Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on this Valentine's Day. Also a happy birthday to
Speaker 1: my wife and to my daughter in law, Yes, both
Speaker 1: born on Valentine's Day. I hope you've had a good one.
Speaker 1: It is the beginning. It is opening day of college
Speaker 1: baseball season, and as you know, unfortunately we pre record
Speaker 1: most of our shows, so I can't really get you
Speaker 1: up to speed on the baseball. Wildcats are playing down
Speaker 1: in Nashville against Lipscomb, but we'll have a full report
Speaker 1: after the weekend on Nickmnjeones team and how the Wildcats
Speaker 1: opened up. So I hate to leave it at that
Speaker 1: with baseball, but that's just where we are right now.
Speaker 1: Coming up tomorrow night, it's Kentucky Texas Wildcats playing down
Speaker 1: in Austin against the Longhorns eight pm Eastern start. That
Speaker 1: means our coverage begins at five point thirty with the Cats,
Speaker 1: our boys six thirty with Cameron and Dave, Tom and
Speaker 1: Jack with a call at eight o'clock and Jack's gonna
Speaker 1: join us at the bottom of the hour and we'll
Speaker 1: get a scouting report on Texas. But more than anything,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to Jack about the reunion. We've
Speaker 1: talked all week about the reunion of the seventy four
Speaker 1: to seventy five team, and of course he was such
Speaker 1: a big part of that as a true freshman. So
Speaker 1: that's coming up at the bottom of the hour. We'll
Speaker 1: also hear from Kenny Brooks and Vic shaf for the
Speaker 1: Texas coach. The Long Orange put one on the Wildcats
Speaker 1: last night at Historic Memorial Coliseum, so we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that coming up as well. But we got to start
Speaker 1: off with Mark Pope giving us a medical update on
Speaker 1: his two injured backcourt players, Lamont Butler, Jackson Robinson. You
Speaker 1: probably know by now that the news was not good
Speaker 1: coming out of his weekly press conference. The first question
Speaker 1: was about Lamont, who, of course took that terrible spell
Speaker 1: and reinjured his shoulder, and it doesn't sound good for
Speaker 1: tomorrow night.
Speaker 2: We're still kind of going day by day. We're trying
Speaker 2: some different treatments and we're just it's we're going to
Speaker 2: piece it together. And then with Jackson, as I know,
Speaker 2: he said, maybe be a little while to.
Speaker 3: See if you do with him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we either we'd actually did a third opinion for
Speaker 2: him yesterday. He's meeting with the best people in the
Speaker 2: world as well as Lamon also is, and there's just
Speaker 2: you know, we're kind of in the taking information, trying
Speaker 2: to figure out the course of action, decisions to be made,
Speaker 2: and so they're both pretty complicated situations timing wise and
Speaker 2: recovery wise, and there's als also a little bit of
Speaker 2: a guessing part in terms of just the best medical
Speaker 2: treatment at the best time. They're both pretty serious injuries,
Speaker 2: and the guys are desperate to play and they're desperate
Speaker 2: to get healthy, and they're you know, short term and
Speaker 2: long term, and it's kind of balancing all those out
Speaker 2: with the calendar not just for the season, but for
Speaker 2: the summer and for next year. It's just all trying
Speaker 2: to fit all those piece together and then kind of
Speaker 2: see day by day what kind of returns they're getting
Speaker 2: from new medical treatments. Is it's you know, that's kind
Speaker 2: of where we are right now. I know that's super vague,
Speaker 2: but that's I think we could potentially find some clarity
Speaker 2: on both those guys in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: We'll see next couple of weeks man, And as I've said,
Speaker 1: you know, they're not going to win the SEC. Any
Speaker 1: shot they have at winning the tournament hinges on having
Speaker 1: at least one of those guys back. I would think,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the SEC tournament, and then what kind
Speaker 1: of run do they make in the postseason tournament in
Speaker 1: the NCAA without one or both of those guys, And
Speaker 1: just it really is disappointing because they had something special
Speaker 1: going and still do, but to not have one or
Speaker 1: both of those guys, it just really taints what's going
Speaker 1: on right now. And everybody deals with injuries, but this
Speaker 1: team is so roster specific, and he is having to
Speaker 1: move people around to try to figure out what to
Speaker 1: do and who to play where and what can I
Speaker 1: how many minutes can I get out of this guy
Speaker 1: play in a position that he's not used to playing,
Speaker 1: you know that sort of thing. So I just hated
Speaker 1: for Pope and for the Big Blue Nation. We're all
Speaker 1: having such a good time watching this team, covering this team,
Speaker 1: watching this story unfold, and now you know, it's a
Speaker 1: big what if situation, and again, everybody's dealing with stuff,
Speaker 1: but the fact that Kentucky's dealing with two injuries like this,
Speaker 1: and the way Pope was making it sound really trying
Speaker 1: to read between the lines. You wonder will we see
Speaker 1: Jackson Robinson again. I think we'll see Lamont Butler. Just
Speaker 1: question a when and now? Do you gamble and rest
Speaker 1: him as much as possible for that late season or
Speaker 1: postseason run if you will. It's getting late, folks, as
Speaker 1: you know, in the schedule. So that's just something a
Speaker 1: coach has to deal with. I will say this, For
Speaker 1: all the problems he's having with his team right now,
Speaker 1: Mark Poulpe hasn't lost his sense of humor. Somebody at
Speaker 1: the news conference asked him tongue firmly planted in cheek
Speaker 1: about the fact that the SEC, for all its grandeur
Speaker 1: and greatness, best conference maybe ever overall, has a five
Speaker 1: hundred record. That of course has come up a couple
Speaker 1: of times broadcasters, two different guys, and I talked about
Speaker 1: it last night. Carl raviits fell on his sword, ESPN,
Speaker 1: you know. But of course the overall record will never
Speaker 1: be anything but five hundred in this and every other league.
Speaker 1: But somebody asked Pope about it, and Mark played alone.
Speaker 4: He talks about the SEC being the best conference in
Speaker 4: college basketball, but the conference is just five hundred since
Speaker 4: conference plays started.
Speaker 3: What do you make of that.
Speaker 2: I think it's been a really disappointing start at the
Speaker 2: conference play. I feel like we should you know, Oh,
Speaker 2: I feel like we're not living up to the expectations
Speaker 2: just being at five hundred as a conference, and I just,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm kind of looking around at the other
Speaker 2: programs of leading, But like, guys, we got to pick
Speaker 2: this up. This is embarrassing, and so we'll find a way.
Speaker 2: I believe in this league. I think we definitely have
Speaker 2: an upside and we're going to work really hard to
Speaker 2: get there.
Speaker 1: You want to know, the best part about that to
Speaker 1: me is that he let it go all the way.
Speaker 1: He didn't round it off and say, oh, you know, guys,
Speaker 1: everybody makes mistakes and we're just kidding around. We're just
Speaker 1: having some fun. He didn't try to qualify it and
Speaker 1: cover his tracks. A lot of people start to feel guilty,
Speaker 1: and he wasn't making fun of any one person in particular.
Speaker 1: He was just having fun with it. And I kept
Speaker 1: waiting for him, you know, to cut it short and say, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, guys, we're just kidding something like that. But
Speaker 1: he went with the gag all the way through, and
Speaker 1: he did it with that Rye grin on his face,
Speaker 1: which I thought was just fantastic. So I appreciated that
Speaker 1: probably as much as anything, So tip of the cap
Speaker 1: to Mark Pope for maintaining that sent the humor in
Speaker 1: a very difficult time. By the way, Texas is coming
Speaker 1: in angry. They've lost three straight, destroyed by Alabama, a
Speaker 1: team that can destroy anybody, really, but it's sixty one
Speaker 1: percent from the game seventeen to twenty nine three pointers.
Speaker 1: So maybe there are some spots in that Texas defense
Speaker 1: the Wildcats can exploit from beyond the arc. Be a
Speaker 1: lot easier with Butler and or Jackson Robinson. Up next,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the UK women. Bottom of the hour,
Speaker 1: Jack Gibbons here on the Big Balloon Sider six point
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Boon Sider. Coming
Speaker 1: up in just a few minutes, Jack Gibbons will prep
Speaker 1: us for Kentucky Texas the men's game, but we'll also
Speaker 1: talk about the gathering the reunion of the seventy five team.
Speaker 1: We've talked about that all week basically with interviews here
Speaker 1: and there, and of course Jack was such a big
Speaker 1: part of it as a true freshman. So we'll talk
Speaker 1: with Jack about the Final four team of nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 1: But got to look back at last night's UK women's
Speaker 1: game with Texas. Man, that is a good team Texas.
Speaker 1: That team has split with South Carolina. That tells you
Speaker 1: how good the Lady Longhorns are. And Kentucky held its
Speaker 1: own for a while there, but things started to get
Speaker 1: away by the end of the first half, and then
Speaker 1: the second half it was just really brutal and it
Speaker 1: was all about defense. Really, Kentucky played well defensively, believe
Speaker 1: it or not. It may not look that way because
Speaker 1: of the final score sixty seven to forty nine, but
Speaker 1: Texas averages eighty four points a game, and the Wildcats
Speaker 1: held the Longhorns to thirty eight percent shooting for the evening. Now,
Speaker 1: the worst of it was the second quarter, where Texas
Speaker 1: shot fifty three percent, really pounded on the Wildcats. But
Speaker 1: on the other three quarters, the best the long Horns
Speaker 1: could shoot was forty one percent. So Kentucky did a
Speaker 1: really good job most things considered defensively, but Texas smothered
Speaker 1: the Wildcats in that second quarter. Kentucky shot just twenty
Speaker 1: three percent three out of thirteen, and for the game
Speaker 1: shot thirty four percent. Now, the biggest problem once again
Speaker 1: was offensive rebounds. Wildcats gave up twenty boards to the
Speaker 1: Longhorns and got just five of their own. Tianni Key,
Speaker 1: who's just a warrior, she fought for three offensive rebounds.
Speaker 1: The rest of the team got two, so overall rebounds
Speaker 1: forty five to twenty eight. And again, this is not
Speaker 1: an extraordinarily huge Kentucky team. There is length in height
Speaker 1: with Strack and Silva, but that's about it. Really, It's
Speaker 1: just about effort and wan and of course two Kentucky's
Speaker 1: best players, not an excuse, but you know they're out
Speaker 1: for the year. They're on the bench, so you knew
Speaker 1: going in this was not going to be an extraordinarily physical,
Speaker 1: banging Kentucky team. But that has been the problem in
Speaker 1: the loss. They come from a head loss to Ole
Speaker 1: Miss and then they just could not compete physically with Texas.
Speaker 1: And again that's just a really, really good ball club.
Speaker 1: This was the night where everybody wore pink and showed
Speaker 1: out for cancer, and there was a particularly moving moment
Speaker 1: prior to the game when Kenny Brooks and his wife
Speaker 1: went to mid court and they announced that his wife
Speaker 1: has been diagnosed as cancer free now she's been battling
Speaker 1: cancer for a while, so that was huge and a
Speaker 1: touching moment, and Kenny talked about that after the game.
Speaker 1: While you know, it was disappointing with the way the
Speaker 1: game turned out, but in terms of the health of
Speaker 1: his wife and the way they've been accepted by the
Speaker 1: community made things really special tonight.
Speaker 5: Nice eye tonight when you know what you've gone through
Speaker 5: and you know how you've gotten through it because of
Speaker 5: other people, and to be able to bring awareness to
Speaker 5: this navity disease, and you know, that's what Vick and
Speaker 5: I talked about. He has a son who he he
Speaker 5: almost lost and nice sight tonight really puts things into perspective.
Speaker 5: Can't do it by yourself, and that you have so
Speaker 5: many people that are helping you. So University Kentucky has
Speaker 5: been great to me. I love it when people come
Speaker 5: up to me and before they even ask me anything
Speaker 5: about basketball, they'll ask me how my wife's doing.
Speaker 3: And that's.
Speaker 5: That means everything, because family families first. Tonight was special.
Speaker 1: Big Shaeffer, the Texas coach, and they've known each other
Speaker 1: and they shared a moment. He and Kenny Brooks after
Speaker 1: the game. So yeah, I didn't know that that Schaeffer
Speaker 1: has a son who battled cancer. So yeah, it was
Speaker 1: a bitter with a better kind of thing last night
Speaker 1: at the coliseum. And Schaeffer lauded his team's defense because
Speaker 1: while Kentucky did a nice job, relatively speaking, holding Texas
Speaker 1: down on the defensive end, well, you think about how
Speaker 1: well this Kentucky team shoots the ball, gets up and
Speaker 1: down the floor, and Texas holds Kentucky the nine points.
Speaker 4: They're really a good offensive team. I mean, I'm really
Speaker 4: proud of my kids sight y'all. They held them to
Speaker 4: forty nine points, Like you don't do you know, they're
Speaker 4: obviously not doing that standing around in a two three
Speaker 4: zone playing hope you miss defense.
Speaker 1: So now, back to back conference losses for the Wildcats
Speaker 1: are eight and three in the Southeastern Conference, nineteen and
Speaker 1: four overall. First home loss, they're twelve and one now
Speaker 1: at historic Memorial Coliseum, Texas twenty five and two, eleven
Speaker 1: and one in conference play. Don't be surprised if you
Speaker 1: see those Longhorns in the final four this year. Kentucky
Speaker 1: now zero and three all time against Texas. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: Georgia on Sunday. It'll be on SEC Plus, but we'll
Speaker 1: have it for you right here on six thirty WLAP.
Speaker 1: It's a two pm tip. It's alumni Day. Darren Hedricks
Speaker 1: pregame at one forty five. So Kentucky which beat Georgia
Speaker 1: earlier this year. Now we'll take on the Bulldogs once
Speaker 1: again and try to bounce back before we get to
Speaker 1: the break. We didn't have a chance to talk about
Speaker 1: this last night at a tip of a big Moonsider
Speaker 1: cap to JJ Weaver named Jason Witten Collegiate Man of
Speaker 1: the Year. And you know Jason's story. Now, he had
Speaker 1: to deal with the taunts and the teasing that come
Speaker 1: with as a kid being born with that sixth finger.
Speaker 1: But more than anything, the way he bounced back after
Speaker 1: losing his father to homicide in July of twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: and then about a little more than a year later,
Speaker 1: his beloved high school football coach, he loses him to
Speaker 1: cancer and so dealing with his grief and after talking
Speaker 1: with Mark Stoops, he sought out help, went for counseling,
Speaker 1: and a lot of you know, especially athletes, football players,
Speaker 1: they're gonna try to tough it out. But JJ went
Speaker 1: for counseling realize how much it helped him. Now he's
Speaker 1: an outspoken advocate for mental health and in the fall
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three, and got some help from the
Speaker 1: Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families, launched an eight
Speaker 1: week peer led grief counseling group on the UK campus
Speaker 1: called the Perfect Fit Support Group, first of its kind
Speaker 1: at UK. And so he has done so much in
Speaker 1: the area of mental health for young people. And he
Speaker 1: is the Jason Witten Collegiate not just for UK, but
Speaker 1: Collegiate Man of the Year. We'll take a break, come
Speaker 1: back and hear from Jack Gibbons in just a minute
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Moon Side.
Speaker 1: I'm joining us on our celebrity hotline as a longtime
Speaker 1: friend and broadcast colleague and a former classmate of mine,
Speaker 1: Jack Gibbons, And I mentioned that because we're going to
Speaker 1: take Jack before we talk about UK Texas coming up tomorrow. Jack,
Speaker 1: we got to talk about the reunion you guys had
Speaker 1: this past weekend and the reception afterwards, and I was
Speaker 1: so appreciative that you guys allowed me to be a
Speaker 1: part of that. It's so great to see all you guys.
Speaker 1: But what did that mean to you? Just having as
Speaker 1: many guys as you couldn't have everybody obviously, but having
Speaker 1: you guys get together. And I can't believe it has
Speaker 1: been fifty years, you.
Speaker 6: Know, yeah, tell me about it.
Speaker 7: I mean, does where does time go?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 7: It flies right on by.
Speaker 6: But yeah, it's always good to get together with those
Speaker 6: with our former teammates and visit, talk about the good
Speaker 6: old days, if you will, and just spend time together.
Speaker 6: And we got we had a lot of time to
Speaker 6: do that. I mean, you know, Friday night of that
Speaker 6: Friday night we got together and had pretty nice reception
Speaker 6: down at the Lexus Room and Reperena. We had a
Speaker 6: really good time. Their families were there and good to
Speaker 6: visit with everybody. And of course Saturday morning we got
Speaker 6: together right before the game. They had a nice set
Speaker 6: up down at Reperena. And you know, for guys who
Speaker 6: haven't had a chance to be on the court, and
Speaker 6: a lot of those guys it's been a long long time,
Speaker 6: if ever, to be on the court at rupp Arena,
Speaker 6: because you know, we weren't playing in that building back
Speaker 6: with that team, So for them to be on the
Speaker 6: court and to be recognized by twenty thousand fans who
Speaker 6: were there. It was just a special day for all
Speaker 6: of us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that team played its way through the old Memorial Coliseum.
Speaker 1: And when you and I were working the Pro day broadcast,
Speaker 1: which seems like forever ago, I talked that we were
Speaker 1: setting up to some of the current players and I,
Speaker 1: you know, they had Pro Day in the coliseum, the
Speaker 1: new and improved Historic And I told them, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, Jack and his first couple of varsity teams
Speaker 1: played the regular season here and they would look around
Speaker 1: like and one of them said, how did they do that?
Speaker 1: I said, well, it didn't quite look the same seven
Speaker 1: five hundred. The coliseum was a great home court advantage,
Speaker 1: wasn't it?
Speaker 6: Oh man, it was I think gave it had a
Speaker 6: home court advantage that even to this day.
Speaker 7: Rep.
Speaker 6: Aerna hasn't been able to match. I agree and and
Speaker 6: Reperena of course is still a special place for basketball.
Speaker 6: But it was something about the closeness of the fans
Speaker 6: in that building up even though it held only just
Speaker 6: showed of twelve thousand people, it would get extremely loud
Speaker 6: in there.
Speaker 7: It was.
Speaker 6: It was just a great place for basketball. Historic place
Speaker 6: for basketball. When you think of all the great players
Speaker 6: who played in their boat for Kentucky and guys who
Speaker 6: came in to play, it just it's made a great
Speaker 6: basketball arena. It was very fun to play in.
Speaker 1: Opposing players would talk about how close that it seemed.
Speaker 1: It felt like the crowd was, They said, it feels
Speaker 1: it felt like they could reach out and touch us,
Speaker 1: which wasn't really the case, but it felt that way.
Speaker 1: And then of course the ceiling was so much lower
Speaker 1: obviously than it was at Roup Arena, so it trapped
Speaker 1: all that noise in there. And to me, I've never
Speaker 1: been inside Cameron Indoor. I've seen it countless times as
Speaker 1: you have on TV. Maybe you've been in there, but
Speaker 1: to me, it was like a bigger version, just a
Speaker 1: little bit bigger of Cameron Indoor where it just closes
Speaker 1: in on you. Well, you know, if you're an opposing
Speaker 1: team and things are getting away from you, it must
Speaker 1: have felt nuts.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: And you know, even back in those days, the College
Speaker 6: CM was bigger than most other arenas shot the SEC
Speaker 6: So even on that kind of scale, it was still
Speaker 6: very special for teams coming in here to play because
Speaker 6: I don't know that anywhere else for exclusively built for basketball.
Speaker 6: If any other place back then had that many seats,
Speaker 6: So yeah, it was. It was still big, and that
Speaker 6: made it more special for teams coming in as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they weren't playing tournaments and football stadiums and stuff
Speaker 1: like that back then. And then I know when it
Speaker 1: was first Bill Rupp thought it was a white elephant.
Speaker 1: We'll never fill this place. And look at that. We're
Speaker 1: talking to Jack Evans, of course about we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about Kentucky Texas, but we're talking about the reunion
Speaker 1: of the seventy four to seventy five team. It's something
Speaker 1: I talked about with so many of your former teammate.
Speaker 1: Well they're still your teammates, Jack. Was the fact that
Speaker 1: you guys experienced ups and downs. You know, you had
Speaker 1: the super kittens who preceded you, but your freshman year
Speaker 1: you helped this team go to the Final four. But
Speaker 1: the year prior they go thirteen and thirteen and you
Speaker 1: were growing up in election and you heard the fans
Speaker 1: grumbling about Joe b and things like that. But the
Speaker 1: fact that they all stayed together that group and experienced
Speaker 1: all those ups and downs together for four and maybe
Speaker 1: even five years it's just something that doesn't sadly doesn't
Speaker 1: happen today. And we all know how we all feel
Speaker 1: about the one and done's and kids coming and going,
Speaker 1: But that I really believe Jack is what to help
Speaker 1: you guys get to the final four? Or am I crazy?
Speaker 6: Oh? No, You're absolutely right. And for myself, Rick Roby,
Speaker 6: Mike Phillips and James Lee who came in along with
Speaker 6: Danny Hall who we were freshmen. A you know, there
Speaker 6: couldn't have been a better way for us to learn.
Speaker 6: I mean we come into a situation where really there's
Speaker 6: no pressure on us, I mean on the freshmen that
Speaker 6: with no pressure pressure, but for those seniors Greevy, uh
Speaker 6: and you know Mike swing Guy, Jimmy dan h Jerry Hall,
Speaker 6: all of those guys, I mean, the pressure was on them.
Speaker 6: We we just came in and enjoyed the ride, which
Speaker 6: which was wonderful for us, uh because we got to
Speaker 6: play as well. And uh, you know, we just we
Speaker 6: just came in did what we did, and we thought
Speaker 6: that every team was going to be like this and
Speaker 6: go to the Final four and uh maybe lose the
Speaker 6: last game, maybe win one. We thought every every game,
Speaker 6: every season, we'd do the same thing. Of course it
Speaker 6: didn't work out that way, but yeah, it was. It
Speaker 6: was a special ride for us throughout the course of
Speaker 6: that season, and uh we we we came close out
Speaker 6: there in San Diego to beating us to LA but
Speaker 6: came up a little short.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we could. We could rehash that one. But
Speaker 1: it was funny to me how at least two more
Speaker 1: players told me because Bob guy Hada told me some
Speaker 1: time ago that he had encountered John Wooden, but more
Speaker 1: than one former Wildcat had had the chance to respectfully
Speaker 1: tell the coach, you know, we really believe that if
Speaker 1: you had to announced your retirement, we would have won,
Speaker 1: and coach wouldn't in his scholarly way, explained how, no,
Speaker 1: we would have won anyway. But what do you expect
Speaker 1: him to say. But you know, you mentioned Jack that
Speaker 1: you didn't feel pressure, but it was pretty clear that
Speaker 1: the team needed the size that Rick and Mike and
Speaker 1: even Danny brought, and needed the scoring that you brought,
Speaker 1: and you had some big games down the stretch. But
Speaker 1: were you able to just deal with that because the
Speaker 1: seniors I assume the seniors made it a little easier
Speaker 1: on you.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, having to go against
Speaker 6: Kevin Greevy every day in practice. Man, there is no
Speaker 6: better way to learn because greeb was just an offensive man.
Speaker 6: He was he could score and put just a machine,
Speaker 6: could put points on the board. And I had to
Speaker 6: defend him every day in practice. And he didn't take
Speaker 6: it easy on me. He made me work and made
Speaker 6: me learn the right way to play. But there were
Speaker 6: a lot of guys on the team that did the
Speaker 6: same thing. I mean, you know, going against Bob Iad,
Speaker 6: I mean, coming off of thirteen and thirteen years, the
Speaker 6: last thing they were going to allow to happen was
Speaker 6: for us to come in and just skate by. And
Speaker 6: I think we all had some big games and had
Speaker 6: had minutes where we could where we could play and
Speaker 6: show what we could do. But yeah, and there were
Speaker 6: times when the size Rick Roby brought going against Kent
Speaker 6: Benson and Mitch Cupcheck and all those other big throughout
Speaker 6: the SBC, Leon Douglas down at Alabama, I mean, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6: that size was needed Rick and Mike brought. And you're right,
Speaker 6: we don't get to where we got without our contributions.
Speaker 6: But still it was pretty easy, Gabe, because we just
Speaker 6: you know, Coach All put us in the game we
Speaker 6: played and if we Fortunately we didn't lose very often,
Speaker 6: but if we lose, if we lost the game, all
Speaker 6: of the attention went to those seniors and to Coach All.
Speaker 7: It was no blamed on not.
Speaker 1: That's right, before I shift your attention to Kentucky's game tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I got to Ask as a freshman, and I talked
Speaker 1: to some of the veterans of Jimmy Dan and to
Speaker 1: Mike and about the fact that it's now famous. Daryl
Speaker 1: Bird wrote a great story about this for the Cash Pause,
Speaker 1: about how prior to the Indiana game, when you guys
Speaker 1: upset them in the regional final after having lost by
Speaker 1: twenty four, Joe b the last thing he told you guys,
Speaker 1: he went through it. He put up some notes on
Speaker 1: the chalkboard that was an old fashioned chalkboard back then,
Speaker 1: not a dry race, and he basically was giving you
Speaker 1: guys instructions about the postgame celebration.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 1: It wasn't last minute strategy about x'es and o's. It
Speaker 1: was like, here's what we're going to do after we win.
Speaker 1: Do you remember seeing that and what your reaction was?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't remember specifically all the four points he made,
Speaker 6: but the last one was was and he was he
Speaker 6: was one hundred percent serious.
Speaker 7: Man.
Speaker 6: He said, now, listen, guys, when you go up on
Speaker 6: that ladder and you cut the net, just be careful
Speaker 6: not to cut your finger with the physics, you know,
Speaker 6: he said, make sure you're careful because we don't want
Speaker 6: anybody getting hurt out there.
Speaker 7: And hold on to that ladder. I mean.
Speaker 6: He went through everyone and he made specific points about
Speaker 6: how we were gonna and we sat there like, man,
Speaker 6: this is the he's preaching the gospel. Man, listen because
Speaker 6: this is serious. And uh, yeah, it was fun. It
Speaker 6: was fun going through that and thinking back on it
Speaker 6: and just saying, mankind the heck did he know this
Speaker 6: was gonna happen?
Speaker 7: But it was.
Speaker 6: It was another great job by coach Hog making sure
Speaker 6: we were ready to play. The Other thing he said
Speaker 6: uh in that game was uh. He said, Now the
Speaker 6: first time Indiana said an illegal scream the very first time.
Speaker 6: And you tell the officials this when we go into
Speaker 6: the huddle before the game, you captains, you tell them
Speaker 6: the first time there's an illegal screen with an elbow
Speaker 6: high up in the throat area, there's going to be
Speaker 6: a fight.
Speaker 7: We're gonna fight.
Speaker 6: Was dropping the ball and we're fighting right now, and
Speaker 6: and and and and the captains Jimmy Dan and uh
Speaker 6: Mike Flynn, they went out there, man, and they told
Speaker 6: and told the referees, and refee says, no, don't start
Speaker 6: talking that stuff now. We don't want to hear that.
Speaker 7: This is a game. And you know all of this, man.
Speaker 6: But the first time it happened, and that's the way
Speaker 6: Indiana ran thereof right, with illegal screens and high elbows
Speaker 6: that hit you in the face or if you're lucky,
Speaker 6: it'd hit you in their throat or your chest. Man,
Speaker 6: the very first time, guyet Bob Guyette, I think it
Speaker 6: was locked up somebody, man, and they went down. And
Speaker 6: I mean, but that's the last time the officials let
Speaker 6: that happen without calling the fouls exact. Coach Hall did
Speaker 6: a great job coaching that game.
Speaker 1: He did, and because he always said that Bob Knight's
Speaker 1: offense was predicated on a series of illegal screens. And yeah,
Speaker 1: that took. Now, there was a little dust uff towards
Speaker 1: the end, and James Lee, I can still see him
Speaker 1: sprinting the distance the length of the course before people
Speaker 1: got ejected for coming off the bench. But some I
Speaker 1: think Jimmy Dan may have locked up with somebody or
Speaker 1: somebody you you correct me, and and James went down
Speaker 1: to be the enforcer. That was a highlight.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, James. James could do that. If you
Speaker 6: came running down there and they saw me, Come on,
Speaker 6: come on, Jack, come on man, Yeah you can do it.
Speaker 7: James comes. If James comes.
Speaker 6: Running at you, man, you go duck and go the
Speaker 6: other way. Got that, so yeah, you know, but it
Speaker 6: was that kind of game. It was an awesome game
Speaker 6: to be part of.
Speaker 1: Jack Gibbans is my guess. We'll come back and talk
Speaker 1: Kentucky Texas after the break here on six thirty w
Speaker 1: l A P. Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Jack Gibins. He is Tom Leach's broadcast partner,
Speaker 1: as you know, and he'll call the action as the
Speaker 1: Wildcats take on the long Horns tomorrow. Before I talk
Speaker 1: about that brand of orange that shade. Uh, nothing makes
Speaker 1: me happier, Jack. Then Kentucky went over Tennessee being basketball
Speaker 1: or football, which you're rare. I know because two of
Speaker 1: my good buddies on the broadcast sides of things, Jeffer
Speaker 1: Corro who played back before the Louisville series, and mister
Speaker 1: Jack Gibbons same. Your favorite thing in the world when
Speaker 1: it comes to the wackas is beating Tennessee. So I
Speaker 1: know how happy you were the other night. You just
Speaker 1: you had to be overjoyed by that effort.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, oh man, it was. It was just an
Speaker 6: unbelievable win. And uh, you know, it's one of those
Speaker 6: games that you you you just know that you better
Speaker 6: be ready to play because Tennessee is Tennessee, and it
Speaker 6: was just really really nice to see Kentucky uh come
Speaker 6: out and accept the challenge. Uh, you know, they had
Speaker 6: beaten We had beaten Tennessee down in Knoxville, so you know,
Speaker 6: Tennessee wanted to come in and try to make an
Speaker 6: example out of Kentucky and beat them on their home floor.
Speaker 6: We knew that that was part of it, but we
Speaker 6: accepted it. And again we got out to a great start,
Speaker 6: which I thought was hugely important because you didn't want
Speaker 6: to try to fight behind, fight from behind to get
Speaker 6: back in the game, give them a chance to get going.
Speaker 6: Kentucky didn't allow them to get going. And really defended
Speaker 6: them as well as I mean, I don't want to
Speaker 6: say as well as we could play defense, because there's
Speaker 6: still room for improvements, but many they really jumped on
Speaker 6: them and played well, and down the stretch of the
Speaker 6: game when Lamont went down, you saw guys step out
Speaker 6: of their comfort zone, if you will, gave and give
Speaker 6: Kentucky some stuff that they haven't given them all year.
Speaker 6: Otaga Olway kind of star guarding the offense for what
Speaker 6: I think is the first time. I know he's probably
Speaker 6: been in there for a player or two, but he
Speaker 6: defended well. It's such a luxury to have Amari Williams
Speaker 6: be able to bring the ball down the floor because
Speaker 6: Tennessee is very good defensively at the guard spots. You
Speaker 6: don't want to bring the try to bring the ball
Speaker 6: up the floor with a guy like or take away
Speaker 6: against Ziggy. You know they they we just down the stretch,
Speaker 6: stayed tough and figured out a way to win a
Speaker 6: game through playing with a lot of heart.
Speaker 1: I think you guys will break down the Cats and
Speaker 1: the Longhorns in depth tomorrow on the broadcast, But I
Speaker 1: guess when we look ahead to this game and going
Speaker 1: on the road, and you know the circus is coming
Speaker 1: to town. It's Kentucky's first trip to Austin since an
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament, appears, first time playing against the Longhorns. But
Speaker 1: it's just gonna take more of the same. And we
Speaker 1: don't yet know as we speak if Butler is gonna play.
Speaker 1: We know there's no Jackson Robinson. But they have to
Speaker 1: keep straying from the comfort zone, don't they jack To
Speaker 1: win games like this?
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, you know again. You're gonna have to have
Speaker 6: guys do stuff that they haven't done all season long.
Speaker 6: You're gonna have to have Kobe Brea, Yes, get the
Speaker 6: ball along the wing and just say, I don't care
Speaker 6: if you are Tennessee's best defensive player and may shock,
Speaker 6: I don't care. I'm just gonna catch the ball, Duke
Speaker 6: and jive a little bit and I'm gonna pull up
Speaker 6: and shoot it in your faith. And that's something he
Speaker 6: hadn't done much. I'd like to see him do a
Speaker 6: lot more than that. You're gonna have to have Angeley
Speaker 6: almanor Uh put the ball on the floor, take a
Speaker 6: chance and make up big three point play the old
Speaker 6: fashioned way by creating a shot for yourself and and
Speaker 6: and getting fouled in the act, and you're gonna have
Speaker 6: to have that tomorrow. You gonna you're gonna have to
Speaker 6: have them take it away, handle the ball more, and
Speaker 6: bring it up the floor against against some pressure, all
Speaker 6: of those things that these guys haven't had to do
Speaker 6: this year. We're gonna have to have it tomorrow. I mean,
Speaker 6: that's just no other way to win that kind of game.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll let you go with this. And again I
Speaker 1: heard you talking to Tom about it yesterday and on
Speaker 1: the broadcast as well. But uh, you were a local kid.
Speaker 1: The two local kids had huge games, you know, collectively
Speaker 1: six of eight, Noah and Perry. And you know, people
Speaker 1: like to say, well, they're not freshman anymore, but yeah
Speaker 1: they are because they're going through all of this for
Speaker 1: the first time. And now they're going on the road
Speaker 1: once again in the SEC and it's down the stretch.
Speaker 1: It's the grind now, trying to get into the postseason.
Speaker 1: But it's so much fun seeing these kids and seeing
Speaker 1: the way Pope has brought them along, isn't it.
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it's Mark and his staff. I have
Speaker 6: handled these young guys pretty brilliantly. If you really think
Speaker 6: about it, I mean, where they were early in the
Speaker 6: season to where they are now. In a lot of ways,
Speaker 6: it's like night and day. And even if you think
Speaker 6: only about the confidence these guys play with, both of
Speaker 6: them play wet, even if you just look at that
Speaker 6: one area, and there's plenty of more to look at.
Speaker 6: But man, I mean, you got to say this, He's
Speaker 6: brought these guys along for time, just like this. And yeah,
Speaker 6: injuries have helped get them more time and all of.
Speaker 7: That kind of stuff.
Speaker 6: But you can get time and not be ready. That'd
Speaker 6: be the last time you can. But these guys, these
Speaker 6: guys were ready for the challenge, and they've really proven
Speaker 6: themselves to be very, very valuable and they will continue
Speaker 6: to be. And yes, they are still freshmen because we
Speaker 6: saw last year with a couple of pretty good players
Speaker 6: read Shepherd and Rob billing him what late in the
Speaker 6: season means and how yes, you are still still freshman
Speaker 6: because those two guys, as good as they were, they
Speaker 6: struggled in the SEC tournament, they struggled in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 6: And until you get through that the for at least
Speaker 6: one time, you truly are still a freshman.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it just it wears on you. But that's
Speaker 1: all part of it and that's why experience. Yeah, he's off,
Speaker 1: so it really is. He is Jack GIBBNS. He is
Speaker 1: Tom Leach Broadcast Partners, the All American and by the way,
Speaker 1: rated by a panel of experts as the greatest high
Speaker 1: school player to come out of Lexion. And I know
Speaker 1: that was a humbling experience for you, wasn't it.
Speaker 6: Ah Man, I gave you look at some of the
Speaker 6: names on that list and which I did, and I
Speaker 6: shake my head and say.
Speaker 7: How nick heck did they put me first?
Speaker 6: When you think about some of these other guys who
Speaker 6: came through here, and uh, some who weren't even on
Speaker 6: the list were really really good players.
Speaker 7: So yeah, it was.
Speaker 6: I was very humbled by that and honored to be
Speaker 6: in that position and to represent so many great athletes,
Speaker 6: so many great basketball players who played uh in Lexington
Speaker 6: and uh, well I just was blown away by being
Speaker 6: chosen in that position.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what. I was one of the voters,
Speaker 1: and it was it was fun to go back, but
Speaker 1: it's so hard to to you know, compare eras, but
Speaker 1: you know, it did take me back quite away. You know,
Speaker 1: the guy that didn't see play like Steve Chandler and
Speaker 1: Jeff Mullins and guys like that. But you know those things,
Speaker 1: they're they're fun. But you could you could argue that
Speaker 1: for weeks and weeks, couldn't you?
Speaker 6: But oh, I was.
Speaker 7: Happy for you.
Speaker 1: Hey, brother, have a great broadcast. We'll be listening.
Speaker 7: Thanks, Gabe, appreciate it.
Speaker 8: Man.
Speaker 1: I just love how tickled Jack gets when a guy
Speaker 1: like Kobe Brayer, Trendo or somebody finds an open shot
Speaker 1: and takes it. Jack being in a shooter that he
Speaker 1: was and always will be, enjoys that, know, and and
Speaker 1: I hope you're having a chance to listen to him
Speaker 1: on the broadcast and you can sync it up with
Speaker 1: your TV. Takes a little doing, but I love doing that,
Speaker 1: all right. Coming up our number two, Tom Hammond's going
Speaker 1: to join us. We talk with Tom Gosh a few
Speaker 1: months ago, just before his book came out, and so
Speaker 1: now we're going to talk to Tom about not just
Speaker 1: how the book has been received, but also he was
Speaker 1: part of that get together with the seventy five team.
Speaker 1: I was invited, so is Tom. So we'll get his
Speaker 1: thoughts on that and on this current Kentucky team with
Speaker 1: lots to talk about with Tom Hammond, and we'll talk
Speaker 1: about last night's Kentucky women's game with Jenna Liftin of
Speaker 1: the Kentucky Colonel. That's all ahead here six thirty WLAP.
Speaker 9: Any such such such tact stating the singing anything.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Bill insider joining us now
Speaker 1: is a longtime friend and an absolute mentor to many
Speaker 1: of us. Tom Hammond legendary sportscaster, you know, as we're
Speaker 1: from WLX here in Lexington for several years, but for
Speaker 1: the longest time NBC Sports, the NFL, the NBA, college basketball,
Speaker 1: the Olympics, and of course his book is now Tom,
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Last time you and I talked was right
Speaker 1: before the book was released and now Races Games and
Speaker 1: Olympic Dreams of Sportscasters Life is out. You can get
Speaker 1: it via Amazon and in bookstores everywhere. How's it doing well?
Speaker 8: It's doing well as far as I know. Dick Mark's story,
Speaker 8: my co author and I have been around the state
Speaker 8: doing some signings and giving a little program about the
Speaker 8: book and how we came to write it, and the
Speaker 8: reception has been good. Now, I always I have a
Speaker 8: caveat that. I don't think anybody's going to walk up
Speaker 8: to me and say this book is terrible, So it
Speaker 8: might not be the best sample of how it's received,
Speaker 8: but so far it's been very, very fuss you know.
Speaker 1: That's something. And we were all sitting around telling stories
Speaker 1: the other day at the reception for the seventy five team,
Speaker 1: and somebody brought up Jack Sutherland. I learned that from
Speaker 1: Jock very early. He was a real mentor of mine
Speaker 1: as well, and he said, you know, he saw somebody
Speaker 1: recognize me, and he said, you know, they don't tell
Speaker 1: you when they don't like you.
Speaker 8: So now I think in the age of social media,
Speaker 8: you know, people can get on there and write whatever
Speaker 8: they want and with no accountability, so good.
Speaker 1: Luck that's true when they do come up and talk
Speaker 1: to you. I got to think most people do they
Speaker 1: hit you with the personal story about something that you
Speaker 1: said or did, or something they heard you said. It
Speaker 1: really meant a lot to them. Do you hear a
Speaker 1: lot of that?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 8: I do a lot. And I also have heard a
Speaker 8: lot of people saying to me, oh, I didn't know
Speaker 8: that about you. They're learning different to different parts of
Speaker 8: me and to be honest, it's a little scary to
Speaker 8: put all those things about your life, yourself out there
Speaker 8: that you've never really talked about before for everybody to know.
Speaker 8: So I've kind of gotten used to it by now,
Speaker 8: but at first it was a little frightening to do that.
Speaker 8: But people, a lot of people said they had learned
Speaker 8: some things about me. And you know, people also notice
Speaker 8: of my affection for Lexington and supper Kentucky that comes
Speaker 8: through the book and what I say in the book tick,
Speaker 8: which I really have felt my whole career, my whole life,
Speaker 8: is that the best thing that ever happens to me
Speaker 8: is when a total stranger comes up to me and says,
Speaker 8: I'm a Kentuckian and I just want you to know
Speaker 8: you make us proud. And it doesn't get any better
Speaker 8: than that.
Speaker 1: That's so great. And I had somebody tell me a
Speaker 1: long time ago, got in our business, when you start
Speaker 1: to move, he said, it seems like you never stop.
Speaker 1: And I've only made a couple of moves in my life,
Speaker 1: you know, lexing into Dallas, back to Lexing, And I
Speaker 1: was fortunate, and I know how much it means to
Speaker 1: you to be able to kind of keep this as
Speaker 1: your home base. You literally traveled the world doing your job,
Speaker 1: but you could always come.
Speaker 8: Home to Lection and exactly, and one of the great
Speaker 8: moments is when you return, you fly over at Farman,
Speaker 8: you see that again and you know you're home. Yeah.
Speaker 8: I was so lucky, Dick, that I was not able
Speaker 8: to have to play the TV game where you bounce
Speaker 8: from one bigger market to the next trying to advance.
Speaker 8: I wanted to stay in Lexington, you know, because I
Speaker 8: love it, because I liked the horses and you know,
Speaker 8: all the things about it. And I was so lucky
Speaker 8: that Harry Barfield, who was the general manager of w
Speaker 8: LA TV, let me supplement my income at the TV station,
Speaker 8: first of all by working at the Keenland sales as
Speaker 8: the announcer, and then at other sales around the country,
Speaker 8: so I didn't have to move. I was able to
Speaker 8: stay here, which is what I always wanted to do.
Speaker 8: And when I worked for the network, people would say,
Speaker 8: oh my gosh, you know, travel must be awful. I said, well,
Speaker 8: I have to make the connection. Usually that's the only
Speaker 8: price I have to pay, and that's a small price
Speaker 8: to pay to still live in Lexington. So I did
Speaker 8: have to make lots of connections. But to me that
Speaker 8: was no big deal. And my six million Delta miles
Speaker 8: can attend to that.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was fortunate too, because not nearly at the
Speaker 1: scale that you had. But I I've picked up some
Speaker 1: freelance work through my career and Ralph Gabbard let me
Speaker 1: do it, you know, I said, as long as it
Speaker 1: doesn't interfere with your duties as a sports manager at
Speaker 1: k y T. Yeah, go ahead, you know, and kind
Speaker 1: of you know, job well done. It's a reward and
Speaker 1: and so I was fortunate too. But yeah, I envy you. Uh.
Speaker 1: I never had a chance to work the Olympics. I
Speaker 1: always wanted to do it at least once.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 1: Just the majesty, the grandeur, the splendor, all of that
Speaker 1: really appealed to me. I got to think that when
Speaker 1: you first started doing that, was it overwhelming at all?
Speaker 8: It was a little daunting to start with.
Speaker 7: It was a bit intimidating.
Speaker 8: Because it's it's something the whole world is watching. Yeah,
Speaker 8: when you get there, you realize the whole world is here. Yeah,
Speaker 8: and it's it's just such such a big deal and
Speaker 8: it's the one one of the things that the world
Speaker 8: usually agrees on and let's watch the Olympics. They want
Speaker 8: different people to win, of course, but they think that
Speaker 8: the Olympics are important enough to take time out of
Speaker 8: their days to watch. And my first Olympics was this
Speaker 8: sound so long ago now, was nineteen eighty eight in Seoul,
Speaker 8: South Korea. And originally I was slated to do a
Speaker 8: questrian events and Michael Weisman was executive producer at NBC,
Speaker 8: the man that hired me at NBC. And I said,
Speaker 8: that's great time, I'd love to do it. I don't
Speaker 8: know anything about a question that I know about horses
Speaker 8: and horse racing a little bit, but about a question
Speaker 8: I don't know much, but I'll be fine and so
Speaker 8: lo and behold a little while later he changed my mind.
Speaker 8: He said, I want you to do men's and women's
Speaker 8: basketball and with Al McGuire, And my gosh, you could
Speaker 8: afford me to knocked me over with a feather then,
Speaker 8: So what a compliment it was, and what an assignment
Speaker 8: it was, and what a lifelong memory as it was.
Speaker 8: And Il maguire one of the great characters of American sports.
Speaker 8: There's no never been anybody like him, a unique individual,
Speaker 8: and and we we just had such a great time.
Speaker 8: In fact, for years afterwards, Dick that back in the
Speaker 8: days of answering machines, he would call my answering machine
Speaker 8: and he said, Tommy, baby, just want to tell you
Speaker 8: I love you, and he'd hang up. I want to
Speaker 8: tell you I love you. That would be his message.
Speaker 8: So and then Dick Ever saw when he took over
Speaker 8: NBC Sports as the chairman, had me branching out into
Speaker 8: things I'd never considered before. In fact, that I tell
Speaker 8: the story that I'd done an NBA playoff game in
Speaker 8: Boston the Celtics and the Pacers on Sunday and throw
Speaker 8: him back home. And a Monday morning, ever Spell called.
Speaker 8: I said, oh my gosh, what did I do wrong?
Speaker 8: Oh gosh? And he so I answered, and he said, well,
Speaker 8: good job in the game yesterday. What do you know
Speaker 8: about track and field? And I said, if I had
Speaker 8: been to a track meter two in my life, but
Speaker 8: I really don't know much about it. Well, you'll be fine.
Speaker 8: And that was my introduction to doing track and field.
Speaker 8: And that's that's the sport that I did most of
Speaker 8: all of the Olympics. I also did some gymnastics and
Speaker 8: some diving, and in the Summer Games. But the track
Speaker 8: and field was my main and to me that was
Speaker 8: such a confident once I learned.
Speaker 7: My way around.
Speaker 8: Yes, that was such a compliment because to me, that's
Speaker 8: the heart and soul of the Olympics. In fact that
Speaker 8: I think the one hundred meters dash is always the
Speaker 8: marquee event of the of the Summer Games. It's also
Speaker 8: the most difficult thing I did in all my entire.
Speaker 1: Career, no doubt. And yet Tom, you got it right
Speaker 1: each time you didn't stumble, you got the right I mean,
Speaker 1: and you talk about pressure, We put pressure on ourselves,
Speaker 1: but it was just magnified because of the enormity of
Speaker 1: the event, the audience, the setting, and your years of
Speaker 1: experience came through. You were prepared and that's everything, isn't it.
Speaker 8: Well, you're You're nice to say that, Dick, and you're right.
Speaker 8: I always thought there's no if you've prepared, done your homework,
Speaker 8: and then all you can do no sense being nervous.
Speaker 8: You're prepared and with the one hundred meters dashes over
Speaker 8: in nine seconds and there's no margin for error, so
Speaker 8: either you get it right or you don't and knock
Speaker 8: on wood. Still, Luckily I never got it, never got
Speaker 8: it wrong, and they did get it wrong at the
Speaker 8: Paris Olympics, which is embarrassing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're talking to Tom Hammond, of course, legendary sports
Speaker 1: caster and now a co author of Tom Hammond Races,
Speaker 1: Games and Olympic Dreams, a book that he wrote with
Speaker 1: our buddy Mark's Story from the Herald Leader and a
Speaker 1: collection of great anecdote stories. And I thought about that,
Speaker 1: Tom when we were sitting together at a table at
Speaker 1: the reception for the seventy five team after last Saturday's game.
Speaker 1: And I was very appreciative of being invited to join
Speaker 1: those guys, as I'm sure you were. But it was
Speaker 1: kind of fun at the end when people began to
Speaker 1: ask you questions about you know, what was your favorite
Speaker 1: this or how did you end up doing that? And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they they sat and took it all in
Speaker 1: as you shared with them somebody the experience especially, I
Speaker 1: think they appreciated you're a McGuire stories. I mean that guy.
Speaker 1: And you know what, I think I worked his very
Speaker 1: first game when he was working on a green screen.
Speaker 1: It was before you joined the network over at Freedom Hall.
Speaker 1: His very first game, he was under the stands in
Speaker 1: a small room with a monitor and they would I
Speaker 1: think Enburg was doing the game with Packer and they
Speaker 1: would bring him in once in a while. And it
Speaker 1: was right after that game Billy Packer said, we need
Speaker 1: Al out here with us at the table, and and
Speaker 1: and a career was born. So yeah, I happened just
Speaker 1: to be a witness to that.
Speaker 8: But yeah, you know, of course the greatest threesome in
Speaker 8: sports broadcasting was you know, Edburg McGuire and Packer.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 8: I think Enburg was my mentor and my friend, and
Speaker 8: uh we just had that the national connection, natural connection
Speaker 8: that can move on to the Al I think appreciated
Speaker 8: how much Dick cared for me and liked me, so
Speaker 8: that made our transition easy when when Al became my partner.
Speaker 8: We did some college games, and we did some exhibition
Speaker 8: games the US Olympic team against various teams before we
Speaker 8: went to the Olympics, and then we were in Soul
Speaker 8: for a month together. And then as I said, after
Speaker 8: we even did a couple of NBA games. Afterwards, the
Speaker 8: NBC decided they didn't really like him on the NBA,
Speaker 8: but uh, it was just as I say, a unique
Speaker 8: individual and frugal and we ate the employee cafeterias, and
Speaker 8: lots of times when we were traveling he said, he
Speaker 8: put it up hot sauce, honey, and then it stays
Speaker 8: all right. And he was just he was, just like
Speaker 8: I say, a unique American sports character and would never
Speaker 8: be another liking. And I was lucky to work with
Speaker 8: another one too, Dick in the Bill Walton another extent,
Speaker 8: you know, individual that will never reduplicated. And how lucky
Speaker 8: was that to work with two individuals like that.
Speaker 1: Something you and Dick Enburg have in common, and really
Speaker 1: all the greats do, is that you knew and still
Speaker 1: know how to as we stay in the business, let
Speaker 1: it breathe. You know, you knew when to talk and
Speaker 1: when to not talk, which is just as important oftentimes
Speaker 1: which was big for Enburg working with McGuire and Packer,
Speaker 1: but also in your case as well. Letting the moment
Speaker 1: have its moment, you know. And too often now I
Speaker 1: feel like people in our business they feel like they
Speaker 1: get paid by the word that they have to be
Speaker 1: yammering on when there's times, especially in television, just let
Speaker 1: it breathe.
Speaker 8: Right, Oh, absolutely, Dick, and your right. That's in the
Speaker 8: stud observation on your part, because I don't think many
Speaker 8: understand that these days, and I do know that there
Speaker 8: are two hundred different channels to choose from, so they
Speaker 8: feel like they have to, you know, distinguish themselves or
Speaker 8: make themselves stand out. But to me, that's the absolute
Speaker 8: wrong approach, and that I was famous at NBC for
Speaker 8: the hand if there was a dramatic moment that I
Speaker 8: thought deserved to be emphasized to my partners, I just
Speaker 8: held the hand up, like, don't say anything, don't say anything.
Speaker 8: And the first time they got that hand they didn't
Speaker 8: quite know what to do. But after a while they
Speaker 8: became used to it. And you know, as you say,
Speaker 8: let the moment breathe at the network, that you have
Speaker 8: such talented cameramen and directors that the story, the picture
Speaker 8: is going to tell the story much better than anything
Speaker 8: I can say. I can only detract from the moment
Speaker 8: really by trying to put it into words when you
Speaker 8: can see it on television. So I guess one of
Speaker 8: the most famous instances when I did that, gave the
Speaker 8: hand out in this case to Randy mass and to
Speaker 8: Jerry Bailey, was when American Pharaoh won the Teerful Crime
Speaker 8: and as he crossed the finish line and Larry Cole
Speaker 8: was to call the race, says, the thirty seven years
Speaker 8: route is over. American Pharaoh has won the Driple crown.
Speaker 8: And people were going crazy, absolute not standing on tables
Speaker 8: and chairs, throwing things in the air. And I just
Speaker 8: held my hand up to Jerry and Randy. They didn't
Speaker 8: know quite they didn't know quite how to take it,
Speaker 8: and they were just chomping to say something, to say something,
Speaker 8: and no let And for almost a minute, I think
Speaker 8: I didn't say anything because the scenes that that that
Speaker 8: threw wessic off, our Hall of Fame director was getting
Speaker 8: told the story. I didn't need to say anything, and
Speaker 8: and I was. I was proud of that moment in here.
Speaker 8: I didn't say a word. So maybe the best thing
Speaker 8: I did in my whole career was not say anything.
Speaker 1: Excellent. Well, I was watching and yeah, and then I
Speaker 1: was at a wedding reception. I was in the bar.
Speaker 1: I ran down to the bar just to watch, and
Speaker 1: then I went back upstairs to everybody who was partying
Speaker 1: and dancing, and as soon as there was a lull,
Speaker 1: I yelled American Pharaoh was one, you know, and got
Speaker 1: an round of a plot wasn't for me. Of course,
Speaker 1: Tom Hammond is my guest. We'll come back and talk
Speaker 1: a little bit more with an engineery sportscaster in just
Speaker 1: a minute here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're
Speaker 1: talking with Tom Hammond, legendary sportscaster and the author of
Speaker 1: Tom Hammond Races Games and Olympic Dreams, which he co
Speaker 1: wrote with Mark's Story of the Hero Leader. Real quickly,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, you and I were invited to the
Speaker 1: post game reception with a seventy five team. That meant
Speaker 1: a lot to me. I'm sure it did to you
Speaker 1: as well. But what were your memories of that team,
Speaker 1: because those guys were so much fun to cover, given
Speaker 1: everything they went through from their freshman year through their
Speaker 1: senior seasons.
Speaker 8: Yeah, they were a fun team to cover because they
Speaker 8: seemed to enjoy the game, the Twin Towers and the
Speaker 8: whole group of them, and of course Jack Gibbons a
Speaker 8: youngster then, and it was a delight And I was,
Speaker 8: like you, flattered that they would remember us and invite
Speaker 8: us to be there. Because I was working at WAXTV then,
Speaker 8: I was not broadcasting the games. I was just sitting
Speaker 8: on the sideline with my little sixteen millimere cameraually. But
Speaker 8: you remember when when Bobby Knight slapped Jovi Hall up
Speaker 8: on the back of the head, and then when they
Speaker 8: met again in the NCAA turn, I've got to go
Speaker 8: to the game, and I did, and after the game,
Speaker 8: I said, I'm going to San Diego. I just can't.
Speaker 8: I can't stay away. I've got to watch the team
Speaker 8: because they've developed into something special and on a mission.
Speaker 8: And of course, low and behold, John Wooden announces his
Speaker 8: retirement and nobody was going to beat him that in
Speaker 8: that championship game. But it was a wonderful experience. And
Speaker 8: like you say, it was wonderful too for them to
Speaker 8: remember us and to invite us back.
Speaker 1: And you know, they experienced so much as starting off
Speaker 1: as the super Kittens and everybody thought, oh, three straight
Speaker 1: national titles and they went an SEC title for joe
Speaker 1: By and then they struggled through that thirteen and thirteen year,
Speaker 1: which was my first year, not to date you, but
Speaker 1: my first year at UK, and I'm like, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: this is UK basketball and they're losing as much as
Speaker 1: they're winning. That was a story in and of itself.
Speaker 8: Wasn't it when they were so Yeah, when they were
Speaker 8: so highly hearted to start with? And you know, I
Speaker 8: wondered throughout my career and all the different sports I've covered,
Speaker 8: one thing I've learned is that the greatest obstacle to
Speaker 8: overcome really is the pressure of expectations. And that really
Speaker 8: inhibits people a time, athletes, and you can understand why.
Speaker 8: But the pressure of expectations I think might have been
Speaker 8: a factor in their struggles and then probably in their
Speaker 8: determination to succeed, which they eventually did to overcome those troubles.
Speaker 8: But one thing I learned in all those different sports
Speaker 8: is man, the pressure to succeed when it's expected of
Speaker 8: you is really difficult to overcome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and now it may be worse than ever
Speaker 1: because of social media. I don't know how much of
Speaker 1: the business you miss, but the fact that you don't
Speaker 1: have to deal with it that much, if at all, that's.
Speaker 8: As, isn't it when it's when it it was just
Speaker 8: coming in of course when I when I finally retired, yeah,
Speaker 8: it was starting to be really established, and I said
Speaker 8: to my partners, I said, you know, this is the
Speaker 8: work of the devil. This is this, this is going
Speaker 8: to be Uh, it's going to change the whole landscape,
Speaker 8: and of course it has. And and my philosophy was
Speaker 8: and is that you just can't listen to it. You
Speaker 8: you know, whether you did a good job or not.
Speaker 8: I knew if I did a poor job or could
Speaker 8: have done better, and I knew when I knocked it
Speaker 8: out of the park, and so, uh, you just have
Speaker 8: to depend on your instincts and your knowledge and your
Speaker 8: preparation and not listen to all the noise or outside
Speaker 8: noise because and that and that includes don't listen to
Speaker 8: all the paths on the back either all the time,
Speaker 8: because you can go that way as well. So you
Speaker 8: just have to tune it all out and rely on
Speaker 8: your own instincts to tell you whether you did a
Speaker 8: good job or what you need to do better at well.
Speaker 1: Tom All, always a pleasure talking with you, and keep
Speaker 1: us posted on the book's progress. And I do appreciate
Speaker 1: all the help you gave me through the years, just
Speaker 1: treating me with respect when I was a kid, you know,
Speaker 1: and you were an established broadcaster, but that's important to
Speaker 1: young people and I try to remember that now as
Speaker 1: I'm getting up in years. So thanks so much. Always
Speaker 1: great talking to you.
Speaker 8: Thank you, Dick, Thank you, and I've enjoyed your friendship
Speaker 8: and enjoyed your work over the years. And if I somehow,
Speaker 8: you know, influenced you or inspired you in some way,
Speaker 8: then that is very very nice of you to say,
Speaker 8: and I'm very appreciative of you saying it. And you know,
Speaker 8: a long time in this business, and one of the
Speaker 8: things I'm most proud of in my whole career, Dick,
Speaker 8: is I think I treated everyone with respect on all
Speaker 8: our crews. You have two hundred and fifty people from
Speaker 8: NBC there to broadcast to Derby, and I tried to
Speaker 8: learn as many other names as I could, in course
Speaker 8: the regulars I knew anyway. So I just you know,
Speaker 8: you said that I always treated you with respect, and
Speaker 8: that's one of the nicest things you could say to me.
Speaker 1: That's great, Tom, Thanks so much. Hope to see you
Speaker 1: again soon.
Speaker 8: Thanks Dick, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: That was indeed the case. I always appreciated that about
Speaker 1: Tom and about Kate with Leedford. Even before I was
Speaker 1: a broadcast colleague of his worked on the UK Network
Speaker 1: with him, people used to ask me, is k would
Speaker 1: really that nice of a guy? That can't be, is
Speaker 1: he really? Yes? It is possible for guys like Ka
Speaker 1: with Leedford and Tom Hammond and Larry Conley and people
Speaker 1: like that to be decent guys and treat people who
Speaker 1: are coming up, young people early in their career with respect,
Speaker 1: not like they're just kids. Speaking of young people, Jenna
Speaker 1: Lifts of The Kentucky colonels next on six thirty wlap Oh,
Speaker 1: Jenna and three two Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Joining us now in our celebrity hotline is a new
Speaker 1: voice to the show. But if you are a reader
Speaker 1: of The Kentucky Colonel you know her work. Jenna Liftion,
Speaker 1: who covers, among other things, women's basketball.
Speaker 6: Welcome Jenna, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 11: I'm excited to be.
Speaker 1: Here, always glad to have Kentucky Colonel people on as
Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time, probably too much time
Speaker 1: in that newspaper office, but you know how that goes.
Speaker 1: First of all, give me some background. Where are you from?
Speaker 1: What year are you in?
Speaker 10: Yeah, so I'm actually from Austin, Texas, a little bit
Speaker 10: ways away from Lexington.
Speaker 11: And this is my sophomore year.
Speaker 1: How did you find your way to UK?
Speaker 8: You know?
Speaker 10: When I was looking at for journalism programs because very
Speaker 10: few schools have them right now, Kentucky really stuck out
Speaker 10: to me. I knew I'd get to have the experience
Speaker 10: from the get go, and obviously now I'm getting to
Speaker 10: cover women's basketball as a sophomore. It's pretty pretty exciting.
Speaker 10: And I just loved Lexington at the city. It's a
Speaker 10: really great place.
Speaker 1: Austin's a great town, ut is a great school, especially
Speaker 1: for journalism. Can assume you just wanted to get away
Speaker 1: from home.
Speaker 10: Yeah, both my parents went to Texas, most of my family,
Speaker 10: but I definitely living twenty minutes away from home, I
Speaker 10: thought maybe I'd go home too much, have my mom
Speaker 10: do my laundry a little too often.
Speaker 11: I definitely needed to get out of town and start
Speaker 11: my own life.
Speaker 3: So good for you, Good for you, Thank you.
Speaker 1: So things come full circle last night the Lady Longhorns
Speaker 1: come to town and put a beating on the Wildcats.
Speaker 1: And I was talking earlier in the show about how
Speaker 1: really it was such a defensive battle. I mean, Texas
Speaker 1: held below seven seventeen points below it's average. But what
Speaker 1: a job Vick Shafers did on Kentucky. And now we
Speaker 1: can see why this team beats South Carolina, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there.
Speaker 11: Are depths that they have.
Speaker 10: You know, they scored twenty four points off the bench.
Speaker 10: They're just incredible all around. They can really throw anyone
Speaker 10: in their.
Speaker 11: Lineup and they can put up double digit points.
Speaker 10: And then obviously they have an absolute baller in Madison Booker.
Speaker 10: She is definitely finding her way. You have Rory who
Speaker 10: is obviously up for point Guard of the Year, defensive
Speaker 10: player of the Year. They just have an extremely well
Speaker 10: rounded team and they're really tough. So I definitely see
Speaker 10: them making a national championship run. So it was a
Speaker 10: really hard game for Kentucky, of course, but one I think.
Speaker 11: They definitely needed.
Speaker 10: You know, I think it's their first SEC matchup where
Speaker 10: it really was they just got out play.
Speaker 1: So yeah, but you know, following up on that, come
Speaker 1: from a head lost Ole miss where they just got
Speaker 1: destroyed giving up offensive rebounds, and it happened again last night,
Speaker 1: And I know you can always work to get better,
Speaker 1: but I just really feel general like, given the physical
Speaker 1: makeup of this Kentucky team, I just don't see how
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to keep the other team
Speaker 1: off the offensive boards. That's going to be just a
Speaker 1: real weak spot for this team down the stretch. Do
Speaker 1: you see it that way?
Speaker 11: Yeah, most definitely.
Speaker 10: You know, I think in all of their losses, when
Speaker 10: you look at it, it's always been a struggle.
Speaker 11: And last night it was, you know, really bad.
Speaker 10: Texas out rebounded them on offensive rebounds four times the
Speaker 10: amount they had twenty while Kentucky had five, and that
Speaker 10: just really killed them. And it's an issue when you know,
Speaker 10: so many players on Kentucky are so tall, tallest team
Speaker 10: in the nation pretty much, and you know, you just
Speaker 10: can't give up that many rebounds when you're playing teams
Speaker 10: as good as Texas. And you know, looking at the schedule,
Speaker 10: they do have an easier next two games against Georgia
Speaker 10: and Miszoo no SEC games or give me games, But
Speaker 10: when you look at that three game stretch they have
Speaker 10: at the end of the season LSU Tennessee South Carolina,
Speaker 10: they cannot be giving up that many rebounds, point blank. No.
Speaker 1: When you started covering this team at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the year, and it was not unlike the men's team,
Speaker 1: of course, not an entirely total restart, but pretty much
Speaker 1: a brand new team with a brand new head coach.
Speaker 1: What did you expect going into this year from Kenny
Speaker 1: Brooks and from this team?
Speaker 10: I think my biggest thing that I was looking for
Speaker 10: in the culture change. You know, Kenny Brooks during media day,
Speaker 10: the first time I ever heard him talk, you know,
Speaker 10: he emphasized us so much about building a family and
Speaker 10: building a culture, and I think all the players he
Speaker 10: had brought with him, and then obviously having Cassidy row return,
Speaker 10: who I just still think is really the heart of
Speaker 10: the team. You know, their Kentucky girl, but he just
Speaker 10: brought in a group of girls that was ready to
Speaker 10: represent Kentucky and live up to the standard that people expect.
Speaker 10: And you know, it's hard to have those losses against Texas.
Speaker 11: Where you genuinely are like they just played horrible. So
Speaker 11: when you look overall, I mean the turnaround.
Speaker 10: He's had in just one season compared to last season
Speaker 10: is incredible, and this team is really really good.
Speaker 11: You know, he put them together in a couple of
Speaker 11: months and they're finding their way. So you know, heading
Speaker 11: into it.
Speaker 10: I was really hopeful that he would just shift the culture.
Speaker 10: And now the next the rest of the home games
Speaker 10: this season are sold out, so you're really starting to
Speaker 10: see that, so it's really exciting. You know.
Speaker 1: What I thought was really interesting in one of his
Speaker 1: press conferences was when he mentioned, and I think it
Speaker 1: was remember early I guess it was December, there was
Speaker 1: that weird string of of in terms of scheduling, the
Speaker 1: games were just kind of weirdly placed. But he said,
Speaker 1: we had a hard time scheduling at first because we
Speaker 1: got in late. But then he said, when Georgia Amore transferred,
Speaker 1: people who at first were gonna say, sure, we'll come play,
Speaker 1: Oh you got Georgia aymore, I think we're busy that week.
Speaker 1: I thought that was fair.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, yeah, you look at Georgia.
Speaker 10: She's just she's one of a kind. I mean she
Speaker 10: you know, two thousand career points, eight hundred of sist
Speaker 10: she's on one in all of mc DOUAA men's or
Speaker 10: women's the one basketball that has those stats right now,
Speaker 10: and the number she puts up, yeah my game, what
Speaker 10: she averages, you know, nineteen points seven assists. She's just incredible.
Speaker 10: And know, every post game conference I've been to, the
Speaker 10: other team can't help, you know, win or lose, to
Speaker 10: just applaud her for how incredible she is. You know,
Speaker 10: Vick Schaeffer last night was just in awe of her
Speaker 10: and was like, you know, it's it's nearly impossible to
Speaker 10: stop her. And then obviously her huge game against Oklahoma.
Speaker 10: There's just times where it feels like if she's if
Speaker 10: she's having a good game, they're gonna win point blank.
Speaker 10: But at the same time, that's their biggest weakness.
Speaker 11: You know, every single game.
Speaker 10: They've lost, including you and Ce, she's had fifteen points
Speaker 10: or less. So yeah, it's definitely a double edged sword
Speaker 10: for them, but it's benefiting them a lot more than
Speaker 10: it is, you know, causing them problems.
Speaker 1: So are you surprised that somebody else hasn't sort of
Speaker 1: try to pick up more of the slack, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: when you're going to carve out a defensive game planning
Speaker 1: as Kentucky, clearly you got to cut off the head
Speaker 1: of the snake. But you know you come to expect that.
Speaker 10: Yeah, most definitely, you know, especially I think early on
Speaker 10: in the season we didn't really see the roster change
Speaker 10: as much in regards to who Kenny was putting on
Speaker 10: the court. It was typically his starting five, maybe one
Speaker 10: or two Irriccasions. But I think as the season has
Speaker 10: gone on. He definitely has been playing with the lineup
Speaker 10: a little more, and you know they're doing their best,
Speaker 10: but it's just they really do need someone, I think,
Speaker 10: to get out there be able to drop you know, five, six,
Speaker 10: seven points and really shift the momentum. I think that's
Speaker 10: what makes Texas so great and why they're going to be,
Speaker 10: you know, top two in the country is because they
Speaker 10: can throw a girl from off the bench and she
Speaker 10: can score or ten points. And I think that's what
Speaker 10: Kentucky is really lacking right now. But you know, you
Speaker 10: still have Sanni, Like last night, bad game, but she's
Speaker 10: still found.
Speaker 11: A way to get a double double.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 10: So there's definitely some sneaky girls in the lineup that
Speaker 10: are putting up good numbers. But it's just when you
Speaker 10: also have Georgia, it's kind of hard for comparison.
Speaker 1: You know, Kiana Keys about as gritty as it gets,
Speaker 1: isn't she.
Speaker 11: Yeah, She's she's incredible.
Speaker 10: I mean, she's definitely gonna take over as a leader.
Speaker 10: I think the same thing about Clara Strack. Obviously not
Speaker 10: her best game last night, but she has grown so
Speaker 10: much since the beginning of the season, since the UNC game. Really,
Speaker 10: you know, Kenny talked about how he felt maybe they
Speaker 10: put too much pressure on her early on to become
Speaker 10: one of their key players, to become one of their
Speaker 10: key leaders.
Speaker 11: Because she's so young. But you know, in regards to
Speaker 11: the rest.
Speaker 10: Of the season, minus maybe these past two games, she
Speaker 10: has just really shown off. So I think her and
Speaker 10: tani are are really incredible as well.
Speaker 1: Talking to Jenna Liftin from The Kentucky Colonel, she covers,
Speaker 1: among other things, UK women's basketball and of course the
Speaker 1: Wildcats losing to Texas last night. But what a year
Speaker 1: first home court loss, and you mentioned the sellouts, you know,
Speaker 1: and Memorial College excuse me, historic Memorial Coliseum has become
Speaker 1: a real go to for Kentucky fans. Good crowd last night,
Speaker 1: And uh, I'm really as someone who you know, I
Speaker 1: covered this program forever back in the eighties when they
Speaker 1: won their first SEC title. But when that place is
Speaker 1: full in rocking, uh the coliseums a lot of fun,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 10: Yes, I think definitely about the Louisville game. Obviously, that
Speaker 10: sellout crowd, I mean it was incredible and I one
Speaker 10: hundred percent credit that crowd to the reason they were
Speaker 10: able to pull off that over time, when it's because
Speaker 10: they had that momentum, they had so many fans sharing
Speaker 10: behind them, and when that place is full, it it's
Speaker 10: really hard to play in point blank. And you know,
Speaker 10: with those three sellout crowds and our last three home
Speaker 10: games of the season, they're gonna need it.
Speaker 11: LSU Tennessee it's gonna be hard, and Georgia of course
Speaker 11: this Sunday.
Speaker 10: It's going to become a hard place to play, which
Speaker 10: is really good for them to have, especially since last
Speaker 10: season at RUPs they pretty much had no fans at all.
Speaker 10: It really was a disaster trying to play there. But
Speaker 10: they got their home court advantage back for sure, and
Speaker 10: I think it's definitely paying off. There's multiple coaches who
Speaker 10: have said, you know, it's the most beautiful arena they've
Speaker 10: been to it.
Speaker 11: They've done such a beautiful.
Speaker 10: Job renovating it, and it's becoming a really hard place
Speaker 10: to play.
Speaker 1: We can look ahead because we're the media, we don't
Speaker 1: have to take it one game at a time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit in these last to
Speaker 1: or three minutes about the SEC Tournament the NCAAs. I
Speaker 1: think this Kentucky team can have some fun in the
Speaker 1: post season. It depends, of course, I think, especially with
Speaker 1: the NCAA's on matchups, on seedings, on bracketing, But absolutely,
Speaker 1: what do you think this team can accomplish?
Speaker 10: You know, I think the advantage this team has is,
Speaker 10: you know, you have players like Georgia and then of
Speaker 10: course Kenny, who have had experience in March madness, who
Speaker 10: have had success, you know, going to the Final four,
Speaker 10: and they know the stakes of the game.
Speaker 11: So they have a lot of veteran players.
Speaker 10: You look at Desia, you look at obviously Georgia, who
Speaker 10: have been in these situations before and hopefully can really
Speaker 10: use their leadership and their veteran experience to guide the
Speaker 10: younger girls of how they need to, you know, take.
Speaker 11: On the tournament mentally.
Speaker 10: And then looking at the SEC tournament, I mean, there's
Speaker 10: really no telling because that SCC is just point blank
Speaker 10: so deep that you know, it's so easy that you know,
Speaker 10: you could have a South Carolina losing their first game
Speaker 10: even with a double buy like you just really I
Speaker 10: don't know. I do think, you know, once again, if
Speaker 10: you're just having one of her incredible games, if the
Speaker 10: team is having one of their offensively dominant games where
Speaker 10: it just seems every single shot is hitting. Absolutely, they
Speaker 10: can go as far as winning the SEC Tournament. I
Speaker 10: don't see why not when you're having.
Speaker 11: Games specifically obviously.
Speaker 10: I look at the game against Oklahoma where they just
Speaker 10: they couldn't miss Georgia couldn't miss shots. And when you
Speaker 10: look at games like that, I don't think anyone can
Speaker 10: beat that team.
Speaker 11: And then in regards to March Madness, it's really hard.
Speaker 10: You know, Ucla, Notre Dame, obviously, Texas. There's some really
Speaker 10: really good teams and really deep teams, and it's just
Speaker 10: a question of like how early on are they going
Speaker 10: to get burnt out and tired because they don't have
Speaker 10: as deep of a bench and as deep as of
Speaker 10: a team that can score points off the bench pretty
Speaker 10: much when you know, obviously there seems like Texas who
Speaker 10: are getting twenty four points off the benching games. But
Speaker 10: I think either way, no matter how both the SEC
Speaker 10: Tournament and March Madness turn out, this is an incredibly
Speaker 10: successful season. It's the kind of hopeful glimpse into the
Speaker 10: future that I think all the Big Blue Nation really
Speaker 10: needs to see. You know, women's basketball hasn't been talked
Speaker 10: about in so long and I think no matter what
Speaker 10: that is changing, people are going to talk about women's
Speaker 10: as much as they talk about men's because they're finding
Speaker 10: the success. And you know, Kentucky, you're supposed to win,
Speaker 10: and when you're winning, people really like that, especially at
Speaker 10: a school like Kentucky, So it's really exciting. And you know,
Speaker 10: it's still year one for coach Brooks, but he's just
Speaker 10: done an incredible job.
Speaker 1: So winning is fun and that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1: If you have a good time and you go to
Speaker 1: you can't keep going and watch your team getting clubbed
Speaker 1: about the head and shoulders. Just after a while, you
Speaker 1: want to come away smiling. And for the most part
Speaker 1: they've done that. Not so much last night, but it
Speaker 1: should be a fun run down the stretch. Whatever happens,
Speaker 1: Jenna Liften will be there to cover it for the
Speaker 1: Kentucky Colonel. Tell everybody how to follow you on Twitter
Speaker 1: or X or whatever we're calling it.
Speaker 10: Yes, so Twitter, slash X, you can follow me at
Speaker 10: gens Reporting. On Instagram, my personal account is Jena Liftin.
Speaker 10: Also have my media account which is Jen's Reporting, and
Speaker 10: I'm always active on both of those, but mainly on
Speaker 10: X is where I keep everyone up today on Kentucky
Speaker 10: Women's Basketball.
Speaker 1: News, and of course you can read The Colonel online
Speaker 1: as well as something we didn't have back in the day,
Speaker 1: but it's something that we didn't have to serve twenty
Speaker 1: four to seven like you all do. I always tell
Speaker 1: Kentucky Colonel reporters, you have much tougher than.
Speaker 10: We did back Yeah, it's hard work, but it's fun.
Speaker 10: I love doing It's why I came here, so I
Speaker 10: definitely can't complain good.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks so much and looking forward to having you
Speaker 1: on again.
Speaker 11: Thank you so much for having me, and we'll.
Speaker 1: Wrap up the week with Heroes, fools and flag on
Speaker 1: the other side of the break here on the Big
Speaker 1: moon Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to The Big Moonsider,
Speaker 1: final segment of our show thanks to Jenna Liiften, Tom
Speaker 1: Hammond and Jack Gibbons. Time now for heroes, fools and
Speaker 1: flakes and our hero tonight is literally a hero in
Speaker 1: every sense of the word. A young man, a little
Speaker 1: boy really ten years old. Andre Howard. I remember that
Speaker 1: medical jet that crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, killed a total of seven people. Injured
Speaker 1: two dozen at least, and Andre Howard was one of
Speaker 1: the people injured. He was struck in a head by
Speaker 1: a piece of metal debris as he was protecting his sister.
Speaker 1: Threw himself over his little sister and took one to
Speaker 1: the noggin, and in fact he needed brain surgery, And
Speaker 1: in fact, when he came out of it, he asked
Speaker 1: his dad, or have we played yet? He wanted to
Speaker 1: know it he missed the Super Bowl, and in fact
Speaker 1: he did not, and his beloved Egles going to win
Speaker 1: it and A. J. Brown, a talented wide receiver. The
Speaker 1: Philly hate him a visit in fact, So yeah, when
Speaker 1: you talk about heroes, Andre Howard, the ten year old boy,
Speaker 1: he risked his life by saving his sister during that
Speaker 1: plane crash. This week's heroes naturally our fool tonight, we'll
Speaker 1: stay with the Super Bowl. All those idiots who had
Speaker 1: to go out and destroy things, burn things, tear things up.
Speaker 1: Is now it seems an American tradition. Why is this?
Speaker 1: There has to be violence and destruction after your team
Speaker 1: wins a championship. You had a guy arrested for spitting
Speaker 1: on and striking a medic and was charged later with
Speaker 1: the resisting arrest and harassment. He had a guy arrested
Speaker 1: for assaulting a police officer during all of this. That
Speaker 1: went on, more than two dozen arrests after Phillies win
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl. Why does it have to be
Speaker 1: this way? Doesn't have to It just is now. It's
Speaker 1: almost like it's some sort of something to brag about.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say a badge of courage, but it's not.
Speaker 1: It's a badge of cowardice. Actually, is there any way
Speaker 1: we could turn this around? I'd be open for suggestions.
Speaker 1: Our flake tonight is kind of a weird situation given
Speaker 1: where we are these days in social media, marketing and
Speaker 1: all this. But if you haven't seen it, go find
Speaker 1: the photo of Anthony Edwards throwing down a dunk over
Speaker 1: Chet Holmgren. Edwards with the Timberwolves Homegrun with Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1: This game happened last night, and I bring it up
Speaker 1: because it's an absolute poster dunk and it's Edwards following
Speaker 1: through with the dunk. He's got the ball in his
Speaker 1: right hand, eye up over his head about the hammer
Speaker 1: of dunt and his left hand is in Holmegren's face.
Speaker 1: Homegren is seven foot plus he goes up trying to
Speaker 1: block the shot. Good luck with that. And it looks
Speaker 1: like Edwards has his nose like alcohol, you know. And
Speaker 1: I give Homegrown credit because so many NBA players try
Speaker 1: to avoid situations like that just for this reason. They
Speaker 1: don't want to be in the poster. I remember Kenny
Speaker 1: Walker ended up on a poster. I can't remember who
Speaker 1: might have been Michael dunked on him, but this will
Speaker 1: be a favorite poster of thousands of NBA fans. So
Speaker 1: give home Gren credit for at least trying. But Edwards
Speaker 1: made it special. That's going to do it. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much to all my guests. Be sure to listen to
Speaker 1: Kentucky Texas writer tomorrow night to an eight o'clock start.
Speaker 1: That's it. Good night from the garage and Lexington. You
Speaker 1: want to hold it?
Speaker 10: Yes?
Speaker 3: Please? Yes?
Speaker 4: Then you got got the child little tandon.
Speaker 3: Nap batatattat shop, then.
Speaker 9: Backed out, pack sacks the dip into