 1: who we are. And you know, that's the epitome of team.
Speaker 1: You know, I think, you know, I go back to
Speaker 1: all the great teams that Kentucky they had a star,
Speaker 1: you know, back in the in the late eight you know,
Speaker 1: mid eighties you had Kenny Walker, he was a star.
Speaker 1: You know, Before that, you had Bowie or Turpen or
Speaker 1: something like that. You know, I'm saying that before that
Speaker 1: you had Jack, you know, who's considered the start. Right
Speaker 1: after Jack, you had cal Macy. But it was never
Speaker 1: a team. You know, before that, years ago, you had
Speaker 1: Ruffs Once. You don't mention the only reason why pat
Speaker 1: Riley has mentioned more than anybody else is because pat
Speaker 1: Riley became a la Laker, the coach, so on and
Speaker 1: so forth. But that team is Ruffs Once, you know,
Speaker 1: which is considered one of the best teams in the
Speaker 1: history of Kentucky basketball, the Stem and five, you know,
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. So you know, as there
Speaker 1: been a lot of all Americans that come through Kentucky. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but the best teams were the best teams collectively. And
Speaker 1: that's what we were part of, and that's what we
Speaker 1: were hanging I had on and that's the reason why
Speaker 1: so many people appreciated us, because it was so pure
Speaker 1: that nobody got more accolades than the next. We were
Speaker 1: just all in this thing together trying to figure it out.
Speaker 3: Sean Woods, you in Forgettable Guard we'll come back and
Speaker 3: talk moreo's with Sean also the head coach. Off for
Speaker 3: me back in a minute. On six thirty w l
Speaker 3: a P. Welcome back. We're talking with Sean Woods. He's
Speaker 3: the head coach at Scott County High but also the
Speaker 3: coach of La Fama, the UK based entry in TBT
Speaker 3: the Basketball Tournament. You guys have added an interesting name
Speaker 3: to your roster over the last few days. Coach, tell
Speaker 3: me about Jesser.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to get with twenty on that one.
Speaker 1: He's the he's the social media butterfly. So that's all
Speaker 1: I know about it right now. You know what I
Speaker 1: mean that was that was a general manager decision, right the.
Speaker 3: Thirty one million subscribers, basically for pub for publicity. But
Speaker 3: it should be fun, right, Oh yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean you know this thing here, you know, even
Speaker 1: though it's a you know, we're playing for something, it's
Speaker 1: still fun in games, and you you want to keep
Speaker 1: the camaraderie and the and and and the fun into
Speaker 1: this situation. And I think that's what twenty was doing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's doing I hear. You know.
Speaker 3: I never added shoot this question before, either publicly or privately,
Speaker 3: but you and I did radio back in the day
Speaker 3: when you would graduated UK, you had quit playing and
Speaker 3: you were in the business world and you did that,
Speaker 3: Sean for almost ten years before you got into coaching.
Speaker 3: What was that like when you before you got into
Speaker 3: your coaching career and then was that tugging at you
Speaker 3: all that time that you felt like you needed to
Speaker 3: be back in the game.
Speaker 1: I needed to be back in the game. And I
Speaker 1: guess what. Guess what, though the guy works in the
Speaker 1: stairs leaves, I wouldn't have been the coach that I
Speaker 1: became if I didn't do work into work in media
Speaker 1: because I was. I was in sales. Remember not only
Speaker 1: just doing on their stuff. I was in sales. And
Speaker 1: sales is just like recruiting. And what I mean by
Speaker 1: that is you got to prospect first, okay. Then you
Speaker 1: got to come up with a strategic plan to what
Speaker 1: get them to buy your product up okay, whatever you're selling.
Speaker 1: So for instance, I was, I work for Claire Channel,
Speaker 1: I worked for w L e X, and you know,
Speaker 1: I had to sell me first before you know, and
Speaker 1: establish a relationship with me first before I could sell
Speaker 1: what I was selling. And it's the same thing with
Speaker 1: with with recruiting, you know, you're selling yourself first. It's
Speaker 1: about relationships first, and then you sell the university because
Speaker 1: most kids, I'm telling you right now, okay, they go
Speaker 1: because the relationship they have with the coach first and foremost. Okay,
Speaker 1: then it's the university. The coach sells the university and
Speaker 1: what the universe can do for them. But it's the
Speaker 1: relationship and trust that you build first with the kid
Speaker 1: and his family, so on and so forth, same way
Speaker 1: you do when you walk into someone's business. You know,
Speaker 1: you create a relationship and a trust first, and then
Speaker 1: you get to the nuts and boats about what you
Speaker 1: have to offer with the you know, with the people
Speaker 1: that that you're representing the same thing. And that's the
Speaker 1: reason why I became good because Mary Bobart really taught
Speaker 1: me the game about selling and I've always taken that
Speaker 1: with me as far as college is concerned and recruiting.
Speaker 1: And then when you get that person to buy your
Speaker 1: you know, your product and advertise with you what you
Speaker 1: have to do, you have to continue to what sell them,
Speaker 1: you know, and and and trusting them with the things
Speaker 1: that you do and say same thing with coaching. You know,
Speaker 1: they have to trust and you have to keep your
Speaker 1: word and what you told them to get them to
Speaker 1: come play for you. So it just, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of came hand in hand and I became a natural
Speaker 1: at it. And that's the reason why recruiting was really
Speaker 1: easy for me, because first of all, I've always had
Speaker 1: a personality and second of all, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I believed in what I was saying, and I believed
Speaker 1: in everything that I you know, the people that I
Speaker 1: work for and the things that we can do for
Speaker 1: the for our clients. Same thing with how I feel
Speaker 1: about what I could do for that kid if he
Speaker 1: came to play for me or us.
Speaker 3: Before I let you go, I got to get your
Speaker 3: reaction to Shaye Gilgess Alexander signing the richest contract in
Speaker 3: NBA history. What a year he had? A former Wildcat
Speaker 3: just like you point guard, like you score a little
Speaker 3: bit more than you did. But uh, what does this do?
Speaker 3: What does this mean for UK basketball in your opinion?
Speaker 1: Well, it's just it enhances the UK brand. I tell
Speaker 1: you that, you know, and you know Cal did. Cal
Speaker 1: did one thing right, Okay, he sent the best players
Speaker 1: to the NBA, but he was recruiting the best players
Speaker 1: every year in and out of high school. So what
Speaker 1: this does and it hanst our brand and and everybody
Speaker 1: thinks you wear that that blue and white. You know,
Speaker 1: your chances of becoming the NBA prospect enhance this. So
Speaker 1: that helps them recruiting because everybody's trying to get to
Speaker 1: the next level. So I think it enhances our brands,
Speaker 1: as you know, and it keeps us out there because
Speaker 1: you used to be Remember in the eighties and nineties,
Speaker 1: Carolina had all the players in the pros. You know,
Speaker 1: they were dominate and have more players in the pros
Speaker 1: than any other school. Now it's Kentucky and it's Kentucky tenfold,
Speaker 1: and these guys are winning. I mean, you look at
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Almost every team in the playoffs coming down
Speaker 1: the stretch had a Kentucky player. So now Mark Pope
Speaker 1: is doing it just in another at another level. And
Speaker 1: it's kind of different because you're getting the top players
Speaker 1: out of the transport portal more so than you are
Speaker 1: out of high school. But I'll tell you what Malakai
Speaker 1: Marino from when I'm hearing the pros love him. Okay,
Speaker 1: the other kid, Johnson, you know, he's a guy that
Speaker 1: can go get his own. The pros love that. So
Speaker 1: I think his two the two kids Kentucky kids that
Speaker 1: he that he has coming in, you know, is going
Speaker 1: to be has the potential to to make an impact
Speaker 1: in the NBA. To one made the Olympic team, I
Speaker 1: mean the United States team and Johnson and Malachi was
Speaker 1: probably the best player out there, but it got hurt
Speaker 1: and he came back. But you know, Kentucky has struck again.
Speaker 1: He not only just in the transfer portal, but you
Speaker 1: know out of the high school rings. And the great
Speaker 1: thing is both of those kids are Kentucky kids, so
Speaker 1: enhances it even more.
Speaker 3: That's right. He is Sean Woods. He's the head coach
Speaker 3: of Scott County High also the head coach of the
Speaker 3: TBT Entry Lapamia and we'll talk more hoops with Shawn
Speaker 3: next week. Thank you, sir, have a great week you two.
Speaker 3: Dick Weston Bureau she Gary Moore is next on six
Speaker 3: thirty wlap welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining
Speaker 3: us now in our celebrity highline as he does each
Speaker 3: and every Wednesdays. He had Joe permitted is our Western
Speaker 3: Bureau chief. Gary Moore, long time West Coast Bureau chief
Speaker 3: when he worked for KLOS Radio in La now La
Speaker 3: means Louisville area, right around the sixty four. Here he
Speaker 3: is but a lot on his mind.
Speaker 2: Two guys in a six pack, you and me six
Speaker 2: things to talk about. Number one our first sip, as
Speaker 2: it were, Dick confidence is very high that a very
Speaker 2: rare baseball milestone will occur tonight in the aforementioned the
Speaker 2: city of Angels and Dodgers. At some point tonight, while
Speaker 2: facing the worst hitting team in the majors, the Chicago
Speaker 2: White Sox, Clayton Kershaw will record strikeout number three thousand.
Speaker 2: It's three away now, should go past three thousand, and
Speaker 2: by the way, that's going to be on MLB Network
Speaker 2: at ten eastern tonight. And in this day of triple
Speaker 2: digit velocity and throw until you your arm falls off,
Speaker 2: how is this thirty seven year old Kershaw four and
Speaker 2: oh with an ERA of three point oh three, just
Speaker 2: eight games off the il Well, he's pitching, not flamethrowing.
Speaker 2: Last week in Colorado, Kershaw allowed one run on two
Speaker 2: hits with no pitch harder than ninety point three miles
Speaker 2: an hour. We're talking the very definition of a crafty
Speaker 2: lefty here. So I ask you, what do you think
Speaker 2: is more rare three thousand strikeouts which we may never
Speaker 2: see again after tonight, or a pitcher with three hundred wins.
Speaker 3: That is a great question. I would make them equally
Speaker 3: difficult because, as you know you and you alluded to it,
Speaker 3: guys are throwing our arms out and you know what,
Speaker 3: the money. I hate to say this, Gary, with the
Speaker 3: money being what it is, you know, take your money,
Speaker 3: take your ball and go home after you know, two
Speaker 3: thousand strikeouts or whatever. You didn't have to pitch at
Speaker 3: your life to make that kind of money. But there's
Speaker 3: an article in USA Today today going back to his
Speaker 3: first strike ad victim. He made his first start against
Speaker 3: our Cardinals, right, and the first victim was skipped Schumacher
Speaker 3: and Schumacher talked about when he saw the first couple
Speaker 3: of pitches, he thought, who is this guy? They had
Speaker 3: heard about this phenom, but they were, you know, they
Speaker 3: were skeptical. And really it wasn't his fastball. It was
Speaker 3: his curveball, which as you know, has been one of
Speaker 3: his great money pitches. Oh, I'm telling you, and now
Speaker 3: three times Cy Young Award, winner, too World Series and
Speaker 3: MVP Gary, he'll be. Only the fourth left hander. That's
Speaker 3: what amazes me in baseball history to go for three
Speaker 3: thousand Carlton, Randy Johnson, C C. Sabbathia and he'll be,
Speaker 3: He'll be. This is even more amazing. Only the third
Speaker 3: to produce three thousand strikeouts in one uniform.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: That Bob Gibson in this Dan A Yeah, yeah, Bob
Speaker 3: Gibson and Walter Johnson.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: So that'll never be done again. Well you see a
Speaker 3: picture like him go seventeen years No, which is unfortunate,
Speaker 3: but you need to.
Speaker 2: Take it in now, right absolutely, And I'll tell you
Speaker 2: there are twenty four pitchers who've got three hundred or
Speaker 2: more wins, but only nineteen with three thousand or more strikeouts.
Speaker 3: Amazing. Second swig in the six pack.
Speaker 2: I hat some more baseball swigs down the line, but first,
Speaker 2: let's do a big college football story here. It's a
Speaker 2: big move that may have ramifications here in the Commonwealth.
Speaker 2: As you've talked about, you saw, Texas State was announced
Speaker 2: as the eighth football school to join the resuscitated PAC
Speaker 2: twelve conference meeting. It can now continue as an FBS
Speaker 2: conference or one A as we to call it PAC
Speaker 2: twelve Commissioner Teresa Gould said, quote, We're extremely excited to
Speaker 2: welcome Texas State as a foundational member of the New
Speaker 2: pac twelve Unquote. Well, she's one of the few outside
Speaker 2: of San Marcos, Texas who is amped up about it.
Speaker 2: Texas State, not Tech, or A and M or even
Speaker 2: utep Dick. Texas State wasn't even the top ten in
Speaker 2: the far inferior sun Belt. They weren't even one of
Speaker 2: the top three last season. Never mind at San Marcos
Speaker 2: is over thirteen hundred miles to the American Pacific Ocean beaches.
Speaker 2: Now you gotta wonder does the Sunbelt have to find
Speaker 2: their replacement? Some say yes, some say no, it they do.
Speaker 3: It may just be the.
Speaker 2: Prodigal Wku Hilltoppers who were in the Sun Belt. As
Speaker 2: you recall from two thousand and nine to twenty thirteen,
Speaker 2: supposedly it's between La Tech and Western. Here's hoping it's
Speaker 2: my alma mater because for one big financial reason, Conference
Speaker 2: USA schools get about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 2: and TV money, Sun Belt teams seven million a year.
Speaker 2: Slight difference, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 3: Yeah? And you're right, it's all about the money. But
Speaker 3: I will say this about Texas State, and I worked
Speaker 3: with a guy I went to school there back when
Speaker 3: I think it was Southwest Texas State or something like that.
Speaker 3: That school gary thirty six thousand undergrads thirty six thousand.
Speaker 3: So what I'm and they got a really good baseball program.
Speaker 3: What I'm telling you is give them that bump, give
Speaker 3: them the uh. I don't know if it's prestige whatever,
Speaker 3: higher profile with a PAC twelve. That could be a
Speaker 3: sleeping giant because that's a state chock full of money,
Speaker 3: chock full of football players, and I got to think
Speaker 3: that they're going to get some big time donors involved
Speaker 3: as well. So don't sleep on Texas State. And I
Speaker 3: do hope the best for your for your toppers.
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens. Of course, you know the pack
Speaker 2: wanted UNLV really bad. Yeah, you and ILV said nope.
Speaker 3: And by the way, it's best for college athletics period
Speaker 3: to have a strong PAC twelve.
Speaker 6: It is.
Speaker 3: And maybe we can go back to some more sanity
Speaker 3: when it comes to geography and travel, but we've beaten
Speaker 3: that one to death.
Speaker 2: Third swig in the six pack. Look what's back in
Speaker 2: the mother country for one of them. There fortnights Wimbledon
Speaker 2: London at its most expensive Dick hotel rooms. Well you know,
Speaker 2: because you were over there covering basketball during Christmas time.
Speaker 2: But in the summertime hotel rooms run thirty to eighty
Speaker 2: percent higher or more during these two weeks than any
Speaker 2: of the time of well the summer of the year
Speaker 2: for that matter. With the exchange rate of a dollar
Speaker 2: worth seventy two cents over there. Now you gotta love
Speaker 2: tennis to go over there and get reamed like that.
Speaker 2: And I say to heck with all this tariff stuff,
Speaker 2: fix that. So a buck equals a pound again. So
Speaker 2: we've already had some great first round matches. The number
Speaker 2: two seed in defending champ, Carlos Alcaaz, got taken to
Speaker 2: five sets on Day one. Fifth seeded American Taylor Fritz
Speaker 2: dealt with the fastest serve in Wimbledon history, one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty three miles an hour from Frinchman Giovanni Peragard,
Speaker 2: and he still won. He won that point too, by
Speaker 2: the way, and he wont to comeback five set win.
Speaker 1: Dick.
Speaker 2: Out of my top three favorite sporting events to watch,
Speaker 2: Wimbledon is right there. With the World Series and some
Speaker 2: Bowl games might even be number one at times. Where
Speaker 2: does it rank for you?
Speaker 3: Not nearly as high. I was not a tennis fan
Speaker 3: growing up. As such, I don't pay much attention to
Speaker 3: tennis unless it's Wimbledon of the US Open. Why because
Speaker 3: of tradition and the big names and things like that.
Speaker 3: But it takes an incredible amount of athletic ability to
Speaker 3: excel at this sport. And that serve you mentioned conjured
Speaker 3: up Roscoe Tanner served in one fifty three miles pro.
Speaker 3: How in the world we talk about baseball players hitting
Speaker 3: one hundred and one miles an hour. How in the
Speaker 3: world do you turn that? But you talked about how
Speaker 3: tough it was on one of the men Cocoa Golf
Speaker 3: already eliminated. I gotta wonder, Gary, how much does that
Speaker 3: affect the secondary cost of these tickets? You know, the
Speaker 3: number two seed beaten by a young, up and coming Ukrainian.
Speaker 3: But I will pay attention as we get closer to
Speaker 3: the holiday weekend.
Speaker 2: I started paying more attention to it when a guy
Speaker 2: that I used to I was on a little league
Speaker 2: team with, named mel Purcell. Yeah, got into I think
Speaker 2: the I think got as far as the quarterfinals at
Speaker 2: one point, yep, fourth Swig and the six pack. This
Speaker 2: past Sunday and HBO's superb Last Week Tonight Show host
Speaker 2: and minor league baseball fanatic John Oliver revealed the new
Speaker 2: identity for the Eerie Sea Wolves, which happened to be
Speaker 2: THEBA affiliate with the Detroit Tigers. For four home games
Speaker 2: beginning this month, the Sea Wolves will become the Moon Mammoths,
Speaker 2: inspired by the nineteen ninety one discovery of wooly mammoth
Speaker 2: bones in the nearby lake by local resident George Moon.
Speaker 2: Along with the requisite new uniforms and merch, they also
Speaker 2: get a new mascot for these four games, a purple
Speaker 2: wooly mammoth named fuzz E Mammoth. Because can you really
Speaker 2: have a minor league team without a mascot? Of course not.
Speaker 2: Forty seven minor league teams applied to have John and
Speaker 2: his staff rebrand their club, but Erie's team president Greg
Speaker 2: Coleman won them over with an email which, by the way,
Speaker 2: I've put on nine to five to five Gary on
Speaker 2: X to show you his eleven reasons why they should
Speaker 2: be picked, including the fact that when Coleman was down,
Speaker 2: I sixty five with the Bowling.
Speaker 3: Green hot Rods.
Speaker 2: They launched apparently the first alternate identity promotion, turning the
Speaker 2: hot Rods for one night into the Bowling Green Cave Shrimp.
Speaker 2: In two thousand and nine, the first Moon Mammoth game
Speaker 2: July nineteen's already a sellout. John Oliver is going to
Speaker 2: be there, and tickets are already going fast for the
Speaker 2: other three games, as well as all the new merch Dick,
Speaker 2: this is exactly why forty seven teams wanted this. You
Speaker 2: cannot buy this kind of publicity, can you.
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 3: I am a huge John Oliver fan. You know I
Speaker 3: did minor league baseball for a couple of summers. I
Speaker 3: love the fact that Oliver's involved. We have a little
Speaker 3: clip here from YouTube some of his commentary.
Speaker 8: Overall, picking the team turned out to be really difficult,
Speaker 8: and before we reveal our choice, let me just say this.
Speaker 8: If you haven't been to a minor league baseball game,
Speaker 8: you really should go, because minor league baseball is clearly
Speaker 8: both incredibly special and inescapably stupid in the very best way.
Speaker 8: But in the end, we have made a choice, so
Speaker 8: please come with me, because it's hardly was we did
Speaker 8: one the forty seven entries. I were excited to get
Speaker 8: to work the team. We've selected this the Eerie Sea
Speaker 8: Wolves in Erie, Pennsylvania to US west of eleven. Good
Speaker 8: reasons to create that, one of which was the Sea
Speaker 8: Wolves played baseball no out in near Let's see, which, Yeah,
Speaker 8: that's a problem here, we can help you fix.
Speaker 3: And I just love the fact that he's got this
Speaker 3: big British accent and here he is talking about minor
Speaker 3: league baseball and we've talked before about rebranding, and yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a merch grab, but it's an attention grab and
Speaker 3: it's fun. That's the thing about minor league baseball. They
Speaker 3: just you know. And Alan Stein, who has worked here
Speaker 3: tirelessly through decade, helped bring the election in Legends to town.
Speaker 3: He has told me about meetings that the minor league
Speaker 3: executives have and they all they call it stealing, but
Speaker 3: they borrow ideas from each other and it's so much
Speaker 3: fun and I just love it.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about that the next couple of SIPs. By
Speaker 2: the way, that first alternate identity for the Hot Rods.
Speaker 2: It won the two thousand and nine Promotion of the
Speaker 2: Year in the in Minor League Baseball. They do these
Speaker 2: awards every year, and they did it again in twenty
Speaker 2: sixteen when they became the Bowling Green Bootleggers, which is
Speaker 2: a tribute to not only the distilling culture in Kentucky,
Speaker 2: but also to the High Rod for aiding the bootleggers
Speaker 2: over a century ago as a means we're out running
Speaker 2: law enforcement. Bootlegger's identity is still so popular down there.
Speaker 2: They do it every Thursday night for the home games
Speaker 2: in Bowling Green, which clearly inspired here the Louisville Bats
Speaker 2: to become the Louisville Mashers as well as the Julips
Speaker 2: two different bourbon themed identities. And there over there, clearly
Speaker 2: your Lexington Legends got a great idea on July seventeenth.
Speaker 2: Coming up here very soon, the Legends will become the
Speaker 2: Kentucky Bourbon Barrels in collaboration with the Hartfield and Company Distillery,
Speaker 2: including barrel themed uniforms and a new cap with Mighty LECs,
Speaker 2: the mustached baseball mascot who's now a mustached bourbon barrel
Speaker 2: Bourbon and Baseball Dick. This is a classic case of
Speaker 2: knowing thy.
Speaker 3: Audience absolutely and I'm happy Heartfield Guide involved Heartfield is
Speaker 3: in Bourbon County, and for the longest time, even after
Speaker 3: Prohibition ended, there were no distillery They were right something.
Speaker 3: There were twenty something before prohibition, and after it ended,
Speaker 3: distilleries never came back until Heartfield did. And the guy
Speaker 3: who opened it, he had been an AD exeit. You'll
Speaker 3: appreciate this was an AD executive and said, I hate this,
Speaker 3: I love bourbon. I'm gonna learn how to make it.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna bottle it. I gotta bottle of it upstairs
Speaker 3: of Bourbon from the Heartfield. It's not blands, it's not
Speaker 3: you know, wood for reserve. It's good and it's fun
Speaker 3: and it's located in what used to be an automobile dealership.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So it's a great story and it all ties in
Speaker 3: well to Minor League Baseball sixth and final swig.
Speaker 2: Speaking of promotion of the year, we may just have
Speaker 2: a front runner for this one thanks to John Oliver
Speaker 2: who called out the Saint Paul Saints for being boring.
Speaker 2: Their name anyway being boring. So the Saints embraced the
Speaker 2: underwhelming and had Plane Night as in staying with their
Speaker 2: plain boring name, no wacky alter egos. The first one
Speaker 2: thousand fans got a piece of plain white paper either
Speaker 2: watt up and throw or make paper airplanes, whatever you
Speaker 2: wanted to do. Ordinary white bread instead of peanuts, was
Speaker 2: tossed into the crowd, and the concession stands sold only
Speaker 2: vanilla ice cream the entire night. They gave out free
Speaker 2: tickets to anyone named John or Oliver and Dick. There
Speaker 2: was no kiss cam. They only showed people in khaki
Speaker 2: pants and a tucked in shirt. By all accounts, a
Speaker 2: meh time was had by all.
Speaker 3: That is so great and giving away white bread reminded
Speaker 3: me of our former colleague Jack Patty. Yeah, at a
Speaker 3: radio station down the street one day, just to prove
Speaker 3: a point people will call in for anything, gave away
Speaker 3: a loaf of wonderbread. That's call her a loafa in
Speaker 3: the lines for jammed.
Speaker 2: They live up right exactly, Hey, we got some bread
Speaker 2: we don't need to store.
Speaker 3: I love stuff like that. He is Gary Mories, our
Speaker 3: Western Barrel chief. We'll come back with a couple of
Speaker 3: hot reads for Gary in just a minute around six
Speaker 3: point thirty WLP, Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 3: We are visiting with our West End Bureau chief, Gary Moore,
Speaker 3: he has gone through two guys in a six pack
Speaker 3: time to throw a couple of hot reads at him.
Speaker 3: Gary the Red Panda. You've seen her either in person
Speaker 3: or on TV. An Asian born woman Chinese I believe wrong,
Speaker 3: new from Taiwan. She rides an eight foot unicycle, balances
Speaker 3: bowls on her head, somehow tosses them up there with
Speaker 3: their hands and feet. Well, she fell. I've seen her
Speaker 3: at rupp Aerna a couple of times. Can't favorite during
Speaker 3: halftime in Minneapolis, Indiana Fever versus the Minnesota Links at
Speaker 3: the Target Center. Last night, she fell early in the app. Yeah,
Speaker 3: hurt her wrist. Tried to walk it off, being a
Speaker 3: show woman that she is, but then took a knee.
Speaker 3: Medical personnel rushed in. They brought out a wheelchair, took
Speaker 3: her off the court. Never lost consciousness, but yeah, she
Speaker 3: was in and of course I got to wonder what
Speaker 3: he did for the rest of halftime. But I don't
Speaker 3: know about you, but every time I'd watch her, I'm thinking, Man.
Speaker 2: What if she falls off that I know she did.
Speaker 2: Everybody thinks that she has to get on a ladder
Speaker 2: to get on the dang thing. Yeah, that eight foot
Speaker 2: unicycle and it's amazing. What's amazing hasn't happened before now
Speaker 2: to me?
Speaker 3: And I love her and I love what she does.
Speaker 2: And she's even been out of Murray. I believe she's
Speaker 2: been all over. Yeah, I think most every basketball arena,
Speaker 2: of all the d one.
Speaker 3: I always wondering how in the world does she get started?
Speaker 3: How she get discovered? I'm sure that's on line somewhere,
Speaker 3: but best of luck to her. This today is a
Speaker 3: forty fifth anniversary of the release. This is not sports? Really,
Speaker 3: what sort of is of airplane? I know one of
Speaker 3: your faves, one of my faves.
Speaker 2: Surely your kidding it's been forty Surely it has not
Speaker 2: been forty five years.
Speaker 3: And don't call me Shirley. What people may not know
Speaker 3: this is kind of a well known piece of trivia.
Speaker 3: Robert Hayes played the lead right audition for that David Letterman.
Speaker 3: He was a friend of the Zuckers and Jerry Abrams,
Speaker 3: the directors, and as a favorite of them, he auditioned.
Speaker 3: Didn't want it, but he auditioned, here's here's a clip.
Speaker 1: You're taking all the blame for what happened on that
Speaker 1: raid was a pretty courageous thing too.
Speaker 3: Because of my mistake, six men didn't come back from
Speaker 3: that raid.
Speaker 1: Seven lieutenants have died this week.
Speaker 3: Such a funny You hear the laughter because this clip
Speaker 3: was played on Letterman's show. But you can tell in
Speaker 3: the audition he didn't want that role, and he would
Speaker 3: have been totally wrong for it. But I like the fact,
Speaker 3: not only him. Chevy Chase turned it down. Bill Murray
Speaker 3: turned it down. Fred Willard was gonna take it, and
Speaker 3: then he's an a. It's not for me. Can you imagine?
Speaker 3: The female lead went to Julie Haggerty, Sigourney Weaver turned
Speaker 3: it down. Shelley Long Wow, the role of the doctor
Speaker 3: played by Leslie Nielsen. Vincent Price turned it down, Christopher
Speaker 3: Lee turned it down. But my favorite note on this
Speaker 3: Gary Kareem Abdul Jabbar right the co pilot Roger Murdoch.
Speaker 1: Eh.
Speaker 3: Their original choice was Pete Rose. Really Pete Rose for
Speaker 3: whatever reason turned it down. Unbelievable. So they go to Jabbar.
Speaker 3: Great choice, great line. Tell your old man to drag
Speaker 3: wall in an eir up and down the court, out
Speaker 3: there busting my buns every night. Jabbar. They offered him
Speaker 3: thirty thousand dollars. He said, I'll take it. I'll take
Speaker 3: the roll, but I need thirty five thousand dollars because
Speaker 3: he had a real affinity for oriental rugs. He had
Speaker 3: just seen one that he priced at thirty five brand
Speaker 3: and he said, I need thirty five grand done. And
Speaker 3: that's why Kareem Abdul Jabbar was in that cockpit next
Speaker 3: to Peter Graves, who originally turned down the role. Thought
Speaker 3: it was disgusting because the little kid, you know, and
Speaker 3: his family read and then they go, you gotta do this.
Speaker 3: It's hilarious. You like oysters. That's how it all came together.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's I saw that at South Park Theaters. There
Speaker 2: they're no longer there, Renolds Road and Nicholas.
Speaker 3: You know what else? Turns forty five that I also
Speaker 3: saw there at the same theater. Let me give you
Speaker 3: a hint. The Cinderella boy grill his eyes. I guess
Speaker 3: gunga yeah.
Speaker 2: Caddy Shack came out in July of nineteen eighty, as
Speaker 2: well as two of the greatest comedies of all time,
Speaker 2: neither of which were nominated for Academy Awards because the
Speaker 2: Academy hates to laugh at especially good comedies.
Speaker 3: And the great thing about that scene where Murray is
Speaker 3: killing all the flowers ad libbed yeah, riband gave him
Speaker 3: and just said have fun.
Speaker 2: As was the scene with he and Chevy Chase got added.
Speaker 2: They didn't have that originally in the script and they
Speaker 2: said you got to get these two guys together in
Speaker 2: a scene, and they just did the whole ad lib
Speaker 2: thing there.
Speaker 3: It's amazing. Yeah, and there was I think yesterday was
Speaker 3: an anniversary for Animal House or over the weekend in
Speaker 3: Belushi the food scene in the cafeteria.
Speaker 2: That was ed lib exactly. So it's the look on
Speaker 2: the face when he says, guess what I am now?
Speaker 3: Well, is it?
Speaker 1: Get it? Beautiful?
Speaker 3: Love it? Love stuff like that. He is Gary Moore.
Speaker 3: I love his stuff. He is our Western Bureau chief.
Speaker 3: Joints his each and every week. But you don't need
Speaker 3: to wait for Wednesdays. You can find him on Twitter
Speaker 3: or x at.
Speaker 2: At nine to five to five Gary, And yes, Animal
Speaker 2: House is my all time favorite movie, honest to god.
Speaker 3: You're also on x at, Big Blue and Sader one.
Speaker 3: And I saw Animal House in the theater five times,
Speaker 3: I'm not afraid to tell you that. And I've seen
Speaker 3: it many more times since. Thank you, sir, we'll see
Speaker 3: you next week. We are gonna die thanks to my
Speaker 3: guest tonight, Gary to shun Woods, to Aaron Gershaw and
Speaker 3: that's it. Good nights in the garage in Lexington listening
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 1: I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA.
Speaker 3: I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your
Speaker 3: old man at drag Waltman and Neurope and on the
Speaker 3: court for forty eight minutes.
Speaker 6: They think anything, then change tact. Doth thin toast, don't
Speaker 1: Do