Speaker 1: Yes, it is hump Day. Welcome to the Big Blue Sider.
Speaker 1: Dick Gabriel with you on a Wednesday edition of our
Speaker 1: program and coming up once in future Wildcats, We're going
Speaker 1: to talk with Sean Woods at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: He is, of course, the unforgettable guard who talks with
Speaker 1: us each and every Wednesday. Jay Schidler will talk with
Speaker 1: us as well, former Kentucky guard and remember, just in
Speaker 1: time for Christmas, you can pick up his book Blonde
Speaker 1: Bomber The Ride with Shide. So we'll talk to Jay,
Speaker 1: get caught up with him in our number two as
Speaker 1: well as our Western Bureau chief Gary Moore. It is
Speaker 1: awards season and a UK signee, a future Wildcat, Montavin Quizonberry.
Speaker 1: They all purpose star from Boyle County High School, mister
Speaker 1: Kentucky Football. Voted by the Kentucky Football Coaches Association. He
Speaker 1: swept the commonwealth's top awards. He won the Paul Horning
Speaker 1: Award from the Louisville Quarterback Club and also Gatorade Player
Speaker 1: of the Year five nine, one, seventy three. And people
Speaker 1: look at him, think about Wandale Robinson and what a yard,
Speaker 1: what a career he had eight thousand total offensive yards,
Speaker 1: running the ball, catching the football, passing the football, special teams. Touchdowns, yeah,
Speaker 1: thirteen of them and eight interceptions. One of the best
Speaker 1: all around players in the history of football here in
Speaker 1: the Commonwealth. So future Kentucky Wildcat, Well, he's already signed.
Speaker 1: Montavian Quizenberry is mister Kentucky Football. Lamont Butler National Player
Speaker 1: of the Week, No surprise. He leads the fourth rank
Speaker 1: Wildcats to that win over the Louisville Cardinals in spectacular fashion,
Speaker 1: a career high thirty three points. And nobody really mentioned this,
Speaker 1: but it was kind of a I hate to say it,
Speaker 1: Christian Latner kind of game. Ten for ten from the field,
Speaker 1: six for six from three point range, thirty three points,
Speaker 1: second highest total in the history for a Wildcat of
Speaker 1: the uk UFL series, and it tied for third best
Speaker 1: ten for ten in program history. Rodney Dent went twelve
Speaker 1: for twelve against Morehead back in ninety three. Kenny Walker
Speaker 1: went eleven for eleven against Western Kentucky. That was in
Speaker 1: the NCAA tournament back in nineteen eighty six. And the
Speaker 1: only person I still have a hard time you may
Speaker 1: have seen this believing the only person who hit from
Speaker 1: the behind the arc. Any better was winy In Gabriel.
Speaker 1: That's right, my cousin who was seven for seven in
Speaker 1: the NCAA tournament one day. That beat his six for six.
Speaker 1: So Lamont Butler versus, according to the Basketball writers, the
Speaker 1: national Player of the Week. And again, no real surprise there,
Speaker 1: nor was it a surprise that two Wildcats have been
Speaker 1: named Coaches All Americans. The Americanvolleyball Coaches Association AVCA has
Speaker 1: voted Brooklyn Delay and Emma Grome All Americans. Delay, of course,
Speaker 1: is a finalist for Player of the Year. She's first
Speaker 1: Team and Emmigrom. This is the fourth straight year. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine every year you're playing college sports you make
Speaker 1: some sort of All American status four straight years She's
Speaker 1: second team. Delay was an honorable member last year as
Speaker 1: an All American when she was Freshman of the Year,
Speaker 1: and now she jumps up and becomes the twentieth UK
Speaker 1: volleyball player to be named first, second, or third team
Speaker 1: since the program's inception. And of course it was one
Speaker 1: of two UK players named SEC aw Conference, and she
Speaker 1: was one of two SEC players named First Team. The other,
Speaker 1: of course, Kennedy Martin from Florida, Emmigrom, by the way,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned I think earlier this week, now the
Speaker 1: all time assist leader at UK for the Rally scoring era,
Speaker 1: and she was one of four players on the second team.
Speaker 1: And also that team also included Madison Skinner from Texas,
Speaker 1: a former Kentucky Wildcat, UK joining pitt Nebraska, Penn State, Stanford, Creighton,
Speaker 1: Purduing U of L as the only teams in the
Speaker 1: nation with two or more players on the first two
Speaker 1: teams come by. As you heard last night, Ladamian Washington
Speaker 1: is the new receivers coach for Mark Stoops and his staff,
Speaker 1: and we will endeavor to have Coach Washington on the show.
Speaker 1: He comes from South Florida, where he did a lot
Speaker 1: of good things for the Bulls down there, and he
Speaker 1: takes over a Kentucky team that, for the first time
Speaker 1: in three years, does not have the dual threat of
Speaker 1: Dane Key and Barrion Brown. But he's got a lot
Speaker 1: of good young talent. Question is who's going to be
Speaker 1: thrown to these guys, Cutter Bowley or maybe Zach Calzada,
Speaker 1: the kid from Incarnate Word who was on campus today
Speaker 1: in Carnal Word in San Antonio. They are also looking
Speaker 1: at Malik Murphy from Duke. So all that's going to
Speaker 1: play out in the next few days. So as they say,
Speaker 1: stay tuned. More football coming up, news about coaches and quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Here on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. Coming up our conversation which we do
Speaker 1: each week with unforgettable guard Sean Woods. We'll talk with
Speaker 1: him about the Wildcats win over Louisville and the trip
Speaker 1: to New York to play in Madison Square Garden, a
Speaker 1: trip that he might have made. Sean might have made
Speaker 1: with the Wildcats, but they fell a little short in
Speaker 1: the preseason n T. So we'll talk about that in
Speaker 1: playing in bigger arenas like that, and not that Madison
Speaker 1: Square Garden is bigger than rup, but it seems larger
Speaker 1: than life. It's just a great, great atmosphere. A little
Speaker 1: bit later on our Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore and
Speaker 1: Jay Schiler, the former Wildcat. He's got that book still
Speaker 1: out there that he actually wrote a couple of year
Speaker 1: years ago, and they started moving that moving the product
Speaker 1: back in twenty late twenty twenty two to twenty three,
Speaker 1: but just in time for Christmas. The Blonde Bomber. It's
Speaker 1: a book you need to have in your UK collection.
Speaker 1: So that's coming up a little bit later on Lots
Speaker 1: of NFL news, a lot of quarterback news, as you
Speaker 1: might expect, the Falcons making the biggest headline benching Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: the guy they backed up the truck for Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: who was having a good time in Minnesota, but his
Speaker 1: time there came to an end. Signs a huge deal
Speaker 1: with the Falcons and this year has struggled. The Falcons
Speaker 1: aren't as good as the Vikings. And look at what
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold's doing with the Vikings. He had bounced around
Speaker 1: the league finally finds a home. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's their permanent answer, and as a Packers fan, I
Speaker 1: hope not, but I have to give them credit. Cousins
Speaker 1: played well, led the Vikings to a lot of wins.
Speaker 1: Donald's doing the same. He didn't get the job done
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, and now Cousins has been benched and now
Speaker 1: Michael Pennix Junior has been promoted to starter in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Meaning of the first twelve picks in the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four draft, it included six quarterbacks, five are starting with
Speaker 1: checkered results. Caleb Williams first overall going to the Bears.
Speaker 1: He has had some real struggles down the stretch after
Speaker 1: getting off to a really good start. Commanders Jaden Daniels
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy winner out of LSU. They've won nine games.
Speaker 1: They were terrible last year. Bo Nicks twelfth overall. Talked
Speaker 1: about him yesterday, washed out at Auburn. He didn't really
Speaker 1: play that poorly, but he kind of got run out
Speaker 1: of town, if you will, by fans, by media, coaches,
Speaker 1: gave up on him. Ends up in the Pacific Northwest,
Speaker 1: does a great job, and now he's doing a great job.
Speaker 1: I think you got to be a rookie of the
Speaker 1: year quite frankly in Denver and Drake May who took
Speaker 1: over for mac Jones. He was the third overall pick
Speaker 1: by the Patriots and they finally got around to starting
Speaker 1: him in week six and he's done well. And I've
Speaker 1: talked about this before, by the way, the only guy
Speaker 1: who hasn't played, JJ McCarthy, the tenth overall pick out
Speaker 1: of Michigan, led the Wolverines to a national title. He
Speaker 1: hasn't played because he had a knee injury in the preseason,
Speaker 1: but he wouldn't have played anyway because Darnold's playing well.
Speaker 1: But I've talked about this before. The days when you
Speaker 1: could groom and develop a rookie quarterback are long gone.
Speaker 1: And I go back to the Carson Palmer days in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati when the Bengals drafted him with their number one
Speaker 1: pick and they basically red shirted him. They let him
Speaker 1: sit or made him sit, depending on how you look
Speaker 1: at it. He didn't make a big deal out of it.
Speaker 1: They had a journeyman quarterback named John Kitna who actually
Speaker 1: led the Bengals to a surprisingly good eight and eight record,
Speaker 1: and they played well enough to where a kid that
Speaker 1: complained the next year that he should have been given
Speaker 1: a chance to start again. Bengals were like, now we're good,
Speaker 1: we got our guy, Thanks goodbye. But that allowed Carson
Speaker 1: Palmer to learn how to be an NFL quarterback, and
Speaker 1: when he took over, he did really well, and I
Speaker 1: think he would have had a superb career, but he
Speaker 1: suffered that terrible knee injury in the playoffs against the Steelers,
Speaker 1: was never quite the same, had a good career, ended
Speaker 1: up in Arizona. But because he was able to kind
Speaker 1: of work his way through all the things that a
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback might encounter. Thanks to the fact that, yeah,
Speaker 1: he made a lot of money, but it's not crazy
Speaker 1: money like it is now. The Bengals were not under
Speaker 1: the gun to play him right away. You're paying this
Speaker 1: guy all this money, you gotta play him now and
Speaker 1: sell tickets and all that. So now they rushed these
Speaker 1: rookies in now Atlanta. I didn't have to because it
Speaker 1: had Cousins, And a lot of people blasted the Falcons
Speaker 1: for paying all that money to Kirk Cousins only to
Speaker 1: draft Michael Pennix junior. But now we'll see if it
Speaker 1: pays off, because he's going to be your starter. Michael Vick,
Speaker 1: a former NFL star, says he's taken a head coaching
Speaker 1: job in Norfolk State. Another former NFL player who was
Speaker 1: becoming a star. I thought it was Teddy Bridgewater. He
Speaker 1: was off to a good start and then had that horrible,
Speaker 1: horrible knee injury that nearly cost him his life. And
Speaker 1: he came back and he played for a while, but
Speaker 1: he retired, and he just recently coached Miami Northwestern in
Speaker 1: Florida to a state championship. His alma mater, but he
Speaker 1: told the NFL network that he's planning to come back
Speaker 1: to the NFL. He said, that's the plan. My team
Speaker 1: knows that's the plan. We wanted to win a state
Speaker 1: championship and then coach goes back to the league sees
Speaker 1: what happens. He said, then come back February and the
Speaker 1: offseason and continue coaching high school football and we'll see
Speaker 1: how it plays out. So I guess he'll go and
Speaker 1: negotiate and work out for teams and see if that works.
Speaker 1: And if it doesn't, he's got a job back at
Speaker 1: his alma mater, which now is a defending state champion
Speaker 1: in the state of Florida. Other coaches on the move.
Speaker 1: Ohio has promoted Brian Smith to its head coach head
Speaker 1: coaching job. He replaces Tim Albin, who's going on to Charlotte,
Speaker 1: and I bring this up, he goes. Ohio was one
Speaker 1: of the teams the Wildcats beat earlier this year when
Speaker 1: things were going well. That Ohio team went on to
Speaker 1: win the MAC and claim its first conference title since
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, and they played Jacksonville State Friday and
Speaker 1: the Staff DNA Cure Bowl in Orlando that Bobcats team
Speaker 1: led the back in scoring, yards per game and rushing
Speaker 1: this season. But Kentucky had everything going when it beat
Speaker 1: the Bobcats earlier in the year, and it looked like
Speaker 1: Kentucky might be able to get seven or eight wins.
Speaker 1: But we all know what happened after that. Liberty's Cayden
Speaker 1: or Kiden Salter, a quarterback, is transferring to Colorado, which
Speaker 1: needs a QB to replace the Shudor Sanders led Liberty
Speaker 1: to an undefeated season and a Fiesta Bowl appearance last year,
Speaker 1: and he made some headlines. So now he's got a
Speaker 1: chance to play for coach Prime out in Colorado. A
Speaker 1: couple other notes, one other from the NFL. You know,
Speaker 1: when all this stuff about who the Steelers should start,
Speaker 1: whether it's Justin Fields or Russell Wilson, and it's good
Speaker 1: that they're going with Wilson. I completely forgot Kenny Pickett
Speaker 1: when he drafted out a pit tried him as their starter,
Speaker 1: didn't work out, he signed with the Eagles. Well, guess
Speaker 1: who gave his new team tips on how to beat
Speaker 1: the Steelers. Recently, the Eagle's now giving them all kinds
Speaker 1: of credit for some tips on how to beat their
Speaker 1: arts rival. While we're talking UK football. By the way,
Speaker 1: I saw these guys walking around with these huge cameras.
Speaker 1: I thought it was just a crew from SECTV. Evidently
Speaker 1: Netflix is producing a reality series on the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four SEC football season that will be ready by this summer.
Speaker 1: Same production company that had made the apparently very popular
Speaker 1: Formula one Drive to Survive series eight forty five minute episodes.
Speaker 1: And the schools that declined to participate Alabama, Georgia, Ole,
Speaker 1: miss Oklahoma, Texas, but the schools that did participate include
Speaker 1: Kentucky and Unfortunately for the Big Blue Nation, cameras were
Speaker 1: all over the place during the build up to the
Speaker 1: team's home field loss to South Carolina, and they were
Speaker 1: here before and during the U of L game, So
Speaker 1: you might want to skip the episode coming up this
Speaker 1: summer that includes the Wildcats because it won't be pretty.
Speaker 1: One other note from the NBA. I didn't see this
Speaker 1: when it first happened, but the Charlotte Hornets are doing
Speaker 1: some damage control. There was a young Hornets fan who
Speaker 1: thought he got Christmas wish when he was gifted a
Speaker 1: PlayStation five in front of a raucous crowd during Monday
Speaker 1: night's game, but backstage, the team took it away from him.
Speaker 1: Crushed this kid. Alexi Phillips told the local news station
Speaker 1: that he took his thirteen year old nephew to see
Speaker 1: the Hornets play the Sixers. At the start of the game,
Speaker 1: a member of the Hornet staff came up to them
Speaker 1: and said, you don't be on the court. Would you
Speaker 1: like to be on the court with the team's mascot, Hugo,
Speaker 1: you know the big cartoon look at Hornet and they're like,
Speaker 1: well yeah. So they were standing next to Hugo. He
Speaker 1: was dressed in a Santa costume. An announcer of reads
Speaker 1: what appears to be a Christmas letter and he says,
Speaker 1: Dear Santa Hugo, I've been working hard all year in school.
Speaker 1: I've been working on my jump shot, but my shot
Speaker 1: in NBA two K needs some work. I really want
Speaker 1: to PlayStation if you have one PS A PlayStation five
Speaker 1: and a Hornets dancer walks onto the court with a
Speaker 1: large gift bag with a PS five in it. The
Speaker 1: team gets all excited. Hugo hands him the gift. Happy
Speaker 1: Holiday's friend, the announcer says, crowd goes nuts. They go
Speaker 1: backstage and Hornet's staffer walks up joint yanks it away
Speaker 1: from him, and the guy said it got pretty awkward
Speaker 1: because the staffer had to make it clear he wasn't joking,
Speaker 1: so they told the news station. Right before he went
Speaker 1: out under the court with his nephew, the staffer whispered
Speaker 1: to him that the kid couldn't keep the gift and
Speaker 1: would get a jersey instead. Later on, the Hornet said, well,
Speaker 1: the encourse get missed the mark because they took so
Speaker 1: much flak when it all got out when it went public,
Speaker 1: and so the team finally reached out to Phillips and
Speaker 1: his nephew's parents offered the kid APS five as well
Speaker 1: as a VIP experience to another game. The team said
Speaker 1: included bad decision making and poor communications. Simply put, we
Speaker 1: turned the ball over and we apologize. Look, who thought
Speaker 1: this was a great idea. That's what kills me about
Speaker 1: situations like this. Generally you talk something like this through
Speaker 1: and was nobody brave enough to say, hey, this is
Speaker 1: gonna look awful. That's the first thing that would have
Speaker 1: come to my mind. I'm not saying I would have
Speaker 1: been a hero, but I would have said it to somebody,
Speaker 1: do you have any idea how this is gonna look?
Speaker 1: And in this day of social media, how long is
Speaker 1: it gonna take to get out? About a minute and
Speaker 1: a half. It's gonna be on Twitter before this kid
Speaker 1: leaves the arena. How stupid can you get? And yeah,
Speaker 1: the hornet's made good by the kid. But boy, they
Speaker 1: lost you talk about a turnover. They lost a lot
Speaker 1: in pr moves right before Christmas. I'm forget Reguard. Sean
Speaker 1: Woods is next here on six thirty w l P.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Moe Cider. It is Wednesday,
Speaker 1: which is when we visited with our unforgettable guard, Sean Wilts,
Speaker 1: whose jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp and Sean,
Speaker 1: back when you were playing, went back and look, you
Speaker 1: played in Indianapolis, you played in Cincinnati. I don't notice
Speaker 1: you ever got to play a Madison Square garden, did
Speaker 1: you or anywhere like that?
Speaker 2: No, we missed our chance, Dick. Remember the first year
Speaker 2: we were playing, because our senior year we were playing
Speaker 2: in the preseason n I T and we got upset
Speaker 2: by Pitt at home.
Speaker 1: Right. Yeah, you were looking forward to that, weren't you.
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: Well, the coach was looking forward to it more than anybody.
Speaker 2: And then when we got beat, we had all that
Speaker 2: time off man and things were going on at the coliseum.
Speaker 2: We had I'm talking about some of the rigorous practices
Speaker 2: at the Seaton Center for about a week and a
Speaker 2: half or so. It wasn't fun, you know, not being
Speaker 2: able to go to the garden.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you played Indian big arenas.
Speaker 2: We played in the Hoosier Dome. You know, we played
Speaker 2: Notre Dame, We played Indiana in high school. You know
Speaker 2: what was big for us was you know, I got
Speaker 2: a chance to play every year at Hinklefield House, Oh,
Speaker 2: because that's where that's what tournament was. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 2: what who who's your hysteria started?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: But I got a chance to play my section those regionals,
Speaker 2: a semi state there, So I was fortunate a little bit.
Speaker 2: But you know, those are the biggest arenas that I
Speaker 2: played in throughout my career. We were at Kentucky, you know,
Speaker 2: we played in the Big Four Classic at the Hoosier Dome.
Speaker 2: That was the thing as a guy.
Speaker 1: Well let's go back to Hinkle because I covered a
Speaker 1: game there and then that You're right, you can just
Speaker 1: when you walk in that building. You can just feel it.
Speaker 1: And I know how much we all love the Sweet
Speaker 1: sixteen here in Kentucky, and I know you've been to that,
Speaker 1: but I think Indiana still until they screwed up their tournament.
Speaker 1: I thought Indiana had it made when it came to
Speaker 1: the their state tournament. What was that like playing at Hinkle, Well.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a tell all all because of the history.
Speaker 2: You know, you're talking about some of the greatest players
Speaker 2: high school basketball players to ever play in the state
Speaker 2: of Indiana played in that building, you know, and and
Speaker 2: back when I played, it was still old. You know,
Speaker 2: you had to go down in the basement, and you know,
Speaker 2: you had the locker room which wasn't a locker room,
Speaker 2: which was a locker room. You come up and you
Speaker 2: play on a kind of you know, a floor that's
Speaker 2: raised above so when you sit down on your bench,
Speaker 2: you got to step down, so it's like you were
Speaker 2: playing on the stage. And I mean it was nice.
Speaker 2: It was six blocks from my house. Wow.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I grew up right there, right around the corner, you know,
Speaker 2: right around Butler University. So you know, I didn't move
Speaker 2: to Indianapolis until I was in the eighth grade. So
Speaker 2: I didn't get a chance to go to a lot
Speaker 2: except for when East Chicago would play down there in
Speaker 2: the state tournament. Roosevelt Chicago, Washington Chicago, Roosevelt Girls. So
Speaker 2: you know, high school basketball in the state of Indiana's
Speaker 2: like here. You travel a lot. You know, the town
Speaker 2: shuts down when you involved in the state tournament and
Speaker 2: you dry and you travel like the movie Hoosiers. That's
Speaker 2: every that's every city in town who gets an opportunity
Speaker 2: to play. See in Kentucky, you got sixteen teams that
Speaker 2: play in your state tournament. Back then you only had
Speaker 2: four teams.
Speaker 1: Who made it the state tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you played at Hanko And then when they
Speaker 2: stopped playing at Heinko, they moved it to Mark Square
Speaker 2: Arena where the Pacers play. So you know Damon Bailey,
Speaker 2: you know who was like a richie farmer at that time. Uh,
Speaker 2: when he played in the state championship and won it,
Speaker 2: they moved it to the Hoosier Doom and it got
Speaker 2: so big that the Hoosiah doll was sold out to
Speaker 2: watch Damn Bailey.
Speaker 1: Clay what town was he from?
Speaker 2: Bedford, North lawnch right outside of.
Speaker 1: Blooming Yeah, because I remember when way back in the
Speaker 1: day when k Wood Leedford was still with us. Uh,
Speaker 1: there were a couple of seasons where we traveled in
Speaker 1: a in a motor home, UH to some of the
Speaker 1: football games, including Kentucky at IU. And I was driving,
Speaker 1: took my turn driving, and we came back shown there's
Speaker 1: a state road if you don't want to go on
Speaker 1: the Interstate from from Bloomington back through Louisville, there's that
Speaker 1: state road to drop straight down.
Speaker 2: Yes, I don't know what's the number of the road, but.
Speaker 1: He goes through all those little towns.
Speaker 2: Right, oh yeah, yeah, And I.
Speaker 1: Remember we pulled up that's exactly right, and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: I'm driving, and here we come up to Bedford and
Speaker 1: there's a huge sign home of Damon Bailey and I
Speaker 1: can't imagine. And we actually stopped because kay Wood Leftford.
Speaker 1: You'll appreciate this. Kay Wood was a was a barbecue
Speaker 1: officionado and he was in the front seat and he
Speaker 1: sat up straight, just shot up and he goes barbecue
Speaker 1: because he smelled it. So I pulled that r V
Speaker 1: into a bank parking lot and we all went pouring out.
Speaker 1: This was after the game, Kentucky got their butts kicked,
Speaker 1: I think, but we went off. We got barbecue chicken
Speaker 1: and cole slaw and you know, everything you'd want for
Speaker 1: four bucks because it was town Day in Bedford, Indiana,
Speaker 1: and we had the best time in the home of
Speaker 1: Damon Bailey.
Speaker 2: Yep, I played there. His he's three years you know,
Speaker 2: two years younger than me. So when all the hight
Speaker 2: came out about him, he was in the seventh grade,
Speaker 2: you know Bob knighte sev so that that raised and
Speaker 2: enhanced his his profile, his image, Yeah, his profile because
Speaker 2: of what Bob Knight said. So here's this kid, you know,
Speaker 2: everybody's looking, you know, want to see and we played them.
Speaker 2: So his freshman year, which was my junior year, we
Speaker 2: played him at our place, which we didn't have a home.
Speaker 2: I didn't have a home court. I had to go
Speaker 2: play at Marshall High School or are into high school
Speaker 2: play our home games.
Speaker 4: So we played them.
Speaker 2: At Marshall High School jam Pack, and we killed him.
Speaker 2: I mean we really we destroyed them. It wasn't even
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So the next year my senior year, were ranked fourth
Speaker 2: to third in the state and you know they're ranked
Speaker 2: or whatever because of him, and I had four files
Speaker 2: within five minutes of the First War.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: So there was no way they were going to let
Speaker 2: us win. And uh, they beat us. But that was
Speaker 2: my first time going to Bedford North Lawrence. And if
Speaker 2: you ever been to a high school game in Indiana
Speaker 2: like the Anders at the Wigwam or the Marion Giants place,
Speaker 2: or you know, we have some of the largest high
Speaker 2: school arenas in America. You know, Newcastle High School with
Speaker 2: Steve out for play, is the largest high school gym
Speaker 2: in the United States. So that gym is like a mecca.
Speaker 2: You know, there was no small high school gyms and
Speaker 2: his for a small town like that, I'm thinking we
Speaker 2: were in playing a little cracker box. His gym was
Speaker 2: amazing and it was nothing but red, white and blue.
Speaker 2: And you know down there in that part of the state,
Speaker 2: you know, down by Martinsville, you know, it's tough place
Speaker 2: and they got it. They got us good. But yeah,
Speaker 2: Bedford is a is a historical place, specifically because of
Speaker 2: Damon Bailey. It was just like you know, if you
Speaker 2: go to Clay County, it's the home of Richie Farmer.
Speaker 2: You know, you go down there and you play that
Speaker 2: place and not too many people come out of there
Speaker 2: would win. I don't know if Richie Farmer ever lost
Speaker 2: a game at home, but anyway, and I don't think
Speaker 2: Damon ever lost a game at home. But you know,
Speaker 2: he had some tough teams to play around. You know,
Speaker 2: you have Blueton South, you know, with Pat Knight and
Speaker 2: Chris Laws and all those guys. So you know he
Speaker 2: was surrounded by, you know, good teams and good players
Speaker 2: and things like that. But yeah, you know, arenas in
Speaker 2: the state of Indiana I was used to, so I
Speaker 2: you know, playing in a big arena like rut really
Speaker 2: wasn't you know that intimidating because I've been playing you know,
Speaker 2: large arenas in high school, you know, for four years.
Speaker 1: How upset were you? Or disappointed? I guess is the word.
Speaker 1: When they screwed around with the format and ruined the
Speaker 1: Indiana State Tournament.
Speaker 4: It's still bad.
Speaker 2: You know, it lost every all of them. A speak
Speaker 2: of who's your hysteria, you know, and they were talking about, well,
Speaker 2: we did it because some of the small schools could
Speaker 2: have an opportunity to win. Well, that's who was winning
Speaker 2: the state tournament. Smaller towns it wasn't the Indianapolis that
Speaker 2: you know, the Monsies. You know, you were munsies, not
Speaker 2: even big town. You got Mussey south of Mussey Central, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, but and you got one town, Marion. You know,
Speaker 2: that's just you know, one school. So those were the
Speaker 2: schools that were winning the state tournament. It wasn't the
Speaker 2: city schools. It wasn't Indianapolis, it wasn't the Gary, it
Speaker 2: wasn't you know, the Fort Wayne's right, And so you
Speaker 2: still have rivalries. You had each Chicago Washington versus Chicago
Speaker 2: worlds a belt. Then they merged that. You know, you
Speaker 2: had the North Central Conference with Newcastle which had Steve
Speaker 2: Afford and Marion had James black Man, and the City
Speaker 2: who had Troy Lewis and Michigan City Rogers who had
Speaker 2: del Ray Brooks. You know, you had the city schools.
Speaker 2: You know that you had George McGinnis going up, you know,
Speaker 2: the downings, and you know, you just hear the stories
Speaker 2: go on and on and on. Now the rivalries aren't
Speaker 2: the same, they're not in the same class. The crowds
Speaker 2: have kind of decimated, and it's just not the same
Speaker 2: kick anymore. So you know, it's just changed, and it's
Speaker 2: unfortunate they're making more money. I think Indiana high school
Speaker 2: basketball from a historical standpoint, it is still strong. I
Speaker 2: think the.
Speaker 5: Indiana high school basketball compared to Kentucky basketball just I
Speaker 5: was just so disappointed, Like I tell people all the time,
Speaker 5: at how Indiana.
Speaker 2: You know, being a Kentucky All Stars that you know
Speaker 2: you're going to play at the Indiana All Stars has
Speaker 2: just gone down.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I went to the game at like I said, at
Speaker 2: Lexton capl this past student in the Kentucky All Star Game,
Speaker 2: and they weren't five hundred people now, and then you
Speaker 2: go to Indiana and that's still six seven thousand. That's right,
Speaker 2: that's showing up at the Indian of Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Office and we all like to brag about our high
Speaker 1: school basketball here, but no, you're you're absolutely right.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: And they've tried, they tried through the years to screw
Speaker 1: up our tournament. And thank God for the al Ah
Speaker 1: because the All a has been a resounding success. I've
Speaker 1: worked telecast, I've seen teams win and celebrate like like
Speaker 1: it's Christmas morning. Uh. That's huge for the small schools,
Speaker 1: No pun intended. They all I think saved the Kentucky
Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen. We could go four hours on that, but
Speaker 1: I got to get back to the Wildcats with Shawn Woods.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that on the other side of the break.
Speaker 1: Here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back, we're talking with
Speaker 1: Seawan Woods, the unforgettable guard. We kind of got off
Speaker 1: in a tangent, but I love talking about high school basketball,
Speaker 1: especially with a guy who played at the highest level
Speaker 1: in the state of Indiana and Nola and Kentucky. Sean
Speaker 1: knows both sides of the river. But I got to
Speaker 1: ask you about the Wildcats. You and I talked last
Speaker 1: week about the Louisville game. It's just another game, but
Speaker 1: it's important before we talk about what's coming up with
Speaker 1: Ohio State. What did you think of that game, Sean?
Speaker 1: Because UFL was down some players but made it competitive
Speaker 1: and shot the lights out from three point land, which
Speaker 1: they hadn't done all year.
Speaker 2: Well, you know they were gonna get it. They got
Speaker 2: a fiery coach, you know, who really wants to be
Speaker 2: in the mistique of.
Speaker 4: The state, and.
Speaker 2: He really wants to be a really good coach and
Speaker 2: have a really good program.
Speaker 3: At the university law I think the world of it.
Speaker 2: I think he's a you know, I think he's a
Speaker 2: hard worker, and I think in time, you know, they're
Speaker 2: going to be pretty good. You know, Kentucky's just on
Speaker 2: another level right now. I mean, mark popas his team
Speaker 2: playing as good as anybody in America. You know, even
Speaker 2: when they're playing bad, they're playing good. You know, they're
Speaker 2: they're winning games and not playing great. I mean, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. But it's just how he has
Speaker 2: these guys going from a mental standpoint. You know, when
Speaker 2: he first got here, he's saying, you know, banner number nine,
Speaker 2: You're thinking, okay, yeah, you know, it's exciting. He's just
Speaker 2: getting a job. He played here, right you know, you know,
Speaker 2: but he's he's getting it done.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I mean, like I said before a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 2: Kentucky is playing more continuity, more together than any other
Speaker 2: team in America, you know, and that's because of what
Speaker 2: he does and his system. He's coaching his system and
Speaker 2: not he's not worried about players yelling with each other.
Speaker 2: He's worried about players buying into what he does and
Speaker 2: the way they play. And he struck lightning in a
Speaker 2: battle with the personnel from a personality standpoint, He's got
Speaker 2: all good guys and on the outside looking in you
Speaker 2: thought you were thinking they were too nice. He's too nice.
Speaker 2: You know, you go to practice, you don't see a
Speaker 2: fiery guy. You don't see you know, a lot of
Speaker 2: rye ride. You know, you see nothing but positivity. And
Speaker 2: like I tell you before, times have change. Then you
Speaker 2: got to be able to relate to these kids. And
Speaker 2: you know, if there's so much negativity with social media
Speaker 2: and things like that going on in the world, that
Speaker 2: Marcus kind of going totally opposite and it's working. And
Speaker 2: you know, I'm telling you right there, if there's a
Speaker 2: team that's more happier and more cohesive than to tell
Speaker 2: a Wildcats they're cheating because this guy as pure as
Speaker 2: ivory snow, and his team is pure as ivory snow.
Speaker 2: And while everybody is trying to figure it out and
Speaker 2: this and that, they're just going on alone and beating
Speaker 2: everybody that comes in front of them. And it's very impressive.
Speaker 1: You were talking about how things have changed, coaches have changed.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite stories about Rick Patino involves you
Speaker 1: and I don't even know if you remember this, but
Speaker 1: you and I were at Rupperina during the Inside Tournament
Speaker 1: in twenty oh seven. It happened to be the year
Speaker 1: that Billy Gillespie's A and M team upset Louisville, but
Speaker 1: the two days prior to that, Louisville had won, A
Speaker 1: and M had won. So I went into the Louisville
Speaker 1: locker room to get a couple of interviews. You went
Speaker 1: in to say hello to coach Patino, and he hadn't
Speaker 1: seen you in a while, and at first it took
Speaker 1: him a second to recognize you. But I remember we
Speaker 1: walked in together, and I remember you told me later
Speaker 1: on you heard one of the Louisville players holler across
Speaker 1: the locker room, Hey, coach, what time does the bus leave?
Speaker 1: And you said you instinctively ducked. You remember that, You
Speaker 1: kind of you you flinched. You thought, Oh, this guy's
Speaker 1: gonna get it good. You thought, this guy it doesn't
Speaker 1: know when the bus is leaving, and he's going to
Speaker 1: hear it from coach p and Patino shrugged. He goes
Speaker 1: about fifteen minutes, and you thought to yourself, Wow, things
Speaker 1: have changed. I don't know if you remember that story,
Speaker 1: but that is stuck with me. You talk about people changing.
Speaker 7: That was huge, it was you know, and he's changed
Speaker 7: even more now what he tolerates and you know what's important,
Speaker 7: what's not important.
Speaker 2: Nowadays, you know, you can't be sticker with everything. You know,
Speaker 2: it's so much going on, and these guys got so
Speaker 2: many things going on. I mean, you know, when I
Speaker 2: played for coach, it was you win, you lose. You
Speaker 2: put your clothes on, you take your shower, you get
Speaker 2: your hat. On the bus, you know, you may say
Speaker 2: something to your parents about four or five minutes, even
Speaker 2: if it's a rope. I mean, especially on the road,
Speaker 2: because you were so scared.
Speaker 4: Of being late.
Speaker 2: And nowadays you know, he's just whatever. You know what
Speaker 2: I mean. Okay, you guys ready to go? Okay, you're
Speaker 2: not okay? Okay, you know he'll sit there. Whereas if
Speaker 2: he beats you on that bus you left and then
Speaker 2: you're gonna get a tongue lash and whenever he got
Speaker 2: to you.
Speaker 4: These have changed.
Speaker 2: But you know, going back to Mark Pope and the
Speaker 2: way he does things, you know, it's just so refreshing.
Speaker 2: I'm a coach and I'm only where I've been, you know,
Speaker 2: and I I played under coach Patino and I knew
Speaker 2: that motivated us. I knew that, you know, being tough,
Speaker 2: you know, putting kids in situations to when the get
Speaker 2: to make the game easier. And those days are over
Speaker 2: for the most part, you know, except for like you know,
Speaker 2: a couple of coaches, you know, the Calvin Sampson's and
Speaker 2: the Danny Hurlees of the world. They can still get
Speaker 2: away with that, you know. But Mark is just a
Speaker 2: positive guy and it just loves through his program with
Speaker 2: his coaches, his players, and you know the thing that
Speaker 2: he's just harping on more so than anything.
Speaker 4: And these guys.
Speaker 2: Who are actual strangers to Kentucky basketball coming from different places,
Speaker 2: have they bought in to the tradition of Kentucky basketball
Speaker 2: and what's that state? And they're just buying in to
Speaker 2: try their best to win a national championship. I just
Speaker 2: think that it's.
Speaker 8: It's scary for other teams, it really is, because their
Speaker 8: deal is is they are playing for the name on
Speaker 8: the front of their jersey, where a lot of kids,
Speaker 8: especially at the high majors, are playing for the enough
Speaker 8: letters on the back of their jersey trying to get
Speaker 8: to the NBA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've only got a couple of minutes left. But
Speaker 1: you were talking about how well Kentucky is playing together. Uh,
Speaker 1: you got Ohio State coming up. But do you got
Speaker 1: a couple of teams in the SEC sean that are
Speaker 1: playing together really well? And that's Auburn and Tennessee when
Speaker 1: you look ahead. I don't know if Kentucky has more talent,
Speaker 1: but I do believe the way Kentucky plays will give
Speaker 1: those teams all they want.
Speaker 2: Do you agree, No doubt about it. You know the
Speaker 2: only thing that scares me about those two teams is
Speaker 2: they can finish games. I didn't think that. The reason
Speaker 2: why you know, I predicted us being Duke because I
Speaker 2: thought Duke was too young to finish.
Speaker 7: The game, right.
Speaker 2: The reason why I thought they'd beaton Zaga is because
Speaker 2: I thought the point guard situation. I really am in
Speaker 2: love with Butler. I think Butler is the most underrated
Speaker 2: point guard in America, and he's definitely the most underrated
Speaker 2: point guard in the SEC, and teams are going to
Speaker 2: you know, God forbid he has any more injuries. I
Speaker 2: just think he's gonna win the point guard battle against everyone.
Speaker 2: And when you win the point guard battle nine times
Speaker 2: out of ten, you're gonna win the game. So that's
Speaker 2: my reason for them. And it's gonna go back to
Speaker 2: the Ohio State situations. Ohio State good, yeah. Are they
Speaker 2: one of the top teams in the Big then, probably so.
Speaker 2: But are they better than Kentucky? No? Are they are,
Speaker 2: as can he COHESI as a Kentucky team. No. Only
Speaker 2: way you get Kentucky is some way if you're gonna
Speaker 2: be in the game and you're winning the game. I
Speaker 2: told Mark this last time I went to practice, was
Speaker 2: teams are scared of you now simply because they know that,
Speaker 2: no matter what the score is at halftime, sooner or later,
Speaker 2: you're gonna come. And it plays mind games with them,
Speaker 2: I thought, because Zaga just stopped playing, you know, I thought, Duke,
Speaker 2: you know, for the last minute and a half, they
Speaker 2: didn't stop playing, but there, you you know, kind of
Speaker 2: you know, took over look. And if you the only
Speaker 2: two teams in our league that are like that right
Speaker 2: now are Tennessee in Auburn. I think they're tough enough
Speaker 2: to finish games down to stretch with everyone else. I
Speaker 2: think Kentucky can get you know, I bet on Kentucky
Speaker 2: ten out of ten times. Tennessee and Auburn you know
Speaker 2: that's a toss up. But if they played twice, I
Speaker 2: think Kentucky can split with both of them. And that's
Speaker 2: what's gonna make the SEC Tournament that much more interesting,
Speaker 2: is because those are gonna be the top three teams
Speaker 2: at the deal. I think Kentucky's gonna get buys and
Speaker 2: fans are gonna get the state till Saturday and hopefully Sunday.
Speaker 1: Sounds good to me, Coach, Always a pleasure. I enjoyed
Speaker 1: the talking about high school basketball with you as well,
Speaker 1: and we'll do it more down the road. Thank you, coach.
Speaker 1: Have a great weekend.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Dick.
Speaker 4: Talk to you so litery.
Speaker 1: I remember two with JR. Van Houston, West End via Chief.
Speaker 1: Gary Moore is up next here on the Big Blue
Speaker 1: Sider six point thirty. Wlap joined us on our Celebrity
Speaker 1: Hotline as a guy he's been on our show before
Speaker 1: and I've known him for a long long time. He
Speaker 1: is Jay Schiler, who of course played for the national
Speaker 1: championship team back in the late seventies. You know him
Speaker 1: as White Lightning. You also know him as an author,
Speaker 1: A Blonde Bomber A Ride with Shied his book. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that in a few minutes. But Jay, I've
Speaker 1: been following you on Twitter, and you like what you
Speaker 1: see in this Kentucky team, don't you.
Speaker 4: I do, Dick, I really do.
Speaker 3: First of all, just I want to say thanks for
Speaker 3: getting me involved this afternoon, But no I have. I
Speaker 3: haven't got to see, you know, all the games from
Speaker 3: start to end, but I've seen enough of the of
Speaker 3: the games that I really like what I see. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, to take some guys that nobody really virtually
Speaker 3: ever heard of, which is different in the past, but
Speaker 3: he's got him going, man, and I really like what
Speaker 3: I see.
Speaker 4: I like the way they play it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you tweeted about Lamont Butler after the Louisville game,
Speaker 1: and I guess he might have been the highest of
Speaker 1: profile because he played in the Final four. But you know,
Speaker 1: with all due respects San Diego State a guy known
Speaker 1: for defense, So yeah, he wasn't you know, on everybody's radar,
Speaker 1: But you like you like him a lot, don't you?
Speaker 4: I do?
Speaker 3: I do, And he had a great game against Louisville.
Speaker 3: But I just like, you know, I like the guys
Speaker 3: that they seem to be working really hard for Coach
Speaker 3: Pope and they look like they're having fun playing with
Speaker 3: one another. And uh, you know the car kid, I like,
Speaker 3: I like his intensity, I like his effort up and down.
Speaker 3: They both ends of four, but the top you know,
Speaker 3: four or five guys. I mean they've got six guys
Speaker 3: average in double figures, So you know what does that
Speaker 3: tell you? But I love the way they're sharing the ball.
Speaker 3: It's it's like they really don't care who gets it,
Speaker 3: just as long as they get it, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And as you mentioned, this was a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys who were good players. No one was superstar, and
Speaker 1: he had to kind of cobble this team together and
Speaker 1: it's it was a first in a history of Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 1: That's kind of hard to imagine, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is because most of the people that that
Speaker 3: go to Kentucky. Of course, you know, you've heard about
Speaker 3: him for a year or two. And that's not taking
Speaker 3: anything away from these guys, now.
Speaker 4: I mean you know that.
Speaker 3: I mean they've had good years and stuff. And like
Speaker 3: you said, the one the brother kid played in the Final.
Speaker 4: Four a couple of years.
Speaker 3: Ago or so, so, but you know it's just, uh,
Speaker 3: Mark has has has has shown that he doesn't need
Speaker 3: the one and done's the big name people, the five
Speaker 3: star recruits, and these guys probably were coming out of
Speaker 3: high school, a lot of them. But you know, it's
Speaker 3: it's it's been very impressive the way he's got him
Speaker 3: playing and the way he's got him motivated.
Speaker 1: You played back in the day before there was a
Speaker 1: three pointer, before there was a shot clock. Even though
Speaker 1: people may not realize, your coach joe By Hall was
Speaker 1: a great proponent of both because he would coach, as
Speaker 1: you know, over in the clinics in Europe, and he
Speaker 1: came back and he had he loved the big man
Speaker 1: attack and he hated to see defenses crashing on his bigs,
Speaker 1: and he thought a three pointer would open up the game,
Speaker 1: which it has. But this is a coach Jay who
Speaker 1: wants his team to shoot thirty five threes a game.
Speaker 1: You would have loved that, wouldn't you.
Speaker 4: I was not much sneezed at that. No.
Speaker 3: You know, Mark played for Patino, and you know he
Speaker 3: had a pretty wide open system, you know, and everything,
Speaker 3: and they had the guys to be able to do that,
Speaker 3: and and of course we.
Speaker 4: Had guys back in the day to be able to
Speaker 4: do that too. But you know, coach was.
Speaker 3: Was more of a I think he leaned more for
Speaker 3: a European type thing, get it down low, get it
Speaker 3: to the big guys, which we had, you know, Mike
Speaker 3: and Rick and Sam and those guys through the four years.
Speaker 4: So but you know, we could play any.
Speaker 3: Style basically, especially the championship year, it didn't matter. We
Speaker 3: had enough talent to be able to slow it down
Speaker 3: or run or you know, and and teams, teams had
Speaker 3: to adjust to us more so than we have them
Speaker 3: to adjust to them. But no, I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: Coach Pope, it's wide open thirty five you know, once
Speaker 3: thirty five threes.
Speaker 4: A game, and that's fine. I mean they're knocking them down.
Speaker 3: I mean they're you know, they're shooting thirty five thirty
Speaker 3: six percent from threes, and they're shooting fifty percent from
Speaker 3: the field as a team almost, So it's really been
Speaker 3: fun to watch.
Speaker 1: You're a bit younger than I am, but I know
Speaker 1: you're an old school basketball guy, or are you? How
Speaker 1: do you feel about analytics because Mark Pope constantly refers
Speaker 1: to them, and sometimes I think analytics are a reflection
Speaker 1: of what has gone on, but sometimes they can help
Speaker 1: you decide on what you want to do. Where do
Speaker 1: you come down on that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll agree with that.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't really know that much about it,
Speaker 3: and of course, you know, we didn't really look to
Speaker 3: that any at all, uh in the past. But uh,
Speaker 3: it's you know, it's it's today's game, and so many
Speaker 3: people are looking those those kind of numbers. And I
Speaker 3: guess you know, right when he gets right down to it,
Speaker 3: numbers on live. But you know, I hate to rely
Speaker 3: on that, but you know, like I said, a lot
Speaker 3: of teams are looking at that now and and uh,
Speaker 3: the successful teams like like Kentucky this year are h
Speaker 3: are proven that it's you know, it's something to think about.
Speaker 1: Talking to Jay Schiler, former Kentucky guard, he is, of
Speaker 1: course the author of Blonde Bomber, we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about his autobiography, which actually came out last year but
Speaker 1: just in time for Christmas. But we are talking about
Speaker 1: this Kentucky Wildcats team. Uh, when you were playing in
Speaker 1: the SEC, there were tough teams in this conference. But sure,
Speaker 1: of course Texas and Oklahoma weren't there. At Arkansas, South
Speaker 1: Carolina weren't there.
Speaker 4: But right Missouri wasn't that's right.
Speaker 1: Missouri wasn't there, You're correct, But man, this conference, right,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've looked at the latest Power
Speaker 1: rankings or just the AP rankings, but the Southeastern Conference
Speaker 1: is crazy tough this year, isn't it.
Speaker 3: It is? You know, and and even even the preseason,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of those teams were in there.
Speaker 3: But guys, I mean you look and you've got five
Speaker 3: SEC teams in the top ten. You've probably got what
Speaker 3: eight or nine in the top twenty five if not ten. Uh,
Speaker 3: But it's it's it's not really people want to look
Speaker 3: at it as a as a football conference, but I
Speaker 3: think the last few years and over the years, I
Speaker 3: mean you look at some of some of the teams
Speaker 3: that have come out. You know, Tennessee's been always been strong,
Speaker 3: LSU has always been strong, Gramma, you know those guys.
Speaker 3: And now you've got Texas and Oklahoma and Missouri and
Speaker 3: and like you said, you no, South Carolina wasn't wasn't
Speaker 3: in the in the conference back then.
Speaker 4: Either.
Speaker 3: But it's you know, the conference conferences, it's pretty strong.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's home as it's ever been, and it's been
Speaker 3: strong over the years. But I mean it's pretty impressed.
Speaker 3: And to see those teams in the top five ten, uh,
Speaker 3: that sort of thing, and the whole conference is looking
Speaker 3: really good.
Speaker 1: It's got to eat yep to Tennessee's number one right now.
Speaker 1: I know it's killing Jack Gibbons, but uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you get your chance to knock them off. But you
Speaker 1: know what's interesting, Jay, is teams are now doing what
Speaker 1: Kentucky's done for years and years, and that's invest in basketball.
Speaker 1: You guys lived in the lodge. You guys played in Ropperena.
Speaker 1: I believe you were part of the team that opened
Speaker 1: up Rupperina and you make your career and rup Now
Speaker 1: you've got much better facilities. You've got you know, you know,
Speaker 1: better salaries for coaches and assistants. So they're still trying
Speaker 1: to catch up with Kentucky, aren't they?
Speaker 4: I think so? But you know they're You're right.
Speaker 3: Some of the programs have have invested a lot started
Speaker 3: to invest a lot of money in the basketball program. Course,
Speaker 3: you know, football always takes precedents that make money in
Speaker 3: the university than any other sport. But no, and you
Speaker 3: can tell you know, and now with nil money and everything,
Speaker 3: the talent across the country has been spread out over
Speaker 3: the last it has gotten better over the last twenty years.
Speaker 3: It's not twenty five years, you know. And it's just
Speaker 3: not your top top five or six handful of blue
Speaker 3: blood schools anymore. And which makes it great. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, I love it that everybody's got a chance.
Speaker 3: Now it's not just you know, you don't have your
Speaker 3: Cinderella so to speak. Yeah, there are some come to
Speaker 3: the tournament, but I mean, there's nothing like college basketball.
Speaker 3: And we were fortunate, you know, to have the things
Speaker 3: at Kentucky. Like you said, we lived in the lodge
Speaker 3: and that sort of thing. But more programs are.
Speaker 4: Putting that money into the program, and it.
Speaker 1: Tells getting back to the way this team plays. Before
Speaker 1: I rang you up, I got to think it about
Speaker 1: I think about this every once away. Your team, your
Speaker 1: championship team, and really, uh, the team you had later
Speaker 1: on when you were a junior and senior was Sam
Speaker 1: Bouie and some of the other guys. But that championship
Speaker 1: team you Kyle Truman, klater Jack Tim Stevens coming off
Speaker 1: your bench, Rick Roby could shoot the three. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can can you imagine if you did have a
Speaker 1: three pointer?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, we might have We might have averaged
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty points. Well, yeah, I mean, you're
Speaker 3: right myself, Truman, Kyle, Tim Stevens coming off the bench, Well,
Speaker 3: we could shoot it.
Speaker 4: Mike Phillips could shoot it either. He thought he was
Speaker 4: a point guard.
Speaker 3: You know, Mike thought he was a point guard anyway,
Speaker 3: and he liked it getting out there in practice and shooting.
Speaker 4: What would have been beyond the you know, behind the
Speaker 4: art and Dwayne you know, I mean it goes right
Speaker 4: on Milan, you know, it was one you know, it
Speaker 4: was uh uh.
Speaker 3: It was tough to say how would have gone since
Speaker 3: we didn't have it, but uh, it would have been
Speaker 3: kind of interesting to see how we would have how
Speaker 3: bad we would have beaten the show state.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you might have. You might have won another trophy.
Speaker 1: And before I hit the break. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you've had a chance to watch segments of the game,
Speaker 1: they haven't done it very often. He did it against Gonzaga.
Speaker 1: But I asked Jack Givans about this. They go one
Speaker 1: three one, Kentucky goes one three one, and I told
Speaker 1: Jack immediately thought about you guys, And I told Jack,
Speaker 1: I thought about Jay schiler running the baseline. They had
Speaker 1: a big pope had a big on the baseline. But
Speaker 1: that was your job in a one three one running
Speaker 1: from corner to corner, wasn't it?
Speaker 4: Yeah? It was?
Speaker 3: And and and actually priding that I loved playing down
Speaker 3: there underneath, covering from corner to corner, or at least
Speaker 3: trying to.
Speaker 4: Uh. But yeah, I mean we we would coach.
Speaker 3: Hall, especially that team and most of his teams, and
Speaker 3: we had to play zone was always one three one
Speaker 3: hard they ever did it, you know, a two three
Speaker 3: or anything, but we had it, you know, especially the
Speaker 3: seventy eight year. I mean, we had we had the
Speaker 3: one three one zone down to the science. And and
Speaker 3: but I you know, I did enjoy playing down under
Speaker 3: underneath and and because you've got to have I know,
Speaker 3: you said Mark had had a big guy underneath there.
Speaker 3: And that's fine, you know, if if if he's mobile enough,
Speaker 3: and these guys nowadays.
Speaker 4: Are are are able to get from corner to corner,
Speaker 4: but you know, you've got to be able to get
Speaker 4: cover a lot of distance, more distance than anybody else
Speaker 4: in his own you know.
Speaker 3: So we had to have a We.
Speaker 4: Felt like we had to have a coach Hall.
Speaker 3: Felt like we had to have a smaller guy down
Speaker 3: there to be able to cover that distance. And you know,
Speaker 3: it worked out pretty well for us, and for me,
Speaker 3: I say.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it did work. Uh, but I know every time
Speaker 1: you come out of it, he gave you a blow.
Speaker 1: So that was that was merciful. We're talking to Syler.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, No, I was just going to say thank
Speaker 3: God to that.
Speaker 1: Jay Syler, former Kentucky gar We'll come back and talk
Speaker 1: about Jay's book just in time for Christmas. Here on
Speaker 1: the Big Moon Sider six thirty w LAP Welcome back.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Jay Schyler The Blonde Bomber, which is
Speaker 1: the name of his auto biography which came out actually
Speaker 1: almost two years ago. Uh. Blond Barmber a ride with
Speaker 1: Shy that you wrote with Paul Coreo from here in town,
Speaker 1: and we thought we'd bring it up again just in
Speaker 1: time for Christmas. Good stocking stuff for the best way
Speaker 1: to find it really is on Amazon. You can get
Speaker 1: it hardcover, paperback, Kindle. And I've talked to you since
Speaker 1: the book came out, and I know you're back in
Speaker 1: your hometown and you sold some books up there. What
Speaker 1: was that like, Jay, when you came home and you
Speaker 1: really opened up in that book and it went back
Speaker 1: to your childhood. What was that like when people would
Speaker 1: ask you about it?
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Dick.
Speaker 3: Paul and I worked on it really hard, obviously, and
Speaker 3: I wanted it to be turned out the way I did,
Speaker 3: you know, I wanted to. I pretty much buried my
Speaker 3: soul in it. And and and a lot of people
Speaker 3: didn't didn't understand some of the things that I talked
Speaker 3: about in there, which is fine, you know, I just
Speaker 3: wanted to tell my story. And and coming back here
Speaker 3: in the reception that it got back here in southern
Speaker 3: Illinois was just incredible. I've been so many places, so
Speaker 3: many little towns and and uh so many smaller schools
Speaker 3: around here Southern Illinois and Central Illinois that uh, people
Speaker 3: were very receptive of it, and and uh, you know,
Speaker 3: there were some questions about a few things, but you know, hey,
Speaker 3: that's why I wrote the book, you know, to try
Speaker 3: to some of the people's questions that they may or
Speaker 3: may not have had. So uh, it's been it's been
Speaker 3: received very well, and and uh it's a good time,
Speaker 3: like you said, to to get a copy that for
Speaker 3: a stocking stuff for this time of year, and and
Speaker 3: it's been you know, it's been going pretty good. Uh
Speaker 3: but you know, it was just I wanted I've just
Speaker 3: felt like I needed to tell my side of things
Speaker 3: and and and and take ownership of the things, the
Speaker 3: mistakes that I made, and just you know, basically tell
Speaker 3: my side of the story and and and let some
Speaker 3: people in on some things that they may or may not.
Speaker 4: Have known about.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And it wasn't easy, was it.
Speaker 4: No, it wasn't. It wasn't remember some of the things,
Speaker 4: and then and.
Speaker 3: Then kind of beating myself up again over some of
Speaker 3: the things that I did wrong, and you know, but
Speaker 3: it was it was it was cathartic, you know, and
Speaker 3: I'm glad we did it and it turned out the
Speaker 3: way that it did.
Speaker 1: You know, as I was reading it, I knew a
Speaker 1: little bit here and there, but of course, uh not everything.
Speaker 1: And it was fascinating to me. But I just kept
Speaker 1: thinking to myself, you know, people, I'm sure who were
Speaker 1: following Kentucky basketball when you were playing, this is a
Speaker 1: great lesson that you know, these guys are more than athletes.
Speaker 1: They're people. They've got their ups, they got their downs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're on a great ride, but that ride eventually ends,
Speaker 1: you know. And everybody's got issues, everybody's got problems. It's
Speaker 1: it's a great lesson for everybody to learn, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Well it is And and my story is not unlike
Speaker 3: a lot of other people's story in the same position.
Speaker 3: You know, I can guarantee, you know, But being being
Speaker 3: as the program of Kentucky and the and the and
Speaker 3: the exposures that you have there, You're right, a lot
Speaker 3: of people don't see us in that uniform and don't
Speaker 3: really see us as as human beings, so to speak.
Speaker 4: But everybody has their issues. Everybody's got to go through
Speaker 4: their stuff.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, you're you're you're you're a teenager when
Speaker 3: you get to college and you're in your early twenties
Speaker 3: when you get out, and and the changes that you
Speaker 3: go through and then and then after you stop playing, Yeah,
Speaker 3: everything comes to a halt and and and now you've
Speaker 3: got to you've got to with life as a normal human.
Speaker 4: Being, so to speak.
Speaker 3: And uh, it's it's hard for some people. It was
Speaker 3: hard for me to make the adjustment and everything, but uh,
Speaker 3: you know, I had to go through it. God put
Speaker 3: me through it for a reason and and and you know,
Speaker 3: I'm glad that I'm I'm here in this position that
Speaker 3: I am today to be able.
Speaker 4: To talk about it.
Speaker 1: I remember hearing Steve Young, the former quarterback Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer who's with the Niners, super Bowl champion, all that stuff. Uh,
Speaker 1: and yet he talked about when his career was over.
Speaker 1: I don't remember if you was wave cut, walked away, retire, whatever,
Speaker 1: but he said, one day, literally, one day, you're part
Speaker 1: of this fraternity, you're part of this very tightly knit club,
Speaker 1: and the next day you're not. Uh, you know, and
Speaker 1: and I know, I guess being a college basketball player
Speaker 1: is a bit broader than being an NFL quarterback, of course,
Speaker 1: but it's similar, isn't it. And that you know, you
Speaker 1: live the life and then one day, like you said,
Speaker 1: you just got to move on and that that can't
Speaker 1: be easy.
Speaker 4: No, it's not.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, you get used to living a
Speaker 3: certain way and and and and having certain things at
Speaker 3: your fingertips, so to speak, and then all of a
Speaker 3: sudden you don't have that and you're in the real world,
Speaker 3: and and it takes it takes a certain kind of
Speaker 3: person to be able to get through that, and to
Speaker 3: fight through that in my you know, in in my
Speaker 3: situation to be able to you know, to uh uh
Speaker 3: stick yourself up by the bootstraps and move on. And
Speaker 3: you get knocked down. But you know, being the athlete
Speaker 3: that I was, uh, you know, I never quit anything,
Speaker 3: and so you know it was I would you say
Speaker 3: it was easier for me to you know, to pick
Speaker 3: myself back up every time I got knocked down.
Speaker 4: And I got knocked down plenty.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: But you know the bottom line is is that you
Speaker 3: you know, you find it somewhere in your heart, you
Speaker 3: lean on God and you get through it somehow.
Speaker 1: Well, as we wrap this up, you were a tremendous
Speaker 1: athlete in high school and in college, played a little
Speaker 1: bit of pro ball overseas. Uh yeah, you know according
Speaker 1: to the book. And I knew this about you when
Speaker 1: you were signed at Lawrenceville High School and growing up
Speaker 1: you were good at everything. So now at your tender age,
Speaker 1: what do you do? Do you do anything? You play golf,
Speaker 1: played tennis? How do you stay active?
Speaker 4: I don't stay that active anymore. I played golf up.
Speaker 3: Until probably eight or ten year years ago, and and
Speaker 3: the arthritis and my wrists and.
Speaker 2: They got to that. Uh.
Speaker 4: I even played.
Speaker 3: Paid a little basketball up until maybe six seven, eight
Speaker 3: years ago, and and that that got to be a
Speaker 3: little tough. But uh, you know, like you, I've had
Speaker 3: some health issues in the last year ago. So but
Speaker 3: you know, I came through that fine knock on wood, thanks,
Speaker 3: you know, thank the Good Lord for that. And and uh,
Speaker 3: I'm pretty much back to being as healthy as I
Speaker 3: was before.
Speaker 4: So but I get much exercise. I try to walk.
Speaker 3: A little bit and and that sort of thing. This
Speaker 3: time of year is kind of tough because it's kind
Speaker 3: of cold India. I never liked that, but uh, you know,
Speaker 3: we we get by.
Speaker 4: I'm glad that I'm here.
Speaker 3: I can go to some high school football and basketball
Speaker 3: games and see some of my open classmates and stuff.
Speaker 4: So it's been really.
Speaker 3: Good being back up here. I I do miss Letchington
Speaker 3: and I do miss the university, but you know, it
Speaker 3: is what it is, and and and life's moving. Life
Speaker 3: moves on, and you may deal with the best what
Speaker 3: you got, you.
Speaker 1: Know, yep. And like me, I'm sure when the weather
Speaker 1: is nicey, you appreciate it. Our age with our health history,
Speaker 1: you appreciate a good walk. So nothing wrong with that
Speaker 1: Jay Siler. His book is Blonde Bomber, A Ride with Shide.
Speaker 1: Pull it up on Amazon and there's plenty of time,
Speaker 1: but don't wait too long. Makes a great Christmas gift. Jay,
Speaker 1: thanks so much. I hope you get back to town
Speaker 1: soon and stay healthy.
Speaker 4: Man. I'm going to try Jacon.
Speaker 3: You do the same, and I'll let you know when
Speaker 3: I'm making back election, hoping I can get back there
Speaker 3: before this season's over.
Speaker 4: So I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: But welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider. Joining
Speaker 1: us now as our West End Bureau chief formerly our
Speaker 1: West Coast Bureau Chief, and Gary Moore joined us from
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, where I worked for many years covering sports
Speaker 1: for the likes of KALOS Radio, now the West End
Speaker 1: of I sixty four. Hey man, he's got a lot
Speaker 1: on his mind. I can tell you that. Well.
Speaker 6: Two guys in a six pack and we'll get right
Speaker 6: to it here because I'm little perturb about something. Let's
Speaker 6: go back to last week. Dick Marshall football coach Charles
Speaker 6: Huff left the school in a version of his last
Speaker 6: name to become the head coach at another Sunbell school,
Speaker 6: Crummy Southern Miss After his Marshall team won the conference,
Speaker 6: they were headed to a bowl game with Army. So
Speaker 6: this guy bolts for a one to eleven team, It's
Speaker 6: okay money Whorr. Then, as was the case, as the
Speaker 6: rule state players on teams that lose their coach in
Speaker 6: the offseason, he got a thirty day window to transfer.
Speaker 6: So what happens on top of the portal? So many
Speaker 6: players applied to transfer. Marshall down to forty five to
Speaker 6: forty eight players. Not impossible to go to a bowl
Speaker 6: game with that few of players. LSU did it a
Speaker 6: couple three years ago, but they had to cancel bowl.
Speaker 6: People scrambled to get nearby LA Tech to save the day.
Speaker 1: Dick.
Speaker 6: If ever, there was a time for the NCAA to
Speaker 6: a number one close the portal till a team's postseason bowls,
Speaker 6: it's over and done with, even when a coach leaves,
Speaker 6: this would be the case. This would be the time
Speaker 6: to do it. And while they're at it, I got
Speaker 6: another idea for him. Why not do kind of what
Speaker 6: the NFL does no interviews with coaching candidates until after
Speaker 6: said candidate's team is done with the playoffs or in
Speaker 6: this case, the bowl games. I mean if you really
Speaker 6: care about the student athletes, he said smirkingly. And here's
Speaker 6: a big middle finger to all the Marshall players thinking
Speaker 6: their power five. All power five players are gonna get
Speaker 6: picked up by all these great teams. Stiffing not only
Speaker 6: just another football team. You didn't just stiff a football team, guys,
Speaker 6: You stiff men who are going to defend our country
Speaker 6: and maybe pay the ultimate price for doing it more
Speaker 6: than you can say, or we could say, for a
Speaker 6: bunch of selfish quitters. Okay, I'll sit down now.
Speaker 1: You also stiff your fans. Yeah, you know the people
Speaker 1: that you spend the entire season pointing out after you
Speaker 1: score a touchdown and sign an autograph. Oh we love
Speaker 1: the fans. Yeah, how about that? And again, this is
Speaker 1: a Marshall football program that came literally from the ashes.
Speaker 1: You know, it has that tradition going forward. You know,
Speaker 1: then entire program wiped out by a terrible plane crash
Speaker 1: back in the seventies, and they shouldn't have to carry
Speaker 1: that weight. But being able to play there, and not
Speaker 1: only has Marshall come all the way back and the
Speaker 1: one Double Abel on the one Double A level was
Speaker 1: a championship level team. It was gone d one and
Speaker 1: the reward for players and fans is the bowl game.
Speaker 1: I still like bowl games. I know how a lot
Speaker 1: of people feel about them, but yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I think in lieu of prohibiting maybe one group of
Speaker 1: players from not being allowed to go into the portal,
Speaker 1: change the calendar, move the portal date until after, because
Speaker 1: if you change it for some, you get to change
Speaker 1: it for all. Or hey, we can't get into portal,
Speaker 1: but these guys can. They're going to get all the
Speaker 1: good schools. I think it's got to be the same
Speaker 1: for everybody, but make it, like you said, all that's
Speaker 1: got to come after the season's over.
Speaker 6: I don't think I'm the only one or you're we're
Speaker 6: the only ones who think this.
Speaker 1: Either coaches agree with us.
Speaker 6: Yeah, second swig in the six pack. We're gonna talk
Speaker 6: more about the Bountiful Bowl season in a bit, but
Speaker 6: of course, the history making weekend ahead first ever twelve
Speaker 6: team college playoffs. But as you and I know, something
Speaker 6: similar has been going on for decades. What we used
Speaker 6: to call the one double A schools now the FCS programs.
Speaker 6: In fact, my Toppers were in it for several years.
Speaker 6: Eastern Kentucky has won it before. Toppers I think got
Speaker 6: to finals in seventy three and won it in two
Speaker 6: thousand and two.
Speaker 1: Whither one A.
Speaker 6: Or FBS colleges begin this weekend with four playoff games.
Speaker 6: The FCS is down to the semifinals on Saturday afternoon
Speaker 6: and those are on TV. Biggest games, though, of course,
Speaker 6: begin Friday night. South Bend Notre Dame a seven point
Speaker 6: favorite over IU for Hoo's your state supremacy and the
Speaker 6: joy of getting to face Georgia in the next round. Look,
Speaker 6: I used playing with house money. We're not even supposed
Speaker 6: to be there, so I say the pressure, all the
Speaker 6: pressure is on the Golden Domers at home. Then on Saturday,
Speaker 6: in order, starting at high noon, you got SMU eight
Speaker 6: and a half point dog at Penn State Clemson and
Speaker 6: eleven and a half point dog at Texas that are
Speaker 6: in school down nine to seventy five, seven and a half
Speaker 6: point dog at Ohio State. There's two games on ABC
Speaker 6: two on TNT check your listings. I'm gonna take Texas.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna take SMU at Penn State. Wow, take the
Speaker 6: I'm going to take the Valls to beat the buck
Speaker 6: guys and yes, I got the IU Hoosiers to shock
Speaker 6: the naysayers. If Indiana can hold Notre Dame to under
Speaker 6: two hundred yards rushing.
Speaker 1: Well i'll give you that. If they do, I think
Speaker 1: they got a great shot at winning. But I take
Speaker 1: Notre Dame in that one, no offense. I kind of
Speaker 1: hope Indiana wins. That'd be a great story. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: happen to I like Penn State. I hate to say it.
Speaker 1: I grew up a Penn State fan, not a huge
Speaker 1: James Franklin fan. And you know, working in ill Southwest Conference,
Speaker 1: I'd love to see smu win. I'm with you about
Speaker 1: Texas and I'm with you about Tennessee. That's going to
Speaker 1: be all orange toward the end of the day.
Speaker 6: Third swig in a six pack. Okay, let's go back
Speaker 6: to a borgus a Smorgas board of bowling. Easy for
Speaker 6: me to say right now on one of the local
Speaker 6: cable channels, WKU Hilltoppers into the second half against James Madison.
Speaker 6: That's down in the Boca Ratone Bowl tomorrow night at Crumming,
Speaker 6: New Orleans Bowl. Doesn't stand a ratings chance against Thursday
Speaker 6: Night Football. What a great game this is going to
Speaker 6: be Broncos at the Chargers Friday at noon in Orlando.
Speaker 6: You got the Cure Bowl, Ohio, it's Jacksonville State. Then
Speaker 6: at three point thirty, this is a nice appetizer before
Speaker 6: I you and Notre Dame Tulane in Florida in Tampa's
Speaker 6: Gasparilla Bowl. No bowl game Saturday and Sundays. Who has
Speaker 6: to not compete with college playoffs NFL games on both
Speaker 6: of those days. Monday the Myrtle Beach and Idaho Potato Bowls.
Speaker 6: They're neither neither one of those are worth watching. I
Speaker 6: don't think unless you're really desperate. Hawaii Bowl, same deal.
Speaker 6: That's Christmas Eve. None on Christmas Day, and then things
Speaker 6: pick back up the day after Christmas. But I want
Speaker 6: to give you a heads up, Dick Gabriel, your personal favorite.
Speaker 1: The pop Tarts Bowl.
Speaker 6: Yeah, one week, one week from Saturday, the twenty eighth
Speaker 6: in Orlando. Two teams in this one that had field
Speaker 6: of twelve aspirations now relegated to a bowl whose trophy
Speaker 6: actually features a working toaster that they'll be popping some
Speaker 6: pop tarts and honestly, god, I've got a picture of this.
Speaker 6: Posted at nine to five to five, Gary on Twitter,
Speaker 6: Iowa State and Miami. And as funny as it sounds
Speaker 6: with that trophy, it's nowhere near as funny as Jerry
Speaker 6: Seinfeld's Unfrosted movie celebrating said pop tarts the funniest movie
Speaker 6: of the year. I don't care what any critics said
Speaker 6: who didn't get over the top comedy. Watch it if
Speaker 6: you don't want to watch the football game.
Speaker 1: You know, I just watched that again. I just pulled
Speaker 1: it up just Doug, Netflix or wherever it is outstanding. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. How'd you like to be the Bowl officials who?
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I think they were stuck with
Speaker 1: that time slot. The worst NFL games on Thursday outdra
Speaker 1: all the best college football games. But that's where we are.
Speaker 1: You know, this Ohio team turned out to be really good,
Speaker 1: had a really good season, and this is a team
Speaker 1: Kentucky destroyed back when Kentucky looked like it had some promise.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be a head scratcher until next year begins.
Speaker 1: How much would you love to see John Sumrall, the
Speaker 1: head coach at TWU Lane, knock off Florida because John
Speaker 1: I don't believe John was playing when Kentucky had snapped
Speaker 1: that string against the Gators. So wouldn't it be great
Speaker 1: if he could beat Florida as a coach And you
Speaker 1: talk about a hot property, He's already hot. But if
Speaker 1: he could beat Florida, oh man, And yeah, I thought
Speaker 1: the Pop Tar Bowl. And by the way, it depends
Speaker 1: on how many players play for Miami. If they show
Speaker 1: the I think they'll be that's a good Iowa State team.
Speaker 1: But I just can't get over last year toward the
Speaker 1: end of the game when the pop tart, a huge
Speaker 1: pop tart, lowered itself into a toaster and tweeted, this
Speaker 1: is the big, greatest day of my life and everybody's like,
Speaker 1: you're killing yourself.
Speaker 6: Sacrifice, sacrifice for the greater good.
Speaker 1: Tremendous marketing.
Speaker 6: I loved it, okayt wait to see what they're gonna
Speaker 6: do for this one. So that's a week from Saturday
Speaker 6: now our fourth swig in the six pack. Tonight, I
Speaker 6: mentioned NFL playing on Saturday. Nick, What a weekend to
Speaker 6: get nothing done around the house. Honey, there's too many
Speaker 6: games I gotta watch, so I'll know what to talk
Speaker 6: about with Dick coming up next week on the six pack. Actually,
Speaker 6: a line I've used before, to be honest with you.
Speaker 6: Excellent one o'clock Saturday at NBC Kansas City two point
Speaker 6: two and a half point favorites at home against the Texans.
Speaker 6: Then four point thirty on Fox on Saturday Ravens six
Speaker 6: point favorites at home against the rival, hated, despised Steelers.
Speaker 6: Gotta be watching that. One Sunday, I will have the
Speaker 6: Red Zone with Scott Hansen, Crank and all afternoon as
Speaker 6: I usually do. I'm only interested really a couple of
Speaker 6: games this Sunday. You got the Eagles going for win
Speaker 6: number eleven in a row at Washington, they'll probably make it.
Speaker 6: And my Seahawks at home with Gino thankfully back at quarterback,
Speaker 6: probably losing though by more than the two and a
Speaker 6: half points spread to Minnesota at home Monday night Saints
Speaker 6: at your Packers pack definitely rolling as we saw, and
Speaker 6: you and I were texting about that Sunday night during
Speaker 6: the game.
Speaker 1: By the way, lunch is on me whenever you're over
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 6: Pack have got the three most important parts of a team,
Speaker 6: really rolling defensive line, offensive line, quarterback, three parts in
Speaker 6: absolutely horrible shape for my Seahawks. So your guys are
Speaker 6: looking really, really good.
Speaker 1: Do you realize there are four teams in the NFL
Speaker 1: that have not yet scored thirty or more points in
Speaker 1: a game. Three teams have records of like three and
Speaker 1: eleven or four wins or whatever, and the fourth is
Speaker 1: Kansas City. I did not know that, and yet has
Speaker 1: lost just one game. Thank you Instagram for that meme.
Speaker 1: Baltimore should win that game, right, But Pittsburgh seems to
Speaker 1: have Lamar Jackson's number, kid, I don't know why. Maybe
Speaker 1: home field will carry him there, but just just tip
Speaker 1: your cap to Mike Tomlin. I do think Baltimore wins that,
Speaker 1: but I think Lamarro will have his typical ugly game
Speaker 1: against the Steelers, but they'll somehow get it done. Washington's
Speaker 1: gonna upset Philly, that's my that's my prediction to you.
Speaker 1: And I would love it if your boys could be Minnesota.
Speaker 1: That would help my boys, so would I. Oh, and
Speaker 1: my guys will kill New Orleans because of the weather.
Speaker 1: They playing that nice dome at sea level. No, they're
Speaker 1: going down.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't think there's gonna be a problem with
Speaker 6: that at all. Our fifth swig quick swig of college
Speaker 6: hoops actually number four, UK not playing again until Saturday
Speaker 6: evening five point thirty of the CBS against unranked Ohio
Speaker 6: State up in Zoo York City Madison Square Garden. U
Speaker 6: of L also off until Saturday afternoon. They're gonna be
Speaker 6: playing an ACC game Florida State on the CW network.
Speaker 6: That's at two o'clock Saturday. You and I haven't talked
Speaker 6: since the Cats beat the Cards at RUP on Saturday.
Speaker 6: Really good game. There's a little spice added to it.
Speaker 6: There a little pushing going on. Of course I've seen
Speaker 6: pat Riley once set up seemed more pushing in the
Speaker 6: men's room. But a rocking house, and uh, you know,
Speaker 6: I think it would have been It would have been
Speaker 6: kind of nice to see Louisville at full strength like
Speaker 6: UK pretty which was they hadn't been hit by uses.
Speaker 6: But I think the rivalries back. It's good for not
Speaker 6: only the state but college hoops in general. And I
Speaker 6: wish I could say the same for Western and Murray.
Speaker 6: That was an overtime game on Saturday, Dick, but only
Speaker 6: about thirty seven hundred people showed up at Diddle Arena
Speaker 6: on Saturday. Of course the college was out. There were
Speaker 6: a lot of students around there, but still come on
Speaker 6: bowling Green metro area. There used to be fourteen you know,
Speaker 6: at one point they got fourteen thousand people in Diddal
Speaker 6: Arena when it was configured that they've really figured Yeah
Speaker 6: for that was that was in seventy one when the
Speaker 6: Western was you know, in the top ten and went
Speaker 6: on to be in the.
Speaker 1: Final and every game was not on TV. Right well, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Kentucky O House date, I will be up there
Speaker 1: in the garden. I don't know what to make of
Speaker 1: Ohio State because Auburn just you know, sliced and diced him.
Speaker 1: But I think if Kentucky plays as well as it
Speaker 1: did against louisvilley're a shot. If Louisville could manage the
Speaker 1: knockdown threes the way it did, I guess Kentucky mean
Speaker 1: that came from out of nowhere. That's why it was
Speaker 1: a great equalizers, a three pointer. But it's always amazing
Speaker 1: to me. At Florida State, Leonard Hamilton, a long time
Speaker 1: head coach, down their former Kentucky assistant. The guy recruited
Speaker 1: Fly Williams to Austin p He just keeps cranking out winning,
Speaker 1: winning teams and never looks like he gets any older.
Speaker 6: Sixth and final swig and speaking of UK, U of
Speaker 6: l rivalries, and he would have, could have, should have
Speaker 6: apartment had UK beaten Pittsburgh last Saturday, we'd have the
Speaker 6: Cats Cards in game one tomorrow night of the volleyball
Speaker 6: Final four over here Downtown Young Center instead, though it's
Speaker 6: overall number one seed pitt against hometown Cards six point
Speaker 6: thirty tomorrow night on ESPN. Then you got Penn State
Speaker 6: ticking on last year's runners up Nebraska thirty minutes after
Speaker 6: Pitt and UK. Louisville played pitt twice this season, home
Speaker 6: and away, lost both. In fact, they've lost four in
Speaker 6: a row to the Panthers going back to last a
Speaker 6: year ago November twenty twenty three. Does pitt make it
Speaker 6: five straight over the Cards?
Speaker 1: I say, nay, nay.
Speaker 6: I say the Cards advanced to the finals on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Louisville's awfully good. But maybe it's because I watched Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: be Kentucky, I do think. And plus Pittsburgh, this is
Speaker 1: a third straight year in the Final four, cut off
Speaker 1: from a championship each of the last two years. I
Speaker 1: just think this team is so driven. I think the
Speaker 1: Panthers win it. But it's cool that the season is
Speaker 1: ending where it began for big time college volleyball back
Speaker 1: in August, late Off says, you know, I was at
Speaker 1: that abcavent Loruisville and the Young Center is a great
Speaker 1: place to have the final four. Welcome back with some
Speaker 1: hot reeds for Gary in just a minute here on
Speaker 1: the Big bloom Sider six thirty WLAP welcome back. We're chatting.
Speaker 1: Went to our West m Bureau chief Gary Moore, as
Speaker 1: we do every Wednesday. He has tossed up two guys
Speaker 1: in the six packs of now time for a couple
Speaker 1: of hot reeds. First of all, you kind of made
Speaker 1: a little wise crack about student athletes earlier, which is
Speaker 1: why I'm bringing up. And I don't blame you for that,
Speaker 1: because too often there are sham's out there. But Travis Hunter,
Speaker 1: your Heisman Trophy winner, is also quite the student athlete.
Speaker 1: Gary Fall of twenty twenty three has a four point
Speaker 1: zero follows that up in the spring of twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four with a three point nine to oh eight academic
Speaker 1: First Team All American And no, he's not majoring in
Speaker 1: recreation or whatever. Anthropology. How about that? That was in
Speaker 1: the press release from the school. But in my opinion,
Speaker 1: not nearly enough is made of that in situations like
Speaker 1: this when you think about the class work, I mean,
Speaker 1: people made a big deal out of it, as they
Speaker 1: should have with Josh Dobbs when he was at Tennessee
Speaker 1: because he was studying literally to be a rocket scientist,
Speaker 1: you know, and now he's in the NFL. But he
Speaker 1: can go on after that to build rockets when he's done.
Speaker 1: But not enough, in my opinion, is made of that,
Speaker 1: especially by people in our line of work who enjoy
Speaker 1: making cracks about the guys who are the frauds, but
Speaker 1: they need to make a just as big a deal
Speaker 1: out of the guys or anything.
Speaker 6: But I completely agree with you one hundred percent. Not
Speaker 6: enough goes. And you know there's probably some more four
Speaker 6: point zero guys out there eight three point nine s.
Speaker 6: People are talking about, well, these guys are ever going
Speaker 6: to get a degree? They keep going to all these
Speaker 6: different schools and all this other stuff. Well why don't
Speaker 6: you just concentering on how well they're doing when they
Speaker 6: are at these schools? First of all, yeah, because it's
Speaker 6: hard to do. I mean, the football is a full
Speaker 6: time job. Every sport, Yes, every sports a full time
Speaker 6: really is, and you got to be a full time
Speaker 6: student at the same time. You just can't do three
Speaker 6: hours here or there. Maybe there's something to do that,
Speaker 6: but I think most schools have got a requirement. You've
Speaker 6: got to take x amount of classes to be able
Speaker 6: to play and pass those classes. At the same time.
Speaker 1: When people pass judgment like this, they have a tendency
Speaker 1: to think just about the guys and gals who are
Speaker 1: going pro because they, of course command more attention. But
Speaker 1: ninety seven percent of college athletes do not go on
Speaker 1: to play professionally, right exactly, And those are the ones
Speaker 1: you finish their degree and then you know, do a
Speaker 1: good job at it. So yeah, I think we're in
Speaker 1: agreement on that second hot read. Speaking of athletes who
Speaker 1: have bounced around a little bit, Will Levis from Penn
Speaker 1: State to Kentucky made the most of it there, but
Speaker 1: it's not made the most of his time as the
Speaker 1: starter for the Tennessee Titans and evidently is being benched
Speaker 1: this week. It's not been confirmed yet by the head coach,
Speaker 1: but it looks like Mason Rudolph because Levis, who has
Speaker 1: thrown for twelve touchdowns. Also has thrown twelve interceptions, no
Speaker 1: sixty four percent of his passes, which back in the
Speaker 1: day would have been brilliant. Now that's the you know,
Speaker 1: on the low end. But yeah, he's thrown four almost
Speaker 1: two thousand yards. But he keeps giving a ball back
Speaker 1: to the other team, not to mention fumbles. I don't
Speaker 1: know if he'll ever come back from this, Dick.
Speaker 6: He had four turnovers alone on Sunday, Yeah, three lost, Yeah,
Speaker 6: he lost a fumble, yeah, and threw for three interceptions.
Speaker 6: He's got four he leads the league and pick sixes.
Speaker 6: He's got four interceptions return for touchdowns this year. You know,
Speaker 6: I don't know if there's something about the game. He
Speaker 6: probably does need to take some time away from it.
Speaker 6: But I got two words, Sam Darnold. Some of these
Speaker 6: guys coming in takes two or three, four years whatever.
Speaker 6: Maybe he needs to go to another team, Maybe he
Speaker 6: needs to work with another quarterback whisperer or somewhere. But
Speaker 6: I don't know if he's going to stay there for
Speaker 6: very much longer. And maybe you'll go in the reclaim
Speaker 6: pile on a next year or maybe then maybe we'll
Speaker 6: be traded this year. Who knows somebody has got a
Speaker 6: rocket for an arm, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: And he has the same problem he had at Kentucky
Speaker 1: in two phases number one, a poor offensive line yep
Speaker 1: at Tennessee. But he just tries to do too much.
Speaker 1: I think you're exactly right. I think if he does
Speaker 1: go to the same Darnold route, go to a team
Speaker 1: that's better suited for his skills, with someone who can
Speaker 1: teach him. Jameis Winston's cut down for crying aloud on
Speaker 1: his turnovers. If he can cut down, I think anybody
Speaker 1: can so true. Good boy Gary Moore is our west
Speaker 1: End bureau chief. Finding him on Twitter or ex at
Speaker 1: at nine to five to five, Gary, where you're at
Speaker 1: Big bloom Insider one, see you next week. Have fun
Speaker 1: in the Apple. That's it. Good night from the garage
Speaker 1: and Lexington White Master.
Speaker 3: It might be dangerous.
Speaker 4: You got first.