05-13-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This Bingie beef Jerkey. Podcast ofthe Leech Report is also presented by Boons
Butcher Shop, one hundred old BloomfieldPike in Barnestown, fresh meat cut on
location daily and they're family owned andoperated, have been since nineteen forty six.
Another week Leach Report Shows, presentedby Bobcat Enterprises. What a big
sports week it is here in Kentucky. You've got the PGA Championship starting on

(00:26):
Thursday at Valhalla. You've got KentuckyBaseball trying to clinch an SEC championship with
the three games set against Vanderbilt thatwill also start on Thursday. You've got
the Preakness. It's up in Baltimore, but obviously big for the horse racing
industry. Here is we see ifmistic Dan can notch the second leg of

(00:48):
the Triple Crown. So and otherthings going on that we'll get to as
well. So busy busy week.Mark Pope still building his basketball roster.
We'll talk a little about that withBen Roberts to lead off the show today.
It'll be UK Men's Basketball Beat writerspresent and pasted Today. Jerry Tipton
will be in the second half ofthe show talking about his new book that

(01:11):
is going to be officially launched tomorrow. So that's the lineup for today.
Wildcat News of the Day presented byJuseppes of Lexington, UK Baseball took the
Sunday game against Florida yesterday in teninnings, seven to five for its first
series win against the Gators since twentysixteen. Mason Moore really did a nice

(01:32):
job on the mound. Kentucky hada three run inning earlier. Moore's pitching
well, he gets him into theseventh, had given up just two runs,
so Kentucky's up three to two headingto the bottom of the ninth and
they surrender the tying run. Theyget out of the inning, get to
extra innings, and then they getfour in the top of the tenth thanks
to a three run double at PatrickHerrera, and they hang on to win.

(01:55):
Gators got the winning run to theplate in the bottom of the tenth,
but Kentucky got a strike out toend the game. Hangs on to
win seven to five. So Tennesseelost to Vandy yesterday three nothing so and
Arkansas lost on Saturday to Mississippi State. So each the Hogs and the Balls
both took two out of three,so with four games left was to play

(02:16):
for Kentucky and there are three conferencegames left for everybody. That's the big,
big number. Three conference games leftfor Kentucky. It'll be against Vandy
starting Thursday night. Kentucky has aone game lead over Tennessee and Arkansas with
the SEC Championship twentieth SEC win yesterday, So just a tremendous season for Nick

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Mangion in company. And they seemto be honing in on one of those
top eight national seeds. So afterthe SEC Tournament, they'd get to host
a regional and then should they advance, they would likely then be hosting the
Super Regional as well, trying toplay their way to Omaha for the first
time in program history. So excitingtimes for Kentucky baseball. And they're supposed

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to play tomorrow against Wright State,but I don't know if they'll get that
in with the rain that is forecast. Hopefully they will, and then Thursday.
The SEC Series starts a little earlierthis week Thursday, Friday night games
and then Saturday afternoon to wrap upthe regular season before heading down to Alabama
next week for the SEC Tournament.So it's a huge, huge week for

(03:24):
Kentucky baseball. This would be ifthey can clinch it, I think,
just the second SEC championship for Kentuckybaseball. Men's tennis beat twelve seed Harvard
on Saturday, four to two.They are headed to the NCAA Elite Eight
for the third consecutive year. Goodluck to coach Kaufman's squad. The softball

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team. Women's softball's headed to theOklahoma Stillwater, Oklahoma Regional, which is
also where men's tennis is headed now. Men's tennis will play number four TC
you on Thursday. Softballs and theStillwater, Oklahoma Regional and fifteenth year in
a row that Coach Lawson's club hasqualified for the NCAA tournament. They'll take
on Michigan Friday at three afternoon Fridayat three pm Eastern time. It'll be

(04:15):
an ESPN two. And that isthe four team regional that Kentucky's a part
of out in Stillwater, Oklahoma.Links to all the stories that we're talking
about, you can find them onthe bud Light Leach Report page at Tom
leachky dot com. Come back talkwith Ben Roberts about Kentucky basketball. Maybe
a little preakness as well. Openingsegment of our show each day is presented

(04:38):
by Giuseppes of Lexington. Maybe youwere there for Mother's Day yesterday. There's
no better place to celebrate a specialoccasion like mom, any Mom's Day,
any play. Anytime you want togo to Giuseppes, just go to Giuseppes
Lexington dot com or open table,make a reservation, make up early.
It fills up quickly, even thoughthey've expanded the lounge area now. It's
so popular there with the live jazzmusic from Dave Hall to accompany your meal.

(05:01):
So make sure you get your reservationsnot locked in early for your next
visit to Giuseppe's. We'll be rightback with Ben Roberts water past the top
of the hour, coming to youfrom the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
Refresh and refuel at Clark's. Downloadtheir app to get the monthly specials
for May. We're joined now byBen Roberts from the Lexington Herald, leader

(05:25):
of the club Blue Nil hotline.He covers Kentucky men's basketball at Kentucky sports
dot com and the pages of theLexington Herald. Leader. And Ben,
you've been writing a lot of islately about Mark Pope putting together his first
roster for the Wildcats. What's yourtake on the group he has assembled to

(05:46):
this point, group of ten.Yeah, I mean, I think he's
done a you know, a hundredof the circumstances and time constraints and all
that. I think he's done apretty amazing job of putting together a team
that not only is talented enough tocontend right away, but I think fits
both the system that he wants toplay and then the kind of the culture

(06:11):
foundation that he's talked about in hisearliest days as head coach here to to
try to get that started. So, you know, he's got a he's
got a lot of good players thatfit the way he wants to play,
and he's got a good mix ofboth you know, veterans who are going
to be in their last year ofeligibility along along with you know, some
younger guys who it seems like aregoing to stick around a while and maybe

(06:32):
don't need that immediate high level ofplaying time to stay multiple years. I
would think, and he has saidhimself he's more of an offensive minded coach.
I think that was the term heused with in the you know the
way his team played particular last seasonat b YU and is shooting all the

(06:55):
threes. Getting a bit of alate start on this particular job would stand
to reason. You're not gonna putthe maybe ideal group together for your system
the first shot out of the box, and you don't inherit anybody either.
So it would seem to be kindof a wise move to have a team

(07:18):
that can at least be really gooddefensively. And it looks like a lot
of the resumes for these guys thathe's brought in have really good things to
say in terms of their ability todefend. He talks about the phrase guard
your yard a lot, and thencan be good offensively and we'll see how

(07:40):
good as it all comes together.Yeah, I mean four of us first
five editions out of the portal wereall guys who you would classify as a
defense first if you were gonna lookat one of those sides of the ball.
All four of those guys were defensefirst. But you know, I

(08:00):
mean all those guys that have proventhat that they can score and they can
do things offensively that that are goingto help the team, and especially you
know, I think the Biggs isone area where I was pretty impressed with
with what he's done. You know, you got Brandon Garrison, who's on
Bactella's All American last year and didsome really good things on a bad team
his freshman year and showed some signsthat he could be an NBA level talent,

(08:24):
maybe even after this coming season.Probably not, but maybe, but
he and he's known for his defense, but he can pass. He's a
smart player, he can rebound hisarea. Mario Williams is another guy who
is a three time lead Defensive Playerof the Year, but he's a really
good passer. You can pull himaway from the basket. He's not gonna

(08:46):
bomb a bunch of threes or anything, but he's gonna be able to help
you run your offense away from thebasket, which is which is what they've
done at BYU and then Andrew Carrobviously, I think is somebody who was
it's just a perfect fit for forPolkes offense. And he's and he's not
you know, he's not a baddefender by any I think he's a he's
a plus defender. I'll give you, he'll give you a positive impact over

(09:07):
there. But he's a guy whocan make a lot of threes, can
do a lot of things offensively,and really be a mismatch for a lot
of these teams are going to play. When Mark first was mentioned, looked
like he was going to get thejob. That was about twelve hours of
really negative reaction that did a prettymuch a complete one point eighty. And

(09:31):
it seems like, I don't knowif it's like this for you, Like
everywhere I go, Uh, it'swhat people want to talk about, UH,
and there's so much enthusiasm and you'vewritten about uh lately, how the
recruiting figures to change. I'm moreprobably in line with what the trend is

(09:52):
across college basketball, where it'll be, you know, not an abundance of
you know, McDonald's all Americans inevery class and a little more of a
you know, development over over time. And Kentucky fans, uh, it
seems are overwhelmingly ready for that.Yeah, I think so. And yeah,

(10:13):
just the around town thing, Imean, I think people who maybe
you never talked even if they knewwhat you did, they know you never
really talked much UK basketball with thembefore all of a sudden want to talk
about it. And people who alwaystalked about it but maybe we're for pretty
discouraged. Over the last few years, there's a lot more optimism and people

(10:33):
really really looking forward to I mean, especially at the beginning not only the
season, but but what kind ofteam he was gonna put together. And
yes, as far as the recruiting, I mean, Colin Chandler was gonna
be his top ranked recruit at bYU and he's ranked in the forties range
nationally, and he's gonna get guyslike that here. He's gonna get guys

(10:54):
who were top ten guys here,and he's gonna get guys like Trentoah who
were right outside the top one hundredhere. And I think that's going to
be the big switch recruiting wise.Is Yes, I still think he's gonna
get maybe a one and done inevery class, maybe a McDonald's All American
or two, or you know,any given year, maybe three in a
class. But he's also going tosprinkle in guys that I think he's gonna

(11:18):
want to build up over time.Maybe won't play major minutes right away,
but will be the type that thatwill stick around for multiple seasons and and
kind of add to that roster continuitythat I think there's going to be a
lot more of moving forward than therehas been the last few years. He's
going to have the opportunity to goafter players that he really didn't have the
opportunity realistically the land at Utah Valleyor at BYU. And so there will

(11:43):
be you know, some element ofthose uh, you know McDonald's All America
type guys, but just not asmany, right, yeah, exactly.
And I mean I think people whomaybe didn't want six McDonald's all Americans want
and done guys, one of yourguys in every class, but still wanted
to have that type of talent ata certain level might have looked at his
recruiting history and been taken aback ortaken pause. But yes, I mean,

(12:09):
he wasn't gonna get those types ofplayers at BYU. And I think
anybody who spent any time around them, or anybody who's even just kind of
watched the way he operates, hehas the personality to be a really really
top tier recruiter. And obviously nowhe has everything that goes along with Kentucky
basketball as part of that sales pitchand also the past. I mean that

(12:33):
clearly the passion behind it kind ofmarrying those two things of his own passion
for basketball, but especially his passionfor UK basketball specifically, and I think
that's gonna play really really well outon the recruiting trail. I think we
probably both would agree that what Kentuckyfans really want is that is what they
can't have. They want McDonald's allAmericans that would be here four years.

(12:56):
Yeah, well yeah, and theythought they got one last year, And
yeah that goes maybe not four years, but certainly more than one. But
yeah, I think that's in thosedays. I mean the days of uh,
you know, when Mark was playing, when when you had a four
year Tony Delk who was basically astar for three years, you had a

(13:18):
four year Walter McCarty who was asenior leader in year four, and guys
like that. Those days are overfor the most part. You know.
I don't think we're gonna see asmany Chuck Hayes's or Tayshawn Prince's or Keith
Bogan's anymore. But I do thinkthere's room for some guys who make an
impact in year one but but stillstay around for three or four years,

(13:39):
and fans get to know these playersfor time of Ben Roberts. He covers
Kentucky men's basketball for the Hairleader Kentuckysports dot Com. Take a quick break,
come back with a one more segment. It's the Leach Report, and
we are presented by Bobcat Enterprises eachand every day. Hope you guys got
up to the grand opening the Waltonlocation. Google Bobcat Enterprises and you can

(14:00):
find the one that's nearest you.Northern Kentucky, Central Kentucky, wherever,
and they will take great care ofyou for renting or buying heavy equipment like
Bobcats and excavators loads. Check themout by googling Bobcat Enterprises and find the
location nearest you. We'll be rightback forty six past at the top of
the hour of Ben Roberts on theline with us chatting about UK men's basketball.

(14:22):
One of the stories you wrote recentlywas about Brandon Garrison, the young
man for McDonald's All American. Wewere using that phrase that comes in from
Oklahoma State. I am trying togather up beat writers or play by play
guys for each one of these transfersto come on the show and tape an
interview or something. Talk about justa little Scouter Report, and I talked

(14:45):
to Toby Roland, who about OtegaAway, and at the end, I
said, well, you guys wentup against Brandon Garrison at Oklahoma State,
and we talked for a couple minutesabout Garrison, and he was just gushing
with praise for Garrison, about howmuch upside there was Alma Buch how badly
Oklahoma wanted to try to get him. So he sounds like an exciting prospect.

(15:07):
Yeah, he is, And Iwrote last week about it. I
think he's the most interesting, atleast of the ten guys they've got so
far. I think he's the mostinteresting guy in this first class that the
Popes put together, just because ofthat upside. And it's not something that
you know, was so raw thatit wasn't shown at all last year.
I mean he had defensively, hewas a top twenty defender in the Big

(15:30):
Twelve as a freshman in the Bigtwelve is the best defensive league in college
basketball. But offensively, I mean, he had a twenty point game against
Salvin Brooks at Baylor, as Popepointed out, and he had a twenty
one point game against BYU and awin over b White. Actually so he's
you know, he's another guy.He's not going to shoot threes, but
he's gonna make smart decisions with thebasketball, especially I think when he's around

(15:56):
what I think are better players andmaybe better fits this coming season at Kentucky.
But he also scores at an incrediblyhigh rate around the basket. He's
going to rebound the ball well.Going back to the defense, I think
he's going to be just really reallysound in that system that they put together.
And I think that's the real keything, which you mentioned earlier,
is the number of really good defendersthey have on this team at different positions.

(16:21):
They're going to have at least two, three, maybe four of those
guys on the court at any giventime. But they're also going to be
guys who can score the basketball toa certain degree and in a couple of
cases, to a pretty good degree. So I think getting him, you
know, last season in Oklahoma State, I mean, he stayed that kind
of the home state school that hegrew up rooting for. Things didn't go

(16:45):
well from a team perspective. Youknow, it wasn't a lost year,
but it was a really bad situationfor him to be in that freshman year
and I think the room to growis incredible at a place like Kentucky with
with better players around them, especialveteran players who've kind of been through some
things. Ben, Thank you much, all right, thanks a lot of

(17:06):
tom as Ben Roberts from alexid tothe leader Kentucky Sports dot com. His
latest story, by the way uptoday at Kentucky Sports dot com is about
the Club Blue New Era event thatis scheduled for June fifteenth. Club Blue
is the Nil project that is underwayat the UK and if you subscribe via

(17:29):
Club blueinil dot com by May fifteenth, you'll be eligible to attend that new
Era event with Coach Pope and thestaff and players. So go to Club
Blue Nil dot com click join ClubBlue various levels at which you can participate,
and you get a chance to bea part of the New Era event
on June fifteenth. But again,the deadline is Wednesday by midnight to sign

(17:52):
up. Club Blue in al LeachReports presented by Bob Kat Enterprises and we
welcome to the program via the ClubNil hotline. Jerry Tipton spent forty one
years in the role that Ben Robertsnow has covered Kentucky men's basketball. We
just finished chatting with Ben Jerry joinsus now. As I said, beat
Writers present and passed, and Jerryhas a new book out, Deja Blue,

(18:17):
that we'll have the launch party tomorrownight, open to the public at
the Carnegie Center from five to sevenEastern in downtown Lexington. And Jerry,
this is a book that you know, flipping through it, reading some of
the passages. I've not gone throughthe whole thing yet, but I'm just
did you keep a journal as youdid this job for forty one years or

(18:40):
did you just keep all your notesbecause you have a lot of great detail
in the book. Well, mywife would say that I kept a lot
of notes and everything, and thatwouldn't be a compliment. But yes,
I mean I kept notebooks, andyou know, with the Internet you can

(19:02):
go and check past stories and thingslike that, and so you know a
lot of it. It was justvivid in my memory. But I you
know, I was reminded of otherthings by going to notes or you know,
old notebook stuff like that. Ihave heard this in particular with herd

(19:26):
interview with Sug McGahee a few yearsago talking about one of his great horses
personal INCIDNT and he was recounting,you know, all of like all of
her workouts, this workout and theneight days later she did this and this
was like years years later. AndI've heard coaches you'll be able to do
those kinds of things when you're totallyengrossed in a job that you really enjoy

(19:48):
doing. The detail to which youcan recollect it, I'm sure would probably
be amazing to other people. Andit seems kind of normal for you,
is it that way? Well,you know, as as you know Tom
Kentucky, basketball is such a vividthing. And I've said to people and
probably to you in the past thatany reporter wants to cover a beat that

(20:10):
the readers or the listeners or theviewers are really into. And I never
worried about that. I knew theywere into it, and that was kind
of a motivation to, you know, try to do a good job.
And you know, I've debated,and I never debated while I was working,

(20:32):
but debated about doing a diary ofsome sort, you know, a
daily accounting, and I felt thatwas too self absorbed. I didn't,
you know, the stuff the storyis not about the reporter. And I
probably overreacted, maybe, but that'show I viewed it, And so a

(20:53):
lot of it is memory. Alot of it was like sitting back and
thinking about I made lists of eachof the six UK coaches that I covered
things that happened, memories, andyou know, back in the olden days
with Joe b and Eddie Sutton,you could, you know, the media
could go to any practice they wantedto go to, and you know,

(21:15):
there was more opportunity for things topop up that you want to remember.
You know, you kind of hitthe sweet spot as a beat writer for
the game of college basketball. Itoccurs to me because you started this job
with one of the top programs inthe country, and you started in nineteen

(21:37):
eighty one, and that was twoyears after the Magic and Bird game and
coincided with the launch of ESPN andseventy nine, and they were so heavy
into college basketball that there's just theeighties in particular, just an explosion of
college basketball and really the game reallygrew and CBS took over the NCAA two

(22:00):
hermamit, and it took off withMichael Jordan in eighty two and all this
and you're covering, you know,one of the top programs in college basketball
at that time. And there's nointernet. Yeah, absolutely, I mean,
you know, it was the deadlineswere so different. I mean,
with the Internet and everything, youknow, you would feel like you were
on a constant deadline. You were, you know, facing deadline pressure and

(22:25):
unrelenting And I've told people that backin the day with when Joe b was
coach, if Kentucky played an afternoongame on the road, I would fly
with the team and then get back, you know, late afternoon and maybe
around six six thirty something like that, and I'd have plenty of time to
go to the office and write mygame story. And of course that's all

(22:49):
you know, that's ancient history now. Of course, like I say,
it's you know, you're constantly withthe internet. You've got to post and
as soon as possible and turn thingsaround. It's just a whole different world.
You start in the first chapter tellingsome stories about the start of your

(23:11):
time covering Kentucky basketball, and itwas about the second half of Jobie Hall's
tenure. I'm sure Joe probably feltunder siege the entire time he was in
the job, you know, asthe successor to Adolf Rupp, who didn't
want to leave. And then youknow, as he you know, was

(23:33):
you know, he went through astretch where after they won it in seventy
eight, you know, they hadyou know, some some teams that were
very talented that you know, hadthose rough NCAA tournaments in a couple of
years got it back, you know, to a final four and eighty four
before he left. But that wasfor a for a guy who was,
you know, you're new on thebeat, had to be a really challenging

(23:56):
time. Absolutely, I had somuch to learn. And of course,
you know, Kentucky basketball from anyfrom a distance, it's obvious what it
is and the stature it has.But then to be in the you know,
in the midst of it, thatwas a you know, definitely a
learning experience. And one of thethings I learned was that Adolf rough second

(24:22):
guest Joby Hall publicly uh so,you know, I remember telling John Caliperry
that after a press conference in whichJohn Caliperry talked about how much he liked,
you know, former coaches and youknow, the jobs they had done
and so on. So I justtold him, by the you know,
and how difficult it would be tofollow a legend, and I couldn't resist

(24:44):
going up to John and just tellinghim, you know, Adolf Rough's second
guest, Joby Hall publicly and youknow, his eyes wide, Cal's eyes
wide and like old man really andyeah, you know, I you know,
I felt like I had so muchto learn about Kentucky basketball, and

(25:08):
one of the things I learned withthat, I think Job and the Harold
Leader. There was some friction therebefore I came, and I remember being
told one of the stories they didwas had a reporter sit close to the
events and did something about Jobi's languageduring games, and of course he didn't
like that. And you know,I had all of this to learn and

(25:32):
kind of navigate as I tried to, you know, just do an objective
job. Yeah, the your mission, I think you have seen you quoted,
is you your mission was always toserve your readers first and foremost.
So that and even they would getangry at you because of stories that were

(25:56):
would be termed negative, right,which I'm sure you probably bristled at some
of those characterizations at times. Well, yeah, I mean, you know
I could understand it that, youknow, fans are fans. I did
a chapter on fans. I don'tknow if you read that, but that
was a lot of fun to puttogether, just remembering you know, criticism

(26:18):
and so on. And I didn'ttake it personally. People didn't help me,
but but I but I understood wherethey were coming from. And you
know, I've told people that,you know, I had this reputation for
asking hard questions, and I wasn'ttrying to ask quote unquote hard questions.
I was trying to ask good questions. I was thinking of the reader and

(26:41):
thinking what would you know, whatquestion would come to mind for the reader?
And then I, you know,I had a license to ask it.
So that's all it was. YouAlso, it always occurred to me
just really enjoyed the game because Iknow, like in things like the Maui
Invitational, you were not on thethe oft times, you know, surfying

(27:06):
or hiking in the mountains of Mauior whatever. You were watching every game.
Well that was, you know,as part of the fun for one
thing. Plus you never know whatyou could learn, what you could pick
up. And of course I didthe Sunday Notebook, which was started out
about sixty five inches, and soI felt like I've got to find stuff

(27:29):
to put in there, and youknow, of course it has to be
centered on Kentucky, but I'm notthat every single note has to be Kentucky.
If something's that interesting, I'll throwit in there. And I remember
going to the SEC tournament and Iwould go to every game. The only
game I might not see all ofwould be the game right after Kentucky's game

(27:49):
because I was working then. Butotherwise, you know, you never know,
you know what you can pick up, and so, you know,
but and Plos, it was fun. Yeah, I'm seeing basketball. I'm
under no pressure to write anything aboutother games, so it was just fun
to watch and observe and try topick up. One of the guys I

(28:11):
really enjoy getting to know over thetime i've been at this job was Jim
O'Connell, the late longtime beat writerfor the Associated Press in college basketball,
and he was just he was likethat in terms of just you know,
loving to just watch the games,and he was covering them too, And
you know, it occurs to bethat, you know, that's if that's

(28:33):
the kind of a job that youcould have moved on to it at some
point, but you stayed in thisparticular job I'm sure there were, you
know, other things that you didconsider at times. Why did you stay
for forty one years covering Kentucky basketball? Well, that's a good question,
Tom. You know again, Imean it was such a great beat,

(28:55):
and you know, every once ina while, as you know, you
feel like you're witnessing history, you'recovering something that will be remembered for a
long long time. And you knowhow many other beats are like that,
you know, So you know,I enjoyed it. It was fun and
even though the things got contentious sometimesthat's part of it, and you know,

(29:21):
I just tried to move on nottake it personally, and yeah,
I just you know, I likedit that much, liked covering something that
you know, was so interesting andso newsy. As you know, things
come up all the time that youknow that are newsy, and I like
to kid around that, like everydouble dribble could be a could be a

(29:44):
controversy, could lead to a controversy. So you know, it was nice
to be although challenging certainly to be, uh, to be part of all
of that and trying to cover it. I think it was near the end
of coach Mubby's term when there weresome of his radio shows where he was
being contentious with callers. There weresome you know, negative calls quote unquote,

(30:07):
and uh, I said, youknow, there's one thing that's worse
than what you would term negative calls, and that would be no calls.
And that's never a problem here.So I'm sure how I would relate to
that is like, yeah, theywere complaining about a story. It meant
they read this story. Yeah.Uh. And I tried to, you
know, if I could find away to uh respond politely, I would

(30:33):
if they sent me an email.Uh. And at the beginning there were
times I lashed back, and thenit became that just inflamed it and it
was it just worse. So Ijust tried to find a way if I
could to you know, thank them, maybe not thanks them, but say,
you know, I acknowledged the pointthey were making, and I would

(30:56):
check into it to see, youknow, if I made a mistake in
that instance. Chat with Jerry tippedabout his new book, Dejah Blue.
It is going to have the officiallaunch party tomorrow five to seven Eastern at
the Carnegie Center in downtown Lexington.Is just open to the public, Jerry,
Yes, Yeah, anybody can come. We'll have books there for sale,

(31:18):
and we're going to have some guestspeakers. Tubby Smith, Kenny Walker,
John Clay, columnist with the HarrowLeader, and Chuck Culpepper, a
former columnist leader now at The WashingtonSo yeah, I mean that's quite a
lineup. Yeah. You know,I heard from TB about ten days ago.

(31:41):
Of course, I believe he livesin North Carolina. Yeah, but
and it is over in Kentucky,I think. But anyway, he told
me that he's coming for the PGAgoal Oh yeah, later in the week
in Louisville. So and I hadasked him, I had sent him texts
asking him if he could speak anda tend and he, you know,

(32:04):
he said he could. So Ifelt great. You know, that was
wonderful. Let me take a quickbreak here. We'll come back and have
when more segment with Jerry Tipton.It's the Leads Report, and we're presented
by Bob Kat Enterprises, and wecome to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop
studio, Return, Refresh and Refuelat Clark's. Jerry Tipton's with us of
the Club Blue ANDIL Hotline, talkingabout his book Deja Blue, about his

(32:28):
forty one years covering Kentucky basketball.What's your early take on Mark Pope and
how he'll fit in this job.Well, you know, I think it's
all positive. I mean, Iwas going to go to thelier introductory session
at Rapperina, and about an hourand a half before the doors were to

(32:49):
open, my wife was on theinternet. She told me there's this long
line of people. So I didn'twant to get in a long line.
So I watched on TV and youknow, I thought he hit a home
run. Very You know, alot of cheering and popularity, and two
things stand out which everybody knows.One he played here, so he knows

(33:13):
what he's getting into. He knowsthe and the keen interest of the fans
and the expectations how high they are. And he's been a head coach,
he's done it and has navigated niland all of that. So yeah,
I think he's going to do reallywell. Told a friend of mine is

(33:34):
a horse trainer. We were talkingabout and I said, what you if
you're a Kentucky fan, you hopethat he's like the trainer who clearly has
demonstrated an ability to do the jobwell and now gets the chance to train
the best horses, and so he'sgoing to be able to get recruits that
he couldn't get before. Yeah,the way, it's funny you say that

(33:54):
because I've thought of it like likehorse racing where Kentucky. He is Secretariat
obviously in basketball. So if you'rejust a pretty good jockey, you can
really do well riding a horse.And I'm not saying Mark is just a
pretty good coach. I think he'lldo really well. And he's riding Secretariat,

(34:15):
so yeah, I think fun timesahead. Jerry, appreciate the time,
Good luck with the book. CarnegieCenter tomorrow night, five to seven
Eastern time. Great list of speakersand the launch party for the book,
and I'm sure it will do well. And appreciate the visit. Well.

(34:37):
Thanks Tom. I appreciate your health. Take care you too. It's Jerry
Tipton, longtime Kentucky men's basketball beatwriter for the Lexington Herald Leader, and
Deja Blue is the new book.We're going to get to a break and
come back to close out this Mondayedition of The Leach Report, presented by
Bob Kat enterprises stand Wile Cat History, a service of Kentucky Road Show Sports

(34:59):
cards and Rebellia. They're on RomedyRoad here in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot
Com. Nineteen eighty eight. Thisday, Rix Chapman announced he was leaving
after two years for the NBA draft. Guy Morris, former Kentucky football coach
an assistant, came here as anassistant first under how Mummy, then did
a great job as the head coach. Guy Moo was born on this day

(35:22):
and married Haskins, former Kentucky basketballplayer, celebrating a birthday today. A
couple of birthdays we missed yesterday.Joker Phillips belated happy birthday, and Nate
Cestina, a young man who wasa great addition to the Kentucky basketball program
and unfortunately got his chance to playan NCAA tournament cut short by the COVID

(35:44):
pandemic. Triple Crown Coverage a serviceof Clayburne Farm doing the unusual unusually well
for more than a century. They'lltake entries today for the Preakness and the
card on Saturday up at Pimlico.Mystic Dan he's in the derby winner declared
in by trainer Kenny McPeak over theweekend. Misteric Dan doing well in his
Gallops at Churchill Downs and trainer BradCox putting Catching Freedom, the Derby fourth

(36:07):
place finisher, into the race aswell. So shaping up is a nice
renewal. Much stronger race this yearthan last year for the Preakness. We'll
talk about that as we get closerto Saturday. Have a great day.
Everybody will see it tomorrow on TheLeech Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Thanks
for listening to The Leech Report.Anytime you miss the show, you can
catch the Mingy Peep Tricky podcast.Find them at Tom Leitchky dot com or

(36:30):
on the iHeartRadio app. Interested inadvertising on the show, email Leach Reports
at gmail dot com. We'll seeyou next time on The Leech Report.