Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Sadderday. Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Thursday edition of our program, and coming up tonight,
Speaker 1: Tony Cruz, longtime morning drive host at WHS Radio. We
Speaker 1: used to call them DJ's disc jockeys, but of course
Speaker 1: they don't play records anymore, at least most of them
Speaker 1: don't on AM radio. But anyhow, Tony has been the
Speaker 1: guy in the chair for more than twenty years at AHS,
Speaker 1: but prior to that, he hosted sports talk radio on
Speaker 1: HAS was part of the UK Network coverage of UK
Speaker 1: Sports for a while, and was prior to that EKU
Speaker 1: Network coverage of Colonel Sports. He went to EKU. So
Speaker 1: we'll get caught up with Tony, who just retired, and
Speaker 1: he will join us from Montana where he and his
Speaker 1: wife are doing some traveling and good for them. Our
Speaker 1: number two, Jeff Picoro's going to join us here in
Speaker 1: the garage. There's so much to talk about, the Vince
Speaker 1: Merrill move, the upcoming football season. Jeff, of course part
Speaker 1: of the UK Radio Network but also sports director of WTVQ,
Speaker 1: so there's a lot to discuss horse racing, so that
Speaker 1: comes up here in our number two. We begin tonight
Speaker 1: with the comment for Mark Stoops. Regarding Vince Merrow, Stoops
Speaker 1: has been out of pocket for the last twenty four
Speaker 1: to forty eight hours since Marrow the news slipped out
Speaker 1: that he was going to Louisville, So a prepared statement
Speaker 1: for Mark Stoops, We're thankful for coach Merrow's contributions to
Speaker 1: our program over the past twelve years. As we look
Speaker 1: to the new season and a new era of college football,
Speaker 1: we're focused on the opportunities at hand. Will continue to
Speaker 1: build a roster and staff that balances talent and experienced, maturity, physicality,
Speaker 1: and the attitude it takes to win in the nation's
Speaker 1: most competitive conference. I wish my friend in colleague nothing
Speaker 1: but the best. Yeah. Kind of a cookie cutter, rubber
Speaker 1: stamp sort of answer, but that's what you're going to
Speaker 1: get in a situation like this. He's not going to
Speaker 1: lash out, he's not going to show that he's angry
Speaker 1: if he is. You know, they're at the bottom line
Speaker 1: is there's still childhood bodies and they're I'm sure more
Speaker 1: than went into this than just Vince Merrill finally saying
Speaker 1: I'm gonna grab a better gig, even though it's at
Speaker 1: the arch rival. So Mark Stoops has spoken and he
Speaker 1: will be asked a lot about this at SEC media days.
Speaker 1: You better believe it, and that like the season is
Speaker 1: coming up sooner than later. Right down the road, UK,
Speaker 1: of course, in the acc SEC Challenge draws North Carolina.
Speaker 1: And when you think about UK and North Carolina of late,
Speaker 1: my mind immediately goes to Anthony Davis blocking that shot
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve to shut down to Tario's in one
Speaker 1: of the great games that year, maybe the best regular
Speaker 1: season game. Or Kentucky, but remember they played in December
Speaker 1: of twenty fourteen, that team, the Kentucky team that had
Speaker 1: designs on going undefeated. They walloped North Carolina eighty four
Speaker 1: to seventy. Kentucky up forty nine thirty four at the half.
Speaker 1: And get this, Karl Anthony Towns in that game, and
Speaker 1: I don't remember why played only nineteen minutes. I know
Speaker 1: that was the Platoon season, but I would have thought
Speaker 1: he'd played more than nineteen. Willie colly Stein played twenty eight. Towns,
Speaker 1: did not attempt a field goal, had two free throws,
Speaker 1: two rebounds. Just those two points bought the shot. But
Speaker 1: Willie caley Stein had fifteen so did. Devin Booker was
Speaker 1: five of eight, three for three from beyond the arc. Yes,
Speaker 1: he gave us a sneak preview of what would come
Speaker 1: in the NBA. The Harrison Twins combined for twenty five points,
Speaker 1: five assists by Andrew the point guard Andrew or Aaron
Speaker 1: was three of seven from beyond the arc, and Kentucky
Speaker 1: hit twenty seven of forty eight shots. Just thumped North
Speaker 1: Carolina back then. You know what happened after that. Wildcat's
Speaker 1: going to make the Final four but lose to Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: We will never forget that one, will we. But we
Speaker 1: will also never forget the North Carolina Kentucky game back
Speaker 1: in December of twenty eleven, actually the twenty eleven twelve season,
Speaker 1: the national title season in Kentucky. On that one, seventy
Speaker 1: three to seventy two, Wildcats were ranked number one, Carolina
Speaker 1: was ranked number five, and it was in doubt until
Speaker 1: literally the last five seconds. And remember I went back
Speaker 1: and watched the highlights on YouTube of the end of
Speaker 1: the game, and I had forgotten this that Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: made a great catch. I think it was from Michael
Speaker 1: Kidd Gilchris a pass and because Clark Kellogg raved about
Speaker 1: the catch that Davis made. Then he drops in a
Speaker 1: jump hook. Kentucky was down a point. Davis gave Kentucky
Speaker 1: the lead and everybody runs down the floor. North Carolina
Speaker 1: does not call time out. They work it into the
Speaker 1: middle and they get deep into the paint to Tyler Zeller,
Speaker 1: but somebody tipped the ball away from him. He recovered
Speaker 1: and some of them managed to get the ball off
Speaker 1: on the baseline of John Henson, who went up for
Speaker 1: what would have been the game winning shot. But of
Speaker 1: course Anthony Davis said other ideas.
Speaker 2: Marshall Pete Seller down low, loses the ball.
Speaker 1: Picked up by handsome tenth butter blood by Davis.
Speaker 3: Davis is getting the ball four seconds.
Speaker 4: To play off the team.
Speaker 2: He tribbles up to me in port tack.
Speaker 4: What's over. Kentucky wins by one.
Speaker 2: Aynstony Davis saved the day with the blood on Henson.
Speaker 1: And that's our man Tom Leach on the call on
Speaker 1: the UK network. So that's the North Carolina Kentucky game
Speaker 1: that comes to mind. But again Wildcats walloped the Tarios
Speaker 1: back in the regular season of fourteen to fifty. Of course,
Speaker 1: they played in the postseason as well, Kentucky beating North
Speaker 1: Carolina thanks to Josh Harrelson in that group, but also
Speaker 1: and Fox spam at a bioteam losing a game that
Speaker 1: would have put the Wildcats in the Final four. And
Speaker 1: I still believe if Kentucky wins that game, for better
Speaker 1: or worse, John Caliperry's probably still here. While we're talking basketball.
Speaker 1: The other day, I told you about the rule changes
Speaker 1: that might be on the way, mostly about video review
Speaker 1: and things like that, in the same report, and I
Speaker 1: didn't see this earlier. It really wasn't brought up until
Speaker 1: really recently, the last twenty four hours. Within that same
Speaker 1: report comes information that college basketball D one basketball men's
Speaker 1: basketball is seriously looking out going to quarters. They're going
Speaker 1: to put a committee together or something like that so
Speaker 1: they'll take forever. But why they haven't done this. Men's
Speaker 1: college basketball is the only form in the sport that
Speaker 1: still plays twenty minute halves. It's ridiculous. And if they'd
Speaker 1: only go to quarters the way they do everywhere else
Speaker 1: in the world. You talk about a better flow of
Speaker 1: the game, fewer free throws, that's what will happen. Bacers
Speaker 1: meet the Thunder last night SGA in company down two
Speaker 1: to one now in the NBA Finals. We're back in
Speaker 1: just a minute on the Big Blue Sider. More from
Speaker 1: otega Oway on the other side of the break here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Bloon Sider.
Speaker 1: Coming up at the bottom of the hour, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk with Tony Cruz, former sportscaster on the UK
Speaker 1: and that worked with a longtime morning drive voice at
Speaker 1: our sister station, WHS. He is just now retired, so
Speaker 1: we'll talk about how sports kind of evolved because he
Speaker 1: was a sports talk show host before he moved to
Speaker 1: morning drive radio. Then in hour number two, Jeff Bicoro
Speaker 1: with the UK Network will join us right here in
Speaker 1: the garage. So much to talk about with Jeff that
Speaker 1: we just decided to drag him in and talk to
Speaker 1: him face to face. So that's coming up a little
Speaker 1: bit later on. Of course, coming up tomorrow night is
Speaker 1: the College World Series minus the Wildcats. They fell short
Speaker 1: in the regional as you know, and while that is disappointing,
Speaker 1: keep in mind no team from last year's College World
Speaker 1: Series field has returned to Omaha this year. That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: One of the really interesting storylines in the world. So
Speaker 1: there's always great storylines, of course, not the least of
Speaker 1: which is Murray State, the number four seed from a regional,
Speaker 1: makes it to the tournament for just the fourth time
Speaker 1: since the current format was established in nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1: Now entering this season, a mid major has reached Omaha
Speaker 1: and won it all every eight years across two cycles
Speaker 1: throughout the COVID year twenty twenty. But you got Fresno
Speaker 1: State in twenty oh eight, Coastal Carolina in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: so it can't happen. Other four seeds Oral Roberts in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, lost in the second round, did win
Speaker 1: a game, but lost in the second round. Stonybrook in
Speaker 1: twenty twelve lost both games, but I remember, and Stonybrook
Speaker 1: made it. I was amazed then. Of course, back in
Speaker 1: eight Fresno State won it all, had to come out
Speaker 1: of the losers bracket, but won it all. So you know,
Speaker 1: any team at any time can jump up and win.
Speaker 1: And keep this in mind. Two of the national seeds,
Speaker 1: the top national seeds, because look at the draw, they
Speaker 1: face off in the opening round, Arkansas and LSU. And
Speaker 1: by the way, the only two SEC teams last year,
Speaker 1: half the field, four of the eight were from the SEC,
Speaker 1: the other four were for the ACC. This year, two
Speaker 1: Southeastern Conference teams and they square off Saturday night at
Speaker 1: seven o'clock. They have played three times this year. LSU
Speaker 1: won twice, both in Baton Ruge. That series was in
Speaker 1: Baton Rouge. So that's gonna be one heck of a game.
Speaker 1: That game will feature eleven all conference players, including the
Speaker 1: SEC player of the year, Razorbacks junior shortstop. Well he
Speaker 1: will alloy amazing. So there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: purple and gold and a lot of cardinal and white
Speaker 1: at Charles Schwab Stadium. But yeah, only two SEC teams
Speaker 1: this year, pretty amazing. PAC twelve is dead, but three
Speaker 1: former PAC twelve teams have reached Omah, Arizona, Oregon State,
Speaker 1: and UCLA. And you remember Oregon State came to election
Speaker 1: and last year different team, you know, new personnel, and
Speaker 1: Kentucky beat Oregon State in two games to make the
Speaker 1: College World Series. But it's amazing to me Tennessee, the
Speaker 1: defending national champ, losing to Arkansas, and in fact Arkansas
Speaker 1: won the Super Regional two nothing A and M national
Speaker 1: runner up last year preseason picked to win it all,
Speaker 1: didn't make the tournament. Virginia went to the College World
Speaker 1: Series last year, didn't make the tournament. Florida slipped in
Speaker 1: to the College World Series last year, was slipped into
Speaker 1: the nca Tournament. Really then won its way to Omaha,
Speaker 1: you don't slip in, but lost at Coastal Carolina. North
Speaker 1: Carolina lost in the Supers to Arizona, NC State, which
Speaker 1: Kentucky beat in its opening game of the two home
Speaker 1: runs late one on the ninth, one tenth lost to
Speaker 1: Auburn in a regional. So just an incredible turnaround in
Speaker 1: college baseball. And if you're not all that interested, I
Speaker 1: can understand because the Wildcats aren't there, but take a
Speaker 1: peek at it. It's really compelling. It's a fun watch,
Speaker 1: even if your team is not in it all. Right.
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier otego Oway. We had a chance to
Speaker 1: talk with him earlier this week, So everybody has been
Speaker 1: kind of turning a lot of Otago Away and Brandon
Speaker 1: Garrison's stories. It was good to talk to those guys.
Speaker 1: Gave us something to talk about, something additional to talk
Speaker 1: about here in the summer months now. And of course
Speaker 1: Away coming back from NBA tryouts essentially, and no shock
Speaker 1: that he came back to Kentucky because well, for one thing,
Speaker 1: he's going to make more money this year reportedly than
Speaker 1: he would have made as a late first or second
Speaker 1: round choice in the NBA draft, So it makes more sense.
Speaker 1: But now he's armed with that knowledge, he knows what
Speaker 1: he has to do coming back and playing another year
Speaker 1: of college basketball. I asked him, though, if when it
Speaker 1: came time to make that announcement and when he realized
Speaker 1: he was not going to be playing in the NBA
Speaker 1: this year at least, you know, throwing his name in
Speaker 1: the draft, was he disappointed? And of course he said.
Speaker 5: No, no, not at all, because I still could have gone,
Speaker 5: but it was more like I had one more year
Speaker 5: about to do it and then you know, try and
Speaker 5: do the things that maybe I didn't get to a
Speaker 5: complete last year, which was you know, win national championship.
Speaker 5: So you know, I feel like either way, either it
Speaker 5: says I would have picked I. Look, you would have
Speaker 5: been thinking about the other one because one, you know,
Speaker 5: like I said, have one more year of eligibility, and
Speaker 5: I feel like we saw so much more to complete.
Speaker 1: Here, and that, to me is the perfect answer. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure he puts some thought into it, obviously, but
Speaker 1: and he's right, you know, it was kind of a
Speaker 1: no lose situation for him. He either follows his dream
Speaker 1: and plays pro ball or comes back here and plays
Speaker 1: for a national championship, which this team should be capable
Speaker 1: of attempting to win with a real shot at it,
Speaker 1: not the least of which is because of the return.
Speaker 2: And so Tagan called me and he said, coach, let's
Speaker 2: do this.
Speaker 1: I'm coming back.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I was looking around him like I think the
Speaker 2: pilot is about to throw out the plane right now.
Speaker 4: So I was like, oh, take.
Speaker 2: Oh, you back later, but just hold that on.
Speaker 1: Fifteen minutes later, called him back.
Speaker 3: He says, come back tears.
Speaker 5: Who was talking about face?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Pope said he was on a plane and somehow
Speaker 1: the call got through from old way and then he
Speaker 1: called him back and they talked some more and the
Speaker 1: tears began to flow. And this is what Otega remembered
Speaker 1: about that moment.
Speaker 5: Because I mean, honest, like I want to say, like
Speaker 5: three days before, maybe two days, I already knew what
Speaker 5: it was. So I was just waiting to the last
Speaker 5: work out, you know, to tell him, but you know,
Speaker 5: it was great just finally get off my chest and
Speaker 5: then you know, just having that moment with him, talking
Speaker 5: with him and seeing the genuine excitement.
Speaker 1: And what's not to be excited about. Otaga Oway was
Speaker 1: expected to be a good player for Kentucky last year,
Speaker 1: but when Jackson Robinson went down, he had to become
Speaker 1: a great player for Kentucky, and at times he was.
Speaker 1: There were times when he was a little inconsistent or
Speaker 1: drifted a little bit. Remember the Oklahoma game. He was
Speaker 1: not super in the first half the game that he
Speaker 1: single handily won down the stretch for the Wildcats at Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: but well in the second half, especially in those last
Speaker 1: few minutes, he was the best player in America in
Speaker 1: that game. So now can he sustain that. Maybe not
Speaker 1: that level of play that he showed in the last
Speaker 1: five or ten minutes of the Ou game, That would
Speaker 1: be almost impossible, But to attempt to reach that level
Speaker 1: is what he needs to do. But apparently he is
Speaker 1: happy enough to come back and try it. And as
Speaker 1: he said when he was talking to Pope, it's all
Speaker 1: about the happiness.
Speaker 5: You're just going to be it is. Yeah, left Bebia.
Speaker 5: It's me too. Actually, no place I'd rather be.
Speaker 1: And there you have it. And that's the kind of
Speaker 1: attitude that Pope of course is recruiting out there when
Speaker 1: he's pulling guys in through the portal, and obviously true
Speaker 1: freshmen as well. But when your bring a guy in
Speaker 1: through the portal, it can't be just transactional. And you
Speaker 1: can really say this about any school, but I think
Speaker 1: especially here, because of the high expectations and the outside
Speaker 1: pressures on Kentucky basketball players, they've got to really want
Speaker 1: to be here. They've got to be willing to accept
Speaker 1: the pressure, the criticism, not just the adulation. But everybody
Speaker 1: he brought in last year to a person to a man,
Speaker 1: talked to us in the media in August and at
Speaker 1: every juncture after that about how much they appreciated being here,
Speaker 1: to the point where Kobe Brayle, when the season was over,
Speaker 1: prematurely said, I don't want to give my jersey back.
Speaker 1: That's what he needs in every person he brings in
Speaker 1: here through the portal, And if you're a true freshman,
Speaker 1: that kind of feeling is cultivated if you stay here
Speaker 1: for two or three or four years. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: Travis Perry. You know what, maybe we'll see him again someday.
Speaker 1: Maybe you'll play a couple of years at ole Miss
Speaker 1: and decide if he can still do it. Maybe the
Speaker 1: rules will change, but you know, maybe he can jump
Speaker 1: back into portal play his final year here. Who knows.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is it's got to be people
Speaker 1: who feel the same way that'll take away fields and
Speaker 1: that is there's no place I'd rather be. We're back
Speaker 1: in the minute with Tony Cruz, the Cruise Man here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Moon.
Speaker 1: Sider joining us now is a longtime buddy of mine.
Speaker 1: You might remember him as a member at times of
Speaker 1: the UK radio network, the EKU Radio Network, most recently
Speaker 1: the morning drive announcer for WHS Radio for many many
Speaker 1: years now retired, The Cruise Man, Tony Cruz, my good
Speaker 1: friend who's actually on vacation right now with his wife
Speaker 1: up in Montana. And good for you. Are you relaxing,
Speaker 1: big man? Are you able to not look at the
Speaker 1: clock all the time?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm forgetting you know what day it is?
Speaker 1: Good?
Speaker 3: Of course, anybody that listened to anybody in my audience
Speaker 3: would say, you've forgot a lot of stuff. Kids.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I just man, I remember meeting you and
Speaker 1: I think you were you might have been neither still
Speaker 1: in school at w A N E. KU. You're a
Speaker 1: proud colonel.
Speaker 3: Yes, I was my sophomore year when I was just
Speaker 3: thinking about getting into radio and well, I know, I
Speaker 3: kind of started getting entrenched into it, and I met
Speaker 3: you at the press box and I was like, that's
Speaker 3: stick Gabriel and everything, and you were just so nice
Speaker 3: to me, and then you just started talking to me,
Speaker 3: and then you know, you're just a kind of mentor.
Speaker 3: You and Greg schallamyre two of my mentors during that time,
Speaker 3: two old farts.
Speaker 1: And Scott's is still going strong on the Colonel. Isn't
Speaker 1: that amazing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's awesome, great guy. We got we got some
Speaker 3: tut tut coming around here pretty soon. Our annual event
Speaker 3: I worked with Greg.
Speaker 1: We alternated on the Sweet sixteen this year on the radio,
Speaker 1: and which I so thoroughly enjoyed because I hadn't done
Speaker 1: it in so long, and man, his level of preparation
Speaker 1: is off the charts. But I digress. We're talking to
Speaker 1: Tony Cruz, who for how many years were you Morning
Speaker 1: Drive at.
Speaker 3: Has twenty one year.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And prior to that, one year.
Speaker 1: Prior to that, Tony of course hosted a sports talk
Speaker 1: show which is no longer in existence. I hate to
Speaker 1: say on WHS started I think by Van Vance, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: That's correct, Van Vance started that show. It became super
Speaker 3: uber popular back there in the day. And of course
Speaker 3: Van and Kwood two great legends that I got to know.
Speaker 3: And Van is not only a sports guy, but I
Speaker 3: mean he plays classical guitar. I won't give you his age,
Speaker 3: but he's still walks twice a day around park in
Speaker 3: southern Indiana and rides a bike. And the only time
Speaker 3: he won't do that is if there's ice and or lightning.
Speaker 3: Good every day, so you.
Speaker 1: Were exposed to and Kaywood worked at WHS for the
Speaker 1: longest time before he moved to Lectioningon and worked with
Speaker 1: gym hosts. But just the fact that it's such a
Speaker 1: great radio station, fifty thousand. Watson for the longest time
Speaker 1: was the sports voice in Louisville, and really because of
Speaker 1: its power in central Kentucky had both UK and U
Speaker 1: of L games. And here you are doing the sports
Speaker 1: talk show. How much has the landscape if at all
Speaker 1: changed with UK and U of L sports since you
Speaker 1: did sports talk, and really, how did it change while
Speaker 1: you were doing it?
Speaker 3: Well, when I started sports talk it was ninety four,
Speaker 3: maybe somewhere between ninety four and ninety five, the little
Speaker 3: thing called AOL was starting to come around, and soon
Speaker 3: after that we're about to see it even explode more
Speaker 3: with AI about probably a year or two later, all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, you know, we would do these recruiting
Speaker 3: shows which were very popular for our audiences, the UK
Speaker 3: or U of L, whatever the case may be in
Speaker 3: Indiana and our case at HF. All of a sudden,
Speaker 3: we had competitions. You know, we couldn't just have Clark
Speaker 3: Francis on or somebody else from all these different guys
Speaker 3: that would go out. You started seeing a real quick,
Speaker 3: you know, convergence of these different sites. So then you
Speaker 3: had to kind of change your game right about the
Speaker 3: way you go about doing your show. And it became
Speaker 3: a lot harder to you know, try and make it
Speaker 3: interesting because everybody was always interested in recruiting. It still
Speaker 3: are now, you know, payoffs.
Speaker 1: And il but draft no, as you said, thanks to
Speaker 1: the interweb, it's immediate, you know, we're playing from behind
Speaker 1: on this show, on your show, I mean, unless something
Speaker 1: breaks while we're on the air. Yeah. And the hard
Speaker 1: thing too, Tony, is you remember and it was just starting,
Speaker 1: as you said when you were doing sports talk, was
Speaker 1: there's no accountability. So even though something might be on
Speaker 1: the internet, you can't trust that.
Speaker 3: It's true, right, right. And it was interesting also because
Speaker 3: sometimes you got to trust of some coaches or even
Speaker 3: athletic directors, whatever the case may be. I did not tell.
Speaker 3: I mean I didn't have to beat somebody to a story,
Speaker 3: you know, or anything else. But sometimes you would find
Speaker 3: out things that you didn't want to hear, you know,
Speaker 3: that were coming. Maybe somebody's going to be dismissed or
Speaker 3: or something like that, right, and you know there's those
Speaker 3: moments where you could break that, but I didn't want
Speaker 3: to break her lifelationship, right, So you know, I just
Speaker 3: didn't you know, a show and tell all the time. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I didn't think it was right. I understand that it's
Speaker 3: not right to the family that are you know, about
Speaker 3: to be exposed to this, particularly they're going to be dismissed,
Speaker 3: you know, their husband's going to be dismissed or in
Speaker 3: women coach, whatever.
Speaker 1: You referred to UK, U of L and Indiana. That's
Speaker 1: what I always I always respected you guys. All you
Speaker 1: got TV and radio in Louisville because you're serving so
Speaker 1: many different audiences, both high school and college. But the
Speaker 1: emotional ties that fans have. I don't know how many
Speaker 1: IU fans tuned into your show, but I know UK
Speaker 1: fans and U of L fans it was almost an
Speaker 1: even split. For the longest time, there were more UK
Speaker 1: than U of L in the city of Louisville. But
Speaker 1: as Denny Crumb started to have success, the level of
Speaker 1: backing for U of L roles, and it's basically fifty
Speaker 1: to fifty, I would think in terms of the temperature
Speaker 1: of the room. But what was that like for you?
Speaker 1: First of all, you had to keep up because you
Speaker 1: would call me all the time. You had to keep
Speaker 1: up yet well, which was smart. Not that I'm any smarter,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure I wasn't the only guy you called.
Speaker 1: But you gotta know what's going on, what's happening, and
Speaker 1: you got to, as I said, read the room and
Speaker 1: know how to talk to the fans. What kind of
Speaker 1: challenge is that like for you?
Speaker 3: Big challenge because when I started, even though we had
Speaker 3: both universities on, Louisville took a preference, if you want to,
Speaker 3: because I guess we made the most money on that
Speaker 3: or whatever the case may be, and then UK would
Speaker 3: be on one of our sister stations or something like that.
Speaker 3: The UK came in with a big offer and they
Speaker 3: became you know, the BBN thing, and then Louisville fans
Speaker 3: got mad, and then we converted a radio station dedicated
Speaker 3: to U of L sports. But what I did was,
Speaker 3: you know, Van, I suppose I think he called you,
Speaker 3: and he called some maybe Tom or at that time,
Speaker 3: Ralph Hacker or something. But there was wasn't as big
Speaker 3: a presence of the UK as there was U of
Speaker 3: L at that time, and Bob Knight was such a
Speaker 3: dynamite stick that you know, there's a lot of shows, yeah,
Speaker 3: with the Van with the Southern Indiana audience. So what
Speaker 3: I tried to do is try to split it as
Speaker 3: much as I could. And I got known as a
Speaker 3: big UK fan by U of L fans or charged
Speaker 3: with that from the standpoint because I started doing a
Speaker 3: little bit more UK shows, like I could have dig
Speaker 3: gaber Lawn now or do that. I just wanted and
Speaker 3: you know, I would take some heat from some U
Speaker 3: of L people and I go, look, my job is
Speaker 3: to get the biggest audience possible and there's not just
Speaker 3: one team, and you know this isn't just a one
Speaker 3: team city. So that's why I did it. And let's
Speaker 3: be honest. What do you do more than follow your
Speaker 3: own team? You follow who you think are put in
Speaker 3: an air quotes your enemy, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: That's why we watched The Godfather. We're not going to
Speaker 3: be we're not going to be in the mafia, but
Speaker 3: there's something intriguing about something even though we would never
Speaker 3: do any of these things. And it's the same thing
Speaker 3: with sports. Sports fans, I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but trying to understand sports fans quite the challenge,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: What I did find though, is when you just you know,
Speaker 3: talk to the players, there's guys wearing T shirts. A
Speaker 3: lot of times they didn't know anything about Kentucky or
Speaker 3: anything about Louisville or whatever the case may be. You
Speaker 3: start meeting a friend of theirs and certainly family members
Speaker 3: and things like that. So when I told people, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm really a U of l UK or uk U
Speaker 3: L fan, however you want to, you know, displace it.
Speaker 3: They go. You can't be well, it's kind of like
Speaker 3: in your line of work. If you're a salesman, you
Speaker 3: know you're going to sell your car to anybody. You
Speaker 3: didn't care if they were UK fan or U of
Speaker 3: L fan. If you're on the lot trying to sell
Speaker 3: a car. You know, I'm not saying that these people
Speaker 3: are tokens. I'm saying they're party of your job. Yeah
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, oh yeah, I just made it like that.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. We're talking to Tony Cruz, longtime morning
Speaker 1: drive announcer, but also prior to that, sports talk host
Speaker 1: and at times a member of the UK Network the
Speaker 1: EKAU Network. He is now retired and we are We'll
Speaker 1: take a break, come back and talk more with a
Speaker 1: Cruise man on the other side of the break here
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're talking with Tony Cruise,
Speaker 1: my buddy, a long time morning drive host for WHAS Radio.
Speaker 1: Prior to that sports talk host at has has worked
Speaker 1: for the UK Network, the EKAU Network. A proud EKU colonel.
Speaker 1: We call each other big Man. That is uh I
Speaker 1: don't know if homage is the right term, but that's
Speaker 1: a reference to Claude Bassett who called everybody big man
Speaker 1: because I'm sure he couldn't remember their names. But it's
Speaker 1: just it's just a real blast from the past, asked.
Speaker 1: But it also kind of underscores Tony what we have
Speaker 1: seen through the years with coaches coming and going, and
Speaker 1: and you know, programs being up and down. I remember
Speaker 1: when when uh Rick Patino got the Louisville and people saying,
Speaker 1: we're never gonna beat Louisville again, and Tuffy Smith beat
Speaker 1: him five straight and then for a while there, Kentucky
Speaker 1: couldn't beat Louisville in football for lover money. And then
Speaker 1: the next thing, you know, Louisville couldn't beat Kentucky and football.
Speaker 1: So if you hang around long enough, you see it all,
Speaker 1: don't you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And that's why they call him rivalries. You know,
Speaker 3: when Patino came, Terry Miners and I were for it,
Speaker 3: and for you Wildcat fans, I totally understand why you
Speaker 3: wouldn't want Patino to come, because, let's face it, the
Speaker 3: one thing he was was a great coach. It is
Speaker 3: a great coach. He proved it again this year and
Speaker 3: so uh. But when you're in a market and you know,
Speaker 3: great things with great people and winning uh means great ratings,
Speaker 3: you know, and income for the radio station uh and
Speaker 3: and that kind of thing, then you know you want
Speaker 3: you want that to happen. Well, of course we took
Speaker 3: a lot of guss for that, and understandably So, However,
Speaker 3: if you were in our positions and Patino could come
Speaker 3: to your city, or in your case, let's say that
Speaker 3: Nick Saban could go to Lexington. You know Offens coach
Speaker 3: studis right now with turmoil, what's going on. But would
Speaker 3: you take him? Of course you would? Would you be
Speaker 3: would you be a lightning rod? Would it be all
Speaker 3: around the country that Nick Saban is going to be
Speaker 3: the coach at the University of Kentucky. Just look like
Speaker 3: Bill Belichick is doing it North Carolina and you know
Speaker 3: they've been a nothing burger. You've got to heard more
Speaker 3: about North Carolina football than what you're hearing right now.
Speaker 3: So why wouldn't we want Rick Pettino to come to
Speaker 3: the city where we're making our living.
Speaker 1: No, I get that. And my take on that finally was, Look,
Speaker 1: Rick Pattino could have taking a lot in fact, he
Speaker 1: took the Michigan job for two hours, right, could have
Speaker 1: gone to a lot of places. He wanted to be
Speaker 1: like you and me, And you know you weren't born here,
Speaker 1: but you are Tony Cruz a Kentucky and by now
Speaker 1: I am by birth. And you know he he wanted
Speaker 1: to live in our state, in our great state, and
Speaker 1: live in Louisville because he had obviously the job opportunity,
Speaker 1: but he had interest in horses and things like that,
Speaker 1: and again did not come directly from UK. Now, Vince Marrow,
Speaker 1: that's a different story. And I'm sure that ripple has
Speaker 1: reached you in Montana, hasn't it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I don't say keeping up. I don't say
Speaker 3: using Twitter slash x is keeping up. But it's but
Speaker 3: it's you know, it's a show it Yeah, no doubt
Speaker 3: about it. Oh man, Yeah, yeah, that just seems it
Speaker 3: seems a bit odd. But I didn't know that Jeff
Speaker 3: Bram had the relationship with them.
Speaker 1: I didn't. Yeah, I didn't either, But then we should
Speaker 1: have known him because everybody seen playing the XFL or
Speaker 1: the USFL of the World League or something. But Vince
Speaker 1: was a pretty Vince played in the NFL I don't
Speaker 1: know how long. But and he won't hesitate to tell
Speaker 1: you he was a great basketball player too. But again,
Speaker 1: this is a sign of the times. He's going to
Speaker 1: be the GM and oversee the NIL operations. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, since you gave up sports talk to move
Speaker 1: in the morning drive, you know, the changes in sports
Speaker 1: have been just staggering at times, haven't they.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, And you know I'm not one of
Speaker 3: those guys. I was one of those guys back in
Speaker 3: the day and people were just you know, crowing at
Speaker 3: me for saying, I think the athletes should be paid.
Speaker 3: If you can pay him, I don't have a problem
Speaker 3: with it. Yeah, you know, back my whole reasoning was that,
Speaker 3: you know, a guy that the music major can still give,
Speaker 3: you know, tuba lessons or drum lessons or whatever as
Speaker 3: a part time job, MAYUK seventy five bucks every half hour.
Speaker 3: Why can't student athletes have an opportunity to do that.
Speaker 3: Of course, I had no idea that we were going
Speaker 3: to make them pro athletes, not to make pro if
Speaker 3: they're pro athletes. And now the NCAA needs to go
Speaker 3: ahead and put a little letter there L in CAA
Speaker 3: league and we get salary caps and we make it work.
Speaker 3: I don't think, with all due respect to Big ten
Speaker 3: and the SEC with the most viewership are going to
Speaker 3: allow that to happen. But I also think that the
Speaker 3: well can dry up for what they think too, because
Speaker 3: at some point, if you're only going to have forty
Speaker 3: teams that can actually play for a championship for fifty
Speaker 3: teams and it's still going to be the same seven
Speaker 3: or eight decade after decade after decade after decades, guess what,
Speaker 3: audience ratings still get bored and they'll lose them. That's right,
Speaker 3: just as soon as they game.
Speaker 1: But if it takes twenty thirty forty years, decade after decade, literally,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of us aren't going to be
Speaker 1: around for that. But yeah, I fully agree with you,
Speaker 1: But Tony, I think it had happened within three or
Speaker 1: four five years. I really do. I mean audience fatigue
Speaker 1: for the same old teams. That's what's compelling about the
Speaker 1: College World Series this year, an entirely different field of
Speaker 1: eight for the first time since nineteen fifty seven. I
Speaker 1: know you cannot have a level playing field, but things
Speaker 1: need at least to be equitable, and you know, That's
Speaker 1: why one of the things I don't agree with everything
Speaker 1: Mitch Barnhard does and says, but I like the fact
Speaker 1: that when he got here he said, I want all
Speaker 1: the athletes on all of our teams to at least
Speaker 1: have a chance to compete for a championship. That's all.
Speaker 1: I didn't expect every Yeah, right.
Speaker 3: He did a marvelous job with it. He put it
Speaker 3: in and I'll say that for Tom Juris as well.
Speaker 3: Look what women's basketball dance, right, You know the Tenants
Speaker 3: was up to a high, high level back then. You
Speaker 3: know they've had some good golf team facility UK team
Speaker 3: Look at UKs track and field, u L swimming. I mean,
Speaker 3: both of these programs have had good athletic directors here
Speaker 3: of the last several years.
Speaker 1: And in a time. I remember the day covering routinely
Speaker 1: just a UK Athletics board meeting when they announced that
Speaker 1: the budget had reached one hundred million dollars and I
Speaker 1: was stunned. It's one hundred and fifty. Now one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty. You know what it is that your alma
Speaker 1: mater twenty three million, twenty three million, and yet done well?
Speaker 1: It is, But but they're expected to compete for the
Speaker 1: same trophy, you know, and everything but football their D
Speaker 1: one and everything but football, and they're trying to get
Speaker 1: the D one. But again, I've told this over and over,
Speaker 1: but I remember Larry Ivy telling me that the high
Speaker 1: the fastest growing expense when he was AD many many
Speaker 1: years ago was insurance. Well, you know that's not getting
Speaker 1: any cheaper. And Barnard told me one day that he
Speaker 1: had just been checking on the price of jetfield jet fuel.
Speaker 1: He goes, yeah, I got teams flying charters. I got
Speaker 1: to find out what the cost is for jet film.
Speaker 1: Like wow, you know, we think that it's just about
Speaker 1: tickets and facilities, but it's not.
Speaker 3: You know, that's that's eye opening. I'm glad you brought
Speaker 3: that up, because I don't think about.
Speaker 1: Our house those.
Speaker 3: Kind of things. I have thought of this. We're in Montana,
Speaker 3: you know, it's two hours behind you there in Lexington,
Speaker 3: and and I'm going, well, how do these guys like
Speaker 3: Stamford being in the A C C. It's kind of ridiculous.
Speaker 3: And there are another you know, you know, hour or
Speaker 3: two away or whatever, you know, and and mid I
Speaker 3: know that uh, you know at U C L A Uh,
Speaker 3: I'm trying to figure that. I can't. I can't remember
Speaker 3: remember they the basketball coach there that was under Tina. Anyway,
Speaker 3: it's been complaining about Nick.
Speaker 1: Nick.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, try to make it beer if you're listening
Speaker 3: to to Di Gabriel right now. But he can play
Speaker 3: it out that I mean, oh yeah, think about it.
Speaker 3: You play three games, you know, and you're having to
Speaker 3: flip through schedules for these guys. That's getting a little
Speaker 3: too much.
Speaker 1: Well, and I've said it before that that Patino. It
Speaker 1: probably wasn't the only guy, because I know Chip Kelly
Speaker 1: said it too, but they were the most vocal or
Speaker 1: at least the highest profile when they said, and it
Speaker 1: makes perfect sense. Let football do its own thing and
Speaker 1: leave everybody else alone. And I don't know if it's possible,
Speaker 1: but you know, go back to the traditional conference affiliations.
Speaker 1: Let football do this thing, but then with everybody else,
Speaker 1: go back to the way it was. And that to
Speaker 1: me is the greatest solution. And you know what, it
Speaker 1: would be tough, but hell, they all went to college.
Speaker 1: They're smart people. They can figure it out. You know.
Speaker 3: I think that is the best way to look at it.
Speaker 3: You know, who started all this. You'll remember this Vince
Speaker 3: Dooley at Georgia and that's when you started losing because
Speaker 3: they remember, the NCAA had this rule that you had
Speaker 3: to have some real game and make it fair for
Speaker 3: one A or one double A team to participate. In
Speaker 3: other words, you used to see Eastern Western games, used
Speaker 3: to see Eastern Murray games, those kind of things.
Speaker 1: You know, TV.
Speaker 3: Right for TV and things like that, and that that
Speaker 3: all went away obviously, and we're just so yeah, yeah
Speaker 3: and so. And CedarA Depsky said that this was going
Speaker 3: to happen. He was the head of the n C
Speaker 3: Double A you know what, forty years ago, I guess now.
Speaker 3: And he was very concerned about it, wrote a book
Speaker 3: about it.
Speaker 1: Well. And Oklahoma also was It was a two prong
Speaker 1: suit Oklahoma and Georgia. They sued so they could sell
Speaker 1: their own TV rights and they won. This happened when
Speaker 1: I was moving down to Texas to Dallas because it
Speaker 1: affected my job down there. I won't get into that,
Speaker 1: but it's just complicated. But anyhow, they thought, oh, we're
Speaker 1: going to get rich, and you know what, they ended
Speaker 1: up taking a loss. They did not get They put
Speaker 1: their bids out, did not get the money they expected.
Speaker 1: Had to pull them off the table and refigate. So
Speaker 1: be careful what you wish for, you know, Tony Kruz,
Speaker 1: a modern DA.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the FEC network, the ACC network, you can thank Texas.
Speaker 1: For that, the Lawyer network, that's right.
Speaker 3: But what happened there? They said, how do we make
Speaker 3: this much content to go twenty four seven? Yeah, so
Speaker 3: it hasn't worked out as well as they thought.
Speaker 1: No, and the Texas network indirectly or directly led to
Speaker 1: Texas leaving the league. Other teams No, actually the A
Speaker 1: and M leaving and that conference breaking up, and everybody
Speaker 1: thought Texas was going to the PAC twelve and that
Speaker 1: set really set the dominoes in effect for the team's
Speaker 1: changing conferences. But that's a discussion for another night. We
Speaker 1: will do that at some point with Tony Kruz. Right now,
Speaker 1: we're going to let him get back to his vacation
Speaker 1: with his wife in Montana. Brother, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you, and we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 3: I hope I'll see a big man. Thank you. Until
Speaker 3: Thomas said hey.
Speaker 1: To and up next, Jeff Bicoro joins us here in
Speaker 1: the garage. You're on six thirty w LA.
Speaker 4: Two then.
Speaker 2: Tact do.
Speaker 4: Anything.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider. I renumber two
Speaker 1: and as I mentioned, jeffco joined us here in the
Speaker 1: garage' You've in in the garage a million times, that's right.
Speaker 1: So but I thought we would bring in jet because
Speaker 1: there is so much to discuss that a phone line
Speaker 1: just can't hold. Starting with the headline earlier this week,
Speaker 1: I mean, how shocked were you when you saw the
Speaker 1: tweet or text or whatever about Vince merriw?
Speaker 2: What about him?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting because I've talked to a couple
Speaker 2: of people over there and I can't name names, but
Speaker 2: I think this has been simmering, it's been on the
Speaker 2: pot for a while, and it just kind of boiled over.
Speaker 2: And I think that you've talked about this and everybody
Speaker 2: else had ad nausea about the change, maybe in the
Speaker 2: dichotomy of how things work in that football office with
Speaker 2: recruiting clearly where he had carte blanche for a long time,
Speaker 2: and now there's other guys that the coach and Eddie
Speaker 2: Grant are listening to. Eddie one of those. But also
Speaker 2: I think that and we talk about this all the time, Dick.
Speaker 2: In any sport and in any business, you have to
Speaker 2: keep getting better people to keep to get you better.
Speaker 2: For for a long time, no, I mean coaches at
Speaker 2: are recruits. For a long time it was Vince and
Speaker 2: well this guy got a guy over here, and this
Speaker 2: guy got a guy. But Vince got this guy and
Speaker 2: this guy and this guy right. Well, now you got
Speaker 2: You brought in Chris College and the defensive backs coach
Speaker 2: has done a fantastic job. Uh. You brought in the
Speaker 2: new wide receivers coaches, who's very good. You brought in Bulwear,
Speaker 2: who's very good. Each of them have different areas that
Speaker 2: they pursue Florida, Texas, Uh, things like that, mostly more
Speaker 2: the South than the North. Now they haven't really got
Speaker 2: a bunch of guys from Ohio in the last couple
Speaker 2: of years. Yeah, but I think Mark might want to
Speaker 2: change that. I mean, Eddie used to make bank everywhere
Speaker 2: he has been in Florida. That was his fight, as
Speaker 2: Frank Cursey was too.
Speaker 1: You remember.
Speaker 2: So there's different guys and so now it's kind of
Speaker 2: like you're the four Beatles sitting in there and hey,
Speaker 2: I've got a song. Sit to the side. What do
Speaker 2: you got you know what do you got? Okay, now,
Speaker 2: what do you have?
Speaker 1: Like a young George Harrison trying to make so everybody's
Speaker 1: trying to, you know, to get the room because you
Speaker 1: only have so much. But plus well, before we get
Speaker 1: to that, uh, stoops has let people go when they're recruiting,
Speaker 1: prowess has last. I haven't gotten the job.
Speaker 2: Done correct because it's the lifeblood until a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago. And now with the passage of the bill
Speaker 2: that you can simply just pay guys, now it's changed everything.
Speaker 2: And I feel so sorry for people like Walt Wells,
Speaker 2: Eastern Kentucky's coach used to be on the staff here. Uh.
Speaker 2: But those kind of guys are just, I don't know
Speaker 2: what to call it now, your feeder system. It's just
Speaker 2: like the Reds and the Pirates and Kansas City Royals
Speaker 2: kind of are in baseball where you're just a feeder
Speaker 2: for the other teams.
Speaker 1: It's almost like you're the miners.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you get guys that are okay players. We'll go,
Speaker 2: you know what, go to Eastern great coach, great coaching staff. Right,
Speaker 2: You're gonna get to play, You're gonna mature, you're gonna
Speaker 2: hit weights with real guys telling you, not the universal
Speaker 2: machines that they have at most high schools. You're gonna
Speaker 2: get better nutrition, You're gonna get bigger, stronger, faster, and
Speaker 2: in a year, we'll pay you one hundred thousand to
Speaker 2: come to us.
Speaker 1: You could almost shop yourself, right.
Speaker 2: And that's basically what's being done. And unfortunately, all the
Speaker 2: MAX schools, Toledo, Kent State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Central Michigan,
Speaker 2: all these schools, Bowling Green, their feeder systems now to Michigan,
Speaker 2: to Ohio State, to Michigan State, to Penn State. They're
Speaker 2: just they just grab whoever they want from there because
Speaker 2: those teams have no recourse. They ca can't come back
Speaker 2: and offer what these teams have. So it's changed the
Speaker 2: way you stack a team. Old Miss has done it unbelievably.
Speaker 2: So you're not bringing in as many freshmen because would
Speaker 2: you rather have an eighteen year old kid or would
Speaker 2: you rather have a twenty one year old man. That's
Speaker 2: a big difference in those three years.
Speaker 1: Literally, and you you go geographic on the MAC, and
Speaker 1: of course the D one school is in and around
Speaker 1: the MAC. The SEC it's national in terms of their portscope,
Speaker 1: isn't Yeah, I mean that's that's a great advantage.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, look at Kentucky what they've done and Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt got New Mexico State their best players. Kentucky said,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, that is a pretty good team. I'm
Speaker 2: going to take that offensive lineman looks like Lurch.
Speaker 1: From You know that the h doesn't play that way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean his body fat, It doesn't look like the
Speaker 1: thing is.
Speaker 2: His armspan, wingspan whatever, You're caught, Sam Buie. So by
Speaker 2: the time the defensive end, just if he has to
Speaker 2: run a round him, Yeah, if the quarterback hadn't thrown
Speaker 2: it by then, then there's something wrong.
Speaker 1: I help, his footwork is as good as booies.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1: But yeah, well, and you bring me to another point,
Speaker 1: the old line. But I want to double back though,
Speaker 1: to Vince. The Vince Meryll situation. Sure, so much discussion obviously,
Speaker 1: and he hasn't had a chance to speak publicly yet.
Speaker 1: Not that that will assuage ninety percent of the fan base. However,
Speaker 1: I think just the optics within the conference, within the country,
Speaker 1: it's really striking startling, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you and I have been friends for
Speaker 2: forty years, right, I mean we've been friends for forty years.
Speaker 2: A great I've been friends with Kenny McPeak since we
Speaker 2: were six years old, really that first grade all the
Speaker 2: way through college. And in that time period you have
Speaker 2: up and down, you know, if fun yeah, or one
Speaker 2: guy's moves away or does this or does that. And
Speaker 2: I just think that it got to a point with
Speaker 2: those too. In their professional lives. Both of them make
Speaker 2: seven figures. One makes a lot more seven figures in
Speaker 2: the other. But you can't be a buddy anymore. You know.
Speaker 2: There's a difference when you're when when it's an an underling.
Speaker 2: How do you how do you describe it? There has
Speaker 2: to be a clear deligation between you're the boss and
Speaker 2: you're underneath me, and guess what, we haven't been doing
Speaker 2: that great? And again I look back at Vince. Look
Speaker 2: I like Vince, great guy. You know, we get along well.
Speaker 2: I talk to him every Saturday. I go down on
Speaker 2: the field of talk team. You know that. But how
Speaker 2: great were these tight ends? Was it the offense? Because
Speaker 2: none of these guys who have come to this school
Speaker 2: with all this great hoopblah around them every year, we
Speaker 2: get the best, you know, A c J was a
Speaker 2: great example, but unfortunately he had you know, a problem
Speaker 2: right to a heart or something with him.
Speaker 1: No, it turned out there wasn't a problem, but but
Speaker 1: he did deal with injuries about it. But the other
Speaker 1: thing too is I never get excited anymore about the
Speaker 1: tight ends because the old line. Yes, and you talk
Speaker 1: about it with Tom on the ear. Yeah, you got
Speaker 1: to keep him in the block, and if.
Speaker 2: You don't, it's just a it's, you know, a mad
Speaker 2: dash to the quarterback. But to get back to Vince,
Speaker 2: he what they're gonna miss is this, Vince was good cop.
Speaker 2: Every kid that had a problem on the team came
Speaker 2: to Vince. Vince had tentacles all over Lexington with people
Speaker 2: that he could ask favors for for his players and
Speaker 2: for him. Quite frankly, that's what they're gonna miss. I
Speaker 2: don't know if anybody else has that on this team.
Speaker 2: Most of the other guys are are young, a little younger,
Speaker 2: married younger children, so it's a little different.
Speaker 1: Or they're not built that way. Chris is built that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Vince's Vince is almost like and yeah, an NFL
Speaker 2: kind of coach, a guy that.
Speaker 1: You know, he's all that's a great point. He's also
Speaker 1: the NFL. HEAs yes for the program.
Speaker 2: And then that's again, those are the things you have
Speaker 2: to replace. I think that's where it's going to hurt
Speaker 2: him the most is the kids all went to him. Now,
Speaker 2: who's their filter before they have to go to coach?
Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, because coach is a bad CoP's the way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to be.
Speaker 2: I mean you think a kid when he had when
Speaker 2: he had a problem, went to Nick Saban. Nick's like
Speaker 2: the hell you do it in my host you know
Speaker 2: they correct? Yeah, you see him on the practice field seriously.
Speaker 2: And that's another thing I think that Mark has kind
Speaker 2: of learned is he's gotten a little bit more trusting
Speaker 2: of his assistant coaches. I think where he's letting them
Speaker 2: do a little bit more and he's doing a little
Speaker 2: bit less. But I do like what he said after
Speaker 2: last season he's going to get back to the old
Speaker 2: school tactics and stuff.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that on the other side of the break,
Speaker 1: because that has been lacking. Evidently, well, the results on
Speaker 1: the field prove that. We're talking to Jeff piicorrel Or
Speaker 1: the UK Sports Network also Sports director at WTVQ. We're
Speaker 1: back in a minute around six thirty WLAP Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Blue Insider here in the garage with
Speaker 1: Jeff Piicorrel the UK Sports Network and WTVQ, and we're talking,
Speaker 1: of course about Kentucky football and before the break you
Speaker 1: brought up the fact and you're at the news conference
Speaker 1: when marks troops sat out and talked to us after
Speaker 1: spring practice and the kind of the middle of the season,
Speaker 1: middle of the summer, I should say, press conference always
Speaker 1: like how he says, good to see you guys. I'm like, really,
Speaker 1: but I think he does like talking football with us,
Speaker 1: and I think to his credit, I keep me. I
Speaker 1: haven't had the opportunity to ask him at some point,
Speaker 1: but I would like to know how much did he
Speaker 1: have a chance to interact with media when he was
Speaker 1: a coordinator or an assistant, because, as you know, in
Speaker 1: some places not allowed assistants aren't allowed. And I felt
Speaker 1: like stoops, you know, it wasn't great, But he was
Speaker 1: good when he got here at talking to the public,
Speaker 1: talking to the media, that kind of thing, and he's
Speaker 1: gotten better at it. But I thought his message this time,
Speaker 1: as you said, was really interesting. They want to get
Speaker 1: back to what what is they need to get back to.
Speaker 2: I think that there's a fine line these days now
Speaker 2: once you start paying people in disciplinary terms, and my
Speaker 2: question is this, are you allowed to And this would
Speaker 2: be a great question for somebody that within UK are
Speaker 2: you allowed to penalize them with fines?
Speaker 1: Good question.
Speaker 2: If a kid is out, he gets he gets pulled
Speaker 2: over or something, he gets speeding tickets like we've seen
Speaker 2: one hundred of them at Georgia. I mean it's a
Speaker 2: racetrack down there. It seems like with his players. Can
Speaker 2: you find those guys? Can you say, hey, guess what
Speaker 2: you're making one hundred thousand dollars, Well, we're taking five
Speaker 2: thousand because of this. That will hit you. But I'm
Speaker 2: talking about getting back to the discipline lack thereof. When
Speaker 2: you have pre snap penalties, that's all discipline, it's all mental.
Speaker 2: That's guys that are just not engaged in the game.
Speaker 2: The quarterback says the play right wing whatever, blah blah
Speaker 2: blah blah blah, on to on too ready break if
Speaker 2: you can't remember that in the three seconds it takes
Speaker 2: you to turn around. And most of the calls now
Speaker 2: are from the line and it's a word is when
Speaker 2: the ball is snapped. Yeah, so what do you mean
Speaker 2: they'll they either clap or they yeah yeah, or or
Speaker 2: it could be two claps. But that's all pre snapped
Speaker 2: stuff where guys aren't sure of what the heck's going
Speaker 2: on and they they jump at that first. You know, inflection,
Speaker 2: that's all mental, that's all that is all disciplined. And
Speaker 2: his teams have become very undisciplined. And he knows it
Speaker 2: because we all see it. And that has to change.
Speaker 2: And you cannot have and I don't know this, but
Speaker 2: you know I talk about this all the time. If
Speaker 2: you have a rule, it has to be a rule
Speaker 2: for the first teamer or the scout teamer. It can't
Speaker 2: change because you're the star wide receiver because that's the look.
Speaker 2: Ryan Lemon is a good friend of mine. But I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Losing Dan Key is not going to hurt this football team.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, it helps his football team.
Speaker 1: They're close.
Speaker 2: Yes, he's almost like a father team Barry Unbrown. Not
Speaker 2: a loss on the kickoffs. Yes, if I'm a defensive
Speaker 2: back guardy, I cannot wait till Kentucky plays them. There's
Speaker 2: no way if he gets an outside release, that kid
Speaker 2: comes out of the game. You'll never play for me again.
Speaker 2: If he gets an outside release. Make him go inside.
Speaker 2: He can't and he won't. He's scared to death. It's
Speaker 2: not a loss for Kentucky. The speed, you can't replace that.
Speaker 2: But they've got some kids now.
Speaker 1: I think Dan is a loss. I think Dan Key's
Speaker 1: a talent. You know, the program will not implode, you know.
Speaker 2: But you can't see. I can't get into some of
Speaker 2: the things that I wish I could say during a game,
Speaker 2: if the ball is not coming to you as a receiver,
Speaker 2: you still have to do every because it takes eleven
Speaker 2: guys on every single play to work.
Speaker 1: And and Dane not perfect. And I can't remember the game,
Speaker 1: but he made a knucklehead play, early.
Speaker 2: Penalty guys helmet, Yeah, that.
Speaker 1: Kind of stuff, you know he did. And he did
Speaker 1: that down at Vandy. You know, he had some growing
Speaker 1: up to do. Yeah, but I thought he did. I
Speaker 1: do think, yeah, he has he still has more growing up.
Speaker 1: He does.
Speaker 2: He does, And I think the other players see that
Speaker 2: and they're like.
Speaker 1: Dude, yeah, he's a star.
Speaker 2: But I think that that that discipline has to come back,
Speaker 2: not fear your coach. That's when I'm talking about. But discipline.
Speaker 2: Guys want discipline.
Speaker 1: I think there are kids and look, you've got children.
Speaker 1: I've got children. As they grow, you know, they have
Speaker 1: to decide you. All you can do is shepherd them.
Speaker 1: What direction do you want to go? You know? And
Speaker 1: I think you can see that in some ballplayer. Do
Speaker 1: you know what guys in the locker room do you
Speaker 1: want to hang with? You know? Do you want to
Speaker 1: go with this group over here? What they're out there
Speaker 1: having fun, they're doing this and that and they're not
Speaker 1: getting their work done. Or this group over here, this
Speaker 1: is going through the tougher times. But I remember when
Speaker 1: there was a rift in a in a Tubby Smith
Speaker 1: team where you had a group over here that followed
Speaker 1: players X, Y and Z, or this group over here
Speaker 1: to follow Chuck Hayes. You know you need your.
Speaker 2: Kids to I mean even more recently that look at
Speaker 2: Oscar and the point guard each other. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 2: couldn't think of his name. That's your two best players.
Speaker 2: And once it get me the ball and the other said,
Speaker 2: well I'm gonna take this. Yeah, it had to change,
Speaker 2: and it did finally. But but the other.
Speaker 1: Thing you've been in those locker rooms. Not interrupt you,
Speaker 1: but uh, is that the kind of thing that can
Speaker 1: just take hold like wildfire, like you know, in a hurry.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah there guy. You know you've got you've got
Speaker 2: guys who are serious about playing. And it's changed so
Speaker 2: much since I played, it's ridiculous. But you had the
Speaker 2: guys that wanted to party and play, and then you
Speaker 2: had guys that were.
Speaker 1: And really, what about and you've played with guys like this?
Speaker 1: What about guys who wanted to party? And we're still
Speaker 1: great players?
Speaker 2: That's I know, right, Look, everybody knows I'm not I'm not.
Speaker 2: Cam Jacobs was a perfect example. Couch CLAYVERDG just said,
Speaker 2: I what to do with this? That's I don't know
Speaker 2: what to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, here's a guy, and here's.
Speaker 2: Here's a guy. I want to tell you one story
Speaker 2: about a guy from Lowell played at Bishop David. Maybe
Speaker 2: the best athlete I've ever been around in my life,
Speaker 2: and it's Paul Calhoun. Oh yeah, Paulcahem never lifted a
Speaker 2: weight never, he hated the weight room, blessed. He hated running.
Speaker 2: You know, in the summer we had to come back
Speaker 2: and run sixteen forties and the four to forty two
Speaker 2: twenty five. He would screwl around in the weight room
Speaker 2: and then he'd run his forties like it was nothing.
Speaker 2: He'd lift his weights like it was I'm like, he
Speaker 2: sleeps all day, how do you do this? He wasn't
Speaker 2: a party. I'm not gidding about it, but I mean
Speaker 2: it was like, but there are just those guys that
Speaker 2: are gifted. Cam was one of those guys too. He
Speaker 2: could party all night and at the next morning. Dude,
Speaker 2: I just saw you at four o'clock in the morning
Speaker 2: when you crawled to your room and now here you
Speaker 2: are and you're ready to go and it's eight am. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But those guys. But the other thing, the other point
Speaker 2: I want to make you have to call the game
Speaker 2: to win the game, not to appease players.
Speaker 1: And I think that as a coordinator, as.
Speaker 2: A coordinator too, And and I think Mark Mark understands
Speaker 2: that now because you've gone through it and see it
Speaker 2: doesn't work when we're trying to make this guy happy, happy,
Speaker 2: to make this guy happy, we're here to win. If
Speaker 2: you don't want to be a part of that, if
Speaker 2: you're going to be selfish, then you're not gonna be
Speaker 2: a part of this. And that's kind of what I
Speaker 2: was getting at with the two wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Because if you're yeah, if you're a coordinator, you're like, well,
Speaker 1: we haven't thrown the bottle this guy in a while,
Speaker 1: or let's go to jet sweep again, because we haven't
Speaker 1: given the ball to Barrian in a while and everybody
Speaker 1: instead of knew it was coming right and that has
Speaker 1: to change.
Speaker 2: Did I do? I really do, because I think I
Speaker 2: think Bush has implemented the system that he likes, and
Speaker 2: I think the receiver serve is going to be fine.
Speaker 2: There's a lot more depth than the way. See that's
Speaker 2: the other thing. You had really two guys at receiver,
Speaker 2: and then we saw at the end of the year, Wow,
Speaker 2: this guy's not too bad, and this guy's not too
Speaker 2: bad because two guys came out at the end of
Speaker 2: the year back and Farrier and Farrier and you're saying, okay,
Speaker 2: and now they're deeper. Kendrick is going to be a real,
Speaker 2: real nice player. Law they got, so they got they
Speaker 2: have some nice size and nice speed, and.
Speaker 1: We got to hang on to the football long enough
Speaker 1: to to run seventy plays so they can show what
Speaker 1: they've got.
Speaker 2: This how about this point, who was the last three
Speaker 2: thousand yard passer for Kentucky?
Speaker 1: Oh man, the last three thousand yard past And it
Speaker 1: wasn't Will Levis, was it Terry Wilson?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 2: Further, Oh, you're kidding, Mike Cartline. No, who's a coach? Wow? Wow?
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 1: Interesting? Jeff Percoro is in the garage from the UK
Speaker 1: Sports Network in WTVQ, will come back with more Kentucky
Speaker 1: football and more on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're
Speaker 1: in the garage with Jeff Picorrol the UK Sports Network
Speaker 1: in WTVQ. We've talked a lot of Kentucky football, of course,
Speaker 1: and Jeff covers a lot more than just that. And
Speaker 1: by the way, is also the voice of you women's
Speaker 1: basketball on SEC plus and Kenny Brooks, just like Mark Pope,
Speaker 1: constructing a new roster does have some folks coming back though.
Speaker 1: He's got some talent and a team. Boy. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you were there in the coliseum when they lost in
Speaker 1: the nca tournament. But what a game, what an atmosphere.
Speaker 1: I firmly believe that's just a preview things to come to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the thing that jumps out at you is the
Speaker 2: size difference from just two years ago to today. You're
Speaker 2: like six seven six five six four six four sixty
Speaker 2: three the guards this year because unfortunately you lose Amore.
Speaker 2: But the two guards you have now are both six
Speaker 2: feet tall, just the size, and they look more like
Speaker 2: a South Carolina or a Notre Dame. And you know
Speaker 2: Stanford and those those teams that are perennial Connecticut just
Speaker 2: great teams. Kenny. The one thing I think that they
Speaker 2: have to work on is toughness. I think they got
Speaker 2: pushed around the ncaament. But yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 1: But the team that beat him at a huge player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well even when they played Texas, you know, the
Speaker 2: bigger the schools that had bigger, stronger girls really South Carolina.
Speaker 2: Because again, and it's Kenny's kind of m O. It's
Speaker 2: a more of a finesse style that he plays. But
Speaker 2: you know, he even said in the SEC after after
Speaker 2: a couple of good lord, they let him go. Yeah dude, yeah,
Speaker 2: he understood. He's a great coach and us got a
Speaker 2: really good staff too. That's that's the.
Speaker 1: Key, it really is. Matthew Mitchell hit that area where
Speaker 1: his team and his staff kind of fell apart.
Speaker 2: Hey, sure is.
Speaker 1: And uh, I'm curious to see what kind of staff
Speaker 1: he's put together there. But Georgia Amore you mentioned generational talent. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and and I'd love the story about how
Speaker 1: that Kenny told us preseason because remember how weird the
Speaker 1: schedules where you work game, you and Christy Thomas. You know,
Speaker 1: an eleven am game or a game three or two
Speaker 1: days after another. You're like, what's up with the scheduling?
Speaker 1: Because it was such a challenge to build a schedule together.
Speaker 1: After Georgia Aymore transferred from Virginia Tech, he said at
Speaker 1: first of was Kentucky. Yeah, we'll play it, thought bubble Bee,
Speaker 1: and we'll beat the crap out of you, you know
Speaker 1: my words. But then when the Georgia Aymore transferred, I
Speaker 1: don't know if we're going to be available to play Kentucky.
Speaker 1: And we saw why didn't we?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Kentucky was almost I kind of equate
Speaker 2: them with remember Xavier about fifteen years Well, once Skip
Speaker 2: Prosser got there, Yeah, it changed savior every Yeah, we'll
Speaker 2: play Xavier. Yeah, we'll play they were a homecoming upon Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden, nobody wanted to play Zavy,
Speaker 2: just like what can we get anybody? Yeah, it's the
Speaker 2: exact same thing because they're like, yeah, we'll play you
Speaker 2: at our place twice, you come here twice at Ohio
Speaker 2: State will play you. Yeah, We're not gonna come to
Speaker 2: your gym and play you right away. That's the problem
Speaker 2: you have. And people don't realize that that, you know,
Speaker 2: all these games football and in basketball, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of you got to read that contract all the way
Speaker 2: to the bottom, and it's crazy some of the you
Speaker 2: know what these teams because I know a lot of
Speaker 2: people say, why do we have to play this team?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: You know, why can't we just plays?
Speaker 1: You need to play?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you need to play at home?
Speaker 1: Yes, games you don't you don't return because of the money, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: You know, and you and I talk we are going
Speaker 1: to delve back into football, but I know you want
Speaker 1: to see more of the high profile games and whatever.
Speaker 1: And I can understand why you don't want to lock
Speaker 1: in with all these SEC games to non conference home
Speaker 1: and home beyond Louisville because that's your budget. The football
Speaker 1: games are so huge in your budget, and you're going
Speaker 1: to get the money you know whether you play Ohio
Speaker 1: stayed at home or Kent State at home, you got
Speaker 1: to play at home.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I just have a feeling, Dick that in
Speaker 2: the next three or four years, we're going to lose
Speaker 2: a lot of balls. There's what forty two or forty three?
Speaker 1: You really? Yeah, I just think interrupt you. ESPN owns
Speaker 1: so many of them, and it's their programming.
Speaker 2: But what I think's gonna happen is with the expansion
Speaker 2: of the playoffs, Okay, you just I just don't know.
Speaker 2: And especially if it goes to nine games, which I
Speaker 2: think is going to happen in the SEC because of
Speaker 2: the Big ten, does it? Yeah, and everybody else does it?
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna go to nine games. Everybody's gonna
Speaker 2: get another loss.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2: So and that's and I never even thought of it
Speaker 2: that way. And Mitch Barnhardt was talking to me, and
Speaker 2: he said, if we go to nine, that means half
Speaker 2: the teams in the SECU you're gonna get a lost.
Speaker 2: But now that it's expanded to now it looks like
Speaker 2: it's gonna be sixteen teams. The bulls are gonna be
Speaker 2: gobbled by those. That's gonna be all those New Year's
Speaker 2: Day Bowl games are now all going to be in
Speaker 2: the six the what eight games or a twelve games
Speaker 2: it's gonna be now. So that's gonna take take a
Speaker 2: stand of thirty bulls. I just don't know how many
Speaker 2: teams are gonna get the six wins to be able
Speaker 2: to go to balls.
Speaker 1: And we've seen it in some Bowl games. It'll take
Speaker 1: a team of the losing record because they've got to
Speaker 1: put something on TV. And it gets ratings. That's the thing.
Speaker 1: That's what's amazing about it. It does draw ratings. Getting
Speaker 1: back to what else is going on on campus. You
Speaker 1: covered Kentucky baseball this year, like the rest of us,
Speaker 1: probably surprise to see that name come up in the
Speaker 1: nca tournament. And then Wildcats A quitted themselves well a
Speaker 1: couple of times and then blew a couple of games.
Speaker 2: Dick to me, and I said this to you guys
Speaker 2: about football, that I would spend every penny I had
Speaker 2: on offensive and defensive line. Okay, in baseball, same thing. Pitching, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I can find a second basement anywhere, right you can.
Speaker 2: I can find an outfielder anywhere that's gonna hit too eighty.
Speaker 2: I mean, their diamond does it, but you can never
Speaker 2: have enough arms. It's unbelievable to me. How many games
Speaker 2: and you did half of them? How many games that
Speaker 2: Kentucky have a lead through the fourth and fifth inning
Speaker 2: and then you lose it through the sea.
Speaker 1: Thirty one sec games? Kentucky had the lead early twenty
Speaker 1: eight times, and you factor in non conference you know,
Speaker 1: which included Murray State, which came to town and beat Kentucky.
Speaker 1: And now we know that wasn't a fluke, right, You know,
Speaker 1: I ran I ran this by listeners last night. Let
Speaker 1: me run it by you. You having played college ball
Speaker 1: and been yelled at by a coach or two. But
Speaker 1: I remember the Murray State baseball game watching warm ups
Speaker 1: as we were Doug and I were preparing, and I
Speaker 1: don't know why I caught my eye, but it did.
Speaker 1: They warmed up really well. And that sounds like a
Speaker 1: goofy thing to say that, you know how guys been coaching.
Speaker 1: It really is, isn't it. I mean they were sharp,
Speaker 1: they were precise, they were very The word I kept
Speaker 1: coming back to was professional. That matters, doesn't Oh.
Speaker 2: Dick, So you did this when you were in TV.
Speaker 2: You know that you preview the season on Friday, you know,
Speaker 2: and every every day leading up to the start, you
Speaker 2: go and you do Henry Clay Tints Creek, Alex County.
Speaker 2: Then you go to you know, all the counties around
Speaker 2: a Scott County club. Anyway, What again is you go
Speaker 2: to some of these practices and the head coach h yeah,
Speaker 2: high school and they're working with the offense. Everybody else
Speaker 2: is standing around, they're looking up. You know, it's like
Speaker 2: a t ball game. Everybody else is just hanging out.
Speaker 2: And then you go to some practices and you've got
Speaker 2: eleven guys over there. You got eleven over here. You've
Speaker 2: got these guys. Everybody's doing something that's right. The whole part,
Speaker 2: you're like, this team is very well coached, it's put
Speaker 2: together well. And what happens that team usually wins eight, nine,
Speaker 2: ten games and goes to the playoffs. It's and it's
Speaker 2: like that in baseball. You go and you see some
Speaker 2: of these and you're like, this is like the Bad
Speaker 2: News Bears and then other teams Murray State, Wow, these
Speaker 2: guys good.
Speaker 1: You know, right, And it's more than just watching the
Speaker 1: catcher to see who can throw it a second or
Speaker 1: watching the outfielders is who's got an arm because sometimes
Speaker 1: they'll deek you a little bit there. But no, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I remember really when I started covering UK baseball
Speaker 1: and going to practice is Madison, Cohen, Henderson. Everybody's doing something.
Speaker 1: And I loved playing little league baseball up until hell
Speaker 1: I played till I well, i've played adultly, but anyway,
Speaker 1: in terms of little League on the ship till I
Speaker 1: was sixteen or seventeen, the only thing I didn't like
Speaker 1: was and I like going to practice because to me
Speaker 1: that was playing baseball. But the standing around hated that man,
Speaker 1: and you get bored, you know, you lose your mental edge.
Speaker 1: But you know tip of the captain Murray State now
Speaker 1: you know, well I got to bed a minute left
Speaker 1: in this.
Speaker 2: Second is the only state that has two teams?
Speaker 1: How about that? I was gonna ask you about Omar
Speaker 1: and you and I went last year we rowed together.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 1: Isn't it something else?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like field of dreams. You know, I've
Speaker 2: never been there, but I would assume by watching on
Speaker 2: TV it's exactly say, because you get Dome on it.
Speaker 2: It's like it's like Valhalla of baseball. Everybody there is
Speaker 2: wearing a baseball hat. That's right, that's cool.
Speaker 1: And well you covered final fours as well. Yeah. To me,
Speaker 1: it's like the Final four, only it's twice as big. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there's twice as many teams.
Speaker 2: This is so because I don't want to get into
Speaker 2: all that crap at the final four in the SEC
Speaker 2: championship game that's so commercialized. This is baseball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's some commercialization to it, but but it's still
Speaker 1: But you're right, it's really cool. You're right. All right,
Speaker 1: we'll take a break, come back and talk more with
Speaker 1: Jeff Piicorro of WTVQ and the UK Sports Network in
Speaker 1: just a minute. Here on six thirty w l a p.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Garage with Jefpiicorro, the UK Sports
Speaker 1: Network and WTVQ. Final segment of our program. I want
Speaker 1: to before we forget about it, we got to talk
Speaker 1: horse racing. Two things. Number One, you mentioned Kenny McPeak,
Speaker 1: who told me and my partner Tim we were over
Speaker 1: at his barn getting some autograph stuff for the Mark Studs,
Speaker 1: Boerban and Cigars event coming up this summer. He so,
Speaker 1: he said, I didn't get a chance to listen to
Speaker 1: his podcast pre Derby Sovereignty. He told us, oh, and
Speaker 1: he's gonna win the Belmont two by about four lengths.
Speaker 1: Wait one by three? You know, really like and when
Speaker 1: you get a guy like that, as you want know,
Speaker 1: you were a horse racing you've been a horse racing
Speaker 1: guy forever. When a guy like that tells you how
Speaker 1: much he likes somebody else's a horse, that's big. Yeah.
Speaker 2: That's one thing I always ask Kenny when he's when
Speaker 2: he has horses in a race and I'm there and
Speaker 2: I'm betting, and I'll say, what do you think? And
Speaker 2: he says, well, we got to deal with the three,
Speaker 2: you know, or we got to deal with the site.
Speaker 2: And he says, that's who I'm afraid of the others.
Speaker 2: You know, this one's no count, that's nothing. I had
Speaker 2: that one or whatever. But so you know, he's pretty
Speaker 2: straight up about it. But yeah, you know, I remember
Speaker 2: growing up, I always loved like Bill Mott, and for
Speaker 2: some reason, when Mott's horses came on the track, you
Speaker 2: knew exactly who they were. They all looked exactly the same,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean just the way that the horses looked,
Speaker 2: the shadow roll, everything like that. It was just you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's a mot horse, and then you look down you
Speaker 2: see the m Yep, that's Bill Mont.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But yeah, he's he's just he's a great trainer. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's had some wonderful horses throughout his career, some of
Speaker 2: the best Cigar obviously, some of these others. But he's
Speaker 2: had great owners and I really like what he did
Speaker 2: for his horse. Uh good Dolphin had spent more money
Speaker 2: than anybody in the history of horse racing to try
Speaker 2: to win the Kentucky Derby. We finally got it right
Speaker 2: and instead of going in two weeks to the Preakness,
Speaker 2: he said, and I'm sure shake and the others said,
Speaker 2: we have it, we want let's do what's best for
Speaker 2: the horse. Bill has always been a cautious trainer. He's
Speaker 2: not trying to push his horses.
Speaker 1: So that didn't surprise you.
Speaker 2: It didn't surprise me that he did not go to
Speaker 2: the Preakness, because now everybody's what if Oh, and then
Speaker 2: everybody says, well if we spaced him out, But that's
Speaker 2: not what it's about. It's it's me. I don't understand
Speaker 2: where everybody wants everything to be easy.
Speaker 1: In well, you know, I finally did on on not
Speaker 1: that it matters, but on the Triple Crown. Because my
Speaker 1: thing is what's best for the horse. Okay, that's why
Speaker 1: I like poly Track. Everybody else hated it. I liked it.
Speaker 1: I mean, are we really into what's best for the horse.
Speaker 1: If you're a horseman and you claim you want.
Speaker 2: What you know that place for the horse, I mean that's.
Speaker 1: Yeah, test test show researcher and Nick Nicholson when Keenland
Speaker 1: and Stars it's gonna take five years to figure out
Speaker 1: to get this data and figure it out, and they lost,
Speaker 1: they lost patients with it. But uh no, Churchill's never
Speaker 1: was never. I knew it would never take all because
Speaker 1: you can't run the Kentucky Derby on poly track. I
Speaker 1: get that, But if we really want what's best for
Speaker 1: dors Now, when you started covering racing professionally and and
Speaker 1: people don't realize this or they might forget that, Jeff,
Speaker 1: you were a fixture at Turfway Park with with horse
Speaker 1: Rat's really what your big break was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what got me up to the Cincinnati market.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It was going up there and doing the shows with
Speaker 2: Patty Cooksy. Yeah, people were with Mike battaglias, and.
Speaker 1: Back then and before as you were growing up, as
Speaker 1: I was growing up, the breed was such that you
Speaker 1: didn't breed as much for speed as you did for stamina,
Speaker 1: because horses needed to run more often. So horsemen could
Speaker 1: win the smaller purses back then and make a living,
Speaker 1: you know, not live like kings on yachts and all
Speaker 1: that stuff, like two percent of them do, but they
Speaker 1: needed to race a horse every three or four weeks
Speaker 1: to try to make some money to pay the guys
Speaker 1: at the barn and gall and all that stuff. Well,
Speaker 1: now with the purses being huge, what does that do. Well,
Speaker 1: look at Keenland in the spring, the jockey colony, the fans,
Speaker 1: the big person rate, those are fantastic, but you don't
Speaker 1: have to race your horse as much. So now you
Speaker 1: can be lightly race going into the Triple Crown series.
Speaker 1: But through the years, you know, the breed has changed
Speaker 1: and now it's all about the speed horses. So to me,
Speaker 1: I can see changing the calendar because that's what's best
Speaker 1: for the horse. You know, are you on the other
Speaker 1: side of the street on that.
Speaker 2: I'm a historical guy. It's not supposed to be easy.
Speaker 1: You have it there. I don't think it would be
Speaker 1: still be easy July. I, I don't think that would
Speaker 1: be easy relatively speaking, you know, you know what the Belmont, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the no, the Preakness used to be running New York.
Speaker 1: It was running Cody Island at one point what sometimes
Speaker 1: some point it was run four days after the Derby.
Speaker 1: It has changed through the year.
Speaker 2: Wasn't running Churchill Downs either, Is that right?
Speaker 1: I don't think I knew that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was Latonia was the big race track.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now the Derby hasn't changed much through the years, correct,
Speaker 1: But the Preakness has, the Belmont has, and.
Speaker 2: Well the belmonts what to of the last four or
Speaker 2: five years, it's only been a you know, a shorter race.
Speaker 2: And at Saratoga. Yeah, and I think there might be.
Speaker 2: I think they're gonna be done by next year. The
Speaker 2: track is gonna be spectacular up there. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: really cool. But you're also losing tracks left and right,
Speaker 2: which is the scary proposition about horse racing right now.
Speaker 1: Well, you're you're referring, of course, to the fair Grounds
Speaker 1: in Louisiana, which is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated. And
Speaker 1: that's you know, it's it's weird to Churchill downs and
Speaker 1: most fans don't really care, but it does affect them.
Speaker 1: You got the backside versus the front side, right, the
Speaker 1: shareholders and the people who have to take care of
Speaker 1: them versus change the horse.
Speaker 2: They got bought out by the gambling exact.
Speaker 1: Not for the better, am I?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: I mean the facility is better, but is the product better?
Speaker 1: Is a situation better for the horsemen? And now we
Speaker 1: may be seeing the fair grounds shut down. No more
Speaker 1: Louisiana Derby. Yeah, and job's gone and.
Speaker 2: The problem yes, And that's what people don't realize, and
Speaker 2: that's what they were trying to tell. And unfortunately Louis
Speaker 2: Sell has kind of put a line in the sand
Speaker 2: and said we're not doing this. This is where it ends.
Speaker 2: They will not bow to Churchill and unfortunately if that closes,
Speaker 2: look it looks like Gulfstein is probably gonna close. She
Speaker 2: has it for sale. She also has Santa Anita for sale.
Speaker 2: The the land alone around gall Stream is worth billions,
Speaker 2: doubt and unfortunately, you know she's not big into horse racing.
Speaker 2: Her father was Stronik's daughter, who now runs everything because
Speaker 2: he is mentally incapable and she's probably going to shut down.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna lose. You've lost Calder, You've lost Hyaliyah.
Speaker 2: Now you're gonna lose Gulf Stream Park Racing's done, Arlington
Speaker 2: Park gone, one of the most beautiful racetracks, Hollywood Park gone,
Speaker 2: Golden Gate, I mean, all these race tracks and if if,
Speaker 2: if Oakland, I mean, I'm sorry. If fair Grounds goes away,
Speaker 2: that is a huge blow to winter racing. Uh. In
Speaker 2: the United States, Big Peak Cattle took most of his
Speaker 2: horses there. Oh, you're gonna have left in Florida's gonna
Speaker 2: be Tampa. Tampa Bay wows not good.
Speaker 1: And like I said, you know, people think of that
Speaker 1: wrongly as the sport for the rich. And naturally, if
Speaker 1: you're rich, you can enjoy it.
Speaker 2: But grooms, job, people that work on the track, right
Speaker 2: the all in every face of it, food, beverage.
Speaker 1: Transportation for the horses.
Speaker 2: Back in the late eighties, it's one hundreds of millions.
Speaker 1: Of dollars in the late eighties when you were early,
Speaker 1: we were both early in our respective careers. But the
Speaker 1: state of Kentucky did a study on the economic impact
Speaker 1: of just the horse business in general in the state
Speaker 1: and the amount of the percentage was staggering. It's surprised
Speaker 1: even to people doing the study about how it just
Speaker 1: reached throughout the state. So yeah, I remember, I remember
Speaker 1: Bobby Maxwell from Sally Horseman and you know, him just
Speaker 1: talking about how many people he employed just that one
Speaker 1: company devoted to moving horses from one track to another
Speaker 1: tech Suddon, yeah, tex oh yeah, airplanes and you know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think that some of the people don't
Speaker 1: really understand as much as as they might in the
Speaker 1: state of Kentucky, even if you're not a racing fan,
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of people remaining employed. A couple
Speaker 1: of minutes left with Jeff Okoro, who is of course
Speaker 1: the UK football sports football analyst.
Speaker 2: And uh well let me go to you go back
Speaker 2: to just one thing because we didn't really touch on
Speaker 2: this at the very start where you're talking about Vince.
Speaker 2: Is it tough, yes, because of what you said the
Speaker 2: optics aren't great. But I don't think it's the death
Speaker 2: knell to UK football that Vince left. I agree now,
Speaker 2: him leaving horrible, going to Louisville's horrible, but I think
Speaker 2: that they're gonna weather this storm. Look, Mark knows this
Speaker 2: is a huge year for him and his staff. If
Speaker 2: they don't win that, he's in some he's gonna be
Speaker 2: deep into the pool, you know. So I I really
Speaker 2: think that you're gonna see significant changes. You're gonna see
Speaker 2: significant changes on the field. Yeah you know. And it's
Speaker 2: gonna start that very first game against Toledo because you
Speaker 2: jump right into it week two. So and Toledo's no pushover.
Speaker 1: No no, no, that's gonna be a challenge. Yeah you know.
Speaker 1: And uh, last year beat Missippi State, beat Pittsburgh, and
Speaker 1: beat Pittsburgh and a boy and one at Mississippi State.
Speaker 2: And you're not gonna beat Toledo scoring seventeen points.
Speaker 1: No, No. Mac teams have come down here as you know,
Speaker 1: and pulled upsets and and make Kentucky work hard to win.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be gonna be interesting, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be on top of us in a moment. Uh, we're
Speaker 1: gonna turn around and there it is. Thank you for
Speaker 1: coming to the garage. Good to see you again as always,
Speaker 1: all right, and uh tomorrow night. Chuck Culpepper from the
Speaker 1: Washington Posts formerly with their leader not in the garage.
Speaker 2: But anytime I get to see this one right here.
Speaker 1: I'm happy my dog arc star that said good night
Speaker 1: from the garage and Lexington.
Speaker 2: Bad guy in a little code, bad guy and a
Speaker 2: little cold.
Speaker 4: Then any such tact Spennny.
Speaker 2: Anything to.
Speaker 4: Any slack Sea that slackens them from taping the donning