The Pittstop 06/17/2023

Namath hosts The Pittstop on News Radio 101.9 Big Wax. The NBA and NHL have crowned new champions. The SEC released the schedules for 2024. Coach Michael Shortt joins Namath to discuss how the transfer portal and NIL are changing the landscape of high school football in Alabama.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome into the pit Stop on NewsRadioone one nine Big Wax. I'm your
host name of Pitts and this isthe second edition of the pitt Stop.
A lot happened this week is theNBA crowned a nu Champion, the NHL
crowned a Nude Champion. The SECreleased the schedules for twenty twenty four now
that Texas and Oklahoma will be inthe SEC again, I want to welcome

(00:32):
you to the pit Stop. Ifthis is your first time listening, we
just kicked off last week. I'myour host name of Pitts again. I'm
from Calham County, from Walter WelburnHigh School, graduated from Jacksvill State University,
and now work at iHeartRadio in Birmingham. Congrats congratulations to the Denver Nuggets
for defeating the Miami Heat to wintheir first NBA championship. It took fifty

(00:52):
six years in thirty eight playoff appearancesfor the basketball team nestled in the High
Plains just east of the Rocky Mountains, to finally reach the peak of its
sport. We've got the final callas the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat
ninety four to eighty nine to winthe NBA Championship. It's over. At
last, the long wait is overfor forty seven years. The Denver Nuggets

(01:18):
can finally call themselves NBA champions.Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone says his
team is not satisfied with the titleand they want more. All the hard
work, all the sacrifice, allthe dedication all culminated with the winning a
championship. But I got news foreverybody out there. We're not satisfied with
one. We want more. Andthe NBA Commissioner Adam Silver he presented Nicola

(01:42):
yoki with the Bill Russell Finals MVPAward. This is the first Finals MVP
trophy that we're giving out since BillRussell's passing, and he'd be incredibly pleased.
It's another center Bill Russell Finals MVPNicole Nicola Yokich was named the Most

(02:07):
Valuable Player of the Finals, whichwas a nice compliment to his two regular
season MVP awards. He finished Gamefive with twenty eight points, sixteen rebounds,
and four assists, becoming the firstplayer in NBA history to lead the
playoffs in points, rebounds, andassist. If you're not familiar with Nicola
Yokicic. Well, it took theunheralded center from Serbia who is now one

(02:29):
of the most formidable players in thegame. And not only did it take
him, but it took a Canadianpoint guard who had found himself again after
what almost was a career of threateningknee injury he suffered. It took patience,
collaboration, and discipline, and itdidn't fail. As a new NBA
champions are the Denver Nuggets. Fiftysix years, thirty eight playoff appearances,

(02:51):
they finally reach the highest peak inNBA history, and that's an NBA championship.
But with the congrats comes a condolence. We talked about how we're gonna
do congrats and condolences. What wasthe highest peak for Denver quickly became one
of the lowest. Our condolences thisweek it goes out to the city of
Denver and the ten families. That'sright, ten people were wounded in Denver

(03:14):
in a shooting that took place rightafter the Nuggets won the NBA championship.
At least ten people were wounded ina mass shooting where basketball fans had been
celebrating the nuggets first NBA title Policesaid that the shooting was likely sparked by
a drug deal that went wrong.It left ten people wounded, including one
of two suspected shooters. Police ChiefRon Thomas said that all that were injured

(03:37):
or expected to survive, and thatincludes the five or six people police believe
we're bystanders not involved in the drugdeal. The wounded suspect, a man
has been taken into custody by theDenver Police Department, and eight people were
hospitalized at the Denver Health Medical Center. And I gotta tell you, guys,
I'm just gonna share my thoughts onthis. To the Denver Nuggets,
congratulations like they've had the greats ofCarmelo Ann never won a championship, Nicola

(04:01):
Jokicic did it. But you can'tfix stupid. A drug deal in the
middle of a championship celebration is stupid. And what was supposed to be a
great moment, and it will beremembered as a great moment in many for
ten families it will be remembered isalmost what could have been one of the
worst nights of their lives. Luckily, ten people are going to survive,

(04:23):
But that pain, that phone call, that those families received that cannot be
took away. A drug deal inthe middle of a championship celebration is stupidity,
and I can't believe that some familieshad to deal with that and suffer
with that. Why does cities feelthe need I've never understood this. When
their team went to championship, theygo and they start going up these light

(04:46):
poles and these field goal posts andshootings, and they start destroying things,
Like why can't you just celebrate whatjust took place? Why does there have
to be chaos? It's like allour world knows right now is chaos.
I remember, for me, I'ma huge Atlanta Brays fan when they won
the MLB Championship in twenty twenty one. I was there that night in the

(05:06):
stadium. We celebrated. There wasn'tchaos, There wasn't people being murdered.
We celebrated because our team that wehad spent so much time supporting, watching,
spending money to see had won thatchampionship and hit that highest peak and
that felt great as a fan.So it's really disappointing to see a wounded

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person, not just one, butten because some dumb stupidity drug deal took
place in Denver. Right in themiddle of the celebration. Something to celebrate
for mixed martial arts fans is AmandaNownez. Amanda Nownez is one of the
greatest, not one, probably isthe greatest female fighter ever. She's retiring
after routing Arena Aldanna at UFC twoeighty nine, we have the final call

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right here on the pit stop shoAmanda Nunez later two UFC championship belts on

(06:15):
the octagon. Matt As the cutmanremoved her gloves. She put the gloves
in the middle of the two titlesand she kneeled down and cried into the
canvas. This past Saturday was oneof the most dominant performances in years,
as the greatest women's fighter of alltime announced her retirement. At UFC two
eighty nine in Vancouver, Canada,Nunez beat Arena al Donoviae anonymous decision and

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it was a live side had onefifty forty three, fifty forty four,
fifty forty four and what was themain event of a pay per view card.
Charles Olivera won the coup main event. Al Donna was a filling opponent
former champion Julian Opinion was supposed tohave a triology fight against Nunez, but
she broke her ribs and was forcedto withdraw. I know we probably don't

(06:58):
have a ton of mixed martial artsends, but I'm a huge fan myself.
I always watched the big pay perviews with my friends. When it
comes to a Menaunez, she isthe greatest of all time. What's next?
She's gonna take a long breakhead backto Brazil, try to fix the
nerve damage in her legs and recover. And we wish I'm in and as
nothing but the best, as shewill go down as the greatest female fighter
of all time. Mortar celebration tookplace in Las Vegas is the Vegas Golden

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Knights when their first Stanley Cup inthe young franchises history after defeating the Florida
Panthers. That's right in HL finalcall right here, here's the final calls.
The Las Vegas Golden Knights defeated theFlorida Panthers nine to three to win
the Stanley Cup. The Silver Treads, the Vegas Golden Knights and just their

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sixth NHL season, defeated the FloridaPanthers to win the franchises first Stanley Cup
in five games. Vegas captain MarkStone had a goal in each period to
lead the Golden Knights again. Thegold Knights joined the NHL in the twenty
seventeen two eighteen season. After thegame, each player took a turn as

(08:11):
his tradition in hoisting the Fame Trophy. The championship is the second major title
in two years for the city ofLas Vegas. In twenty twenty two,
the w NBA's Las Vegas Aces wonthe league crown with a three one series
win over the Connecticut son I gottatell you, big congratulations. This is
a big accomplishment. This week onthe show, we had the Nuggets winning
their first ever title, first everchampionship, and the Las Vegas gold Knights

(08:33):
have done the same. Now,hockey is not a popular sport in Alabama,
probably because we don't have a team. If you want to see hockey,
you gotta go to Nashville to seethe Predators. But I am a
big Washington Capitals fan. And thereason for this is when I was in
fifth grade, my family went ona field trip to Washington, d C.
With the school. It was meand my granddad, and on this

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plane was a guy named Alex Ovechkin, who just happens to be one of
the greatest hockey players of all timewho play for the Washington Capitals. I
remember that day on the plane,I had an Oakland A's hat and I
got the autograph from Alexevetchkin, andI remember saying, if I ever watch
hockey, I'll pull for that team, and I have. Now. When
it comes to the hat, wellI can't seem to find it anymore.

(09:16):
But the point is I was abig Alexevetchkin fan, got to celebrate them
winning the Stanley Cup a few yearsago. When it comes to the Oakland
A's that hat that's missing, well, that's not the only thing that's missing.
Fans have been missing, and theydecided to boycott. After the A's
ballpark funding bill was passed by theNevada Senate. Another major step was taken

(09:37):
this week in the Oakland A's movedto Las Vegas. A three hundred and
eighty dollars million bill was passed bythe Nevada States Senate that will help build
a new stadium for the team.In the end, the vote passed by
a margin of thirteen to eight.That vote was a bipartisan on both sides,
five Republicans and eight Democrats. Soup next, this bill will go

(09:58):
to the forty two person Nevada Assembly. Should that vote pass spoiler alert it
will, it'll then head to thedesk of Governor Joe Lombardo for the final
signage. This proposed stadium would holdthirty thousand fans, making it the smallest
capacity stadium in Major League Baseball.This stadium would be located on a nine
acre plot of land on the VegasStrip. I gotta tell you the Oakland
A's guys, they've been hot thisweek. They won seven in a row

(10:22):
before losing to Tampa Bay Rays.But this is not a good team and
it's not a good franchise. AndI personally think that the move from Oakland
to Las Vegas is a great move. You go to Las Vegas, a
city that's a big city known forgambling obviously, but they have a professional
football team, the Raiders, whomoved from well coincidence, California, same

(10:43):
area Oakland, and now you're gonnaget a baseball team. I think it's
a great move. I think Oakland'sa city that's dying personally. San Francisco
has also got some issues and movingto Las Vegas. I think it's a
great move for the Oakland A's.I'm still waiting, though, for Nashville
to get a baseball team, becauseI think Nashville is growing, especially when

(11:03):
it comes to country music and somany different things people are migrating to Nashville.
I think Nashville would be a greatcity for a baseball team, and
I'd pull for him. Obviously,the Atlanta Brazil always be my favorite team,
but I would love to take onthe addition of supporting Nashville and whatever
they choose to do. Now,when it comes to greatness and it comes
to baseball, well, I've gota great story for you, guys.

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Pirates legend Andrew McCutcheon got his twothousandth hit this week. He only becomes
well the fifth current player playing tohave reached two thousand hits. He comes
to two hundred and ninety first playerever to reach two thousand hits, so
he is now mister two thousand.That's right. He was facing the New
York Mets when Carlos Carrasco threw hima slider and he laced it to left
field for his two thousandth hit.McCutcheon returned to Pittsburgh this year for his

(11:52):
one final season before he retires,and it has provided a spark to the
surprising Pirates and he is thriving inthe role of elder statesmen trying to help
a young group learn how to win. As the standing stand right now,
the Pittsburgh Pirates first place in theNL Central. They've in the top three
in the NL overall. The AtlantaBraves still remain as the leader in the

(12:13):
NL, with the Arizona Diamondbacks rightbehind them. But congratulations to Andrew McCutcheon.
Not only did he get his twothousands tip, but the Pirates are
winning and we haven't got to saythat in quite some time. He joins
just five current players with two thousandhits. Miguel Cabrera. Well, Miguel
Cabrera's also on his one last rideas he's going to retire this year from
the Detroit Tigers. He joins JoeyVado's battled injury all year, Nelson Cruz,

(12:39):
who just hasn't been good this yearquite frankly, and then Elvis Andres,
who is the same as Nelson Cruzwasn't contention to come to Atlanta at
one point in the offseason, butthose rumors died quickly. Rumors that are
floating though. There's a rumor.Reports say that the MLB Field of Dreams
Game is coming to Birmingham's rick Woodfieldin twenty twenty four. That's right,

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Major League Baseball in Birmingham. Theysay it's happening. They say in twenty
twenty four that the MLB will bringthe San Francisco Giants and the Saint Louis
Cardinals to the historic rick Woodfield forthe Fields of Dreams Game. Rick Wood
is the oldest baseball park in America. The Field of Dreams game between the

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Chicago White Sox and New York Yankeesstarted this new Fields of Dreams in August
of twenty twenty one and Dyersville,Iowa. And it happened to be on
the field that was featured in thepopular baseball film Field of Dreams. That's
what the game is about. TheField of Dreams. The following season,
the game was featured between the CincinnatiReds and the Chicago Cups at the same

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field in Iowa. But there isno Field of Dreams game schedule for this
season, reportedly due to an eightymillion dollar construction project at the Iowa Field,
So I'm assuming that construction is goingto run into twenty twenty four if
they're going to do the game atrick Woodfield. I gotta tell you,
though, this is an incredible opportunityfor the state of Alabama to show that,
hey, we can pack out abaseball field, we can pack out

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a professional sports team, because Birminghamjust doesn't have any professional sports teams.
Like we have minor league teams andwhatnot, but when it comes to professional
teams, we don't have them.Now we've got the Birmingham Barons, which
is a minor league double A teamto the Chicago White Sox. We've got
Birmingham Legion, which is a minorleague soccer team, and of course you've
got the Birmingham squadron for the NewOrleans Pelicans. So we haven't really had

(14:28):
a chance to showcase our abilities whenit comes to having a professional baseball team.
Speaking of baseball in the state ofAlabama, Alabama, that's right,
Royal Tiede. They just hired theirnew head baseball coach. The University of
Alabama hired former Maryland head baseball coachRob Vaughan as their thirty third head coach
in school history. Vaughan replaces interimhead coach Jason Jackson, who took over

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for Brad Bohannan, who was firedamid some suspicious gambling activity. Jackson will
remain with the team as the associatehead coach and the pitching coach. Rob
Vaughan while he's thirty five years old, he was the head man at Maryland
for six seasons and he was anassistant for four years prior to that.
He's in Kansas State alumni who hasan overall record of one hundred and eighty
three wins and one hundred and seventeenlosses. He's eighty four and fifty four

(15:16):
and Big Ten play. He wasBig Ten Coach of the Year in both
two thousand and twenty two and twothousand twenty three, and in twenty twenty
three, the Terrapins finished forty twoand twenty one and lost in regional play.
But Maryland has four forty win seasonsin their history and guess what,
Vaughn was on staff for all four. So this team can hit the ball
and he's looking forward to bringing thatto Alabama. Alabama's season did end last

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week to wake Forest, the DemonDeacons, who, by the way,
have one of the best baseball teamsI've seen in the college level. Ever,
that's right, and there's a fewthings I want to look at when
it comes to the Men's College WorldSeries. There's nine reasons I think this
World Series is going to stand outthat started last night. Well, the
first thing is there's a curse thenumber one seed. They can't seem to
win it. So let's see ifwake Forest is so good that not even

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the curse of the number one seedcan stop it. You have to go
back to the twentieth century in Miamiin nineteen ninety nine to find a number
one seed that ended up champions inOmaha. That means that the last twenty
two champions weren't the number one seed. But the Demon Dingcans, well,
they're frightening. Also, LSU featurestwo of the best players in baseball,

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and it's going to be interesting tosee the fastball on skeins. They're starting
pitcher. He struck out one hundredand eighty eight batters. That's thirty six
more than any other pitcher in thecollege game. And He's only walked eighteen
batters, he has a one pointseven seven earn run average, and he
threw a complete game against Lane inthe regional. The third thing, guys,
we need to savor all the starpower. I'm not just talking skins

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from LSU. I'm talking Stanford's QuinnMatthews, Florida's Hurst and Walldroup. They're
a lot of star power taking placein Omaha. This week. You've got
LSU's Tommy White, Virginia's Jake Jelloff. There's a lot weeks. Number one
starter Reet louder Is fifteen to ohthat's the most wins in Division one.
So there's a forty seven game hittingstreak for Oral Roberts Jonah Cox, which

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is the third longest in Division onehistory. Just think about this, Oral
Roberts, the underdog story is inOmaha looking to win a national championship.
That's why I love postseason sports.These teams have a chance to win in
Oral Roberts, just like they didin basketball. Recently, they're making a
run in baseball. I want tofind out if the tunes change in Omaha.

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So they're gonna be the same oldsong. What do you mean Nameth
Well, I mean the SEC song. Tennessee, Florida, and LSU are
assigned the task of keeping the SECtrain rolling. The league has produced four
national champions in the past five yearsby four different teams Old Miss Mississippi State,
Vanderbilt, and Florida. If Arkansashad caught one foul pop, it's

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five winners in five years by fivedifferent programs. In the past fourteen College
World Series, there's only been onetime that the championship round did not include
at least one SEC school, andthat was twenty sixteen. Three times both
teams in the finals were SEC members, So in those fourteen years, the
league has produced eight national champions andeight runners up. Fifth thing and includes

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an SEC team, it's the FloridaGators. I want to see how far
the pitching can take Florida Gators.All the SEC glow has been around LSU
this season, but as no onenoticed that Florida was twenty and ten and
a brutal SEC league, and they'rethe number two seed behind wake Forest like
they're in wake Forest's rearview mirror.They're the most recent national champion twenty seventeen

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to still be alive. Florida's pitchershave thrown three shutouts. They beat Texas
Tech. This team is a goodteam, and they beat South Carolina in
the Superregional, which was a goodteam. Keep an eye on the Florida
Gators. Sixth thing, appreciate Virginia'sBrian O'Connor. He grew up just across
the river from Omaha. He wentto Creyton, so this is a coming

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home game for him. This isthe six times since two thousand nine of
these led his Cavaliers to the Men'sCollege World Series, transforming the program into
national power, and his team's onfire. They wiped out Duke twenty six
to six in the last two daysof the Superregional, as Virginia pitchers struck
out twenty one. The seventh thingsee if Tennessee is as touched by magic
as that game in Clempson suggested.This team has overcame a lot of adversity

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to be here. Some say it'sbecause of Magic's others say it's because of
hard work. And the last thingis Stanford's resilience. This is a team
that is resilient and doesn't give up. Let's shift a football. The Texans
are inducting JJ Watt into the Ringof Honor on October first. That's right,
the Houston Texans are going induct defensiveend JJ Watt into the team's Rig

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of Honor Ring of Honor on Octoberfirst against the Pittsburgh Steelers during halftime.
Watt retired after twenty two season afterplaying his last year with the Arizona Cardinals
he finished. He finishes with onehundred and fourteen career sacks in twelve seasons.
The Texans drafted him with the numbereleven overall pick out of Wisconsin in
twenty eleven, and he played tenseason for the organization. Watt will be

(20:07):
the third member inducted into the TexansRing of Honor. Congratulations, JJ Watt
much deserved, one of the bestdefensive players to ever take the field.
Sad news this week in high schoolfootball, Arkansas recruit Deon Stutz, who
was eighteen, died in an ATVcrash. Let's try. Arkansas defensive tackle
recruit Deon Stutz died Tuesday in anapparent ATV crash. He was eighteen years

(20:32):
old. Multiple outlets have said thatthe Stuts crashed took place on his family's
property in Batesville, Mississippi. Hewas a three star recruit who had committed
to the Razorbacks in March as partof the class of twenty twenty four.
He also wrestled for his high schoolteam. Sad news for not only Stuts
family, but the Arkansas community ashe was soon on his way when it

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comes to Arkansas, while they wereone of the biggest winners when the new
schedules were released for the twenty twentyfourth season, I want to look at
what the biggest winners were and thebiggest losers were, So I'll start with
the biggest winner. That's the fans. For the most part, the SEC
did a great job keeping its mostimportant games intact. Even less prestigious rivalries
like Arkansas, Sue and Alabama andTennessee are going to continue, but each

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school will play one of the twoconference newcomers in Oklahoma in Texas, there
are no repeat trips from the twentytwenty three season. The only thing that
would be better for the fans isif the SEC came out and said that
they'll be playing a nine game schedulein twenty twenty five and beyond. Because
a long term eight game conference scheduleis not going to satisfy many people.
I'm one included, but they haven'tdone that. Another big winner was the

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rivalries. I gotta say kudos tothe SEC for doing everything it could to
match up schools that have some typeof history and not forgetting about tradition.
Some of those are obvious Alabama,Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State,
O miss Oklahoma, Texas, Texas, Texas A and M, and
Alabama Tennessee. But it is niceto see those other matchups like Alabama,
LSU, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Florida LSU, you know,

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Georgia Tennessee, Like those are goodmatchups. Another big winner was Arkansas.
They kept LSU, they kept allmiss one of the most unrated games
on the college football slate. Theykept Missouri for whatever that's worth. And
they kept A and M. Andthey added Texas. That's almost perfect for
the Hawks. The last big winnerwas Texas A and M. The Aggies

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made the noise about Texas enter inthe SEC. They were very clear that
they didn't want them here, somuch that athletic director Ross B. York
even made it clear he expected theleague to schedule the first A and M
Texas game in College Station. Well, not only did Byord get his wish,
but the Aggies also got LSU athome. They miss Alabama and Georgia
completely and have a road slate thatincludes trips to Auburn, Mississippi State,

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Florida, and South Carolina. Ilook at that lineup, that's a very
friendly schedule. The biggest losers wellAlabama. I'm not just saying that because
I'm biased. Good luck finding aneasy schedule in twenty twenty four, but
Alabama's wrote slate, it's brutal.Not only did the Crimson Tide have to
play LSU Oklahoma in Tennessee within theconference, they got to visit Wisconsin the

(23:11):
second week of the season in anon conference game. So they gotta go
to LSU two Oklahoma two Tennessee intwo Wisconsin new head coach by the Way,
who was very successful at Cincinnati.The good news is that they get
two time defending national champion Georgia athome, who might be three time defending
national champion. That's brutal. Alsoanother big loser was Georgia. Bye bye

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Vanderbilt, Bye bye Missouri. There'sno more running rush shot over a down
SEC's for Georgia, they got toface a galla. They got Florida in
Jacksonville, Auburn and Tennessee at home, but they gotta go to Obama two,
Texas to Ole miss In two,Kentucky and also Oklahoma. It's hard
to say either the sooners of theLong Horse can be losers coming into the
SEC. But I think fans inNorman might understandably feel some type of way

(23:56):
about only having three true home gamesAlabama, South Carolina and Tennessee. Yeah,
two of their three toughest games aregonna be at home against the Crimson
Town Volunteers, and they get atrip to Death Valley. Last thing,
the big winner savings account. Ifyou're a Texas fan, can you miss
a road trip to an old rivalagainst Arkansas? How about Texas A and
M can't miss Oklahoma? Yeah,then there's home games against Georgia and Florida.

(24:18):
Oklahoma fans get a road trip toLSU in home games against Batman in
Tennessee. It's all great for thefans, but really for the pocketbook.
If you ask me personally, Igotta say I'm impressed by the twenty twenty
four Conference schedules, and I thinkit's gonna be great for the game of
football to have Oklahoma in Texas inthe SEC. Now, I wish the
college players would quit boycotting so thatNCAA Football on the new Xbox in PS

(24:41):
five can be released on time.I'm missplaying that game, but I am
so excited and I know I can'twait personally to see Oklahoma in Texas and
Georgia and all these really good programscome to Tuscaloosa. Hey, we gotta
take a break for news and weather. You're listening to the pit Stop on
news radio one oh one nine,Big Wax. Welcome back into break.

(25:22):
This is the Pitts Stop on newsRadio one O one nine Big Wax.
I'm your host, name of Pitts, and we were talking football right before
the break. The SEC Conference releasedtheir twenty twenty fourth schedule last night.
I'm joined by a great friend ofmine who is a retired coach in the
state of Alabama, has some coachingexperience in the state of Georgia. I'm

(25:42):
introducing to you, guys, coachMichael Short, who is a nineteen eighty
graduate of Cleveland County High School.He received a degree from Jacksonville State University
coach Short accepted the head football coachingjob at Cleveland County High School in heflin
Alabama in nineteen ninety eight. Hewas at Cleveland County for well as long
as I feel like I've been alive, So coach, welcome in, Glad

(26:07):
to be here and appreciate you givingme a chance to speak today. Absolutely,
coach, any surprises to you whenthe twenty SEC schedules were released,
well, Alabama and Georgia, youknow they tuck it on the chin,
but you know, if they're goingthere the flagship schools, there's one carrying
the league, so they need tobe able to carry the most love is
the way I look at it.So I think all in all, with

(26:29):
eight teams with eight games, Ithink they the SEC did as good as
they could do. I think Florida'snon non conference schedule's gonna be tough,
so they may have with their scheduleand their non conference schedu, you may
have one of tougher schedules in thecountry. That was a question I was
going to ask you, is aboutFlorida's schedule because I had seen something on
Twitter that said, does Florida havethe toughest schedule in college football in twenty

(26:52):
twenty four. And but coach shortagain, well, you go ahead,
yeah, go ahead. Yeah.I mean no doubt with the teams they've
got and they're in, they're goingto be rivalry games because they're in the
state. So that even makes iteven more exciting for the state of Florida.
Absolutely, Coach Shure, you've beenin football. We're gonna talk high
school fotball. And you've been inthe state of Alabama for a long time.
You know, you coached it ClevelandCounty for twenty one years and fourteen

(27:15):
of those teams qualified for the playoffs. You made the state championship game in
two thousand and one, correct,Yes, sir, And you've seen the
powerhouses of ums ride in so manydifferent people over the years. I mean,
Alabama when it comes to high schoolfootball has a strong presence from north
to south. Oh yeah, absolutely. And when as an assistant in ninety

(27:37):
four we made it to the statefinals and Nash when we were you know,
not at a neutral site. Wewas going, you know away and
we got to play at tr MillerAnd that was when Janie Riggs was there.
So coach reggs Is. Riggs isa good friend of my. Curtis
Terry Curtis at Ums Right's a goodfriend of mine. So yeah, but
both of those two teams, Itold him made my early days in coach

(28:00):
a nightmare because we went there andlost, but we got there. So
yeah, high school football in thestate Alabama is just unbelievable. Coach.
You cover high school football in theCalhoun County, Attawah County, Cleveland County
County a county area. You workon Friday nights with John Holder. Who
if anybody from Calhoun County in thatarea knows John who's been covering high school
football for a long time. Youwork on Friday nights with high school football

(28:22):
Alabama. Why don't you just talka little bit about that and how people
can find you guys during football season. Well, it was a incredible opportunity.
Once I retired, I'd had someailments I had to get taken care
of. Stress, had to betaken out of my life so that you
know, doctor said, hey,you're gonna have to get rid of stress.
You're going to get out of coaching. So I retired. This would
be my coming up to be myfifth year. But John Holder gave me

(28:45):
a chance or an opportunity to workwith him at High School Football Alabama,
and that gave me an opportunity togo. And I go to all the
media days and six different counties.I go to a lot of people,
watch some practice, watch a lotof game fam in order to get prepared
for watching games on Friday nights,because that's what we do after games.

(29:07):
We give scorers, we give highlights, and we do analysis of ballgames.
So it's kind of a unique thingfor me to do. It keeps me
around high school football, keeps mebusy, and I just love doing And
you know they can find us onFriday nights on Facebook or YouTube. But
high School Football Alabama, We're usuallystart about nine to thirty and we'll give

(29:27):
you ever scoer, not only justlocally, but we'll also get into as
we get deeper into the season,we'll give scoers statewide. And then once
the playoffs start, we covered likenobody else does. Absolutely I agree they
are top notch. I got towork with you guys during the playoffs last
year, travel to Montgomery, wentdown to Auntie, Onna to cover some
games. It's awesome, but coach, I want to talk to you about

(29:48):
what it's like to be a highschool football coach during the summer. You
know, we've kind of reached thatsummer point where we're getting ready for the
season and a lot of people talkabout what the ins and outs are during
this season. But what does thingsactually look like right now for a coach
at an athlete. But I wantto ask you one of the biggest things
that coaches have to decide on thestate of Alabama right now is do they
want to take that extra week inthe fall or do they want to take

(30:12):
spring training? So what I meanis do they want to play some football,
you know, in April May andhave a spring game or coaches can
elect to take an extra week rightbefore the season starts. But you can't
do both. So I want toask you, I don't. I think
this role was adapted after you retired. But when a coach has to decide
on do I want to do springtraining or I want to take the each

(30:32):
extra week in the fall, whatdo you think is a determining factor from
a coach's standpoint? Well, Ithink each probably each schools is different.
For example, Steve Smith, whowas at Piedmont for seventeen eighteen years now
at Westbrook Christian. You know,what he did at Piedmont may not be
what he does at Westbrook Christian.But here's an example for some schools that

(30:56):
they're very good in baseball, they'revery good in track. I mean,
those are sports that are going tobe The championship series are going to be
in May late May. Well that'swhen spring trains going along with If you've
got sixteen, seventeen eighteen kids thatwould be playing another sport, and then
why would you ask them to tryto do spring training or do you even
have it at all. So alot of schools don't even have spring training

(31:19):
that are very successful in other sports. And that's one of the reasons why,
you know, I know a lotof guys, old school guys like
to do that spring training. Theywant to be able to get out there
for or ten days and in practice, maybe play a game, but just
be able to see what they gotin order to if something was to you

(31:41):
know, they want to change.That's not going to work. I can
already know I can change it tome because of what you can do now,
I mean, there's so much youcan do in the summer. I
mean not even the summer, inthe off season, what we call off
season. In the spring, ifa kid's not playing another sport two hours
a week, he can be goingout with his football coach and basically coaching

(32:02):
or practicing football. Just don't haveequipment on. But there's lots you can
do a lot of the same thingsthat they're doing right now at their summer
camps. So those guys, Ithink about half and half some of them
take they like to do that traditionalspring, get those ten days in and
then to start the normal time inthe fall. But then you got those

(32:22):
other guys that like that extra week. To me, I wouldn't want to
have that extra week because I cando so much in the summer now.
They can do so much more nowthan what we could do four years ago.
You're basically practicing football now with ahelmet, So I mean, they're
just I don't think you need thatextra week. To me, personally,

(32:43):
the only reason I would was ifI was taking a new job or I
had new coordinators and we was changingeverything we were doing, then that maybe
give you an extra week to dosome installation. But to me, I
just go ahead and start the traditionaltime and not have to have that as
the week. Yeah, it's summera time where coaches really like to focus

(33:05):
on being in the gym or dothey like to be outside, like I
know when the season ends, orat least when I played it well for
my freshman year, the day wegot beat that following Monday, coach was
having sign ups for next year,and we're in the gym. You know,
we're in there, We're in we'regetting to you know, we're hitting
the weights. So I know it'sa lot of working out in the offseason
leading up to the summer, Butwhen it actually gets to the summer,
are you in the gym a lotwhere you coach would like to be in

(33:27):
a gym a lot, or youkind of want to be more outside doing
conditioning those type of things. Well, in the month of June, you
know that's traditionally. Uh, that'sset aside. As far as play dates
are concerned for your other sports,basketball, baseball, wrestling, all those
sports right now are doing play dates. There's some camps going on right now

(33:47):
over to Oxford for wrestling, playdates at Mumford and at Welbourne and things
like that. For basketball and baseball. So those sports are allowed to go
with their coach in practice us togetheras a team, whereas football a lot
of them unless you're in a biggerschool, we've got a lot of more
players right now, they're more focusedon conditioning, weightlifting, team building.

(34:12):
A lot of that this month ison team building activities like community service or
maybe trips together. We used tocall it community feeding, where if we
did some community service, when wegot finished, somebody in the community always
come and fed our team. Andthat's just getting to know each other better.
You know. The more you getto know your teammates on a personal
basis, the more you are aptto play harder for him when things get

(34:35):
tough. But yeah, those arekind of the things you do. And
then they're like some of your biggerschools, they're already hitting the weights,
their speed conditioning, speed training,they're doing seven on seven individual drills,
group drills, eleven on eleven,even kicking, but mostly in the June
has set aside for your other sports. But yeah, they're they're probably more
in the gym lifting weights than theyare actually doing football related activity. But

(35:00):
that all changes in July. Yeah, I remember when I played we did
a lot of stadiums. We dida lot of gassers. When it comes
to conditioning, like actually trying toget faster, what do you think are
some of the best conditioning programs orthings that teams and schools can do to
really strengthen the speed and agility oftheir players. Well, the good programs

(35:22):
focus on speed and conditioning year round. And I know you're playing and you
may not do as much, maybeJohn, You know, if I'm finished
for a football season and I'm workingon speed and conditioning, and if you
really look at it, conditioning andspeed training should be for every kid that
plays any sport because you can bebigger, faster, or stronger. So

(35:43):
a conditioning program, the good programsare working on conditioning and they're working on
speed training. They do it yeararound, and you need to. I
mean even professionals at the professional level, elite level are still working maybe on
their starts and their stops and thedances and things like that. So there's
a ton of drills you can doout there for speed training. And you

(36:07):
know that's to me, that's yeararound as you should be working on stuff
like that because you know, Iknow a lot of parents and I talked
to them. I said, insteadof spending that one hundred two hundred dollars
to take your kid to let's saythat Hugh Freeze nick saving camp or a
baseball camp or a basketball camp.Why don't you find somebody that teaches speed
training and conditioning and waste and theycan work with that person on top of

(36:30):
what they're doing with their high schoolcoach. And to me, that would
even make them a better athlete,because if you become a better athlete,
you get to be about that teneleven to twelfth grade. Didn't think you
start focusing more on going to theseprospect camps where people can actually see you
doing what you're best at, whetherit be baseball, football, or basketball
wrestler. Yeah, coach, whenit comes to seven on sevens, everybody

(36:51):
loves to do seven on sevens andcamps. Everybody loves camps or some great
camps that take place here in Birminghamand you know up in Jacksonville State University.
How seven on sevens here recently inthe past couple of years, because
I've seen a lot more travel sevenon sevens in these different camps. How
has that changed the landscape of highschool football? Well? It gives you.
It gives your coaches an opportunity togo against other people that first of

(37:13):
all, that's why a lot ofthem do it. And you may be
a team that runs the football traditionallya lot more you pass it, but
you're going to be playing people duringthe year that throw the football out,
so you get to work on itdefensively and work on your schemes against other
people. And it's competing against otherpeoples why it's become so popular, and
it gives you a chance during thesummer, Like I said, throw it

(37:36):
around, work on timing and timingroutes and receivers and quarterbacks getting to work
together. But I will say this, I've seen a lot of teams that
won championship after championship at a sevenon seven and won five ball games during
the year because it's still you've gotto be able to block people up front,
and you know they only have fourseconds to throw ball most of these
camps. But boy, it's awhole lot different. I've seen guys that

(37:59):
look great and seven on seven,but they're liable to hit somebody in the
bleacherd with a football, throw ona pass and somebody put pressure on them.
Yeah. Absolutely. I gotta tellyou, I think the seven on
sevens have really ramped up over thepast couple of years, especially in the
offseason, guys traveling doing different things, but not only have seven on sevens
kind of ramped up. We don'tguess we call it the transfer portal and

(38:21):
high school football coach or but let'sjust be honest here. The transfer portal
has changed college football. Players canget in the transfer portal and they can
essentially go anywhere. We're gonna talkabout nil in the minute, but I
want to focus on the transfer portalfirst specifically and talk about how it's changed
college football, and that's now leadingkind of into the high school level.
We've seen recently. I'm not gonnasay any schools on air coach, but

(38:45):
there was a school in Alabama thathired a big time coach and next thing,
you know, big time recruits areleaving this local area that I'm from
and moving to this area which isnot close to play high school football.
We've seen guys that you know goyou Now, that's one thing if you
have the you know, open enrollment. We've seen open enrollment in certain places,

(39:07):
but I mean, we're talking guysthat are playing for teams until their
senior year and then all of asudden, they're five hours away. So
how is the transfer portal really rampedup? What do you think are the
causes for this? And then howis this changing high school football in the
state of Alabama. Well, thetransperportal is hurting high school kids because now

(39:29):
a high school now college football coachand he's doing what he has to do
now because he's he's trying to keephis job. But they're looking for kids
that have got experience right now.Let's say they had a kid that graduating,
or they may have had a kidthat transferred out, and we need
eight defensive backs and we only havefive. Really, so I gotta go

(39:50):
out and find three. Well,do I go get them right now?
A high school kid, I'll waitfor that next cycle to come through,
or do I need to go findsomebody that can play right now? So
high school kids are missing out alot of times because they're going to look
for a guy that's already play.They're going to look for a guy that's
already an All American to come inand play on their team. Understand that
that's where it's hurting the college kid. Now, I will say this,

(40:14):
some of these kids that we seethat may have been, you know,
going to say an Alabama Auburn,but then they didn't make it. He
said, well, how'd they endup let's just say jsu or Troy.
How'd they end up there? Well, they picked the kid that went that
was already a five star kid andplaying well, and he wanted to transferred

(40:36):
and got a little and I heldmoney out of it and got paid more.
So he goes, well, nowI end up signing that Jsu or
Troy. Now ju Or Troy takeshis kid and starts to develop him,
and then about two years he becomesan All America their school, Well,
guess what he's fixed me in ourtransfer a portal in order to move up
to where he may have went fiveyears ago. But now he's not getting

(40:57):
that opportunity. So I think someof these kids just going to start out
at a smaller school and they're gonnaend up at a larger school once they
go somewhere and they prove that theyare as good as they say they are.
So I think that's where it's atall it's going to come back anyway.
Some of these kids didn't make itfor four years and an Alabama over
but the end up there for twoyears. They just had to start out

(41:19):
somewhere else. Coach, how bigof a role is tampering playing in these
guys transferring? And then also myfollow up question again to that is will
the Act just say crack down onthis at any point? Well, there's
probably there's probably tampering out there.I think, you know. The first
thing that happens is when you hiresometimes a high profile coach, a high
profile assistant, some kids think,well, that guy's been there, he's

(41:44):
done that. I'd like to bea part of that. I mean,
that's going to happen. I mean, that's just that's the nature of the
beast. A lot of times,if you add facilities into that, a
lot of times people make a commitmentand we're going to hire a big time
coach and a lot of big timeassistance, and we're going to add a
whole lot of money, millions ofdollars to our facilities. To a parent
that's saying, hey, that teamright there, that school right there wants

(42:06):
to really invest into our kids,maybe I need to look at moving my
kid over there. If a kidup and moves and the parents make a
legitimate move. They got to goget a job and do this and that.
I mean, there's nothing you cando about that. Hey, we's
some good luck and you know,see you later. It's the ones where
as you're talking about the tampering whereyou know, I'm on social media and

(42:30):
half my coaching staff is on Twitterand they're tweeting this high school kid that's
a that's a junior, that's realgood, and they like everything that he
does. And then all of asudden they become friends on Twitter and they
starts seeing everything they do. Thatinterest is there. They did not actually
talk to him, but boy,you know how social media is. I
can show a whole lot of stuffand get a kid's interest just for that.

(42:52):
And you know as well as Ido when that kid goes to mama
and then and says, hey,look what they have. Why don't we
go to look at making playing there? I think the scary artist is the
loyalty part. Yeah, I thinkas a coach, yeah, I got
I got a good friend of mine. And then let me make this clear,
guys, I have no problem withthe transfer portal in the sense of

(43:13):
you're going for, you know,not just because you want to go make
money or because you want to goto a big time school, but because
you generally want to be a partof that program, you know, or
you or you do it early inyour high school days. You know,
I will say this. I havea really really good friend of mine.
His two sons moved from my school. He moved him to another school,
and then their senior year, theyreally wanted a chance to compete for you

(43:35):
know, hate. They wanted tobe able to have a potential to go
to college, you know, sothey wanted to be able to play for
a program that was going to beseen by college scouts. They wanted a
chance to play under a coach whowas a winning coach, you know,
when any time he planner a coachwith a winning coach, you got a
chance to win a state championship.And it really bulled down to his kids
said Dad, I want to moveto this program. And because of that
his kids senior year, he movedhim, you know, and he moved

(43:58):
it for them because they wanted todo that. Like I don't have a
problem with that, you know,but a lot of times it's the parents
that are just as bad coach nowadaysand trying to move their kids of these
programs seeking these certain things. Butevery situation is different, you know.
Obviously, if you're seeking God's youknow, counsel on it. And sometimes
relationships between coaches and players, theyjust crumble and you need a fresh start.

(44:21):
Sometimes you need that fresh start.We need that in life all the
time. So I'm not against thetransfer portal. I'm against the guys that
stay somewhere all their lives and thenthey go to a very very last second,
you know, because they're seeking thingsthat you know, like you know,
you know what I'm saying, coach, I don't have to worry it
any other way other than they're they'reseeking state championships. You know, they're
moving their senior year to go playfor that Big seven A school you know

(44:44):
when they were just over here,you know as the three A for a
player of the year or whatever.And I'm not suggesting anybody specific, I'm
just using as an example. Butwith that comes the nil which has changed
college football. Coach, We've gotabout five minutes, but it was back
in December that the Tennessee High SchoolSports Organization voted to allow NIL deals,
so students could receive payments as longas it's not related to their performance and

(45:08):
it doesn't suggest the endorsement or sponsorshipof their school. But basically, Tennessee,
along with nineteen other states, allowhigh school athletes to profit from their
name, image, and likeness withoutaffecting their eligibility to play in college.
So it's legal, and Tennessee coach, will it be legal in Alabama?
And if so, what the heckdo we do to keep a stop on

(45:28):
this getting out of hand? Istarted studying high school NIL about two months
ago because I did it on anothershow. As of updated May twenty fourth,
twenty twenty three, there are twentysix states that now allow some form
of high school NAO deals for theiramateur athletes. If you remember Quinn Avers

(45:50):
from the state of Texas, youknow he gave up his senior year.
He's at Texas the Powerhouse Carol SeniorHigh School and left to enroll early Ohio
State. And the reason why isbecause he could not receive any money at
the high school level. So Ohow state says, leave early, come
here, we give you one pointfive million. He stayed there one year,

(46:12):
never played a game, then comesback to Texas on a college level
to get two point million to playat Texas and almost played Alabama last year
for a half or a quarter.So that was an example. But terretry
when they actually declared that they wouldbe one of the states that allow it
under state law, all of asudden, now that couches Alabama, now

(46:36):
Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina.They have not made that move yet,
but there's one very big player inthe game, Georgia. Georgia is under
membership considerations. So two thirds oftheir people have said we'd like to look
at this and do it. That'sall it took. So all they got
to do is for their governor tosay we're going to do it, and

(46:57):
they're gonna make it change. Whenthey make that change, that's going to
force Florida, Georgia, South Carolinato have to do something. And here's
why I wouldn't say the name ofthe school. I'll just saying I talked
to a college schach a couple ofweeks back, and he is talking to
a quarterback in Nashville. The quarterbackin Nashville was asking, Hey, what's

(47:19):
my nilblle if I come to yourschool? It's just a high school kid.
It so junior. He says,well, we really don't do that
yet. We hadn't got involved inthat yet. He said, well,
thank you, no, thank you, I'll look upwards. Two weeks later,
the kid calls him back. Kidcalls him, calls college coach and
says, hey, can you helpme with a little deal here? You
know, we're allowed to get moneyhere in Tennessee. If I could get

(47:43):
to that that I am g typeacademy that's there in Tennessee, I can
make almost a million dollars as asenior in high school this year. Can
you help me get in there?Well, what's the college coach is going
to say? Yeah, I'll helpyou if if you'll think about coming to
our school. So what I'm sayinghere is if now that Tennessee, which
touches our boarder, and if Georgiadoes it, wants to stop a kid

(48:07):
at Hoover or Cleveland County or Thompsonor whatever. And those are schools that
can take care of you, andthey're good programs. But now all of
a sudden, you're telling a highschool kid that he could go to a
high school in Georgia and make moneyoff his name, image enlightenings, and
it's legal. Kids are gonna startmaking that move. So what's going probably

(48:29):
happened, is it's not I say, within five years, it would be
like when basketball. You know,basketball was big in the AU and you
know, I mean there's basketball academiesall over the country. That said when
the Phillips kid left Jashfa and wentout to wherever he went to his accademy.
So you'll start having more and moreacademies for high school football players.

(48:50):
And then I would think that nationwide, I know statewide. Our state would
probably become you know where it's openenrollment the host state, and any kids
will be able to move around costlyto find out where they could make most
money. Local car dealer gives methree hundred dollars a month to play.
I mean, hey, you can'ttell a kid that he can't make money.

(49:12):
What's a kid doing when he's notpracticing, He's trying to find a
part time job where he can makesome money. Well, now they can
go ahead and practice and just makinga just make an appointment to go down
there to the local car dealer andsay, hey, I'm here, get
your five hundred dollar check. It'scoming to high school football. Get ready
for it. Within five years,it's gonna be here, and it's gonna
be nationwide. Because what always happens, everything up top trickles down to the

(49:36):
bottom. It's just now trickling downto high school football. Absolutely, coach,
thank you so much for joining usthis morning on the Pitstop. Hey,
I enjoyed it. Glad to behere, and you do a great
job covering sports. All Right,guys, that is all we got for
today, but we will see younext week on the Pitstop on news Radio
one O one nine Big Wax