Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday edition of our program. It's a full
Speaker 1: show because there is no UK Baseball on Tuesday, no
Speaker 1: midweek game. You'd think this team could use a midweek
Speaker 1: game to kind of lift its spirits a little bit
Speaker 1: after dropping the entire series over the weekend at Mississippi State.
Speaker 1: But the Wildcats not can rest and heal because there
Speaker 1: have been some injuries, significant injuries and get ready for
Speaker 1: this weekend series with Oklahoma, the Sooners coming to town
Speaker 1: for the first time as members of the Southeastern Conference.
Speaker 1: And we'll have it for you right here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP. It's a six thirty start on Friday night,
Speaker 1: Darren's pregame comes up at six point fifteen. We'll have
Speaker 1: them for you over on SEC Plus as well. Doug
Speaker 1: Flinn and I will have a telecast. But it's a
Speaker 1: huge weekend for the baseball Wildcats and they have got
Speaker 1: the hang on to home turf. Got to win at
Speaker 1: least two man if they can sweep that would like
Speaker 1: put last week firmly in the rearview mirror. But Kentucky,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's on the bubble right now,
Speaker 1: but it's not going to host a regional and being
Speaker 1: a two seed or maybe even a three seed maybe
Speaker 1: out the window right now. So big weekend of baseball
Speaker 1: coming up, but a lot to talk about before that,
Speaker 1: including the remnants of the Kentucky Derby. We'll talk with
Speaker 1: Kenny Rice to look ahead of the Preakness that comes
Speaker 1: up in our number two, and Keith Farmer's also going
Speaker 1: to join us. He covered the derby, and we'll also
Speaker 1: talk basketball with Kman because we have a new Kentucky
Speaker 1: Wildcat to talk about. He is Rhyes Potter, and we
Speaker 1: thought that the roster news would end, at least for
Speaker 1: the time being with a yellich the kid from Croatia.
Speaker 1: But a day or two later comes word that Potter
Speaker 1: is entertaining an offer to come through the portal and
Speaker 1: transfer from Miami where he signed after playing at Alectiondon
Speaker 1: Catholic and become a Kentucky Wildcat. Sure enough, the word
Speaker 1: leaked out on Sunday and it kind of made the
Speaker 1: rounds on social media yesterday. So I had a chance
Speaker 1: to touch base with Reese and he will join us
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hour. So coming up at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the Hour, former Lexington Catholic Knight, former
Speaker 1: Miami of Ohio Redhawk, and now a brand new Kentucky
Speaker 1: wildead Reese Potter. He is listed at seven to one
Speaker 1: two fifteen, two fifteen. I mean that's slender, but you know,
Speaker 1: if he plays as much out on the floor as
Speaker 1: he does under the bucket, he'll be okay. And he
Speaker 1: played well at Miami of Ohio, played about that eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty minutes a game, averaged six or seven points, average,
Speaker 1: nearly four rebounds a game in less than a half
Speaker 1: of basketball. So he will help this Kentucky team with
Speaker 1: depth and he will get better of course playing against
Speaker 1: the likes in practice of Yelich and Garrison and Malik
Speaker 1: I'm Moreno and all these guys. But we'll meet Rehyes Potter.
Speaker 1: I've never interviewed the guy. We'll talk to him at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the hour while we're on UK basketball.
Speaker 1: If you followed, and many of you did, last year
Speaker 1: the basketball tournament TBT LAFA media, the Kentucky team is
Speaker 1: pulling itself together again. And the word came out over
Speaker 1: the last twenty four to forty eight hours that Andrew
Speaker 1: and Aaron Harrison would be playing once again for La Familla.
Speaker 1: And if you recall that Kentucky team last year did
Speaker 1: really well, did not win. It lost to the team
Speaker 1: that eventually won it called Carmen's Crew. This was the
Speaker 1: team that was the team primarily made up of Ohio
Speaker 1: State players former Ohio State players, and in fact, the
Speaker 1: MVP for the tournament, the basketball Tournament for the second
Speaker 1: time this past year, was Jared Sellinger and he might
Speaker 1: recall he's the guy who bumped into Josh Harrelson a
Speaker 1: few times in a NSA a tournament game against the
Speaker 1: Wildcats and Harrison hurled the ball at him and it
Speaker 1: was part of a Kentucky upset that included a huge
Speaker 1: three pointer by DeAndre Liggins, who will play for TBT
Speaker 1: or in TBT for the Wildcats. But the biggest news
Speaker 1: game with the Harrison's coming back. And remember now this
Speaker 1: is a tournament where the games can be decided at
Speaker 1: a certain point. They might not go to the conclusion
Speaker 1: if it reaches a certain points spread at a certain time.
Speaker 1: Game over and against Louisville the Ville last year in
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals, it was Aaron Harrison who hit a huge
Speaker 1: shot that ended the game and then you might recall
Speaker 1: it was almost predictable. It was so chippy that there
Speaker 1: was I don't know what you want to call it,
Speaker 1: pushing and shoving, you know, all that kind of silliness
Speaker 1: that can go on. And it indeed happened last year
Speaker 1: between Laville and La Familla, but that was in the
Speaker 1: quarters and up in Philly, I believe it was. And
Speaker 1: then the Wildcats, primarily the Lafamia team lost in the
Speaker 1: next round of Carmen's Crew, which after that beat a
Speaker 1: team made up primarily players from Houston Forever Koogs. So
Speaker 1: the Harrison brothers are back, and if you go to
Speaker 1: YouTube you can watch a couple of montages of the
Speaker 1: huge NC tournament games won by huge shots from Aaron Harrison.
Speaker 1: Here's a little bit of the audio. Harrison back out
Speaker 1: to Rama, driving up Blasture feeds the corner.
Speaker 2: Harris the chops eight ten sentenced of.
Speaker 3: The purpose like the space you get a contest a
Speaker 3: charity better and what a shot?
Speaker 1: After Harrison underneath bounced to the Carmie shops and back outside.
Speaker 3: This is the point where he always hits it.
Speaker 2: Wow, my money from Sun, Let's.
Speaker 1: Turnt it again. Kind of fun to relive those I
Speaker 1: had forgotten it. On the Wisconsin shot, his brother fed
Speaker 1: him the ball Andrew got the assist. If you know
Speaker 1: you follow such things on that and then against Michigan
Speaker 1: you might recall this. It was a step back. It
Speaker 1: was a little jab step. I don't know if he
Speaker 1: was planning on trying to drive or just setting up
Speaker 1: his defender, but he used a jab step and then
Speaker 1: stepped back and drained it. And those moments were just phenomenal.
Speaker 1: And you've got to remember those plays when you think
Speaker 1: back to how frustrated you were and everybody was, and
Speaker 1: the loss to Wisconsin in twenty fifteen, and I know
Speaker 1: that there was some sentiment leading into that game that
Speaker 1: cali Peri wasn't subbing enough because in the middle of
Speaker 1: a news conference at one point, Calipari was talking about
Speaker 1: the Harrisons and he stopped himself and he looked up
Speaker 1: and he said, you know they're carrying us right now,
Speaker 1: don't you to the media. And in fact, to a degree,
Speaker 1: they were. But I'll never forget neither were you that
Speaker 1: lost to Wisconsin in twenty fifteen when they could not,
Speaker 1: even with the hairs in the game, couldn't get off
Speaker 1: a shot for three straight possessions and over on the
Speaker 1: bench say hello to Devin Booker. I know, not the
Speaker 1: same Devin Booker he is now, But back then he
Speaker 1: could get off a shot. And you know who might
Speaker 1: have been better at doing that, Tyler Eulis, who could
Speaker 1: have left somebody in the dust and gotten the ball
Speaker 1: up in the rim at least. And yes, I know
Speaker 1: there would have been challenges defensively. I'm not saying put
Speaker 1: them both in. You put one or the other end.
Speaker 1: Wisconsin with bigger guards would have had a field day
Speaker 1: at the other end, although Eulis was a hell of
Speaker 1: a defensive player, but you know what you sew them.
Speaker 1: I mean, I still oh man, I'm sure it bothers
Speaker 1: you as well. But any other Harrisons are back and
Speaker 1: the TVT was a lot of fun last year in
Speaker 1: Kentucky's kids played hard, they played well, they took it seriously,
Speaker 1: they practiced well, and it's a great event. Make some money.
Speaker 1: Speaking of money, ESPN is reporting a big dollars thanks
Speaker 1: to college sports ad revenue. It's not actually technically ESPN
Speaker 1: reporting it, it's Sports Business Journal. There's a story out
Speaker 1: right now that says the network has increased its ad
Speaker 1: revenue generated from college sports by are you ready forty
Speaker 1: two percent year over year. Now, this coincides with the
Speaker 1: expansion of the college football Playoff, with those eight additional
Speaker 1: huge games for ESPN to sell to advertisers. And by
Speaker 1: the way, two of those games are on TNT. ESPN
Speaker 1: kept the ad money. There you go. But it's not
Speaker 1: just football. Add inventory on college sports such as basketball, baseball, softball,
Speaker 1: those sports, the non revenue quote unquote sports have combined
Speaker 1: for an eleven percent year over year increase in AD revenue.
Speaker 1: You know what else? Volleyball is making money now for ESPN.
Speaker 1: And yeah, disclosure, I work for SEC plus, owned by ESPN.
Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of money they make. I
Speaker 1: know they don't spend a lot on SEC plus because,
Speaker 1: for one thing, a lot of those broadcasts are primarily
Speaker 1: manned by students. Doug Flynn and I we are not well,
Speaker 1: we're students of life, students of the game. But what
Speaker 1: I'm telling you is they are modestly crewed. We have
Speaker 1: a great crew, we really do, and modestly but properly
Speaker 1: equipped on the SEC level. So I'd love to know
Speaker 1: how much money comes from SEC plus. Probably not a
Speaker 1: whole lot since it's streaming, but it's all part of
Speaker 1: one big package. And thank you college sportion. If you're ESPN,
Speaker 1: you're saying thank you to the Southeastern Conference. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: Big Ten network makes a lot of money. ESPN does
Speaker 1: not own the Big Ten Network. It owns the SEC
Speaker 1: Network and the ACC Network, among others, and those are
Speaker 1: the big money makers. So anytime you hear about a
Speaker 1: decision being made that will favor not just college football
Speaker 1: but SEC football, if ESPN is anywhere lurking, you got
Speaker 1: to think they're involved, or at least they're trying to
Speaker 1: influence the situation because that's what's paying their bills right now,
Speaker 1: and that shouldn't be a surprise. Coming up to the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour, Reese Potter, the newest Wildcat, stay
Speaker 1: with us here on the Big Blue Sider six point
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming
Speaker 1: up next, Reese Potter, the former election and Catholic Knight
Speaker 1: and former Miami of isle Redhawk, now a Kentucky Wildcat,
Speaker 1: will join us and talk about his decision to step
Speaker 1: into the portal and emerge as a Kentucky Wildcat. Good
Speaker 1: could have gone to a lot of places said he
Speaker 1: studied on it, did not do the knee jerk thing
Speaker 1: and say yes and immediately to Mark Pope and Cody Fieger.
Speaker 1: But he now is a wildcat and this is going
Speaker 1: to be one big, big team. There's going to be
Speaker 1: a lot of size on this ball club. It's going
Speaker 1: to be interesting to see how Mark Polpe deals with it.
Speaker 1: But he's got a lot of size and a lot
Speaker 1: of talent. Coming up in our number two, Kenny Rice
Speaker 1: of NBC Sports, we'll talk Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Basketball
Speaker 1: seam with Keith Farmer of LAX eighteen. Both of those
Speaker 1: guys water logged on Derby Day, but we'll talk to Kyman.
Speaker 1: We're also going to talk to Keith about a story
Speaker 1: involving Jack Gibbons in his new book. Well it's not
Speaker 1: new anymore. Really, it's been out there for a while,
Speaker 1: but more and more people being exposed to They call
Speaker 1: me goose and came in. We'll have more information on
Speaker 1: that coming up in our number two. You might have
Speaker 1: seen a story about that on Channel eighteen and again
Speaker 1: just on Behalf of My Buddy Jack. I urge you
Speaker 1: to check it out if you're a Kentucky fan, if
Speaker 1: you've grown up in central Kentucky. It's really really interesting
Speaker 1: and it's a fun read. I saw this, of course,
Speaker 1: I'm watching Derby coverage, and if you were too, you
Speaker 1: noticed it, or you may have not noticed it, but
Speaker 1: it just kind of happened. Mike Terrico opened the broadcast
Speaker 1: on NBC. It started off on USA Network and it
Speaker 1: was anchored by Ahmed far Reid, who's really good, and
Speaker 1: then they turned it over to NBC. They basically said,
Speaker 1: all right, our coverage is gonna shift over to NBC
Speaker 1: and you know more coming up. Blah blah blah. So
Speaker 1: there's Turco and they had just gotten started when I
Speaker 1: looked up and there's Ahmed Farid and he was doing
Speaker 1: a little stand up piece for NBC. But then the
Speaker 1: next thing you know, he's back at the anchor desk.
Speaker 1: Was Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey I think are terrific.
Speaker 1: They do a tremendous job covering the Derby, those two guys,
Speaker 1: and so does far Reid, and Tarico's done a nice job.
Speaker 1: I sure wish to Hammond was still on the broadcast,
Speaker 1: but Thiiko does a nice job. But the next thing
Speaker 1: you know, he's gone, and for Reed had taken over,
Speaker 1: and eventually he got the opportunity to say, Mike's not
Speaker 1: feeling well, so I'll be here for a little while.
Speaker 1: And in fact he finished the day as I recall,
Speaker 1: and he spent four straight hours handling the coverage and
Speaker 1: did a great job. And he talked about it later
Speaker 1: on to a media outlet. He said he got done
Speaker 1: with the coverage on USA at two point thirty, took
Speaker 1: off his mic, took out his earpiece. He says, he
Speaker 1: was leaving the little studio there. He said, I bumped
Speaker 1: into Mike and Tarico stopped him, and he could tell
Speaker 1: that something was wrong for Reid could He said he
Speaker 1: didn't look quite the same, said I think his eyes
Speaker 1: were watering a little bit, and he Perico said to him,
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling great. You might have to take over
Speaker 1: for me, and Fared said, that's a shock, because Mike
Speaker 1: is a machine. So Fared said to himself, Okay, he's
Speaker 1: not feeling well, but there's no way Mike's not going
Speaker 1: to be able to power through this, which he tried
Speaker 1: for thirty to forty five minutes, but apparently Tarico just
Speaker 1: took Kip taking turns for the worse and worse, and
Speaker 1: at one point Afreid had his ear piece back in
Speaker 1: and about forty five minutes later, they got in his
Speaker 1: ear and said you got to come back and host
Speaker 1: the show, which he did and was terrific. And that
Speaker 1: happens every once in a great while, somebody has to
Speaker 1: step in for somebody. And I almost had a situation
Speaker 1: like that, and I bring it up only because it's
Speaker 1: one of my great regrets. I was working the twenty
Speaker 1: seven NCAA tournament. I think the baseball team was out
Speaker 1: of town that weekend, and by now I had wrapped
Speaker 1: up the years I had worked for the nca radio network.
Speaker 1: But I'm in Rapperina, And that was the tournament where
Speaker 1: Billy Gillespie's A and M team emerged and beat Louisville,
Speaker 1: and people mistakenly thought that Mitch Barnard was courtside watching
Speaker 1: Billy beat Louisville. That's when he decided to hire him. No,
Speaker 1: Mitch was in Chicago with Kentucky. But that win and
Speaker 1: that weekend for Billy Gillespie cemented him as the hottest
Speaker 1: coach in America. But I digress across the way is
Speaker 1: a guy named Dave Simms, who's now the radio voice
Speaker 1: of the New York Yankees. For many, many years, he
Speaker 1: was the voice of the Seattle Mariners. Lives in New York,
Speaker 1: commuted to Seattle. You know, he had a place out
Speaker 1: there and he stay. He is one of my all
Speaker 1: time favorite broadcasters. I have never met the man, but
Speaker 1: he's tremendous. I just love his work. So he's over
Speaker 1: there and he's working radio in Say Radio with Dave Gavitt,
Speaker 1: And I'd worked with Dave as a producer for Ensay Radio.
Speaker 1: But the next thing I know, Gavitt's gone, and I
Speaker 1: come to find out that Gavitt, liked Turrico, had been
Speaker 1: under the weather. The former Providence coach, the former head
Speaker 1: of the Big East. He had had to leave. He
Speaker 1: had had to go and get medical help and he
Speaker 1: ended up being really sick after that weekend. I don't
Speaker 1: know if he ever worked again for the NCAA Radio network.
Speaker 1: But little did I know that one of the producers
Speaker 1: for the nca Radio network who also worked with us
Speaker 1: on the UK network, Mike Dodson, he was up in
Speaker 1: New York, but he had a feeling that I was
Speaker 1: going to be in Raperena. So he starts calling me
Speaker 1: or trying to call me, to tell me to walk
Speaker 1: across the court and sit down and do the game
Speaker 1: with Dave Gavit, at least doing them that day, because
Speaker 1: I mean it was literally last minute. Well, I had
Speaker 1: a cell phone back then, company phone. I was working
Speaker 1: at IMG. I'm not going to say the brand, but
Speaker 1: it's not what I've got now, and it was a
Speaker 1: piece of junk, and he might kept trying to call
Speaker 1: me and could not get through to me. I had
Speaker 1: my phone right in front of me, could not get
Speaker 1: into Rupperina. So many people, so many people on their
Speaker 1: phones in Rupperena, couldn't text me, couldn't get anything through
Speaker 1: to me, and tell me to walk across and sit
Speaker 1: down and work with a guy I had idolized for
Speaker 1: so long. I get somebody else to do it. I
Speaker 1: think the next day they had Kyle Macy come in
Speaker 1: and work with Dave. But that's the first thing I
Speaker 1: thought of when I heard and sell the rest of
Speaker 1: the story on NBC covers. If far Reid had sat
Speaker 1: down and spent so much time subbing from Mike Tariko
Speaker 1: and did a terrific job. Of course, he already had
Speaker 1: complete command of the material. I would have been flying
Speaker 1: by the seat of my pants, broadcasting two games, doing
Speaker 1: the color for crying out loud. But really I just
Speaker 1: would have been filling in, trying to stay out of
Speaker 1: the way of the great Dave Simms. And now he
Speaker 1: is the radio voice. It's a job he's always wanted,
Speaker 1: he said, being the radio voice of the New York Yankees.
Speaker 1: So Aaron Gershaan can enjoy him if he pulls him
Speaker 1: up online. But I'm sure I've got I've got to
Speaker 1: look around and see. There are other stories like that
Speaker 1: where people step in at the last minute. And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying I would have done a great job, but
Speaker 1: it would have been a thrill for me. I can
Speaker 1: tell you that. And I wouldn't tell them this, but
Speaker 1: I would have done it for free. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: Rhys Potter, the former like you said, Catholic Knight now
Speaker 1: a Kentucky Wildcat. Later on Kenny Rice Keith Farmer on
Speaker 1: six thirty w Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Joining us now from right now is his dorm room
Speaker 1: at the Miami Ohio is Rhyes Potter of the Newest Wildcat.
Speaker 1: Congratulations and I appreciate you.
Speaker 4: It's been a lifelong dream of mind. So this is
Speaker 4: so real for me.
Speaker 1: I had a feeling you're going to say that. So
Speaker 1: let's let's start with when you were growing up always
Speaker 1: a Wildcat fan. What are your earliest memories?
Speaker 4: You know, growing up as a Wildcats fan and liked it.
Speaker 4: I mean I was always the thing. You're either a
Speaker 4: Kentucky fan or a Lobal fan, so I think elected it.
Speaker 4: I was definitely a Kentucky fan, so I grew to
Speaker 4: love the program. And you know, it was kind of
Speaker 4: all everybody knows is to be a Kentucky fan. Everybody
Speaker 4: knows that when a Kentucky basketball game is, when a
Speaker 4: Kentucky football game is. So it's the big deal around here.
Speaker 1: And I guess was Tubby coaching when you were growing up?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it with him and mostly cal Yeah, mostly the
Speaker 4: years I remember of the cal Era.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you do you remember any specific players
Speaker 1: that really excited.
Speaker 4: You would probably say John wall I mean that was
Speaker 4: always a big thing. Wall dance when I was younger,
Speaker 4: So you know, that was always the player everybody was
Speaker 4: most excited about. Every little kid used to do his
Speaker 4: little dance, So you know, that was probably, you know,
Speaker 4: the best and earliest memory.
Speaker 1: I have, although your game is a little bit different
Speaker 1: from his, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I wish I could say I was
Speaker 4: as stass as him and you know, as good as him,
Speaker 4: but yeah, it's a little it's a little different.
Speaker 1: You're you're a pretty tall guy. Were you tall growing up?
Speaker 1: I mean, was it always basketball for you?
Speaker 4: It wasn't always basketball for me. I was always kind
Speaker 4: of I was always taller, but I was never really
Speaker 4: you know, that much taller than everybody. But I just
Speaker 4: kept steadily growing, and so everybody kind of peaked and
Speaker 4: I just I just kept steadily growing, you know, a
Speaker 4: couple of inches every year. So I kind of kind
Speaker 4: of what what happened to me?
Speaker 1: Well, and that happens to most kids that way as well.
Speaker 1: And then when you got a chance to play college ball,
Speaker 1: what I mean again, Miami is a great school, the
Speaker 1: best option for you at the time, though, right.
Speaker 5: It was.
Speaker 4: I mean, it was probably not the most highly rated
Speaker 4: school for sure, But you know, I believe in coach Steel,
Speaker 4: I believe in the staff. So that's kind of the
Speaker 4: place that I knew kind of was going to be.
Speaker 1: Home originally, and you guys are coming off a great year.
Speaker 1: You drop a heartbreaker in the MAC title game. But
Speaker 1: next thing, you know, you're in a portal. What led
Speaker 1: to your decision to see? You what else is out there?
Speaker 4: Just kind of just combined up a couple of things.
Speaker 4: You know, I love my time at Miami. I had
Speaker 4: no complaints. You know, Coach Steel, Coach Smith, and you know,
Speaker 4: Coach Home and Coach Ridgeburg. You know, we were great
Speaker 4: to me. You know, they they kind of helped me
Speaker 4: get where it's where I am today, and I have
Speaker 4: nothing but the thanks and gratitudes towards them. So, you know,
Speaker 4: I kind of wanted to, you know, move on to
Speaker 4: a little little, bigger things. You know, I wanted to
Speaker 4: compete for national championships. You know that kind of the
Speaker 4: thing I've always you know, growing up in high school
Speaker 4: and stuff. You know, the big deal was that you
Speaker 4: weren't gonna win your you weren't supposed to win your
Speaker 4: city or your region. The goal with the win the
Speaker 4: state title. So that've kind of kind of always been
Speaker 4: in my mindset. You got to win the big thing.
Speaker 4: So that's kind of the big difference between Miami and here.
Speaker 4: You know, Miami, you always kind of like the under
Speaker 4: dog and you're always trying to compete for mac championships.
Speaker 4: But you know, Kentucky, you're competing for banners, you're competing
Speaker 4: for you know, national championships. So that's kind of something
Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1: When you entered the portal, did you know Mark Pope
Speaker 1: was looking for one more person?
Speaker 4: I know, so, I mean they were still constructing the
Speaker 4: rest of the roster, recruiting some other people. So they
Speaker 4: started recruiting me a month ago, and then kind of
Speaker 4: knew all along that that's kind of where I wanted
Speaker 4: to go once they reached out to me, you know,
Speaker 4: but you know, I wanted to take my time, you know,
Speaker 4: see some other things. But you know, growing up as
Speaker 4: an electioning kid, I always knew, you know, if you
Speaker 4: if I ever had the chance talking it than now.
Speaker 4: So like I always knew, you know, after they reached
Speaker 4: out to me, that's where I wanted to go. You know,
Speaker 4: Kentucky kind of recruits itself, you know. You know, anybody
Speaker 4: who turned down the blue and white and the Kentucky
Speaker 4: on the front of the jersey, I think it's honestly
Speaker 4: crazy that that being growing up, being a electioning kid,
Speaker 4: so you know it's a little different for me than
Speaker 4: you know, maybe some other people.
Speaker 1: Talking to Reese Potter, who is the newest Kentucky Wildcats
Speaker 1: stepped into the portal and emerged a Wildcat. So tell
Speaker 1: me about that first phone call I had that happened.
Speaker 1: What was your reaction?
Speaker 4: That's so triest figure reached out to me, you know,
Speaker 4: he texted me, and I didn't believe it at first time.
Speaker 4: You honest, I was actually lected him. So I thought
Speaker 4: one of my friends is playing a joke on he
Speaker 4: or Frank, you know, never really thought that that was
Speaker 4: the opportunity that would come. And as soon as he
Speaker 4: reached out to me and I told him, you know,
Speaker 4: that's that's something I'm definitely interested in. And then Coach Pope,
Speaker 4: you know, facetimeed me. Actually he was in the middle
Speaker 4: of the you know, LA airport, and he took the
Speaker 4: time as the day, you know, call and talk to me,
Speaker 4: and you know, it was just a surreal moment. You know,
Speaker 4: growing up watching Coach Hope, you know he was able
Speaker 4: to you know, win a banner here and he just
Speaker 4: you know, kind of talked about how much everybody likes him,
Speaker 4: loved him, and how much they like wrapped their arms
Speaker 4: around him and welcome him home. You know, it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, that definitely interested me and something that I like,
Speaker 4: you know, I look forward to being able to do.
Speaker 1: I've been able to sit across from Mark as a
Speaker 1: as a coach and a player that that energy is infectious.
Speaker 1: What is it like as a recruit when it's coming
Speaker 1: through that computer screen and he's talking to you about
Speaker 1: maybe joining his team?
Speaker 4: Oh man, it's crazy, you know how much energy has
Speaker 4: He's just a very passionate person for this game, and
Speaker 4: you know the game has been really good for him.
Speaker 4: So you know, sometimes on screen you might think he's
Speaker 4: you know, he's taking there or something like that, but
Speaker 4: like I can say with the Hartson, you know, he's
Speaker 4: not taking it. He's just a very positive guy and
Speaker 4: very confident guy. He's feels confident in his players and
Speaker 4: so that's the way you know, he wants his players
Speaker 4: to play. And you know he's he's a very happy
Speaker 4: individual for sure.
Speaker 1: That's a good way to describe him. He's happy and
Speaker 1: the people around him are and it makes it easier,
Speaker 1: I guess, for them to work for him. And play
Speaker 1: for him. You mentioned that you wanted to take your
Speaker 1: time though. How difficult was that, Reef, Because again election
Speaker 1: and kid, you'd always wanted to be a wildcat. The
Speaker 1: knee jerk reaction would have been, yeah, I'm coming yesterday,
Speaker 1: but you did the mature thing and took your time.
Speaker 1: Tell me about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So, I mean it was really it was really hard.
Speaker 4: You know, as soon as they contacted me right away,
Speaker 4: I wanted to be like, yeah, that's where I'm coming,
Speaker 4: but like, I mean, all along, that's kind of where
Speaker 4: my mindset was. But I just wanted to take my time.
Speaker 4: You make sure see all my other options that you know,
Speaker 4: my mind never changed. I always knew that's where I
Speaker 4: wanted to kind of as soon as they contacted me, Well,
Speaker 4: now you.
Speaker 1: Know, there's a there's a pretty good looking roster right
Speaker 1: now with some size. Obviously you're going to learn a
Speaker 1: lot in practice and then, uh, you know, go up
Speaker 1: against some good players. Tell me about fighting for minutes.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to do that probably anywhere you went though,
Speaker 1: right yes.
Speaker 4: There, So I'm really looking forward to it, you know,
Speaker 4: ready to get everybody better, for them to make me better.
Speaker 4: So I'm really looking forward to it. You know, you know,
Speaker 4: everybody on this roster, the NBA prospect though huge. I mean,
Speaker 4: this team is you know, very well constructed, and you
Speaker 4: know it's gonna be really fun competing with these guys
Speaker 4: and getting to know these guys.
Speaker 1: What did Mark Pope tell you about his offensive system?
Speaker 1: Because it's a little different, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a little different. So it's more of an
Speaker 4: NBA style offense, you know, which is kind of kind
Speaker 4: of becoming a thing in college now, but not completely.
Speaker 4: You know, the more fought out, you know, fast flawing offense,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of running gun is kind of kind
Speaker 4: of the offense in my opinion. So that's kind of
Speaker 4: something that you know, the NBA does, and that's kind
Speaker 4: of the dream is to get there, so you know,
Speaker 4: they do it and then they're able to get their
Speaker 4: players to it.
Speaker 1: So we saw Amari Williams shoot threes, We saw Brandon
Speaker 1: Garrison shoot threes. How's your three point game?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's pretty good. So I feel like my career
Speaker 4: three point percent is pretty solid in my opinion, So
Speaker 4: you know, I'm just looking to improve that a little
Speaker 4: bit and keep keep keep that going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at your numbers. As a freshman, you
Speaker 1: had forty five percent of your triples thirty seven percent
Speaker 1: as a sophomore. Did the offense at Miami allow for
Speaker 1: that kind of freedom?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So, I mean it was kind of a little
Speaker 4: similar but a little different to the Kentucky offense. So
Speaker 4: it's definitely something that I'm going to have to get
Speaker 4: to know. But it's definitely something that's in my game
Speaker 4: to be able to, you know, pull it from deep
Speaker 4: and face the floor for get everybody else you know involved.
Speaker 1: You average seventeen minutes a game and nearly four rebounds
Speaker 1: a game. I got to think you take a lot
Speaker 1: of pride in that part of your game, Am I right?
Speaker 4: Uh? Yeah, I mean that's you know, when you're out there,
Speaker 4: you're the big man, so you got to you got
Speaker 4: to make sure to clean everything up. So that's definitely
Speaker 4: playing I look to improve and just keep going.
Speaker 1: How's your defense?
Speaker 4: Uh? Pretty good? So last year my team, you know,
Speaker 4: we took pride in our defense and being able to
Speaker 4: you know, switch one through five. So that's definitely playing out.
Speaker 4: It was really fun to me to be able to
Speaker 4: challenge myself to go and get smaller, more quicker guards.
Speaker 4: So it's definitely playing that I look forward to improving
Speaker 4: and just keep doing because I feel like I do
Speaker 4: it at a pretty good level right now.
Speaker 1: Is that something that you particularly like doing block shots?
Speaker 1: I know a lot of big guys really they make
Speaker 1: it an art form.
Speaker 4: Yes, for sure. I mean it's definitely fun to go
Speaker 4: over there and block something that's kind of I mean
Speaker 4: that's like kind of our our two points, you know,
Speaker 4: kind of being able to clean everything else and you know,
Speaker 4: making off for a mistakes. It's definitely definitely fun to
Speaker 4: block a shot, you know, get get gets the crowd going,
Speaker 4: for sure.
Speaker 1: Do you know any of the guys on the roster
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 4: I know a few people. So I grew up with
Speaker 4: Malachi and Jasper and then kind of I played against
Speaker 4: her in a couple of times. So so I know
Speaker 4: a couple of guys pretty well. So I'm looking forward to,
Speaker 4: you know, learning about everybody else.
Speaker 1: How did you cross pass with Malachi and Jasper?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 4: So, Jasper actually lives like five minutes from my house.
Speaker 4: I've always played on like similar teams with him and
Speaker 4: always so he went to Woodford County originally, and so
Speaker 4: he went to Carter g in middle school, so playing
Speaker 4: against him in middle school and then we played on
Speaker 4: the similar age team, so I always kind of kept
Speaker 4: close with him, and you know, he was always a
Speaker 4: similar tournament, so I was able to you know, watch
Speaker 4: him because he was in a younger age. And then
Speaker 4: Malachi obviously was at Great Crossing for his whole career,
Speaker 4: so I was able to play against him a couple
Speaker 4: of times and just you know, grow a friendship from that,
Speaker 4: being able to battle it out on the court and
Speaker 4: then you know, you know, the friends off the court.
Speaker 1: Hey, I was gonna say, how did you do against him?
Speaker 4: Oh? I feel like I did pretty good. I know
Speaker 4: he would probably say it'd probably say otherwise, But I
Speaker 4: feel like he's got a got a pretty bad record
Speaker 4: against me, is what I'm going to say.
Speaker 1: Ah, okay, yeah, but now he's got a state championship.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's got a state championship. But you know, I'd
Speaker 4: like to say my senior year he was going to
Speaker 4: against me. Oh that's that's where what I get him with.
Speaker 4: But you know, he does have the state championship. I mean,
Speaker 4: obviously he's a great player. I mean, he's on draft
Speaker 4: boards for a reason. He's a great, great, great individual
Speaker 4: and he's gonna do great things next year. People are
Speaker 4: gonna look forward to Washington play.
Speaker 1: Talking to Reese Potter, he is the newest Wildcat, came
Speaker 1: through the transfer portal and we'll play for the Wildcats
Speaker 1: this coming season. And you've had to make now two
Speaker 1: major decisions in your life. What's that been like because
Speaker 1: that first time you signed a scholarship, you know, I
Speaker 1: know your parents are there to help you, but that's
Speaker 1: something that you got to decide and you had to
Speaker 1: do it again. Is it an enjoyable process?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't say it was probably the most enjoyable process,
Speaker 4: but when you know, schools like Kentucky reach out to you,
Speaker 4: and it definitely definitely bring the brings the life back
Speaker 4: into Bath and makes the fun being able to you know,
Speaker 4: come back home and play for the premiere program and
Speaker 4: you know, play in front of you know, a bunch
Speaker 4: of crazy fans and big Blue Nation. Because so wasn't
Speaker 4: that hard of a decision the second time around? You know,
Speaker 4: the first time around was a little tougher, you know,
Speaker 4: but you know, second time around, I kind of knew
Speaker 4: knew what I was looking for. Knew what I liked
Speaker 4: to play, and you know, I mean, it's impossible to
Speaker 4: turn down. You know, Coach Post's offer is.
Speaker 1: Reese Potter, the newest Kentucky Wildcat transferring in from Miami
Speaker 1: of Ohio. We'll talk more UK hoops with Reese on
Speaker 1: the other side of the break here on six thirty
Speaker 1: w Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider Dick Gabriel
Speaker 1: with you. We're chatting with Reese Potter, formerly of Lexington
Speaker 1: Catholic High School, attended Miami of Ohio, but just over
Speaker 1: the weekend stepped into the transfer portal and came out
Speaker 1: a Kentucky Wildcat. As I understand it, it happened fairly
Speaker 1: quickly once you decided to make this move. Tell me
Speaker 1: that happened. It happened over the weekend, Am I right?
Speaker 4: So I texted Coach Poe or Coach Pope and Coach
Speaker 4: Steger last night letting them know that this is what
Speaker 4: I want to do. So I don't really know exactly
Speaker 4: how it got out leaked, but you know, these fans
Speaker 4: are crazy and I'm looking forward to playing front in
Speaker 4: front of them and you know, making them proud hopefully
Speaker 4: because you know, Kentucky's the you know the school, and
Speaker 4: you know that look forward to playing in front of
Speaker 4: these fans.
Speaker 1: Well, I was about to ask you, what do you
Speaker 1: think it's going to be like now? Because you're a
Speaker 1: hometown kid, and I remember Joe B. Hall telling me
Speaker 1: that he he kind of was very cautious about signing
Speaker 1: local kids because there's so much more pressure from fans
Speaker 1: and family and you know, your minister and your mailman,
Speaker 1: you know, about what are you gonna do when you're
Speaker 1: gonna play more minutes stuff like that. Uh, you're a
Speaker 1: little older now, you're more mature. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: you're better equipped to handle that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely feel like i'd be better. Bet I'm
Speaker 4: more equipped for it now. You know, I've played two
Speaker 4: years of college basketball clock, so I kind of know
Speaker 4: what it's like, you know. But I you know, I
Speaker 4: never really realized how crazy would be, you know, as
Speaker 4: a likening kid, always knew how how crazy these fans
Speaker 4: are and how much they love their program, but I
Speaker 4: didn't realize it was it was this much. So it's
Speaker 4: definitely something I didn't realize, but I kind of did.
Speaker 4: So I have no idea. I don't have any idea,
Speaker 4: how it is going to be able to put on
Speaker 4: that the first time I walk out in front of
Speaker 4: these fans. It's gonna it's gonna be a surreal moment
Speaker 4: for sure, and it's definitely gonna be something on the
Speaker 4: cherish for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: You've played in reperena though, haven't you.
Speaker 4: I haven't, so yeah, yeah, I feel like I've had
Speaker 4: I don't even know I only had two. I had
Speaker 4: two to three losses every year in high school, but
Speaker 4: I lost in Norwegian Championship one. Yeah it was rough,
Speaker 4: you know, every year, but like I was ranked, we
Speaker 4: were ranked, like the Catholic was ranked number one for
Speaker 4: the whole year, and then we always we always fell
Speaker 4: short of the goal. But you know something, you to
Speaker 4: be a blessing to finally be on that Court's definitely feeling,
Speaker 4: you know, I wanted to do in high school, but
Speaker 4: you know, now I'm got to do it. So it's
Speaker 4: gonna be great.
Speaker 1: And now that you have signed, you say you have
Speaker 1: a better idea how crazy these fans are.
Speaker 5: I feel like I have a.
Speaker 4: Better idea, but definitely, I don't think any of us
Speaker 4: kind of know how how crazy it's going to be
Speaker 4: you know some of these some of the players that
Speaker 4: have played before me, you know, read mister Shepherd, Coach
Speaker 4: Pope and you know, and Travis have told me how
Speaker 4: how crazy it is and like you'll never really expect
Speaker 4: it or realize it until you actually do it. So
Speaker 4: looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: What's your phone been like since the word got out?
Speaker 4: Man, it's been blowing up. You know. I'm just extremely
Speaker 4: grateful for all these all these fans taking me in
Speaker 4: and welcomed me home. So you know, it's been a
Speaker 4: it's been a real blessing. So yeah, it's it's been
Speaker 4: a lot, a lot of buzz and a lot of
Speaker 4: people reaching out to me, which is which which is
Speaker 4: all love? And so I really really appreciate them all.
Speaker 1: What about your folks, What about your family? What's their reaction?
Speaker 4: You know, my parents love it when I when I
Speaker 4: was when they originally reached out to me, you know,
Speaker 4: that was my My parents both went to Kentucky, so
Speaker 4: or my dad went Kentucky and my mom grew up here,
Speaker 4: so you know, they always kind of they always kind
Speaker 4: of knew how crazy this this place was and this
Speaker 4: program is and how much they love their players, so
Speaker 4: they were able to kind of tell me how it
Speaker 4: was to be able to go to Kentucky and live
Speaker 4: around these people and like it in all their lives.
Speaker 4: So you know, they're super proud of me, and then
Speaker 4: they're they're really grateful for this opportunity.
Speaker 1: I have no doubt. I mean, it's one thing to land,
Speaker 1: to scolly take that off your parents' shoulders you're paying
Speaker 1: for school or having your school pay But now to
Speaker 1: be able to come home and play, that's something else.
Speaker 1: And like you said, you've got a pretty good idea
Speaker 1: of what Kentucky fans are like. But just to hear
Speaker 1: that noise in Repperena, I assume you went to games
Speaker 1: growing up in Reperina.
Speaker 4: Right, Yes, sir, I went to a few games that noise. Definitely,
Speaker 4: when when stuff happens, it's different. There's no place, there's
Speaker 4: no place in the country like it, for sure.
Speaker 1: Did you see the Mark Pope interview with John Rostein
Speaker 1: last week on YouTube or.
Speaker 4: I've seen a couple of his interviews, but I don't
Speaker 4: know if Hock seen. I'm not sure if Hock seen
Speaker 4: that one.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, you know, man, So get on YouTube
Speaker 1: and just type in Mark Pope and I guarantee you
Speaker 1: that's the first thing that'll come up. Because Rostein is him,
Speaker 1: he's with cbssports dot com. He breaks down the roster, Uh,
Speaker 1: new guys, guys coming back and all that. And you
Speaker 1: think Mark Pope's excited. Listen to him describe And this
Speaker 1: is before you had made your decision. You know what
Speaker 1: he's got coming in and how this team is coming together.
Speaker 1: When when you looked at that roster, how excited did
Speaker 1: you get?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm very excited. Before even I committed, I knew
Speaker 4: like how great this team is going to be next year,
Speaker 4: and how well this team is gonna glue together and
Speaker 4: they're gonna you know, this team's really got a chance to,
Speaker 4: you know, do something special, do something that not a
Speaker 4: lot of groups are gonna, you know, be able to say,
Speaker 4: you know, even before the season starts, you know, this
Speaker 4: group has a has a real chance of winning it all.
Speaker 4: So that's just something that I look forward to doing,
Speaker 4: you know, competing every day.
Speaker 1: I know you were busy with your career at Miami
Speaker 1: and school and all that. Did you ever have a
Speaker 1: chance to watch Kentucky play during the season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I was able to. I was able to
Speaker 4: watch them. You know, a couple of times, I felt
Speaker 4: like most of the time we always played at the
Speaker 4: same time, so it was a little bit of a struggle.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I was able to see, you know, some
Speaker 4: last year. You know, the team had a great, great
Speaker 4: run last year, and so that's something that we look
Speaker 4: to improve on and you know, keep going.
Speaker 1: When you were watching that Mark Pope offense, did you
Speaker 1: have any thoughts like what are they doing? Or or
Speaker 1: you said it was similar to Miami, So did it
Speaker 1: just look familiar to you?
Speaker 4: It looks a little familiar.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: When I was watching last year, I was watching more
Speaker 4: of as a fan. I'm more more of a fan
Speaker 4: than like more you know, judgmental, you know, studying it
Speaker 4: really so you know, I kind of know kind of similar,
Speaker 4: know what it's similar like, but I don't completely know
Speaker 4: for sure, but I'm looking forward to learning it.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you I'm happy for you, happy for
Speaker 1: your family, and I appreciate your time. I know you've
Speaker 1: got finals coming up. You're gonna be able to concentrate race,
Speaker 1: You're gonna be able to zero in on the books
Speaker 1: because without letting your mind wander back to lectioning.
Speaker 4: In yes, sir, so, I mean, my mind's nothing going
Speaker 4: to wonder. I don't know if there's anything being able
Speaker 4: to control that, but yeah, definitely definitely got to finish
Speaker 4: up here and then and then you know, get down
Speaker 4: to electioning. Then you know, enjoy enjoying my time there
Speaker 4: for the next couple of years.
Speaker 1: And I'll let you go with this. What are you
Speaker 1: doing this summer? Are you playing going to play much ball?
Speaker 1: Do you didn't even know yet?
Speaker 4: I definitely gonna play a lot of balls, so, you know,
Speaker 4: to as files a wrap up, I'm definitely gonna start
Speaker 4: getting to work and you know, get down to the
Speaker 4: Craft center and start start growing myself and start to
Speaker 4: start to develop the process.
Speaker 1: Just pick up games with your new teammates, right.
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm looking forward to it. I think a lot
Speaker 4: of us are looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: You know, to be some great games for sure, I
Speaker 1: would imagine. Hey man, thank you so much, congratulations, best
Speaker 1: of luck. Looking forward to meeting you in person when
Speaker 1: you get here.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, I appreciate you reaching out.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks and great job on the interview, and
Speaker 1: they'll let you know what it airs.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: End up next and now number two. We'll talk with
Speaker 1: Kenny Rice of NBC Sports about UK basketball and of
Speaker 1: course the Kentucky Derby. Also Keith Farmer from w l
Speaker 1: e X Channel eighteen and BBN Tonight also covered the Derby.
Speaker 1: Also covered Rhys Potter in high school. So we'll talk
Speaker 1: Kentucky hoops with Tea Man as well. That's on the
Speaker 1: other side of the news break. You're on six thirty
Speaker 1: wlapetet sutact Senat. It's Kenny three two one, Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Blue Insider and joining us now is
Speaker 1: a longtime friend and a guy you see during, among
Speaker 1: other things, Triple Crown coverage of a third a racing
Speaker 1: mister Kenny Rice, longtime sports director WTVQ. Are you dry
Speaker 1: it out yet? From Derby one fifty one?
Speaker 3: Dick, my great friend. I am doing better. My feet
Speaker 3: are still a little wet, but you know, usually takes
Speaker 3: about five six days and they'll be good.
Speaker 4: I'll be.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not I'd rether work in a cooler climate,
Speaker 3: honestly than than a hotter one. But we could do
Speaker 3: without the rain. But I've worked in I've worked in
Speaker 3: worse conditions. As you know, you have two at the Derby's.
Speaker 3: We've seen some really nasty ones. This wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1: I remember the year it seemed like it was snowing,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean just a little yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: we joke about the rain, Kenny. But you, being the
Speaker 1: veteran that you are, you know where to hide, you
Speaker 1: know where to just step in, and you're welcome in
Speaker 1: any barn. So if the rain starts coming down, you
Speaker 1: can you can pretty much hide from it. But there
Speaker 1: are times you just got to step out into it,
Speaker 1: don't you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Dick, as you know, there are advantages to
Speaker 3: longevity because you do build up some friendships, at least
Speaker 3: some relationships, and yeah, you can always slide under a
Speaker 3: shed row or you know, pop in a stall when
Speaker 3: we're back over the paddock. So you know, we kind
Speaker 3: of we kind of try to work around that as
Speaker 3: much as possible. Then, yeah, and you got to pop
Speaker 3: out someday. You know, you can't hide forever, so you
Speaker 3: try to you try to time it, but of course
Speaker 3: you're on a time schedule, as you know, Like if
Speaker 3: they're coming to me at four twenty, they don't care
Speaker 3: if it's a downpour or a sprinkle. I got to
Speaker 3: be in this perceipt. I gotta be in front of
Speaker 3: like Baffort's barn.
Speaker 4: At four twenty.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, I've had I've had worse days. My hair, Dick,
Speaker 3: you know that's the most.
Speaker 4: Important thing to me.
Speaker 1: Absolutely it was. But you had a team of specialists
Speaker 1: right there though, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm peeling, peeling, peeling grapes and massaging my neck.
Speaker 3: You know it's embarrassed, embarrassing the treatment.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the race. As I recall, I mean,
Speaker 1: I parked myself in front of the TV. You uh,
Speaker 1: you picked journalism, I believe, as did I. Yes, and
Speaker 1: he ran a heck of a race. And I believe,
Speaker 1: if Memories serves your colleague Donna Barton Brothers picked sovereignty
Speaker 1: and stuck with it. Do I remember that, right?
Speaker 3: She picked sovereignty. She told a sovereignty I think on Thursday, Yeah,
Speaker 3: one of our early meetings. And yes, she's stuck with it.
Speaker 3: And I said, and she gets the double. I had
Speaker 3: good cheer, she had good cheer and sovereignty.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know if she bet it.
Speaker 4: I asked her.
Speaker 3: She never commented if she bet it. I said, I
Speaker 3: hope you did. Eddie Ochek certainly was MBS, as were me.
Speaker 3: I said, yeah, I wish we hadn't know that. Well,
Speaker 3: Soverigty wasn't like I was surprised at what he went
Speaker 3: off at. I mean, I didn't think that was the
Speaker 3: craziest pick, Sovereigty. I thought it was a solid pick.
Speaker 3: But I just thought journalism was the best horse. If
Speaker 3: I picked again, I'd pick journalism first. And I think
Speaker 3: as they separated coming down the streets, the best two
Speaker 3: horses were sovereignty and journalists yep, yep.
Speaker 1: And I thought my ASA was one of the top
Speaker 1: three and he was there, so yeah, so yeah. And
Speaker 1: by the way, I also had the double but full disclosure,
Speaker 1: I took the favorite and the oaks good cheer and
Speaker 1: then use that all button, so well it's good cheer
Speaker 1: got home in the ILK. So I'm like, I'm a winner,
Speaker 1: but you know, it didn't it didn't even cover my
Speaker 1: initial bet. Uh yeah, here's the thing that I'm kicking myself.
Speaker 1: And I had Sovereignty in my second tier in my exotics,
Speaker 1: but I kind of kenny. I threw out the fact
Speaker 1: that Sovereignty had already won over the racetrack because it
Speaker 1: was an off track. And that's a good lesson to
Speaker 1: learn because you know that even when it's when it's
Speaker 1: wet like that, that's a really good racetrack. So if
Speaker 1: a horse likes the track, he's gonna.
Speaker 4: Like the track, right, That's it. That's it. You know.
Speaker 3: I did the same thing. I kept coming back. I
Speaker 3: kept coming back to Sandman too. I thought, well, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe it's gonna make a good run. I saw him
Speaker 3: win in Arkansas and but yeah, but you know, and there,
Speaker 3: you know, Bill Mott, you've got to be happy for
Speaker 3: the guy. It was funny on the on the post race,
Speaker 3: he corrected me. I don't know if you heard it,
Speaker 3: because I remember I said, you know, it's a very
Speaker 3: similar you know, kind of a dark, kind of drizzly
Speaker 3: day in nineteen when we waited twenty two minutes for
Speaker 3: find out that you won the derby with Country. He said,
Speaker 3: it was twenty three minutes. Everybody in the truck. I
Speaker 3: can hear him laughing in my ear.
Speaker 1: It's awesome, you know.
Speaker 3: And when we came back out, I think Randy and
Speaker 3: Jerry and Ahmed commented, is that twenty three twenty two?
Speaker 3: You know we're not going to debate a minute with
Speaker 3: the man that just was the Derby. But guy, as
Speaker 3: you know that they did seem like eternity man.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: You're right Bill Mott, who is from South Dakota. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, basically as coud Louisville as home base for
Speaker 1: the last forty odd years and just a classy part
Speaker 1: of the business, isn't he.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know when you talk about horsemen, you know
Speaker 3: there's a lot of trainers out there, but you know
Speaker 3: he's one of not a few, but there you know,
Speaker 3: it's about a fifty to fifty split on trainers and horsemen,
Speaker 3: I think. And he's a true horseman, you know, like
Speaker 3: people says he going to the pre I said, honestly,
Speaker 3: Bill Mott is one guy that will truly do what's
Speaker 3: good for the horse.
Speaker 5: Not that all the others wouldn't, but.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's auto maxim. Wait, I gotta go to Pretnis
Speaker 3: year I won the Derby, which would make sense, but
Speaker 3: or the horse is not ready to run, and it
Speaker 3: just stands out so much that you know they're gon
Speaker 3: gonna try to run the Freakness. But but Bill will
Speaker 3: make the right decision. I don't know what that'll be
Speaker 3: you know, like I say, he really does care and
Speaker 3: and it's just everything works out well for him this year,
Speaker 3: the last couple of years, you know, going back to
Speaker 3: the Cody's wish and all that. Yeah, and you know
Speaker 3: a guy like that, you know, you're happy for guys
Speaker 3: like that to you know, stayed the course and you know,
Speaker 3: getting I would say, getting what they deserve because they
Speaker 3: worked hard to earn what they're getting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and he's been in a game. He's
Speaker 1: seventy one, which as we know, is not old, but no,
Speaker 1: that's the kid that's exactly many many years ahead of him.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he's just he's done everything right, you know,
Speaker 1: without controversy and things like that. And either he or
Speaker 1: the owner after the race, when they talked about what
Speaker 1: what lies ahead, you know, whether it's the Preakness or not,
Speaker 1: one of them said, sovereigns, he will tell us, which
Speaker 1: is clearly the way to go. And you and I
Speaker 1: have seen horse people wedge some of these horses into
Speaker 1: the Triple Crown Race and never have had any business
Speaker 1: being there. But I think that's the proper way to go.
Speaker 1: But the trouble is, Kenny and you and I have
Speaker 1: talked about this for years. Is getting the fans interested.
Speaker 1: And as you know, and there's a triple crown on
Speaker 1: the line, you've been at Belmont Park when there's you know,
Speaker 1: thirty thousand, You've been there when there's one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty thousand. Because it's all about the triple Crown.
Speaker 3: It is I mean the Belmont. Now, for the horse people,
Speaker 3: I know this is different and that includes out most
Speaker 3: of the people listening your legs, I get that, But
Speaker 3: the Belmont is just another big race. If a triple
Speaker 3: crown that is on the line. For the rest of
Speaker 3: the world, Okay, for the rest of the country, it's like, hey, yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a big horse race in New York today that
Speaker 3: I don't know. Somebody won the Derby, somebody went I
Speaker 3: don't even know, and it shows in the ratings. I mean,
Speaker 3: the race can go. I think we had like twenty
Speaker 3: one million to watch the race itself at about seventeen
Speaker 3: million leading up to it. That number would drop off
Speaker 3: to like four million for the Belmont if there's not
Speaker 3: a triple crown. Maybe if you had, you know, two
Speaker 3: competitive horses. Let's say hypothetically that you know that the
Speaker 3: next race is won by journalism, So you got a
Speaker 3: little bit of a rival. You might get it up
Speaker 3: to six million, but that's it. You know, it's not
Speaker 3: going to come close to the numbers that the Derby
Speaker 3: is going to get. And that's really why NBC lost
Speaker 3: it is because they didn't want to pay New York
Speaker 3: Racing wanted pretty close to the equal amount that the
Speaker 3: Derby gets, and Fox is paying them a lot of money.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I mean they got the money to spend, I guess.
Speaker 3: And that's how that's how we lost the Triple Crown,
Speaker 3: you know as we call it now, we just call
Speaker 3: it the Double Crown now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, speaking of NBC, your ratings and congratulations were
Speaker 1: the highest since nineteen eighty nine when one of my
Speaker 1: all time favorites won it. Sunday silence. Yeah, do you
Speaker 1: guys even talk about ratings? Do they talk about it
Speaker 1: with you with talent?
Speaker 3: You know what they do is they send it out.
Speaker 3: We found out Sunday night about it. They send out
Speaker 3: a memo to all of us was and you know,
Speaker 3: naturally congratulated us and actually got a call from my
Speaker 3: boss yesterday, which you know the phone range he goes
Speaker 3: my goodness. I'd like to have done the preteness, but no,
Speaker 3: it was a good call. They said, yeah, good job,
Speaker 3: good job. Everybody did a good job, and the ratings
Speaker 3: popped up big. And why they popped up, I don't know,
Speaker 3: other than I guess I'm gonna say some of the
Speaker 3: Bob Baffert factor in there, because it wasn't like we
Speaker 3: wasn't like we had super horses, you know, where everybody
Speaker 3: who said, hey boy, this justify you know what about
Speaker 3: this too? You didn't race last year? And about this
Speaker 3: American pharaoh. I don't know if there was such a
Speaker 3: buzz about journalism or anybody else in the field other
Speaker 3: than the horse community. But for some reason, you know,
Speaker 3: it just clicked, and you know, thank goodness, that means
Speaker 3: we'll keep doing it. Actually, I think we got it
Speaker 3: for about another six years or something with Churchill.
Speaker 5: So yeah, that's nice, excellent.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Kenny Rice of NBC Sports and we'll
Speaker 1: come back and talk a little bit more about the
Speaker 1: derby and about influencers, and we'll talk about the basketball
Speaker 1: cats as well. Here on six thirty w LA. Welcome
Speaker 1: back Kenny Rice as my guest. He is for the
Speaker 1: longest time covered the Triple Crown and other races for
Speaker 1: ESPN and an NBC, and if you got a race,
Speaker 1: he'll cover it for you. But I think you're just
Speaker 1: exclusively exclusively NBC anymore, right that that is correct?
Speaker 3: That is correct. You don't cut down on the W two's.
Speaker 3: The accountant likes that, so yes, yeah, just thing with them,
Speaker 3: this my twenty.
Speaker 5: Sixty year nice Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 3: Can't you know when Jack was just a little boy
Speaker 3: when I left Channel thirty six.
Speaker 4: That's true, that's very h I remember when he was
Speaker 4: a kid.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hate to be that guy, you know, because
Speaker 3: I don't know when I used to go back home
Speaker 3: and say, I remember when your little boys. I'm thirty
Speaker 3: years old now, you'll always be that little eight year
Speaker 3: old kid to me. And I thought then, and see,
Speaker 3: that's the way I kind of catch myself these days,
Speaker 3: you know, I remember your kids when they were little kids.
Speaker 1: You know, my son used to get in trouble in
Speaker 1: middle school now and then, you know, just just mischievous stuff.
Speaker 1: And a few years ago I bumped into his middle
Speaker 1: school principal. What became that boy of yours? I said,
Speaker 1: remember that kid who was always in trouble. He's a cop.
Speaker 1: So it comes full circle. Before we went on the
Speaker 1: air that we were talking about, uh, there was a
Speaker 1: there's a TikTok influencer involved in ownership. He's got twenty
Speaker 1: million viewers. Jason Worth, the baseball player back on center stage.
Speaker 1: He's already won a triple Crown race. I'm wondering, Kenny,
Speaker 1: do you feel like this might lead to more of
Speaker 1: new blood. I guess they say when it comes to
Speaker 1: ownership and involvement.
Speaker 3: You know, I think it might because I tell you
Speaker 3: they're both very active in trying to drum up support.
Speaker 3: I think what Jason walked around I think on Oaks Day,
Speaker 3: and he was looking for people that had mullets, I guess,
Speaker 3: and if you had one, you you know, a flying
Speaker 3: mohawk and the rare, rare chance that he won, he
Speaker 3: was going to invite them to come down to the winner.
Speaker 3: So people selected tour. He selected two or three people
Speaker 3: that had the best mullets. Nice that he ran into
Speaker 3: Oaks Day, you know, and some of the old guard
Speaker 3: may go hurr on Perora, you know, but let's face it,
Speaker 3: some goofy stuff like that, it doesn't hurt anybody and
Speaker 3: I think it makes it interesting. And you know, racing
Speaker 3: has to take a look at MMA and some of
Speaker 3: these other sports out there that continue to attract young
Speaker 3: people and realize, you know, they got to maybe change
Speaker 3: the system up. I know it sounds sacrilegious. Maybe have
Speaker 3: less time between races, you know, keep the action going.
Speaker 3: Kids seem to like that. Work out something with apps, Dick.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to say too much, and I don't
Speaker 3: want you to either, until the NPR gives us a deal,
Speaker 3: Like they pay these guys from New York to always
Speaker 3: come down tell them the same stuff they've been doing
Speaker 3: for twenty years. I want them to tell I want
Speaker 3: you know, if they cut me and you in on
Speaker 3: a deal, Dick will gladly sit down with them at
Speaker 3: the Jockey Club and everybody else that'll lay out something
Speaker 3: for They don't want to hear from anybody in the business.
Speaker 3: They want to hear from consultants that you know, you
Speaker 3: know they know about racing some but it's the same thing.
Speaker 3: Let's print up some T shirts. Hey, that's great, that'll
Speaker 3: get a kid. I don't what twenty one year old
Speaker 3: college kids don't want a T shirt, And you know
Speaker 3: they want to They want to know what's going on.
Speaker 3: You know, I think they kind of can start getting
Speaker 3: human versus human you know, you know, do you do
Speaker 3: you like this guy versus that guy? You know have
Speaker 3: my junior Albarez is going to win again? You know
Speaker 3: something that during the radio. But yeah, having the influence
Speaker 3: in there is huge. Nice guy too, met him for
Speaker 3: the first time. He's very friendly West Point. They're very
Speaker 3: you know, different. Uh, you know, I don't want to
Speaker 3: stereo if they're growing up in eastern Kentucky. I hate stereotypes, right,
Speaker 3: so I sure didn't want to do this, but you
Speaker 3: know this was a very articulate young guy, well, you know,
Speaker 3: well dressed, mannered and and yeah, I mean people like him.
Speaker 3: I don't know what an influencer is. You're my influencer,
Speaker 3: I said, want to Dabriel do it down the show.
Speaker 3: But aside from that, I don't pay attention to it.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't need somebody. I don't need to
Speaker 3: look and say Brittany or I love work for Britney.
Speaker 3: Brittany said, do you ever talk about going on and
Speaker 3: building up your audience by by like a series of
Speaker 3: showing which ties what tie? Should I work to the
Speaker 3: Derby today because she does that like with her outfits.
Speaker 3: I said, really, really, you know, you know, I said,
Speaker 3: forget everybody else. You know, you know about five or
Speaker 3: six of my friends. What the answer would be if
Speaker 3: I said, which, Hi, guys, should I wear it today?
Speaker 1: You know, let me know ahead of time if you're
Speaker 1: ever going to do that. I need to be parked
Speaker 1: in front of the TV for that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: One thing about that kid, the influencer, I cannot recall
Speaker 1: his name, but I saw an interview with him both
Speaker 1: before and after the race. He's not just along for
Speaker 1: the ride either. He's really into the sport, which I
Speaker 1: think really helps. And when while we're talking about online presence,
Speaker 1: I really it's part of it is because kind of
Speaker 1: on a whim, I jumped into my race horse venue
Speaker 1: and I owned a piece of authentic and so now
Speaker 1: I've got to now I own some of the breeding rights.
Speaker 1: I mean, I get a couple of bucks, but I
Speaker 1: can say I own a tiny piece of a Derby winner,
Speaker 1: and I bought a couple more shares of other horses
Speaker 1: trained by Bob Bafford, by the way, But I think
Speaker 1: that I I think if that can really take hold
Speaker 1: and catch on. I think that's going to be big
Speaker 1: for younger people. Not than I'm one of them, but
Speaker 1: four younger people THEO might want to get involved.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3: And Griffin Johnson, I just now thought of his name,
Speaker 3: and I just met him for the first time. I
Speaker 3: told him, I said, Griffin Johnson.
Speaker 4: He said yes.
Speaker 3: I said, I just want to say your name out loud,
Speaker 3: making sure I got it right. We're going to be
Speaker 3: on it in about fifteen seconds that we were. And
Speaker 3: Terry Feeler I know for like twenty five years. But anyway,
Speaker 3: so he yeah, he he, he actually knows it. Like
Speaker 3: you said, that was the key. He's not just some
Speaker 3: guy said. You know, I've got some money because I've
Speaker 3: got a you know, I think he's got like twelve
Speaker 3: or fifteen million followers.
Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe more than that. I know, hard to believe.
Speaker 4: I'm not on TikTok.
Speaker 3: I know I'm amaz you know, you know me the
Speaker 3: social maven that I am. Anyway, he yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: he But but like I said, he's done these little videos.
Speaker 3: I watched some of the videos after where he's talking
Speaker 3: about you had tough luck, but he's staying with racing
Speaker 3: and explain why. And I mean, got to be honest,
Speaker 3: he's more articulate than some of these people. Has been
Speaker 3: doing this for thirty years, some of these owners and trainers,
Speaker 3: and I agree, I think that way that that's exactly
Speaker 3: what racing needs. What I hope they do is really,
Speaker 3: you know, stay with it and not get too carried
Speaker 3: away and think everybody's going to be an influencer. You know,
Speaker 3: you've got to have guys that really want to do
Speaker 3: the business, not just pop up. And I think he's
Speaker 3: a guy that really wants to do the business. And
Speaker 3: obviously worth is he got. He got Barry the executive
Speaker 3: for the for the San Francisco Giants involved, you know,
Speaker 3: so he's really like he's reaching out to get people.
Speaker 4: I mean he was.
Speaker 3: I saw him up there. You couldn't miss him by
Speaker 3: the way you see that. Yeah, and you know, but
Speaker 3: he always comes by and he's really happy guy and
Speaker 3: he gives you a big hug.
Speaker 5: And uh.
Speaker 3: I always asking me about John Shelby because he played
Speaker 3: for the you know, when he was with Shelby with
Speaker 3: the Dodgers, you know, and Shelby said, I walked over
Speaker 3: with him last year and Shelby sitting at text said, hey, say,
Speaker 3: I had Jason work and I didn't put it all together,
Speaker 3: you know at the moment, you because I think mostly
Speaker 3: Phillies and Nationals. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, he has a
Speaker 3: house tea doing I say, I guess he's doing good.
Speaker 3: Who was up at the derby by the way, and
Speaker 3: I didn't get a chance to catch up with him because,
Speaker 3: as you know, the derby's not a good day to
Speaker 3: be social, at least if you're working.
Speaker 1: It's not a good day, especially if you're stuck in
Speaker 1: one place as you are. I got a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes left. But earlier on the show, I had a
Speaker 1: young man from Lexingon who transferring down from Miami to UK,
Speaker 1: and I was I was talking to him about the
Speaker 1: fact that Joe B.
Speaker 6: Hall.
Speaker 1: You might recall this, Joe B used to catch a
Speaker 1: lot of flak and when you were covering sports in
Speaker 1: election in high school, basketball was much more front and center.
Speaker 1: It took I think, really a national spotlight. But Joe
Speaker 1: B would hesitate to recruit a local kid because he
Speaker 1: knew the pressure that a local was going to be under.
Speaker 1: You know, why why aren't you playing more? Mom and
Speaker 1: dad and family? And neighbors and all that. But I
Speaker 1: kind of flashed back on that Joe Hall era. But
Speaker 1: it's good to have a lection and kid back on
Speaker 1: the team, isn't it.
Speaker 4: You know it is?
Speaker 3: I mean, I'd love to have these local kids. I
Speaker 3: think there's just a rooting interest. I don't know him.
Speaker 3: I don't Malaca Moreno personally. His mom plays at Bria
Speaker 3: Christian Churse of Piano. Where we go, he plays piano,
Speaker 3: And I remember Jasper Johnson when he's a kid, because you.
Speaker 5: Know, like you you know, I've known the whole family.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I root for that. I hope this guy
Speaker 3: does well. I tell you what he's got. This guy
Speaker 3: has got a lot of guts. And I say that
Speaker 3: at all respect to step in. You know, there's a
Speaker 3: pretty good guys in there that hope's already lined up
Speaker 3: and he feels that he can step in there and
Speaker 3: bang with him. I say good for him, because you know,
Speaker 3: if you shy away from that, you don't want the
Speaker 3: guys sit reluctantly. I think I might play apparently. You know,
Speaker 3: he's got a good attitude and got the confidence, and
Speaker 3: I don't think you can have, you know, with and
Speaker 3: reason enough Kentuckians on the team. I think that really
Speaker 3: helps everyone bond a little more, you know, rooting interesting things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I know you as an Eastern Kentucky and
Speaker 1: you're rooting for Trent Noah, you hated to see Travis
Speaker 1: Perry leave, but he's got to do him and he
Speaker 1: landed in a pretty good spot at Ole Miss.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think it was a good move for him.
Speaker 3: You know, the guy can shoot, and I think it'll work.
Speaker 3: I think it'll work out better. And he was recruited
Speaker 3: by Beard in the first place, right we el, so
Speaker 3: it wasn't like they were unknown to each other. So
Speaker 3: I think it was a good move for him. And uh,
Speaker 3: you know, look, he's down in the western part of
Speaker 3: the States. Like our good friend Rodney Woods was almost
Speaker 3: ten a z years ago, you know when he played
Speaker 3: for the ball. So I wish him well. And no,
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty good. You know, he's got good
Speaker 3: size on him, He's got a little hype. He's got
Speaker 3: the size that you know Perry didn't have. I think
Speaker 3: that gives him a little luge too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and he's got that Eastern Kentucky grit like you.
Speaker 3: So uh, I'm gritty. I'm getting grittier every year.
Speaker 1: Kenny Rice of NBC Sports, Thank you, brother, We'll watch
Speaker 1: for you on the Preakness. Hope to see you soon.
Speaker 3: Hey, it's always a pleasure. Yeah, we'll definitely catch you
Speaker 3: up again. So thanks Dick.
Speaker 1: Then he goes back to believe it or not, the
Speaker 1: days that Channel thirty six w TVQ, where his former
Speaker 1: co worker Jeff of Coorro is now sports director. Some
Speaker 1: of you, some of you may remember this, that Channel
Speaker 1: thirty six here in lectioningon and they don't really want
Speaker 1: people to use the numbers anymore. They want to call
Speaker 1: letters because that's what shows up in the ratings books. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Channel thirty six used to be channel sixty two. When
Speaker 1: I first got the lectionon back in the early seventies,
Speaker 1: it was channel sixty two, and in June of nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty they switched from sixty two. You know, you get
Speaker 1: a better reception. The other channels are closer in numbers,
Speaker 1: so if people are spinning the dial, it's easier to find.
Speaker 1: They moved from channel sixty two to channel thirty six,
Speaker 1: and I think it probably helped them at that point,
Speaker 1: but they've still been playing for a lot of years
Speaker 1: catch up to the other TV stations, but they've had
Speaker 1: some good people and still do in that place, and
Speaker 1: Kenny Rice was one of them. Speaking of the other stations.
Speaker 1: Up next from WLAX Channel eighteen, Keith Farmer, you know
Speaker 1: on The Big Moon Sider six thirty Alap welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Blue and Sider joining us now is
Speaker 1: a longtime friend of the show, friend of mine, and
Speaker 1: he is Keith Farmer, sports anchor at wli X Channel eighteen,
Speaker 1: and you see him each night, not just on the
Speaker 1: news but on BBN tonight and came in. I want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about the Derby and about Kentucky basketball,
Speaker 1: but I need to talk to you about a story
Speaker 1: that you and Alex Barbera worked on. I guess it
Speaker 1: was yesterday with the Jack gibbons An election and Traditional
Speaker 1: Magnet School. And of course Jack has written a book finally,
Speaker 1: and I've talked to Jack about the boys at once,
Speaker 1: but everybody I know who's read it really he's loved it.
Speaker 1: And now these kids get a shot at it. Right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 4: This couple.
Speaker 5: The lady Peggy Henderson was a principal in the school
Speaker 5: system and she read it and she went to a
Speaker 5: book signing. She was so touched by what she read
Speaker 5: in there and said that every kid in Lexington should
Speaker 5: read this book.
Speaker 1: And so what they did.
Speaker 5: They went out and they talked to Goose and said,
Speaker 5: we'd love to buy this for a school, and they
Speaker 5: kind of got together and they decided to go to
Speaker 5: his old school, which is Electings and traditional Magnet School
Speaker 5: used to be I think Electionington Junior High or something
Speaker 5: like that, and so they purchased books for every sixth
Speaker 5: seventh eighth grader. I think the eighth graders got them first,
Speaker 5: and they already were doing a book report on it
Speaker 5: and they even wrote him letters about what they learned
Speaker 5: from it, which is really neat. But this couple, the Henderson's,
Speaker 5: just bought the books for the whole school. So yesterday
Speaker 5: just got to go back to his old school, talk
Speaker 5: to the students, motivate them, and then they all got
Speaker 5: the books. And I just think it's such a great story.
Speaker 5: In the Henderson's are obviously hoping that somebody else will
Speaker 5: pick up from that and maybe do the same for
Speaker 5: another school.
Speaker 1: You and I have done both of a zillion UK
Speaker 1: sports related sidebars through our respective careers, such as they are,
Speaker 1: and this is one of the greatest stories. I remember.
Speaker 1: He just, you know, a former player. I think you know,
Speaker 1: they kind of had to twist Jack's arm just a
Speaker 1: little bit to get to do the book. He was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, you know, he'd been a part of
Speaker 1: other ones, but this was all about him and the
Speaker 1: response to it, and I mean nationwide. He was signing
Speaker 1: books at an alumni event in San Diego, but now right,
Speaker 1: four hundred books for kids.
Speaker 5: It's just fantastic, I mean, just incredible to see where
Speaker 5: he came from. He tells the story of you know,
Speaker 5: how it used to be in lect and then there
Speaker 5: was a chain link fence that went down one street
Speaker 5: and only whites were on one side, only blacks were
Speaker 5: on the other, and you didn't cross, and you know,
Speaker 5: especially at certain times. And it was just the way
Speaker 5: he grew up. You know, it wasn't a chance for
Speaker 5: him to go to the University of Kentucky for the
Speaker 5: longest time until somebody broke the color barrier and gave
Speaker 5: him that chance. And so it could have been such
Speaker 5: a different story, right if things hadn't progressed nation And
Speaker 5: so it's just it's wonderful for these kids to hear
Speaker 5: his story and what he had to overcome and the
Speaker 5: motivation he had to have, you know, to make his
Speaker 5: career that he did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because when you when you look at Jack and
Speaker 1: you hear him on the radio, you see him on television,
Speaker 1: and it's weird and there's a better word for it,
Speaker 1: but that when he was a kid, and he references that,
Speaker 1: he says this to the kids. When he was a child,
Speaker 1: the SEC was segregated. UK was not UK desegregated in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, but there was a quote unquote gentleman's
Speaker 1: agreement to not write black players in the Southeastern Conference.
Speaker 1: So a kid like Jack Gibbons, what did his dreams involved? Well,
Speaker 1: maybe I can go out of state or to Kentucky
Speaker 1: State or whatever. That that's really sobering. So but it's
Speaker 1: also uplifting to know where things.
Speaker 5: Are now right right, And I think that's part of it.
Speaker 5: With him having this talk with the kids yesterday, some
Speaker 5: of them probably can't comprehend, you know, sixth seventh eighth
Speaker 5: graders can't comprehend some of the stuff that used to happen,
Speaker 5: you know, unless they've heard it from relatives and such.
Speaker 5: But but yeah, you know, for for them to hear
Speaker 5: it from a guy and yeah, and to be quite honest,
Speaker 5: they never saw him play, you know. So even one
Speaker 5: of them was like, I'm a little confused, did you
Speaker 5: play or you're a broadcaster? And he said, I'm all
Speaker 5: the above. He's like, you know, so they really you know,
Speaker 5: that's the great thing about it. You know, if they
Speaker 5: read this book, they're going to learn that he was
Speaker 5: a UK player, and then that's gonna you know, they
Speaker 5: know that, right, They know that part of it, so
Speaker 5: it's going to make them really interested in reading the
Speaker 5: rest of it.
Speaker 1: What this should be required for every UK basketball player.
Speaker 6: That's not a bad idea.
Speaker 1: But what was interesting too is these kids who transferred
Speaker 1: in through the portal last year sound like Kelly Perry.
Speaker 1: These kids, but I think you probably picked up and
Speaker 1: talking to him. They knew, they knew who Jack Gibbons was,
Speaker 1: And if they didn't know when they got here, they
Speaker 1: found out very quickly because they all showed him enormous respect,
Speaker 1: which I really I really like. But these guys are
Speaker 1: all students of the game anyway, you'd think they're going
Speaker 1: to know it and Jack has been. Jack's been where
Speaker 1: they want to be, you know, He's been, you know,
Speaker 1: an n and an NBA player. So I did you
Speaker 1: know you would expect that, I guess.
Speaker 5: But I do even remember, like when we were in
Speaker 5: Toronto and Jack would sit down and talk with those
Speaker 5: guys one on one. He wouldn't say, you know, he
Speaker 5: wouldn't even say I played at Kentucky. He was just
Speaker 5: a broadcaster Jack, and I had to be like, yeah,
Speaker 5: he played a little bit too, you know. And I
Speaker 5: was telling some of these guys and I remember doing
Speaker 5: him and Cameron Fletcher and some of those guys, Oh
Speaker 5: really okay, And then I can't remember who it was.
Speaker 5: I think, oh gosh, who was it. Somebody saw I said, yeah,
Speaker 5: He's like, yeah, I want to ring here, and they
Speaker 5: showed and goes, oh, I want one of those, you know.
Speaker 5: And so yeah, but that's Jack. He's humble Jack, and
Speaker 5: he's not going to bring that up to those guys.
Speaker 5: He's gonna let it figure it out there.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. You know, you might if you talk
Speaker 1: to him long enough, you'll pick up on the fact that, yeah,
Speaker 1: he played somewhere, and you know, but you won't even
Speaker 1: realize that he did. Okay, so anyhow, Yeah, but if
Speaker 1: you want to see this story, it's at uh it's
Speaker 1: on the website at the lax eighteen dot com. Okay, man,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, you covered the Kentucky Derby. I guess
Speaker 1: you're probably dried out by now. As much as I
Speaker 1: miscovering the Derby over the last few years, I didn't
Speaker 1: miss it this year because of the weather and I've
Speaker 1: done my shas you know, my share much through the mud.
Speaker 1: But uh huh it it didn't literally dampen anybody's in
Speaker 1: two They had one hundred and forty seven thousand people there,
Speaker 1: so they just did it feel like it had a derby.
Speaker 4: It was amazing.
Speaker 6: It was just because right before the race last.
Speaker 5: Year, I didn't actually stand on the track like we
Speaker 5: do to watch it because I wanted to make sure
Speaker 5: I was over at my broadcast area, which is on
Speaker 5: the back of the first turn. And so this year
Speaker 5: I was like, I got to go watch this one.
Speaker 5: So I got out there in the mud and I
Speaker 5: looked around and you just see everybody come from those
Speaker 5: two big yachts that are on the sides of the
Speaker 5: Twin Spires to the edge of the you know, railing,
Speaker 5: and it was just I've got some incredible shots of
Speaker 5: them ready for the race, and I mean they're on
Speaker 5: They're everywhere you can be. They're on staircases looking out,
Speaker 5: and it's just amazing to see h and to hear
Speaker 5: it's always fun to hear them as they make the
Speaker 5: first pass and then obviously as they come for home
Speaker 5: and everybody yelling out their number or their name that
Speaker 5: they're wanting to win.
Speaker 6: And it did not dampen it.
Speaker 5: The rain did not, and it was a great race.
Speaker 1: There were no incidents or you know, none to speak of.
Speaker 1: Nobody was just qualified. Nobody got really badly jumped or
Speaker 1: flipped or whatever. Right, and now we've got another thrilling
Speaker 1: come from behind in the last furlong.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it kind of look like journalism. I mean
Speaker 5: maybe maybe for the Belmont, maybe journalism wins that one
Speaker 5: with the extra length. But you know, Sovereignty was the
Speaker 5: one that I had my eye on. Anyway, I don't
Speaker 5: always I don't always take it, but this year I did.
Speaker 5: And I just like the way he was running. If
Speaker 5: he didn't finish first in his prep races, he was
Speaker 5: usually coming on pretty strong. So I felt like that
Speaker 5: extra link at the derby was going to give him,
Speaker 5: you know, some help, and it obviously did. And you know,
Speaker 5: it comes down to, as always, the good trip which
Speaker 5: he got. And I saw that there was someone else,
Speaker 5: maybe Burnham Square or somebody that got just pinched.
Speaker 6: Off on the rail towards the last turn.
Speaker 5: So you know, it's one of those things where he
Speaker 5: got a favorable trip and he did what I thought
Speaker 5: he could do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to have the trip, you know, or
Speaker 1: at least you got to have something that not happened
Speaker 1: to you, especially correct first turn. So well, congrats on
Speaker 1: the coverage to you and your entire team. How many
Speaker 1: people from your station? I saw the group photo.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but that here's the thing. They decided, let's go
Speaker 5: take that good photo now, and it was pouring the
Speaker 5: rain at the time, so there was probably about eighteen
Speaker 5: of us that didn't go out and do the picture.
Speaker 5: So if you add that on to what you see
Speaker 5: in the picture, that's your number. So I would say
Speaker 5: we had probably close to fifty fifty people there probably,
Speaker 5: Yeah and.
Speaker 1: All yeah, yeah, worked out well. Keith Farmer, my guest
Speaker 1: sports anchor w l E x BBN tonight, we'll talk
Speaker 1: Kentucky basketball new faces on the roster when we come
Speaker 1: back here on six thirty. Welcome back my guest, Keith
Speaker 1: Farmer of WLA X eighteen and BBN tonight and came in.
Speaker 1: As I said before the break, mark Pope's roster. Now
Speaker 1: since you and I last saw each other with two
Speaker 1: new players, so apparently he's done. Now he's got to
Speaker 1: be done. He's at a roster spots. Let's talk first
Speaker 1: of all about the newest Rheese Potter. You spoke to him,
Speaker 1: what was it last night, I guess or Sunday, one
Speaker 1: of the one of the two. Do you remember much
Speaker 1: about him when he was at Lacian Catholic?
Speaker 4: I do, I do?
Speaker 5: I mean he was, you know, I don't think I
Speaker 5: would call him physically imposing as far.
Speaker 6: As like he's strong, but he's not overly like just.
Speaker 5: You know, he's not a shock. But he's got good
Speaker 5: strength in his legs. Like Patino used to always talk
Speaker 5: about that, right, like he wanted guys to have, like
Speaker 5: like Mashburn wanted him to have strong legs. And I
Speaker 5: feel like that's what Reese had he may not have had.
Speaker 5: Maybe that's what it is. He didn't have the upper
Speaker 5: body strength yet, which he probably does now after being
Speaker 5: in a program for two years, but he had that
Speaker 5: lower body strength. He had the ability to block shots.
Speaker 5: Even in high school, he had the ability to go
Speaker 5: out and hit three pointers, and so I think that's
Speaker 5: something that makes it real dangerous at seven to two.
Speaker 5: And he's also a pretty good passer, So I think
Speaker 5: that's maybe something that fit into what Pope likes, running
Speaker 5: that offense through his bigs, and so I think it'll
Speaker 5: be interesting. We were pulling some video to put up
Speaker 5: for him yesterday and we came across one of my guys.
Speaker 5: I said, here, try these, you know, and they were
Speaker 5: pulling some video and he said, yeah, I found that
Speaker 5: one you had with great crossing and baby Malachi. Because
Speaker 5: obviously Reese is two years older, so they've gone against
Speaker 5: each other before and now here they are going to
Speaker 5: be teammates.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I had him on earlier and he talked about Malicky.
Speaker 1: He admitted that, yeah, he's got the ring, he said,
Speaker 1: but we've we've played a couple of times, and he
Speaker 1: basically indicated he did fairly well against Malachai because can
Speaker 1: you imagine what the what the just to pick up
Speaker 1: games alone are going to be.
Speaker 5: Like, oh my goodness. I mean, you know, then he's
Speaker 5: throwing Brandon Garrison right man, who's going to be the
Speaker 5: guy to teach them the offense? And yeah, that's you know,
Speaker 5: and how tall I can't remember how tall yellowch is,
Speaker 5: but you know this is height on this team. It's
Speaker 5: going to be fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but not just bigs athletic bigs, right right.
Speaker 5: Right exactly. I mean when you're talking about, you know,
Speaker 5: a Reese that can and obviously we saw Brandon, you know,
Speaker 5: do both go down low that you know, go out
Speaker 5: and shoot a three, and we believe he can do that.
Speaker 5: And we'll see if Malachi can hit the three. He
Speaker 5: was trying to broaden his game a little bit this year.
Speaker 5: I'm not so sure he had the chance to do
Speaker 5: that while he was, you know, also trying to win
Speaker 5: a state championship. So I'm looking forward to seeing how
Speaker 5: they all gel together and how Brandon becomes that Amari
Speaker 5: leader on this next team. And certainly I think another
Speaker 5: thing is that we've seen the team that Pope has
Speaker 5: put together is maybe not so much like last year's
Speaker 5: because you know, last year he talked about nothing but
Speaker 5: shooting threes. I think he realized the SEC is physical,
Speaker 5: and I've got to go find some physical players that
Speaker 5: also fit what I want to do. So I don't
Speaker 5: know that that changes up his scheme or makes it
Speaker 5: any less. Let's not take threes, but I also think
Speaker 5: he needed people that were going to be a little
Speaker 5: tougher down low.
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned Yellowvich coming in from the European style.
Speaker 1: That's big guy shooting threes. He, by the way, is
Speaker 1: listed at six', eleven so whatever he, is he's, yes
Speaker 1: BUT i think we're going to see that at least
Speaker 1: that young. Man and then talking To, reese he said
Speaker 1: he can hit the occasional. Three he, said he's not
Speaker 1: going to be looking to step. Out and then working
Speaker 1: To sweet sixteen this year while you were at NCAA's
Speaker 1: i'm talking To Great crossings. People they, Said malachai can
Speaker 1: shoots the, three shoot the, three likes to shoot the,
Speaker 1: three but we don't need him. Shooting is?
Speaker 6: There we exactly?
Speaker 5: Exactly you, Know so none of.
Speaker 1: That's going to surprise, me you, know, yeah, yeah oh.
Speaker 5: Exactly and you, Know, REESE i think it's an interesting
Speaker 5: thing with him having spent two years he was, LIKE i,
Speaker 5: think forty five percent shooting in it from three point
Speaker 5: range in his first. Season, yes only he only.
Speaker 6: Took thirty, three but he was forty five percent and
Speaker 6: kind of trailed off.
Speaker 5: A little bit in his second. Season BUT i like
Speaker 5: the fact that those guys have the confidence to step
Speaker 5: out there and take it because they obviously have tons
Speaker 5: of time to work on the shot and to have
Speaker 5: the confidence to take it and hit. It, so you,
Speaker 5: know it's just so fun to Watch hope put together
Speaker 5: a team with all the analytics and things that he
Speaker 5: wants to do in his, system and it's just gonna
Speaker 5: be fun to see how this one compares to.
Speaker 1: Last, yeah it really. Is and like you, said it's
Speaker 1: going to be a bit of a different looking, team
Speaker 1: but he's got the point guard he. Wanted apparently it's
Speaker 1: going to be a big. Deal though came. IN i,
Speaker 1: believe oh take a away's, decision and you, KNOW i
Speaker 1: quit trying to predict such. Things maybe a. Team what
Speaker 1: all it takes, is you, know is one team to
Speaker 1: fall in love for or at least fall inlike with.
Speaker 1: Him but fortunately A G league contract is not the
Speaker 1: bait that it.
Speaker 5: Used to, be you, know not at. ALL i, mean
Speaker 5: there are so many people that are staying in college.
Speaker 5: NOW i can't remember the, number BUT i saw somebody
Speaker 5: put up something about the number of players that opted
Speaker 5: to go pro this year was so much lower than
Speaker 5: it has been in recent, years and it's because you
Speaker 5: can make more money in the college game right now
Speaker 5: than you can betting on yourself to make AN nba
Speaker 5: contract or get tossed down to THE G. League, so you,
Speaker 5: KNOW i think a lot of people are, like IF
Speaker 5: i don't know for sure now That i'm, going Then
Speaker 5: i'm just going to go back to college and make
Speaker 5: some money and improve my game and it'll be there
Speaker 5: next year for.
Speaker 1: Me, yeah, yeah. Definitely if you minutus up With Keith
Speaker 1: farmer OF lax eighteen AND bbn, tonight you guys cover
Speaker 1: the Baseball. Wildcats they have what has become a crucial series.
Speaker 1: Now looked like they were all set if they just
Speaker 1: kept going the way they were, going but they took
Speaker 1: a major step backwards last weekend and, now, Yeah oklahoma
Speaker 1: comes to town for the first, time and this is
Speaker 1: a must have, series isn't.
Speaker 5: It. YEAH i, mean let's, see you've got what ten
Speaker 5: wins now in THE sec and every time we have
Speaker 5: we've in the last couple of weeks Had Darren, Hedrick
Speaker 5: Darren williams on both of them continue to say thirteen
Speaker 5: wins is like that magic number that you need to get,
Speaker 5: to maybe even fourteen if that's the. Case kentucky's got
Speaker 5: three Against, oklahoma three At. Vanderbilt you're going to have
Speaker 5: to get three to four of those six in order
Speaker 5: to feel good about yourselves making, it or make a
Speaker 5: really long run in THE sec tournament one or the,
Speaker 5: other to really have that feeling that you're going to
Speaker 5: make AN ncaa.
Speaker 1: Tournament, yeah AND i guess it was inevitable that fans,
Speaker 1: would of course look for more of the same from
Speaker 1: this year's team compared to last year's. Team i'm sure
Speaker 1: to remind myself That, kentucky if nothing, else had a
Speaker 1: left fielder who was putting together a first round draft
Speaker 1: pick kind of season that went a long, way you.
Speaker 1: Know and plus, yeah And nick's you, know not Making
Speaker 1: i've never heard him even talk about, this but, man
Speaker 1: the injuries on this team to the worst people at
Speaker 1: the worst time have really been, something haven't To, Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah they've had him for, Sure and of, FACT i
Speaker 5: was sitting down With Mitch barnhardt a couple of weeks
Speaker 5: ago and it really hadn't hit me till he even
Speaker 5: said he's, like, man injury bug just hit us all
Speaker 5: across the board this, Year and he's. RIGHT i, mean
Speaker 5: think about even women's basketball had two players they expected
Speaker 5: to play this year they didn't even. Play you, know at,
Speaker 5: football everything you can go down the, line and almost
Speaker 5: every sport had some, key like even softball With, bump
Speaker 5: she was expected to be a big she was a
Speaker 5: big get out of the. Portal she ends up injured
Speaker 5: and now, look you know they're they're struggling a little,
Speaker 5: bit and she's such a good, player and so it's
Speaker 5: like those missing pieces you know that people may not
Speaker 5: know about, it especially with baseball unless you you've definitely followed.
Speaker 5: It it just has been tough For nick Mind jones
Speaker 5: to make it. Happen so, yeah tough year all.
Speaker 1: Around, well speaking Of barnardy and his fellow, ads we're
Speaker 1: going to have that house settlement by the next time
Speaker 1: you AND i. Speak we hope that thing will be,
Speaker 1: settled so we'll have something else you chat. About but
Speaker 1: we're at a time came In thanks so Much Keith
Speaker 1: farmer from w l E x and again go to
Speaker 1: the website to see the story About Jack gibbons's book
Speaker 1: and the kids at the Lex Inner Traditional Magnet school
Speaker 1: and Follow kman At Keith farmer eighteen On. Twitter thank you,
Speaker 1: brother see you.
Speaker 5: Soon appreciate. You take care that's going to do.
Speaker 1: It thanks so much of my Guests Keith, Farmer Kenny
Speaker 1: rice and of course the newest wildcat reeese potter that
Speaker 1: said good night from the garage In, Lexington.
Speaker 7: Charlie here colors the deuce and when you speak of,
Speaker 7: me speak well. TOTALLY i was going to throw into
Speaker 7: this right, yep and netball get out of here in a.
Speaker 7: Hurry anything travels that far to have a damn stewardess on.
Speaker 4: It do an you think.
Speaker 2: Stats donning, anything then don't back out to pass the
Speaker 2: tenson it don't don't tos