Speaker 1: Uh. Oh, guess what day it is?
Speaker 2: Guess what day it is? Huh anybody?
Speaker 3: It's hump Day. Yes, it is hump Day. Dick Abriel
Speaker 3: with you on a Wednesday, and it puts us one
Speaker 3: step closer, one giant stride closer to college football four
Speaker 3: days away, less than four days away. As you hear this,
Speaker 3: a couple of minutes after six o'clock. So it's not
Speaker 3: going to be long now before the wild kids suit
Speaker 3: up and take on those Southern Miss Golden Eagles. People
Speaker 3: cannot wait. And I've talked a little bit over the
Speaker 3: last couple of weeks about whether there is the same
Speaker 3: the representative amount of excitement with their quotes when it
Speaker 3: comes to Kentucky football that we've seen in the past.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I have felt it as much,
Speaker 3: but you all have come through with your wallets, your
Speaker 3: check books, your your Vimeo accounts, whatever. Because season tickets
Speaker 3: are sold out. Man, I remember years when they they
Speaker 3: were lucky to get twenty five thousand sold. Now forty thousand,
Speaker 3: eight hundred season ticket packages have been sold. That's up
Speaker 3: six hundred from last year, new record for the Mark
Speaker 3: Stoops era going back to twenty thirteen. Also going back
Speaker 3: through the current configuration of Kroger Field, which was renovated
Speaker 3: first in twenty fifteen. And by the way, in case
Speaker 3: you're wondering about the student's sixty five hundred student season
Speaker 3: passes also sold out. That's all of them. So students
Speaker 3: sellout regular ticket buyers they buy them all. So right now,
Speaker 3: apparently there is excitement for Kentucky football, possibly beyond what
Speaker 3: I thought. I guess maybe when I hear people talk
Speaker 3: about it, they're still a little bit cautious, the old
Speaker 3: cliche cautiously optimistic. I think that holds true simply because
Speaker 3: Kentucky failed last year to win a couple of games
Speaker 3: it should have won. And now you might have a
Speaker 3: team it's even better, but you've got a much tougher schedule.
Speaker 3: I will say this, though, for a team that has
Speaker 3: not made anybody's preseason top twenty five, Kentucky finally made
Speaker 3: not just a top twenty five, but a top five.
Speaker 3: Here's what I'm talking about. The Action Sports Network Brett
Speaker 3: McMurphy used to write for ESPN dot com, tweeting this
Speaker 3: morning that they have put together both an overrated Top
Speaker 3: twenty five and an underrated Top twenty five based on
Speaker 3: preseason and final polls, and this dates back to twenty fourteen.
Speaker 3: All Right, I'm gonna give you a little bit of
Speaker 3: suspense here because the most overrated in the last ten years,
Speaker 3: most overrated Division one team based on preseason rankings, happens
Speaker 3: to be on Kentucky's schedule this year. Auburn. Auburn has
Speaker 3: performed poorly when it comes to preseason rankings versus final polls.
Speaker 3: Number two Southern col you better believe it, Number three, Wisconsin,
Speaker 3: number four, Texas A and m. That's got to go
Speaker 3: back to a couple of years ago and everybody picked
Speaker 3: him and they flopped LSU number five overrated. The rest
Speaker 3: of the top ten Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Miami, and Florida State. Now,
Speaker 3: Georgia's fourteenth on the overrated in the last ten years.
Speaker 3: So that tells you just how overrated Georgia was prior
Speaker 3: to the last two or three years when the Bulldogs
Speaker 3: became one of the powerhouses. In case you're wondering, South
Speaker 3: Carolina sixteenth on that list, Alabama seventeenth on the overrated list. Michigan,
Speaker 3: which won the national title last year, ranked twenty fifth. Now,
Speaker 3: what is the most underrated team according to the Action
Speaker 3: Network math based on preseason rankings versus postseason rankings. May
Speaker 3: surprise you, Northwestern, Yeah, those Wildcats ranked number one underrated,
Speaker 3: Cincinnati second, TCU is third, Missouri fourth at that huge
Speaker 3: year last year, and Kentucky is number five. You could
Speaker 3: see that because for the longest time Kentucky wasn't in
Speaker 3: anybody's top twenty five, but would end up, you know,
Speaker 3: eighteenth or twenty second or something like that. Last couple
Speaker 3: of years not so much, but Kentucky ranked fifth among
Speaker 3: Insea Division one teams underrated based on preseason rankings and
Speaker 3: postseason polls. After them, after the Wildcats, Central Florida, then
Speaker 3: four teams tied for seven, Arizona, Houston, Louisiana and oklahom
Speaker 3: So I really found that fascinating that somebody, first of all,
Speaker 3: took the time to do the math and the Wildcats
Speaker 3: fared well in this particular top twenty five. How will
Speaker 3: Kentucky do against Southern miss Well, we're all going to
Speaker 3: find out together, but we're going to see bush Hamden's offense.
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you a guy I expect to have
Speaker 3: a really good year is Jimury Macklin. You know, we
Speaker 3: talked so much about Barrion Brown, we talked so much
Speaker 3: about Dante Kean a good reason. But remember Jamurry Macklin
Speaker 3: is coming off two big seasons as a receiver at
Speaker 3: North Texas, but prior to that, he was at Missouri.
Speaker 3: Didn't do much there, didn't get to play much, no
Speaker 3: stats to speak of, but he played under Bush Hamden
Speaker 3: at Missouri. That means with everybody learning this new offense,
Speaker 3: Macklin had a bit of a leg up. He's the
Speaker 3: new guy, but he was able to help the veterans.
Speaker 4: Everybody's on the fresh slate man, and I kind of
Speaker 4: came from this type of offense. I've, you know, played with
Speaker 4: Bush my first year of the Malus, so everything that
Speaker 4: I know he expects, like I already know what it is.
Speaker 4: So I'm just trying to help those guys out. And
Speaker 4: you know we all started fresho.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Macklin, you got Fred Ferrier along with Key and
Speaker 3: Barry and Brown. Of course, Harley Gilmore's out for most
Speaker 3: of the season with that broken collar bone. But still
Speaker 3: there's a lot of talent in that wide receiver room
Speaker 3: and Macklin's a big part of it.
Speaker 4: Dogs Man, we got a bunch of dogs in that room.
Speaker 4: We got a lot of different players. Man, We've got
Speaker 4: a speed guy, barry On. We got a taller guy, Danny.
Speaker 4: You got like a more versatile, shorter guy in me.
Speaker 4: We've got a bunch of other guys that can step
Speaker 4: up as well. Ab Harley Fred like just we all
Speaker 4: just push each other every day to be better. And
Speaker 4: I'm excited and.
Speaker 3: By all accounts, Brock Vandergriffkin get them the football and
Speaker 3: he's going to be doing it with an uptempo style,
Speaker 3: thanks in large part to Bush ham Dan and his
Speaker 3: new offense. So it's going to be fun on Saturday night.
Speaker 3: It's a catch stick on So and Miss Coming up
Speaker 3: in a few minutes, we're going to talk more about
Speaker 3: the Kentucky volleyball team. Wildcats lost last night over in
Speaker 3: Louisville towo Nebraska, three to one. Kentucky took a fifteen
Speaker 3: to ten leave fifteen to eleven in the first set
Speaker 3: and was having its way with Nebraska, but out of
Speaker 3: the media timeout, Nebraska really flexed and took the first set.
Speaker 3: So I thought, oh, here we go. Because Nebraska really big,
Speaker 3: really talented, but Kentucky fell down eight to three in
Speaker 3: the second set and came back to win it, which
Speaker 3: was really impressive to me. And then Nebraska really found
Speaker 3: a rhythm and beat Kentucky the next two sets. In fact,
Speaker 3: for the match, Nebraska hit two fifty eight Kentucky hit
Speaker 3: just one thirty nine. Again, think of it as batting
Speaker 3: average Wildcats with fifty one kills to forty seven for Nebraska,
Speaker 3: but Kentucky thirty errors to only sixteen Nebraska and sixteen
Speaker 3: service errors for the Wildcats. So good learning experience. We'll
Speaker 3: hear from Kentucky's Craig Skinner and one of the Wildcats
Speaker 3: coming up in our next segment. But not a bad
Speaker 3: showing for Kentucky and a great showing for the AVCA event.
Speaker 3: A couple of interesting stories over in the NFL. We've
Speaker 3: heard so much about the technology they're going to use
Speaker 3: to measure first downs and everyone's so excited to do
Speaker 3: it with the chain Gangs. Apparently, during the preseason games,
Speaker 3: mixed results mean the NFL will shelve the automated first
Speaker 3: down system for the upcoming season. They're not going to
Speaker 3: use it. It's a multi gazillion dollar prospect, but apparently
Speaker 3: it's way too primitive right now to trust it in
Speaker 3: regular season games, they say that it took way too
Speaker 3: long to operate, slowed the game down even more, and
Speaker 3: it's something that is disappointing because so many people were
Speaker 3: looking forward to doing a way for the Chain Gang,
Speaker 3: but the technology just not there yet. Speaking of last night,
Speaker 3: in the volleyball match, they did not have line judges.
Speaker 3: They used cameras and computers and they had two or
Speaker 3: three challenges. They took about the same amount of time,
Speaker 3: but they didn't have as many challenges, So I think
Speaker 3: that was the bright spot. If you listen to the
Speaker 3: Kelsey Brothers podcasts and they also have it on video,
Speaker 3: you may really enjoy it, and you may enjoy the
Speaker 3: fact that they are trying to cut a deal. I
Speaker 3: think they've done it with Amazon, and I saw this
Speaker 3: reported on Awful Announcings website. The headline says the deal
Speaker 3: is worth one hundred million dollars. I dove into the
Speaker 3: story and I read the story four times, and nowhere
Speaker 3: in the story does it say one hundred million dollars.
Speaker 3: But it's in there somewhere. He's out there somewhere. Show's
Speaker 3: been on hiatus since July third. But Jason Kelsey has
Speaker 3: become popular with his commercials, and of course Travis still
Speaker 3: playing at a high level and dating a fairly high
Speaker 3: profile singer. So they are the hottest thing in podcast
Speaker 3: right now. And if indeed they have signed that check,
Speaker 3: they got paid, all right. Coming up next, we'll talk
Speaker 3: more Kentucky volleyball. Bottom of the hour, Tom Leach. Coming
Speaker 3: up in hour number two, Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard
Speaker 3: will join us as well as West End Bureau chief
Speaker 3: Gary Moore. That's our Wednesday lineup and it's all ahead.
Speaker 3: You're on a Big Blue Insider six point thirty waap.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabrielle with
Speaker 3: you coming up in just a few minuteses the voice
Speaker 3: of the Wildcats, Tom Leech. He'll call the action when
Speaker 3: Kentucky opens up with Southern Miss on Saturday. But as
Speaker 3: you know, a couple of sports already in action so
Speaker 3: far on the UK campus and all over the country,
Speaker 3: really men's and women's soccer and volleyball, which opened its season,
Speaker 3: the regular season last night with that loss. As we
Speaker 3: said to Nebraska, it was a great atmosphere. It was
Speaker 3: the American Volleyball Coaches Association Classic, a double header matching
Speaker 3: two of the locals, Kentucky and Louisville against Nebraska and Wisconsin.
Speaker 3: And if you don't know women's volleyball, and you should
Speaker 3: by now living in Lexington, if you follow UK at all,
Speaker 3: but you know, those are two of the absolute powerhouse
Speaker 3: programs in all of women's volleyball. And it was a
Speaker 3: great night, both Kentucky and Louisville losing, but there was
Speaker 3: a really great exhibition although the games counted for real,
Speaker 3: but just great examples I guess I should say of
Speaker 3: athleticism and great plays. If you watch Kentucky win the
Speaker 3: national title and you haven't watched much volleyball before or since,
Speaker 3: similar action. I mean, these kids are just throwing themselves
Speaker 3: on the floor, making incredible plays. And it was well
Speaker 3: worth staying up late last night if you were watching
Speaker 3: U of L or if you were at that match,
Speaker 3: because that one didn't start till about nine o'clock. And
Speaker 3: there were some grumbling I heard from some media people
Speaker 3: believe it or not, like I don't know why they're
Speaker 3: starting this game so late. Well, our friends on TV,
Speaker 3: this thing was on ESPN two. That's a big deal.
Speaker 3: Everything's on ESPN now, we say, but for women's volleyball
Speaker 3: in a regular season situation like this to play and
Speaker 3: of course, what do you have going on otherwise baseball? Okay,
Speaker 3: no disrespect to baseball, but college football isn't playing on
Speaker 3: a Tuesday night. The NFL isn't playing on a Tuesday night.
Speaker 3: So for women's volleyball to grab Tuesday night and work
Speaker 3: this out with ESPN two, that was huge. And then
Speaker 3: to put these high profile programs on the air equally huge.
Speaker 3: And for Kentucky to be a part of it, for
Speaker 3: UL to be a part part of it that UK
Speaker 3: used to regularly trounce u of L. Now u of
Speaker 3: l's got a powerhouse program thanks to its coach. So
Speaker 3: things are really really soaring right now for women's volleyball.
Speaker 3: And I'm telling you, I know I sound like a show,
Speaker 3: and yes I do the matches on the SEC streaming channel,
Speaker 3: but please believe me when I tell you, if you
Speaker 3: go to a volleyball match, you'll love it. If you
Speaker 3: like women's basketball, that's great. This is a different kind
Speaker 3: of sport, different pace, different tempo, different skill sets. There's
Speaker 3: room for both. But if you go to a volleyball
Speaker 3: match Kentucky against preferably a good team, so it's you know, contentious.
Speaker 3: But even if it's Kentucky, you know, sweeping somebody in
Speaker 3: three sets, I'm telling you you'll enjoy yourself. And of
Speaker 3: course coming up on Friday night, it's the Wildcats and
Speaker 3: Northern Kentucky. But Kentucky's going to be all over ESPN
Speaker 3: this year, all over the SEC new worked this year,
Speaker 3: because that's how good it is. One of the interesting
Speaker 3: side notes to this match last night Kentucky and Nebraska
Speaker 3: was Craig Skinner, you may know, was an assistant in Nebraska.
Speaker 3: I talked about this last night. That's where Mitch Barnard
Speaker 3: found him, hired and brought him to Kentucky. And he
Speaker 3: has excelled as Craig Skinner. Well, he worked for John Cook,
Speaker 3: the head coach at Nebraska, more than once. In fact,
Speaker 3: Cook said he hired Craig twice at Wisconsin and again
Speaker 3: in Nebraska. Apparently he hired Craig at Wisconsin, Craig at
Speaker 3: one point walked away and then he re hired him
Speaker 3: when he wanted to come back, so it was a
Speaker 3: real And then everybody knows everybody of course in this sport,
Speaker 3: but so it was a real gathering of athletes and
Speaker 3: coaches who enjoyed the atmosphere. And after the match, one
Speaker 3: of the first things Cook talked about was just how
Speaker 3: happy he was with the win over Kentucky and happy
Speaker 3: to see the kind of atmosphere at the Young Center.
Speaker 5: Great atmosphe Kentucky does some really nice things. Brooklyn and
Speaker 5: that cet are really good players. It took us a
Speaker 5: while to get in a good rhythm, but I really
Speaker 5: we started finally offensively. Games three and four started clicking.
Speaker 5: We got our middles going, and I mean there's some
Speaker 5: pretty good volleyball.
Speaker 3: He's referring to Brooklyn Delay, who was a tremendous freshman
Speaker 3: last year and got off to a good start this season.
Speaker 3: With nineteen kills last night led Kentucky, although she had
Speaker 3: eight errors, so she only hit one ninety think of
Speaker 3: it as batting average. It was great when it came
Speaker 3: to the kills, but way too many errors. In fact,
Speaker 3: Kentucky had more kills than Nebraska, just had way too
Speaker 3: many errors. Had sixteen service errors. You talked about the center,
Speaker 3: that's Emma Gron, probably the best setter in the country.
Speaker 3: She had forty two assists last night. It was a
Speaker 3: learning experience, obviously for the Wildcats, and that's how Craig
Speaker 3: Skinner saw it.
Speaker 6: We've always scheduled tough. It wasn't in the initial plan
Speaker 6: to play Nebraska ra off the bat in the first
Speaker 6: Hear showcase, but when Jamie offered, I was like, absolutely.
Speaker 6: You know, our players love these situations, and you know
Speaker 6: we're going to be a team that's going to be
Speaker 6: continued learning through November.
Speaker 3: So his great, great mass for us in that regard.
Speaker 3: One of the bright spots for Kentucky was the return
Speaker 3: of Brooke Boltimo, but she didn't exactly have a great match.
Speaker 3: She had what four kills and five errors, so she
Speaker 3: hit in the negatives, but she played. That's the big thing.
Speaker 3: She was supposed to be a contributor last year, coming
Speaker 3: out of Cincinnati, one of the best players in Ohio,
Speaker 3: but she injured her ankle severely in the preseason. I
Speaker 3: had to red shirt last year. But healthy and able
Speaker 3: to contribute this season and just happy to be back.
Speaker 7: It's kind of like gripping a band aid off. It
Speaker 7: felt like, you know, just getting out there for the
Speaker 7: first time, you know, training for so long in practice
Speaker 7: and then coming out here and applying that they learned
Speaker 7: a lot from this MAC. We have a great opportunity
Speaker 7: this next coming weekend. We've got three more matches to
Speaker 7: apply what we learned and continue to carry with that.
Speaker 7: But yeah, I just I think I'm learning to trust
Speaker 7: my training going those moments and continuing to apply what
Speaker 7: I've been working on in practice.
Speaker 3: Brook also congratulated the AVCA for putting on such an
Speaker 3: event and also said she loved the atmosphere. There were
Speaker 3: so many kids in that arena, a lot of little
Speaker 3: girls as you might expect, but just that's what I
Speaker 3: love seeing. I love seeing the kids come to these events.
Speaker 3: And back to John Cooked and Nebraska coach, he took
Speaker 3: notice of the fact that there were a lot of
Speaker 3: youngsters who showed up for this event.
Speaker 5: I'm glad those kids are out there because i know
Speaker 5: it's Tuesday night and school's in so so but you know,
Speaker 5: the AVCA is in Jamie's doing a great job of
Speaker 5: trying to build events to continue to build on the
Speaker 5: momentum that I think really started with the Stadium match
Speaker 5: last year and then the Final four and it's and
Speaker 5: then in the Big Ten Conference I mean almost every
Speaker 5: arena is selling out and it's hard to get tickets.
Speaker 5: I think I've read we have seven thousand people on
Speaker 5: the waiting list. So it's happening. And volleyball is a
Speaker 5: great sport and there's a lot of great players that
Speaker 5: are great role models for these kids as well.
Speaker 3: And you got to think some of those kids will
Speaker 3: be back in that building at the end of the
Speaker 3: season coming up in December at the Final Four. That
Speaker 3: was one of the great things about this event. It's
Speaker 3: a preview to what we'll see in terms of the
Speaker 3: facility and the crowds. The crowds will be much bigger
Speaker 3: of course for the Final Four in December in Louisville.
Speaker 3: So what an advantage of if UK or U of
Speaker 3: l are both can make it at the Final Four
Speaker 3: at the Young Center when it comes to women's volleyball.
Speaker 3: One other personal note, got a chance to sit with
Speaker 3: and talk and hug Kathy to Borr, my former broadcast
Speaker 3: partner on the SEC Network. Work with Kathy for several years,
Speaker 3: of course, a tremendous coach at UK administrator and has
Speaker 3: retired now after a long stint as the executive director
Speaker 3: of the Coaches Association. Had to step down a little
Speaker 3: early because of health issues. But she's doing great and
Speaker 3: she is loving what she saw in Louisville. Wanted a
Speaker 3: bigger crowd, but hey, of course you think she's going
Speaker 3: to say that, right, But it was good to see
Speaker 3: Kathy last night. Up next, Tom Leach, the Voice of
Speaker 3: the Wildcats here on six point thirty WLAP. Welcome back
Speaker 3: to the Big Bluing Sider, joining us on our celebrity
Speaker 3: hotline as my buddy, my teammate, longtime voice of the Wildcats,
Speaker 3: Tom Leech. Hear him on this very radio station every
Speaker 3: morning at eight o'clock on the Leech Report. And Tom,
Speaker 3: you're like every other talk show host in Kentucky. You're
Speaker 3: dying to talk about something new when it comes to
Speaker 3: Kentucky football. But you're the only guy who is preparing
Speaker 3: to broadcast the game on the radio for the UK Network.
Speaker 3: So let me ask you. Have you done anything different
Speaker 3: in game prep or is there anything in particular you're
Speaker 3: looking for.
Speaker 2: Nothing different in in game prep is a little Every
Speaker 2: few years, I'll kind of figure out some way to
Speaker 2: make my spotting bord a little more efficient, or you know,
Speaker 2: something will change in the way you have, like over
Speaker 2: the years, I've had to put more wide receiver slots
Speaker 2: on there, things like that, But that's about the only tweaking.
Speaker 2: But just eager to especially to see adds a pretty
Speaker 2: good that they're going about what we'll see on defensebo
Speaker 2: Kentucky and how good they will be on that side
Speaker 2: of the ball. Eager to see what the offense is
Speaker 2: going to look like. And I think you know it's
Speaker 2: a new coordinator, new system. You know, the running back
Speaker 2: positions of question mark because you get the number one
Speaker 2: guy to that chart injured, and then not much to
Speaker 2: go on for the guys who will be in that spot.
Speaker 2: And then you've got a new quarterback. You've got NFL
Speaker 2: caliber talent among the tight ends and wide receivers, maybe
Speaker 2: one or two in the offensive line depending on how
Speaker 2: things go. So just eager to see how it kind
Speaker 2: of all gets put together and plays out offensively. And
Speaker 2: I'm saying that I don't know that we'll you know,
Speaker 2: depends on how good Southern this is as to how
Speaker 2: much we really learn until they play an SEC team
Speaker 2: in Week two. So they missed three nine last year,
Speaker 2: but they flipped over the whole defensive staff and these days,
Speaker 2: you can change the look at your team a lot
Speaker 2: quicker than you used to be able to.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Stoop's talked about that with you on the
Speaker 3: air last night and at his news conference. And the offense,
Speaker 3: of course, the tempo is going to be different, and
Speaker 3: Stoop's very pleased by all early reports from what he
Speaker 3: has seen in the spring and in summer camp. You
Speaker 3: and you and mister Bracoro are going to find a
Speaker 3: new rhythm. You might not be throwing it down to
Speaker 3: your sidelines reporter as much because things should by by
Speaker 3: design be clicking a lot faster.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, that's the plan I think is you know,
Speaker 2: I think at times they'll be at more up tempo
Speaker 2: than at others. I mean, I think ideally the way
Speaker 2: Mark Stoops likes to play is if they can get
Speaker 2: a lead, and when they've been at their best, they've
Speaker 2: been good at protecting leads in the fourth quarter and
Speaker 2: so then you know, you'll play a little slower and
Speaker 2: U I think his main thing is to getting more
Speaker 2: back to being more physical in the run game. And
Speaker 2: you know that's the area when you look at you know,
Speaker 2: when when this program started to ascend really in the
Speaker 2: sixteen season when they got to the first ball game
Speaker 2: or stoops. It was with that building that identity of
Speaker 2: the Big Blue Wall and by John Flarman, and then
Speaker 2: as John passed and they've gone through a different guys
Speaker 2: coach of the old line, and it had some you know,
Speaker 2: bad luck with guys that they recruited. They were promising
Speaker 2: prospects that got injured they ever got on the field.
Speaker 2: You know, Nick Hall pushing one example, guys like that.
Speaker 2: So you know, they now seemed to be several guys back.
Speaker 2: We got a couple of transfers, one from Florida, one
Speaker 2: from Tennessee that look like they'll start on the right side.
Speaker 2: And if they can get back to recapturing that identity
Speaker 2: of just being you know, the two the program that's
Speaker 2: going to have always have an outstanding offensive line and
Speaker 2: it's going to be physical, then I think they're moving
Speaker 2: back in the right direction that they can pull that off.
Speaker 3: You know, when you think back to when things fell
Speaker 3: into place for the Big Blue Wall those years ago,
Speaker 3: I know you and I have talked about this before,
Speaker 3: is when Drake Jackson finally got to start at center.
Speaker 3: Bunch of Stallings was the center. It didn't work out
Speaker 3: as snaps were erratic, so they slide him over to
Speaker 3: guard and all he does is become an All American.
Speaker 3: And Drake drops into the starting job, which we all
Speaker 3: kind of thought he might have earned in the preseason,
Speaker 3: but no, but then he starts to win the job
Speaker 3: and he becomes an All Conference center and you know,
Speaker 3: Darian Card is there, Big George a south of a
Speaker 3: j H. So my point is everything falls into place.
Speaker 3: But they had really good players. It was recruit and developed,
Speaker 3: not all paid off. That was the lynch pin for
Speaker 3: the big Blue Wall. So all again, it always starts
Speaker 3: with talent, doesn't it. And you know, we can talk
Speaker 3: about coaching all you want, but they got to have
Speaker 3: guys like Fortner who came out of nowhere and now
Speaker 3: as an NFL starter, So you know, everybody's going to
Speaker 3: get a shot. But if you got to have a
Speaker 3: talent to begin with, don't you you do?
Speaker 2: And it doesn't always want an on line work. Do
Speaker 2: you think something is going to look good on paper,
Speaker 2: It doesn't always work as well on the field, and
Speaker 2: sometimes it does. So fort is a good example, was
Speaker 2: a guard and then moved over to center and became
Speaker 2: tremendous you know, they tried this group going into I
Speaker 2: guess it was last season with Jagger Bert playing center,
Speaker 2: thinking they could make use of his athleticism in the
Speaker 2: mold of like a you know, an athletic center, like
Speaker 2: a DERMANI Dawson was. You want to compare everybody to
Speaker 2: Hall of Paper, but I mean that kind of you know,
Speaker 2: athletic center that could use his speed to get out
Speaker 2: on the edge maybe, And you know, it's it's turned
Speaker 2: out that that wasn't the best spot for Jagger. And
Speaker 2: now I look at him and he looks bigger and
Speaker 2: that should help him be better at the guard position.
Speaker 2: Eli Cox has really talked him up the spring. Eli
Speaker 2: is now, you know, he kind of went into the
Speaker 2: last season having to make a change, and then now
Speaker 2: he's been locked in there. He got you know, eight
Speaker 2: year older Marcus Cox on the outside and the two
Speaker 2: big guys from Florida and Tennessee respectively on the right side.
Speaker 2: They had Dylan Ray. They can play multiple positions. They've
Speaker 2: got a lot of experience last year promising you know
Speaker 2: young guy and Zalm from the Norda Kentucky. So uh,
Speaker 2: I think they've got you know, seven eight guys that
Speaker 2: they probably will be able to trust to play. Malachi
Speaker 2: Wood is coming. He's probably My guess is maybe, you know,
Speaker 2: another season before we see him at his best. But
Speaker 2: he's really come on strong from Madison Central, and you know,
Speaker 2: they keep that group healthy. I really expect that it'll
Speaker 2: be a very solid offensive line, if not more than solid.
Speaker 3: Malck high Wood is the guy who catches your eye.
Speaker 3: Six foot eight and three twenty. But it's not one
Speaker 3: of these situations where his ways hanging over his belt.
Speaker 3: He looks a little bit. He reminds you of Dion
Speaker 3: Walker when you look at him and he's so big,
Speaker 3: but you can see that he's athletic, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's going to maybe be a guy
Speaker 2: like a Calvin Taylor, remember sixty nine defensive lineman, and
Speaker 2: you know it was kind of an interesting prospect that started,
Speaker 2: you know, the size, and he made himself into an
Speaker 2: All SEC player yep, yep, and.
Speaker 3: Ended up in the NFL. Talking to Tom Lee, it's
Speaker 3: the voice of the Wildcats. He'll be behind the mic
Speaker 3: when the Wildcats open up their season this Saturday night
Speaker 3: against Suttern Miss. You know, one of the names that
Speaker 3: popped up the other day. It came from one of
Speaker 3: the coaches, It came well, it came from Stoops as well.
Speaker 3: It came from the players. Fred Ferrier. I'm really really
Speaker 3: curious to see what this young man can do because
Speaker 3: you know, he came in from UAB, he is a
Speaker 3: Kentucky and played his high school ball at Franklin County
Speaker 3: High School. But Tom, when the other players talk about
Speaker 3: a guy like this, it really piques your curiosity, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: It does.
Speaker 2: Bushamon and those talked about how consistent Fred has been
Speaker 2: as a competitor from the day.
Speaker 8: Training camp started.
Speaker 2: And you know, look the Kentucky guy that went off
Speaker 2: to UAB, now he's back here. And I think, you know,
Speaker 2: their best position group is either the tight ends or
Speaker 2: the wide receivers. You know, the wide receivers led by
Speaker 2: Key and Brown. They've got good depths there. And again
Speaker 2: that's where I'm kind of really intrigued to see how
Speaker 2: Bush him and utilizes all those guys, because you know,
Speaker 2: Key and Brown are the main two guys, but Ferrier, Brown,
Speaker 2: Stevens Macklin. We haven't mentioned that Elsa's coming in with
Speaker 2: an profressive record of production. So yeah, Key and Brown
Speaker 2: are going to command a lot of attention. That could
Speaker 2: open up opportunity for somebody else to make a big
Speaker 2: play here and there.
Speaker 3: I know you can't be incredibly frank with everything you've
Speaker 3: seen because when you go to scrimmages you're kind of
Speaker 3: sworn to secrecy. But do you have any feel for
Speaker 3: how they're going to use Gavin Wimsit? I know it's
Speaker 3: in some running situations, but you know, I'm just really
Speaker 3: curious as to how often we see him and how
Speaker 3: they roll him in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't you're probably I don't know for sure.
Speaker 2: And even though it was wouldn't talk too much about it,
Speaker 2: but we can talk about the things that have been
Speaker 2: said publicly. You know, push Handon said that the might
Speaker 2: be their best ball carrier, best guy you know, with
Speaker 2: the ball in his hands. So if that's the case,
Speaker 2: you can see why they would want to make use
Speaker 2: of that. And you know, the quarterback run game certainly
Speaker 2: is going to seemingly be a lot bigger part of
Speaker 2: the offense. It wasn't will Levis's first year. Then they
Speaker 2: changed coordinators to Stanierello. He didn't want him running, wanted
Speaker 2: to protect him, I guess, and then last year wasn't
Speaker 2: the forte of Devi A. Leary to do much of that.
Speaker 2: So now they have you know, Brock I think can
Speaker 2: certainly run. Whimst certainly can and so you have guys
Speaker 2: that and you have questions at running back. So it
Speaker 2: certainly it would seem logical that you could make use of,
Speaker 2: you know, a guy like Gavin in some capacity. You know,
Speaker 2: there's short yardage situations, you know, if you don't have
Speaker 2: that Anny Snell to turn an hand to to, or
Speaker 2: Chris Rodrigo or you know, in goal line situations. I
Speaker 2: I think I've told true before. The most wasted opportunity.
Speaker 2: I always thought maybe the history of Entuckey's football was
Speaker 2: when they had Shane Boyd and Jared Lorenzeny and split
Speaker 2: Jared out. You run the wildcat type formation with Shane
Speaker 2: taking the direct snap and split Jared out wide, and
Speaker 2: somebody had to go out and cover him. Well, he
Speaker 2: could catch anything, he was athletics, So Shane let Shane
Speaker 2: throw it out to him, and you either dare a
Speaker 2: small defensive back to tackling, which wasn't gonna happen, or
Speaker 2: they have to put somebody bigger out there that Jared would.
Speaker 8: Be you know, nimble enough to get around and I
Speaker 8: just thought.
Speaker 2: There couldn't have been a more effective kind of two
Speaker 2: point play or you know, the deep red zone play
Speaker 2: than something like that.
Speaker 3: But absolutely throw him a bubble screen, yes, and then
Speaker 3: let a defensive back try to take him down. That
Speaker 3: would be Derek Ramsey situation, wouldn't it. Yes, Well, they
Speaker 3: need to put us in charge every once in a while, Tom,
Speaker 3: it'd be a lot more fun.
Speaker 2: But you know, with damn if they're using him at
Speaker 2: if they use him in some Wildcat stuff, yeah, well
Speaker 2: we'll see.
Speaker 1: That be effective.
Speaker 2: And I know it's frustrated some fans, but when it works, well,
Speaker 2: it's a very effective play. South Carolina knows that with
Speaker 2: Jojo Kemp for that twenty fourteen age. But they've never
Speaker 2: really had a situation where they had a guy there
Speaker 2: they you know, were confident putting the ball in the air,
Speaker 2: even with Bowden. And you know if you had a
Speaker 2: a guy who's actually a quarterback that is maybe doing
Speaker 2: some of that kind of stuff, well you would think
Speaker 2: that could be interesting.
Speaker 3: Tom Leach is a voice of the Wildcats. We'll come
Speaker 3: back and talk more football with Tom in just a minute.
Speaker 3: You're on a big bloom Sider six thirty wlap. Welcome
Speaker 3: back for chatting with Tom Leach. He is the radio
Speaker 3: voice of the Wildcats, and of course he'll be behind
Speaker 3: the mic when Kentucky opens up against Souttern Miss on
Speaker 3: Saturday Night and Southern Miss. It just prompts a lot
Speaker 3: of for me, Tom, with of course the comeback win
Speaker 3: by the Golden Eagles here Kentucky grinds out that when
Speaker 3: I heard you talking on your show about Josh Pascal
Speaker 3: having a big game down there, the big hit on
Speaker 3: Edo down there, that basically signaled Josh's entrance to the
Speaker 3: Kentucky defense. I'll never forget that. But it also reminds
Speaker 3: me of how the Drew Barker injury. Still, the ramifications
Speaker 3: are being felt, the ripple effect of when they couldn't
Speaker 3: develop him as their QB for three years and Juco
Speaker 3: guy started to have to roll in, and you know,
Speaker 3: the quarterback positions kind of been up in the air
Speaker 3: ever since. I don't know if it ends eventually with
Speaker 3: Cutter Bowley being a three year starter, even a two
Speaker 3: year starter, but it's just funny how that's worked out,
Speaker 3: hasn't it.
Speaker 2: It is, and you think back to that twenty sixteen
Speaker 2: game and the idea of the phrase historical hypotheticals. If
Speaker 2: something different had happened, how my history, the course of
Speaker 2: history had shaped. In that game against Southern Mez, Drew
Speaker 2: Barker threw four touchdown passes in the first half. Eddie
Speaker 2: Grant was a new offensive coordinator and came in with
Speaker 2: a rep of running a high powered passing attack at Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: and it looked like that was going to was going
Speaker 2: to build on that with this exciting quarterback prospect in Barker,
Speaker 2: and then Drew ends up getting hurt and they become
Speaker 2: basically kind of like the They had to go to
Speaker 2: Steven Johnson, a quarterback who turned out to be wonderful
Speaker 2: in that role. But they became kind of like a
Speaker 2: seventies Oakland Raiders team in that they were physical running
Speaker 2: team that hits.
Speaker 8: You with a deep bomb.
Speaker 2: You know those old day the going the way back
Speaker 2: there to Warren Wells or Fred Mellinko. But you know
Speaker 2: that they had, you know, big bombs to Bedet and
Speaker 2: Jus Johnson.
Speaker 8: And then as it then evolved to where so the.
Speaker 2: Kentucky develops this rep as a physical running team and
Speaker 2: then you lose two quarterbacks in nineteen and it becomes
Speaker 2: you know, an amazing job that Eddie did building that
Speaker 2: team around Lynn Bowden. But it got to the point
Speaker 2: where Kentucky got this rep that made it hard to
Speaker 2: recruit quarterbacks and receivers. And you know how that might
Speaker 2: have been different if Drew Barker had stayed healthy and
Speaker 2: you know, things had.
Speaker 8: Gone differently in that first name against Southern myth.
Speaker 2: Just an interesting kind of historical hypothetical.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's still being felt, but maybe it pays off.
Speaker 3: On Saturday with Rock Vandergriff, we talked a lot of offense, Tom,
Speaker 3: but I'm really curious to see how Jamon Dumas Johnson
Speaker 3: makes himself known as a Kentucky Wilkat a guy. I mean,
Speaker 3: you never hear about all Americans transferring, but when you're Georgia,
Speaker 3: you can recruit over an injured linebacker with another five
Speaker 3: star and that's what they did. This could work out well,
Speaker 3: very well.
Speaker 2: It could be a big piece of good fortune for Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Got an experienced guy inside there and Derek Jackson that thought,
Speaker 2: I'm not playing Alexafaris something inside yep. Rayner gives him
Speaker 2: depth there too, so you know with Eon Walker and
Speaker 2: then those linebackers, you know and Keyshon Silver, these guys
Speaker 2: up front and the guys in the middle of that
Speaker 2: linebacker line. You know, one would think it would be
Speaker 2: difficult to run on Kentucky and you can, you know,
Speaker 2: start with controlling the running game and then you've got
Speaker 2: an all SEC corner on one side of the field
Speaker 2: to get their best receiver. Baby, you can see why
Speaker 2: there's a lot of reason to be optimistic about the death.
Speaker 1: At the time.
Speaker 3: Before I let you go, we haven't talked much special
Speaker 3: teams and Stoops is really happy with his placekickers. I'm
Speaker 3: hearing the Wilson Barry won the punting job and he
Speaker 3: came here of course the Australian style. We thought he'd
Speaker 3: be the next if not Max Duffy's something similar, but
Speaker 3: they haven't really let him use the Rugby style of punting,
Speaker 3: which I find puzzling. But he does have a good leg, doesn't.
Speaker 2: He He does the biggest leg. I think it's a
Speaker 2: transfer for mute Martin la Ross, but I think he
Speaker 2: was expected to win the job and sounds like he hasn't.
Speaker 2: So either you know Barry it has improved, or he's
Speaker 2: just simply been more consistent.
Speaker 8: You know, if la Ross has got.
Speaker 2: The biggest leg, then there'll probably be you know, you know,
Speaker 2: he'll keep the heat on Barry at that position, which
Speaker 2: ought to you know, build improved performance if you've got
Speaker 2: somebody pushing you hard for your job. I can't remember
Speaker 2: all the details, but Kach Buller was on the Sunday
Speaker 2: Morning Show earlier this summer and he gave a good
Speaker 2: explanation about his approach and why they didn't want to
Speaker 2: use the Australian style hunting. And I can't remember all
Speaker 2: the details. One of us can get him on the
Speaker 2: air again and get him to talk about it again.
Speaker 2: But it was just I thought an excellent explanation. Even
Speaker 2: if he didn't agree with it, you understood his thinking
Speaker 2: on and so you know it's the bottom line is
Speaker 2: they have to be better at the punting game, and
Speaker 2: they with Loross and then the freshman Colway, they should
Speaker 2: be better at kickoffs. And last year I had a
Speaker 2: chance Pour a little hurt at the end and then
Speaker 2: Rainer had to kick and he just didn't have as
Speaker 2: big a leg for kickoffs, and so that hurt them
Speaker 2: in the bowl game tremendously right, and that kickoff part
Speaker 2: of it should be much improved. They've got a great
Speaker 2: return game. They just need to really solidify the punting
Speaker 2: and you know, it sounds like it's going to be
Speaker 2: bare to start.
Speaker 8: And if he can hold on to the.
Speaker 2: Job, I know the other guy's got a big leg.
Speaker 2: So Ferry can hold onto the job through his performance
Speaker 2: that dought to lead to improvement, yep.
Speaker 3: And if he can place it the way Max Stuffy
Speaker 3: did and maybe occasionally break went off and run it
Speaker 3: the way Max did. Fun when when he won the
Speaker 3: Ray Guy Award, the one highlight they showed Max was
Speaker 3: him running for a first down again Missouri in the rain,
Speaker 3: So he still laughs about that. Tom Leach is the
Speaker 3: radio voice of the Wildcats. How many years now? For football?
Speaker 3: I know you did football before you did basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I started football in ninety seven, So what would
Speaker 2: this would be? The twenty seventh year, the twenty eighth a.
Speaker 3: Then and for Pacoro the twenty fifth year, and for
Speaker 3: me the thing.
Speaker 2: He started pick started in two thousands. He're the dean,
Speaker 2: you're the dean of Mark Stewts is the dean of coaches.
Speaker 2: He're the dean of Sideline Report.
Speaker 3: Nineteen eighty nine. About that all right, Well, we can't
Speaker 3: wait to get started. Tom Leach listen to him every
Speaker 3: morning on this very radio station on the Leach Report,
Speaker 3: and of course on Saturday night. Thank you, Sarah. We'll
Speaker 3: see you at the Ballyard.
Speaker 2: Yes, I can't wait.
Speaker 3: Unforgettable Guard Shawn Woods is up next in our number two.
Speaker 3: Then it's West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on
Speaker 3: the Big Blue Siders six thirty wlap. Welcome back to
Speaker 3: the Big Blue Insider and joining us as he does
Speaker 3: each and every Wednesday, is the Unforgettable Guard. Sean Woods,
Speaker 3: a Jersey hangs in the rafters of rupp, a veteran
Speaker 3: of the coaching wars, and of course a wildcat who
Speaker 3: played under Rick Patino back in the day. And you, guys, coach,
Speaker 3: you played some tough games under Patino. He believed in
Speaker 3: scheduling tough, I know. And you had to, didn't you
Speaker 3: as a head coach, because you were at schools that
Speaker 3: needed to play those tough road games for budgetary reasons.
Speaker 3: I'm refraying, of course, to Kentucky and Nebraska playing last
Speaker 3: night in the volleyball event. But tell me a little
Speaker 3: bit about helping your teams learn even though they're taking
Speaker 3: their lumps.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, like you said that, you know, the
Speaker 1: schools I coached that we had to because we had
Speaker 1: to bring in so much money from a budgetary standpoint.
Speaker 1: So what I did was I used it to my advantage,
Speaker 1: and most schools at my level did it, especially in
Speaker 1: the Southwestern Athletic Conference, where you want it if you
Speaker 1: got to make the money. To you, you know, all
Speaker 1: those schools that you have to play are pretty much
Speaker 1: better than you, having more resources than you probably got,
Speaker 1: you know, from a recruiting standpoint, got higher rated players
Speaker 1: than you. But you wanted to go out there and
Speaker 1: you wanted to test to get you ready for conference.
Speaker 1: And what better way to do that is to go
Speaker 1: out and play the best in Kentucky And most of
Speaker 1: the when I played Shooes, we played Notre Dame, we
Speaker 1: played North Carolina, we played Kansas. You know, so there's
Speaker 1: always fining. If everybody wants to play the toughest teams
Speaker 1: to get them ready for the league and also to
Speaker 1: see where they are. And you know you're talking about volleyball.
Speaker 1: We were talking about that earlier. It's just a true
Speaker 1: test whether for protect you wildcast to gauge whether you
Speaker 1: are right now, and then also what they need to
Speaker 1: work on as they go throughout the season, because they're
Speaker 1: going to make these type of people again to have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to go to the NC Double A tournament.
Speaker 1: We won an NC Double A championship.
Speaker 3: I remember when you guys went down to North Carolina
Speaker 3: and everybody thought you'd get blown out and if not
Speaker 3: for some funky calls, you might pull an upset down
Speaker 3: there in Chapel Hill, and the other things I remember
Speaker 3: about that was I think it might have been John Pelfrey,
Speaker 3: maybe it was. You told me that coming out of
Speaker 3: that game gave you guys so much confidence that you
Speaker 3: could go down and having a good Nor Carolina team
Speaker 3: in a tough spot, but playing them that tough gave
Speaker 3: you all so much confidence moving forward. And yet Patino
Speaker 3: decided to cancel that series, which you know, for better
Speaker 3: or worse, it just kind of tick some people off.
Speaker 3: But what do you recall about that, and hell, it
Speaker 3: helped build your ball club.
Speaker 1: Well, you got to remember, now, no one wanted to
Speaker 1: come into rough right, you know, that's the only thing
Speaker 1: I questioned was why we had to go to Why
Speaker 1: do we have to go to all these places and
Speaker 1: play them? We played Carolina in the Dean Dome, but
Speaker 1: then we had to play Carolina and Freedom Hall. You know,
Speaker 1: we play Indiana in Assembly Hall, but then we had
Speaker 1: to play them in either Louisville or a neutral site
Speaker 1: like the Hoosier Don't Yeah, you know, so it really
Speaker 1: wasn't fair. And I understood coach at that particular time, like,
Speaker 1: you know, who's doing these deals, you know, who's scheduling
Speaker 1: this to where we have to play at their home site.
Speaker 1: But then they don't want to come playing rough. And
Speaker 1: I heard grumblings that, you know, Bob Knight never like
Speaker 1: could come playing rough, so on and so forth, But
Speaker 1: we came and played in the Assembly Hall. You know,
Speaker 1: I just didn't buy that. But nowadays, these Power five
Speaker 1: schools are playing in classics because of money, so on
Speaker 1: and so forth. You know, they're playing in the uh
Speaker 1: in in places like you know Mark, I mean of
Speaker 1: Madison Madison Square Guards. Yeah, so it's kind of changed
Speaker 1: because TV is taken over, but it's still you go
Speaker 1: up against the nation's best, and you know, the Blue
Speaker 1: blush need to go against each other. I think the
Speaker 1: Kansas and Kentucky's, Indiana's, you know, the North Carolina's, the
Speaker 1: dude you know, and whoever else is hot at that
Speaker 1: time need to clash like they have been doing, just
Speaker 1: for competitive nature, you know what I'm saying, tradition, pride,
Speaker 1: you know, not trying to schedule cupcake games, you know,
Speaker 1: to statue your win loss record. But if you were
Speaker 1: one of those schools, why not want to play against
Speaker 1: the kids? I always wanted to play against the top
Speaker 1: schools when I was in college. The only teams that
Speaker 1: we did not play were the teams out West. We
Speaker 1: never went out West. We never played UCLA, you know,
Speaker 1: we never played those teams for whatever reason. But everybody
Speaker 1: else we played. You know who was really really good.
Speaker 3: Well, you were never short on confidence. I know that
Speaker 3: about you. But I will tell you I know this
Speaker 3: for a fact because he told me when it came
Speaker 3: to scheduling North Carolina that was Sam Newton's doing, because
Speaker 3: you know, he took over after the insane investigation, and
Speaker 3: there were schools that just didn't want to play you guys,
Speaker 3: just because of uh, you know, the fallout from the
Speaker 3: investigation and see him went to Dean Smith and said, look,
Speaker 3: it would merely help our credibility, believe it or not,
Speaker 3: if you would play us. And and Dean Smith said, okay,
Speaker 3: but you know the caveat obviously was I don't want
Speaker 3: to come to Rupperena. So he had the bargaining power there,
Speaker 3: and I'm certain that's probably what happened with Indiana as well.
Speaker 3: But you guys still made to work for you, didn't you.
Speaker 1: We did, you know? And you know we went to
Speaker 1: Kansas at one year. We get beat fifty five the
Speaker 1: first year, but Kansas did come the rupt, you know,
Speaker 1: and we got him.
Speaker 3: Oh you got him good, didn't you?
Speaker 1: We got him good? And uh, I just think, you know,
Speaker 1: even now, you know, if I'm playing, if I'm coaching
Speaker 1: at a mid major, I still want to play two
Speaker 1: three high major schools. One recruiting too, I want to
Speaker 1: see where I'm at, and three as a coach, I
Speaker 1: want to see how well I can do if fair
Speaker 1: with the guy who's who's you know, been coaching twenty
Speaker 1: thirty years.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I was at Missipi Valley, you know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to go plag it because I had to so I
Speaker 1: chose the toughest schools in America too, that was gonna
Speaker 1: pay the most money. So the people paid the most
Speaker 1: money were the bigger, the best teams, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to fare. Maybe we want to win the game, but
Speaker 1: I wanted to see from a percentage wise, you know,
Speaker 1: how many times can I come out of a time
Speaker 1: out of score? You know, how many times can I
Speaker 1: come out out and and and stop them from scoring?
Speaker 1: How can I you know, the rebounding margin, the turnover
Speaker 1: the sister turnover ratio, rebound offensive rebounds, how many can
Speaker 1: can we get against this high power team? How many
Speaker 1: times can we turn them over?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: So there were little nuggets and a little small points
Speaker 1: that I wanted to do to go when I'm going
Speaker 1: against these teams, to challenge myself and see where I
Speaker 1: was even though we weren't there from a physical standpoint
Speaker 1: or or a player standpoint.
Speaker 3: Before I hit the break. Looking back, you took Mississippi
Speaker 3: Valley State. That was one of three teams you took
Speaker 3: the post play. You got them in the nca Tournament,
Speaker 3: which I know was a huge deal. He had an
Speaker 3: incredible season, seventeen to one in the conference. You win
Speaker 3: your conference tournament, which is the only way you're going
Speaker 3: to get in, and you're playing the first four and
Speaker 3: you lose by a point to Western Kentucky, which just
Speaker 3: had to be heartbreaking because I believe the way it
Speaker 3: played out was next up, you guys would have played Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Right, Yes, yeah, yes, how tough was that? I was
Speaker 1: so devastated. You know, we were winning the whole game,
Speaker 1: and but foul trouble kind of plagued us a little bit.
Speaker 1: I was only playing seven guys, oh really, and two
Speaker 1: of them filed out, well, actually three of them, and
Speaker 1: I had to play another kid that really hadn't played
Speaker 1: all year, and one of them was my point guard.
Speaker 1: So you know, you struggled down the stretch just holding
Speaker 1: on to the ball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, wow, well what it's always would have should have,
Speaker 3: could have? But that was that was about quite a
Speaker 3: year when Kentucky he wins the national title. That and
Speaker 3: by the way, you would have played UK in Louisville,
Speaker 3: which would have been another bonus for you, not too
Speaker 3: far from home, and you had played in Louisville before.
Speaker 3: And that particular season, there were two different occasions that
Speaker 3: saw a fifteen upset A two, which, as you know,
Speaker 3: just doesn't happen very often. So anyhow, another walk down
Speaker 3: memory lane too.
Speaker 1: We were that we had the second longest running streak
Speaker 1: behind Kentucky. Kentucky had the longest winning streak, and us
Speaker 1: in Missippi Valley had the second longest. Winn Street seventeenth Street.
Speaker 3: No kidding, that's oh see, I didn't even know that. Man. Well, well,
Speaker 3: you know, you live and learn, all right, We'll take
Speaker 3: a break, come back, talk a little more football with
Speaker 3: Sean Woods of the Unforgettable Fame. His jersey hangs in
Speaker 3: the rafters of are up. Back in a minute on
Speaker 3: six thirty wlap. Welcome back to the big lum Sider.
Speaker 3: We're talking with Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard, of course,
Speaker 3: played at Kentucky late eighties, early nineties. Sean football was
Speaker 3: struggling back then, making the change from Jerry Clayburn to
Speaker 3: Bill Curry, not like it is now with bowl games
Speaker 3: and everything. How did football figure into your life as
Speaker 3: a college student? Did you guys come to games? Did
Speaker 3: you know many of the football players I was coach to?
Speaker 1: Mostly all of them? You know, we mel met at
Speaker 1: cat which was a you know, study hall, and we
Speaker 1: all became friends and we hung out, party have fun
Speaker 1: with each other. You know, I'll tell you what. It was,
Speaker 1: just a great friendship between us. Even though they were solid,
Speaker 1: they weren't bad, were solid. You know, they went to
Speaker 1: bowl games. I can't remember ninety three, I think, you
Speaker 1: know Poopy Jones and those guys, you know, the Affarrals,
Speaker 1: the so the John Bowters, the Phil Logan's, the Ron Robinson.
Speaker 1: You know, those guys were good guys. I just loved
Speaker 1: hanging with him and we had a great time. We
Speaker 1: had great memories just being college athletes and also not
Speaker 1: liking school, but we had to do school and go
Speaker 1: on to cat so we you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: us major and the same thing. You know, the Sterling
Speaker 1: Wards of the world. You know, it was a really
Speaker 1: good friend of mine, so you know, there was a
Speaker 1: close bond with us. We worked out with them sometimes,
Speaker 1: especially in the off season. You know, we all shared
Speaker 1: at your Berry a little bit, so you know, it
Speaker 1: was it was It was a fun time. It was
Speaker 1: a tough time. But when Rock Oliver came in and
Speaker 1: those guys were seeing us work out, they tried Rock
Speaker 1: but but but they couldn't handle Rock really, so that
Speaker 1: while we were really good and they weren't so far
Speaker 1: because mentally and physically they weren't ready for Rock Oliver.
Speaker 1: We had to endure Rock Oliver. They didn't have to endure.
Speaker 1: They could, they could walk away whenever they wanted to,
Speaker 1: and by god they did.
Speaker 3: I remember Pat Etcherberry and obviously Rock still around. I
Speaker 3: did not know that that they dip their toe into
Speaker 3: the rock water. That's interesting. As we talked to Sean Woods.
Speaker 1: A couple of them, not all of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I understand that completely. NFL season is nearby,
Speaker 3: and you grew up in Indianapolis. Are you a coach
Speaker 3: fan or where are your loyalties Lye? In the NFL?
Speaker 1: I am a coach fan, but I am a great
Speaker 1: organization fan. I am a fan of coaches that still
Speaker 1: continue to stress discipline and professionalism. And I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what the Pittsburgh Stielers were at the top, New England
Speaker 1: Patriots or the Epitome at one time, but right now
Speaker 1: it's the Pittsburgh still is because he's been so consistent, Yes,
Speaker 1: and his message is the same. Unfortunately, you know, it's
Speaker 1: a player's game, and he hasn't had a great quarterback
Speaker 1: since Roethlisberger when he was younger, and why not feel
Speaker 1: so sorry for him? But man, he stays competitive no
Speaker 1: matter who's on his team, who he's got, and they're
Speaker 1: always in the playoffs. So that's great sustainability and the
Speaker 1: less you know what type of guy he is, and
Speaker 1: he has the longest tenure of any head coach in
Speaker 1: the NFL.
Speaker 3: That's right. Yeah, before I shift you over a well,
Speaker 3: let me put it this way. Before I let you go,
Speaker 3: I got to ask you about this nonsense with Anthony
Speaker 3: Edwards and now the other veteran NBA players are chiming in.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw his comments saying that
Speaker 3: players from back in the nineties couldn't I don't know
Speaker 3: his exact comments, but wouldn't prosper in today's game, We haven't,
Speaker 3: Garnett and a lot of guys clap back at him, saying,
Speaker 3: guys today couldn't handle what we did back in the nineties.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you're familiar with all this stuff,
Speaker 3: but that seems pretty absurd. And I know Edwards is
Speaker 3: maybe the best player in the game and a Gold
Speaker 3: medal player, but come on, man, you can't say that,
Speaker 3: can you?
Speaker 1: I have a son who's in this era. Okay, he's
Speaker 1: twenty three years and I coached him and he has
Speaker 1: pretty much all these young young guys have the same mentality. Okay,
Speaker 1: because I'm just gonna be honest with you. They never
Speaker 1: went through anything. They don't know what a virtuity is.
Speaker 1: Look at college basketball right now, you can transfer. You
Speaker 1: don't have to sit and wait by your time and
Speaker 1: wait for that senior who's been there four years to leave,
Speaker 1: so you can, you know, you can have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to play. You know, it's so much of a microwave society.
Speaker 1: These kids don't know nothing and whatever. You and I
Speaker 1: had had this conversation and we've been talking about it
Speaker 1: is these guys don't know the past. They don't know history,
Speaker 1: so they have no clue. And if you don't have
Speaker 1: any clue, you don't have any respect for what has
Speaker 1: come before you. And how can we blame them? How
Speaker 1: can we get on them when they really don't know?
Speaker 1: You know, we didn't have all this social media. We
Speaker 1: had TV, okay, and we watched what our parents watched.
Speaker 1: So if you had a dad, or you went over
Speaker 1: your friend's house and they had a dad and they
Speaker 1: were watching sports. You were watching Doctor J. You were
Speaker 1: watching David Thompson, you were watching Moses Malone, you were
Speaker 1: watching Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jamal Wilson, Gus Williams. These guys,
Speaker 1: these guys don't be. These kids right now haven't even
Speaker 1: heard of. So there's no respect. Okay, the game has
Speaker 1: changed because there's this's freedom of movement. There's not a
Speaker 1: lot of contact, there's not a lot of physicality. There's
Speaker 1: no fear of going inside on a hard drive and
Speaker 1: getting knocked on your behind by a seven foot, three
Speaker 1: hundred pounder. Okay, these guys don't know who Artist Gilmore is,
Speaker 1: who will knock your blocks off. They don't know the
Speaker 1: Jack Sigmals, They don't know the Bill Lambert's, you know,
Speaker 1: the cheam Elijah was. They probably hurt them, but never
Speaker 1: watched them. So that stuff that Anthony Evers is saying
Speaker 1: is just a proud He's just a product of today's society.
Speaker 1: He don't know. He can't even tell you, you know,
Speaker 1: like he said he didn't know how good Magic Johnson was.
Speaker 1: He don't even know who Magic is. You know, these
Speaker 1: guys don't even know who Isaiah Thomas is how tough
Speaker 1: he was as a little guy that had to, you know,
Speaker 1: play and find his niche between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
Speaker 1: You know, oh, they don't. They don't understand that. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't even know the college that they go to.
Speaker 1: They don't even know the best players that went to
Speaker 1: that college. I guarantee you right now, you can go
Speaker 1: to Duke University, Okay, and probably eight out of the thirteen,
Speaker 1: probably nine or ten out of the thirteen scholarship players
Speaker 1: couldn't tell you about Bobby Hurley or Christian Lightner.
Speaker 3: Maybe so yeah, I'm sure they've heard the names, but
Speaker 3: that's all they know.
Speaker 1: That's all they know. You go to Kentucky right now
Speaker 1: and go overad and watch them right now, and you
Speaker 1: can have fifteen of the greatest Kentucky basketball players ever
Speaker 1: played the game at the University Kentucky and they wouldn't
Speaker 1: know what they would know that one of them.
Speaker 3: Well, we have talked about that, and Edwards took it
Speaker 3: a step further, saying, you know, guys from that generation
Speaker 3: couldn't hang now, and Garnett came back, he said, I
Speaker 3: don't think anybody in this generation could have played twenty
Speaker 3: years ago, so you're exactly to your point. It was
Speaker 3: so much more physical. But Edwards, I think, just just
Speaker 3: trying to read between the lines, were saying because of
Speaker 3: that style of ball, they couldn't hang with this generation
Speaker 3: because this generation is more about the quick moves and
Speaker 3: three pointers, you know. And he made it sound like
Speaker 3: it's better now, but it's not. I don't think.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine doctor j playing in a freedom of movement?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that now? Can you imagine Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: playing the freedom of movement?
Speaker 3: Edwards did say, with the exception of Michael Jordan, didn't
Speaker 3: even mention Coby.
Speaker 1: You know why, because he's the only person he knows.
Speaker 1: That's true, because Michael Jordan is still relevant with his
Speaker 1: shoes and everybody's saying he's still the goat. That's the
Speaker 1: only thing he knows about Michael Jordan. He knows nothing
Speaker 1: else about Michael Jordan. Nobody else does.
Speaker 3: I'm going to keep an eye on this one because
Speaker 3: I love getting you riled up. You gotta that that
Speaker 3: cherubic face that you look like you're still in your
Speaker 3: thirties but you're not, but your old school man. That's
Speaker 3: why I like getting you riled up.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you know it's it's we're we're trying
Speaker 1: to cater to young people, so there's no guidance, there's
Speaker 1: no setting examples anymore. You know, you got to walk
Speaker 1: on eggshells with kids now, right now to even save
Speaker 1: your job. It's not it's you know, it's not the
Speaker 1: parents anymore. It's the kids who's ruined the roost. And
Speaker 1: even parents want to become friends with their kids instead
Speaker 1: of being parents to them because of you know, these
Speaker 1: kids can't handle adversity. You know, they always go to
Speaker 1: uh mental states, to where they're they're mentally disturbed, and
Speaker 1: soon somebody mentions that we back off. Well, we went
Speaker 1: through the same thing even worse, and yeah we have
Speaker 1: sometimes we go sit in our room and cry and
Speaker 1: beat down and things like that. Yeah, but we came
Speaker 1: out of that room fighting, clawing and scratching to make
Speaker 1: our way in this world. Now, we gotta hold these
Speaker 1: kids' hands. As soon as they get depressed. We want
Speaker 1: to put them on medicine. We got to. We want
Speaker 1: to put them on watch to see if they're suicidal,
Speaker 1: if they have parents, Their parents are calling saying that
Speaker 1: you're not you're too tough on them, you know, verbal abuse,
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. Well, where's the world being
Speaker 1: ready to come to? If that's the case, and this
Speaker 1: is how we're raising young people anymore.
Speaker 3: Seanas is the unforgettable guard. We have him on each
Speaker 3: and every week. Coach, thank you so much. We'll talk
Speaker 3: to you again, all right, Dack. Western Buera Chief Gary
Speaker 3: Moore is next here on six thirty wlap. Welcome back
Speaker 3: to the Big Bloma Cider. It is Wednesday, and that means,
Speaker 3: of course Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore joined us, how
Speaker 3: do you? And he has been spying on the world
Speaker 3: of sports, as he always does, and he's ready with
Speaker 3: a long list of observations.
Speaker 9: Well at least six for our two guys in a
Speaker 9: six pack. And by the way, before we forget.
Speaker 3: Here, I'll be.
Speaker 9: Making one of my rare public appearances outside captivity a week.
Speaker 3: From today in your garage. How about that thing over there?
Speaker 3: I can't wait it in color? That's right.
Speaker 9: Well, I hope your Week zero wasn't a complete zero,
Speaker 9: because here we go Week one. Did Gabriel College football
Speaker 9: for you over there in the lex and over here
Speaker 9: for us in the Ville of First Saturday high noon
Speaker 9: U of L and FCSFO Austin p out of Clarksville, Tennessee.
Speaker 9: It'll be on the ACC network. And then seven hours
Speaker 9: and forty five minutes later you'll be down there on
Speaker 9: the sideline when UK hosts Southern miss that's on the
Speaker 9: SEC network at seven forty five Saturday night. And if
Speaker 9: you were to ask me how I think the Cards
Speaker 9: and the Cab will do this season, I will quote
Speaker 9: a line from the uber eloquent Schultz from Hogan's Heroes.
Speaker 3: I know nothing. Yeah, thank you for not asking.
Speaker 9: I mean last year, did I think UK would have
Speaker 9: their second seven and six season in a row?
Speaker 2: Nope?
Speaker 9: And did I think that UFL would be ten and
Speaker 9: one going into the Kentucky game?
Speaker 3: Double Nope?
Speaker 9: But is Bill Parcells once worn? Comparing this year to
Speaker 9: last year in football is a fools game?
Speaker 3: Hey?
Speaker 9: Just ask Florida State, right, Well, I predict Louisville will
Speaker 9: be about seven and four, possibly eight and three when
Speaker 9: they come to Lexington November thirtieth, And I'm thinking UK.
Speaker 9: I was going down the list last night, who knows
Speaker 9: six and five? Maybe seven four as well?
Speaker 3: I've got them potentially eight. I don't know if they
Speaker 3: can get to nine, but they can't. Kentucky just can't
Speaker 3: stumble through games it's supposed to win, which is what
Speaker 3: happened two or three times last year. Last year's team
Speaker 3: could have one, you know, you would have won eight,
Speaker 3: could have won nine or ten, that kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Louisville is a mystery to me simply because of the quarterback. Yeah,
Speaker 3: played for an ACC title last year, has some talent. Back,
Speaker 3: has a huge transfer class, but a quarterback, that's what
Speaker 3: in the seventh year and he's been injured every year. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: so what do we know. We don't know anything. But
Speaker 3: last year Kentucky out played Louisville. You're a those home turf,
Speaker 3: but you got to throw that out the window because
Speaker 3: these are well, Louisville's entirely different and UK's got some
Speaker 3: new faces. Parsales was right. Yeah, a lot of football
Speaker 3: between now and then, though.
Speaker 9: Absolutely our second swig speaking of that. Even before the
Speaker 9: Cats and the Cards kick off their seasons tomorrow night,
Speaker 9: my hometown Murray State Racers visit number eleven Missouri. Yeah,
Speaker 9: eight pm, SEC Network And at last glans Dick Missoo's
Speaker 9: a forty six and a half point favorite.
Speaker 3: It was forty eight.
Speaker 9: ESPN is giving the Tigers a ninety nine percent probability
Speaker 9: of a win over Murray, so they're saying there's As
Speaker 9: for other Kentucky programs, Morehead in Central State at six
Speaker 9: Tomorrow night up at the Jane Stadium. On Saturday, you
Speaker 9: got EKU at six o'clock visiting Mississippi State on ESPN Plus,
Speaker 9: and my alma mater, Western Kentucky gets to be the
Speaker 9: sacrificial feast for the Kaitlin Debor era era beginning at
Speaker 9: the seven o'clock Saturday night against Alabama on the ESPN mothership.
Speaker 9: It's on the main one National TV. Bama is a
Speaker 9: thirty two point favorite and only a ninety seven percent probability,
Speaker 9: so they're saying there's a well, they're saying, there's one
Speaker 9: hundred percent chance that Western's going to get a one
Speaker 9: point nine million payout.
Speaker 3: That's for sure.
Speaker 9: I'm going to practice switching back and forth from the
Speaker 9: UK and WKU games on Saturday by Tomorrow night, switching
Speaker 9: back and forth between Murray and Missoo and the North
Speaker 9: Dakota State Bison at the Colorado Buffaloes game on ESPN,
Speaker 9: also at eight tomorrow night. Fun fact to know, Intel, Dick,
Speaker 9: did you know Colorado's mascot is in fact a bison
Speaker 9: and not a true buffalo?
Speaker 3: Wow? Did you know their coach is also.
Speaker 9: A man, a very small man who can't handle unflattering
Speaker 9: words about him since, as the athletics Jim Trotter says,
Speaker 9: Dion has the skin as thin as one ply toilet paper.
Speaker 3: Go North Dakota State, And this guy was a world
Speaker 3: class defensive back. You're supposed to have a short memory,
Speaker 3: be able to get over problems and failures quickly, and
Speaker 3: things like that. Yeah, he's refused to talk to a
Speaker 3: columnists from the Denver newspaper. And you know he had
Speaker 3: problems with the local CBS affiliate because he didn't understand
Speaker 3: the difference between network and local affiliates. So yeah, Dion
Speaker 3: is he's making things tougher than he needs to.
Speaker 9: Well, the more you think these guys are tough guys,
Speaker 9: they're not. And we'll have another example of that later
Speaker 9: on our third twig in the six pack. Besides all
Speaker 9: those games, there's some huge matchups hitting two ranked teams
Speaker 9: against each other all week in Long Roll in that
Speaker 9: early season, Dice on noon Saturday, ABC.
Speaker 3: Are you ready?
Speaker 9: Number fourteen Clemson at number one Georgia. Well it's at Atlanta,
Speaker 9: so same deal. Georgia a thirteen and a half point favorite.
Speaker 9: Last Check Saturday Night seven thirty. Also in ABC number
Speaker 9: seven Notre Dame at number twenty Texas A and M
Speaker 9: A and M is a three point favorite. Last check
Speaker 9: and another Saturday noon game. I know you're going to
Speaker 9: be especially interested in number eight Penn State at West Virginia. Yep,
Speaker 9: that'll be a barn burner on Sunday Night. Sunday Night
Speaker 9: seven thirty and ABC the lone college game. Number twenty
Speaker 9: three USC and number thirteen LSU not in La not
Speaker 9: in Baton Rouge, but in Vegas at that Allegiance Stadium
Speaker 9: dome thinging. LSU is currently a four and a half
Speaker 9: point favorite. And on Monday Night ESPN seven thirty, it's
Speaker 9: the road to either redemption or irrelevance as number ten
Speaker 9: until next week's first poll, Florida State hosting Boston College.
Speaker 9: And of course, by the way, you've heard the joke
Speaker 9: going around about Florida State suing the ACC to get
Speaker 9: out of the conference. Hey, after the Georgia Tech game,
Speaker 9: the ACC should be suing Florida State.
Speaker 3: Huh yeah, how about that?
Speaker 9: Uh? Out of Clemson, Uh, Georgia, Notre Dame A, and
Speaker 9: m USC at LSU. Which ranked team do you think
Speaker 9: has the most at stake? I would say Clemson maybe
Speaker 9: at this point I.
Speaker 3: Would say so, But you know what, the more I
Speaker 3: think about Georgia's situation, because Michigan's got a new head coach,
Speaker 3: the quarterback moved on, and all that. So how much
Speaker 3: pressure could there be on Michigan. There's always pressure, but
Speaker 3: to follow up as a national champ I doubt it.
Speaker 3: But Georgia was the team that failed put air quotes
Speaker 3: in the playoff last year, and now the question is
Speaker 3: can Georgia get back? So, minus Michigan's presence in the
Speaker 3: in the big pressure picture, I honestly think Georgia has
Speaker 3: got the most pressure, even more than Alabama for the
Speaker 3: same reason new QB new head coach Kirby Smart's coming back.
Speaker 3: Can he do it again? You mentioned the West Virginia
Speaker 3: Penn State game. That'll be great because there are adjacent states.
Speaker 3: For you geography majors, you know this, but it's not
Speaker 3: going to be like the Pittsburgh West Virginia game, which
Speaker 3: is a bitter rivalry, but West Virginia likes to prove
Speaker 3: itself against the likes of Penn State, so that could
Speaker 3: be that will be an incredibly intense game. There may
Speaker 3: be some smoking couches by the end of the weekend.
Speaker 3: Our fourth swig and the six pack.
Speaker 9: With the return of college football also comes to pregame shows,
Speaker 9: and this year you've already seen. The Worldwide Leader has
Speaker 9: added arguably the greatest college football coach of all time,
Speaker 9: Nick Saban, a guy who often bitched at and about
Speaker 9: the media on a regular basis, and now he's a
Speaker 9: purveyor of so called rat poison himself. And I'm okay
Speaker 9: for the most part with ESPN adding him, it's kind
Speaker 9: of a no brainer. And of course I got to
Speaker 9: bring back coach Corso when he's able, But you know,
Speaker 9: Dick Is, as much as I like his namesake show
Speaker 9: on the network, I can honestly do without Pat McAfee
Speaker 9: and his WWE whoops and hollers and cartoony carrying on
Speaker 9: no offense, Pat, wherever you are, it just needs that
Speaker 9: there's one too many seats at their football feast now,
Speaker 9: and that's even without their celebrity picker. I have no
Speaker 9: idea who Fox still has or have added to their
Speaker 9: pregame Yakfest, nor do I care. I never watched them anyway,
Speaker 9: especially Urban Myers around. But you see that's the problem
Speaker 9: for me anyway. Too many at the table, too many
Speaker 9: opinions and predictions and ex players posturing the process. It's exhausting.
Speaker 9: And that goes for the NFL shows too. We don't
Speaker 9: need five or six or sometimes seven four at the max. Okay,
Speaker 9: I'll sit down now.
Speaker 3: No, I couldn't agree more. And it was interesting to me.
Speaker 3: I wondered when this was gonna happen the NFL today
Speaker 3: on CBS axes Louisville native Phil Simms and Boomerasiacen the
Speaker 3: former Bengals QB in the off season. That was a
Speaker 3: table that was an anchor desk. It was way overcrowded, Yeah,
Speaker 3: because you got really smart people on there. But with
Speaker 3: you know, four, five, six, seven, A how them every
Speaker 3: many who gets a chance to talk? You know, how'd
Speaker 3: you like to be the producer trying to direct traffic
Speaker 3: on that show and make your director understand this guy,
Speaker 3: then that guy, then this guy than that guy. I
Speaker 3: mean after a while. My head was spinning with those egos.
Speaker 9: Welcome, he got to go first.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got more yards than he did. They better
Speaker 3: not be complaining for the rings you got. How many
Speaker 3: rings you got?
Speaker 2: Huh?
Speaker 3: For the money they were making, you shouldn't even if
Speaker 3: you only get to talk for fifteen seconds. But back
Speaker 3: to your point about ESPN. Yeah, I'm not a huge
Speaker 3: MacAfee fan. I've listened to his podcast. I like it
Speaker 3: from time to time. It's overwhelming. At times, it's like, Buddy,
Speaker 3: I got another podcast to get to. But again, maybe
Speaker 3: if there weren't as many people on that anchor desk,
Speaker 3: he might have might be able to contribute more. But
Speaker 3: who will never know?
Speaker 9: Fifth swig and the six packs. So we got all
Speaker 9: that stuff in the coming days. But what about tonight?
Speaker 9: What about tonight?
Speaker 3: In sports? We're gonna do well.
Speaker 9: There's Game two of three between the Dodgers, who are
Speaker 9: tied with the Phillies with the best record in the
Speaker 9: Majors and the Orioles, who got the third best, and
Speaker 9: the Orioles won last night. Lexington's Walker Buehler starts for
Speaker 9: the Dodgers tonight, and how he does is going to
Speaker 9: decide if he gets any further starts since he's one
Speaker 9: to four on the season with a six point zho
Speaker 9: nine ERA, or maybe he's gonna go to the pen.
Speaker 3: Who knows.
Speaker 9: That's a ten to ten pm start on MLB TV.
Speaker 9: I'm telling you watch out the Padres keep playing Mike
Speaker 9: Shilt or mc Cardinals. Manager's got him looking good now.
Speaker 9: Before that game, though, you got a chance to see
Speaker 9: Caitlin Clark and the Fever their next to last regular
Speaker 9: season game, their last home game before the playoffs, and
Speaker 9: against the number two team and the WNBA the Connecticut
Speaker 9: Son that's on NBA TV at s and I'm going
Speaker 9: to say it here and now, Caitlin Clark should be
Speaker 9: not only the Rookie of the Year. I say she
Speaker 9: should also be the WNBA MVP. And that twin win
Speaker 9: has only happened once before two thousand and eight, Cannas
Speaker 9: Parker got both Rookie of the Year at MVP. I
Speaker 9: ask you who is not only more valuable to their team,
Speaker 9: but to the league overall and to a fan base
Speaker 9: that has instantly grown, as have the TV ratings like
Speaker 9: never before. For example, ESPN says they're averaging one point
Speaker 9: two million viewers a game. They've increased viewership by one
Speaker 9: hundred and seventy seven percent from last year. Gee, what's
Speaker 9: the difference in that she should get both?
Speaker 3: In my opinion, Yeah, I'm not sure that at tendance
Speaker 3: figures and dollars signs should help lead to the MVP
Speaker 3: award more so than her performance on the court. But
Speaker 3: you can make an argument for both. Because when we
Speaker 3: were beginning to discuss Caitlin Clark early in the year,
Speaker 3: was you know what is happening to her? Is she
Speaker 3: not going to make the Olympic team. No, she did
Speaker 3: not wait and know that kind of thing. But since then,
Speaker 3: she has amped up her game to a level I
Speaker 3: didn't think would be possible her rookie year. I thought
Speaker 3: she'd get there in a couple three years when she
Speaker 3: put on some muscle. But she has adapted and adjusted
Speaker 3: like great players do. And people always wanted to make
Speaker 3: that comparison between her and Marriviag when it came to scoring. No,
Speaker 3: make the comparison between her and Marriviag when it comes
Speaker 3: to passing, right, because that is just a joy to watch.
Speaker 3: So I can't argue too strongly against MVP rookie the year. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think she has raised her level play and no
Speaker 3: question about that.
Speaker 9: Sixth and final swig in the six pack. Dick, is
Speaker 9: not just the first week of college football. It's the
Speaker 9: first week of college for a lot of people. College
Speaker 9: the best fourteen years of my life. And our friends
Speaker 9: at niche dot com have comed ale the top party
Speaker 9: schools in America because they have that kind of time
Speaker 9: and apparently that kind of research, which I'm extremely envious of.
Speaker 9: So here we go, Top five, number five University of
Speaker 9: Southern California coming into five, Number four U mass at Amherst. Yeah,
Speaker 9: number three up I seventy five University of Cincinnati, Number
Speaker 9: two party school in the nation, Oklahoma where the SuDS
Speaker 9: come sweeping down the plane, and number one, the number
Speaker 9: one party school. I think they've been there before. You
Speaker 9: see Santa Barbara, which has rich kids from LA who
Speaker 9: couldn't get into UCLA or a Ford USC. But wait,
Speaker 9: what about us back here in the Bluegrass State, Dick,
Speaker 9: your alma mater is the highest ranking college in the
Speaker 9: in the survey. UK's number thirty six with an A
Speaker 9: plus rated party scene. UK has ranked lower this year
Speaker 9: since it's been on what ten years, since a sofa
Speaker 9: was sacrificed, I believe out there.
Speaker 3: So they got to work on that.
Speaker 9: U of L is number seventy within just an a
Speaker 9: rated party scene in may Almah WKU number one eighty,
Speaker 9: apparently placing academics now over alcohol. Sad Because I don't
Speaker 9: know if you heard this, the urban legend had it
Speaker 9: years ago that Western was voted by Playboy magazine right
Speaker 9: as the number one you've heard this, but the number
Speaker 9: one party school in the nation somewhere around sixty nine
Speaker 9: seventy somewhere around there. And now look at us number
Speaker 9: one eighty.
Speaker 3: Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Gotta work harder, gotta
Speaker 3: play harder. We'll come back with it, Gary and some
Speaker 3: hot regions. Just a minute here on the big boom
Speaker 3: side or six thirty wlap. All right, we'll have about
Speaker 3: three and a half minutes. All right, welcome back with
Speaker 3: with the Western beer Chief Gary. More time for some
Speaker 3: hot reedson. Gary, you alluded to a coach with thin
Speaker 3: skin earlier. That would be Dabo Swiney. He took some
Speaker 3: flak on his radio show last year. Now, producers and
Speaker 3: whoever handles the show, they say only text questions for
Speaker 3: dabbo a guy who wants to stay in the kitchen
Speaker 3: where all the money is but still can't stand the heat.
Speaker 3: You ever faced something like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, they things were getting tough on I can't remember.
Speaker 3: I might have been Tubby Smith here and one of
Speaker 3: the lower level network execs said, we just need to
Speaker 3: protect him, and the guy in charge, Tom Still said,
Speaker 3: we pay him a lot of money to take calls.
Speaker 3: That's what he's going to do.
Speaker 9: Yeah, exact well, and he dabbles and dabbles, making what
Speaker 9: four point four million? And you can't sit there and
Speaker 9: listen to people and respond back.
Speaker 3: To that, you know what, You can screen calls anyway,
Speaker 3: But that's right. I mean, who wants to hear every
Speaker 3: week even after as coach you're doing a great job.
Speaker 9: You know, I did not know that Clemson had an
Speaker 9: invertebrate for a coach is brand new and mean, wow,
Speaker 9: who knew?
Speaker 3: There's just so many reasons to dislike him. But again,
Speaker 3: we talked about it last year. The guy who called
Speaker 3: him and ripped him missed the opportunity to say, coach,
Speaker 3: you're not taking transfers. You're far so far behind. So
Speaker 3: our second hot read is about a team that wants
Speaker 3: to change conferences apparently and might not be able to. Surprisingly,
Speaker 3: it's a powerful school at least right now, Yukon wants
Speaker 3: to be in a Big twelve. Fox TV says, I
Speaker 3: don't think so. Now. We keep hearing the network say,
Speaker 3: oh no, this stuff is not up to us. But
Speaker 3: Fox says, we just cut a big deal with the
Speaker 3: Big East. We don't want to lose Yukon men or women.
Speaker 3: That's Gary. That's good business right there. It's great business.
Speaker 9: And also you've got you know a lot of well
Speaker 9: where it's ESPN located in Connecticut, right, so that's in play.
Speaker 9: And also they share ESPN and Fox share Big twelve
Speaker 9: television rights as I understand it. So there's going to
Speaker 9: be some money involved somewhere, but it's not going to
Speaker 9: be up to athletic rate. It's up to the presidents
Speaker 9: of the schools. They run everything with the TV networks,
Speaker 9: So it depends on who the presidents are lounging around
Speaker 9: with these days.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that'll happen or not. I hope
Speaker 3: it doesn't. The Big twelve, what do they have now?
Speaker 3: Eighteen teams, sixteen whatever it is you wonder about a
Speaker 3: boardroom with a Fox exec and a university president arm
Speaker 3: wrestling to see who goes where and what money goes where.
Speaker 3: But imagine being in the Big East right now without Yukon.
Speaker 3: That would be tough.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and well, this is what it was, the university
Speaker 9: presidents that got USC and UCLA into the Big Ten.
Speaker 9: And we're talking with the networks about all the money
Speaker 9: we get into some of that if we come into
Speaker 9: the Big ten.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, well we talked about it before Big Ten
Speaker 3: came to the rescue of SC and UCLA, which were
Speaker 3: hemorrhaging money. I don't think Yukon is, but I know
Speaker 3: that Danny Hurley would probably like a broader platform. Gary
Speaker 3: mars Our, West m Bureau Chief joins us every week.
Speaker 3: You can follow him on Twitter at at nine to
Speaker 3: five five. Gary, you're also there at the Blue Insider
Speaker 3: one next week here in the garage. I'll be there
Speaker 3: that I'll do it for now thanks to my guest
Speaker 3: Sean Woods, Tom Leech and Gary Moore. And remember Kentucky
Speaker 3: football coming up Saturday, five thirty airtime, seven forty five
Speaker 3: kickoff for the Cats and the Golden Eagles. That's it.
Speaker 3: Good night from the garage in Lexington. So am I
Speaker 3: to understand that you men completed your training on your own.
Speaker 1: That's the fact