10-22-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This bingie beef Jerkey podcast of the Leech Report is
also presented by Boons Butcher Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield
Pike in Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location daily and
they're family owned and operated have been since nineteen forty six.
Hello everyone, welcome in to our Tuesday edition of the
Leech Report. We are always presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Coming

(00:23):
up today, Chris Fisher will join us from Cat's Paws,
Larry Vott from Your Sports Edge and Vaults Views, and
John Long from Wong's Whinings the Nolan Media Group. And
we were trying to get John last week to talk,
among other things about the passing of Lonnie Demory, a

(00:45):
longtime media fixture, and Lonnie will be late to rest
later this week, so we'll remember Lonnie and talk a
little UK sports with John. So that's the lineup for today.
Wild Cat News of the Day always presented by Joseppies
of Lexington on the football side, as it was Monday
media day for Mark Stoops his news conference and the

(01:05):
radio show last night, and on the latter event Stoops
several times hit on the message of going one and
oh this week and that's what he clearly is trying
to get his players to buy into. Tune out the noise,
forget about you've got to do this to get to

(01:26):
hear and etc. Just focus on Auburn this week and
going one and oh so understandable message when there's a
time of stress and people are, you know, worrying about
what the final record is going to be and is
the ball streek going to continue and just take care
of what's in front of you, And that's the Auburn

(01:46):
Tigers this week. As far as the Florida game, Stoop said,
the defense did some things they haven't been doing and
that led to those big plays for Florida. Really amazing
stat line for Lagway, the quarterback for the Gators, with
seven completions in his first SEC start, and five of
them went for forty or more yards. On the offensive side,

(02:10):
the big point of emphasis is finishing drives better. Kentucky
has only scored at most two touchdowns in any of
its SEC games, and yet in the last two weeks
against Fandy and Florida, they only punted five times, which
gives you some indication that they know they're getting some

(02:31):
first downs, they're getting some bit of a drive and
they can't to finish them off. I don't have the
number in front of me, but just the number of times,
it's a pretty good sizable number that drives that have
gotten onto the other side of the fifty. So you're
in scoring range now. A couple of them in the
Florida game, they were a couple of scores behind late

(02:52):
in the game. So they're going forward in situations where
they might have otherwise kicked field goals and gotten points
on those drives under different circumstances, but nevertheless, trying to
finish drives off, and especially when they get inside the five.
Got to do better there. Twice once in each of
the last two games, they've had the ball inside the

(03:14):
five yard line and came away with nothing. Missfield goal
one week and or a bad snap they didn't get
to kick the field goal, and then the next week
it was inability to get the fourth down play inside
the two. If you go back and look at the clips,
somebody put together the two clips side by side of

(03:35):
the Florida play that was ruled a touchdown and the
Kentucky play that was ruled a fourth down stop. And
on the Kentucky play, you can clearly see the pot
because obviously you see this every week that players are
coming from behind and pushing their teammates forward in those situations.
Kentucky's trying to do that, and there's still a little
movement with the pile, and it really appears the Demi

(03:57):
sumo Karnbay on the TV angle that I saw on
this clip was pasted the line to gain, assuming that
was in the accurate spot, and I guess from it.
Obviously didn't watch the TV coverage, but from what I'm
hearing from fans, the TV coverage, not the announcers, but
just the camera work, et cetera. Things like the line
to gain were a little shaky in this this one.

(04:19):
So we'll assume that line to gain on the screen
was accurate, and it certainly appeared as though Demi got
past it. And then on the other play Florida, and
we talked about this during the broadcast, Ball got hit
at the two, kind of redirected back to his left
and it never appeared he got much farther than the

(04:40):
one yard line, and there was some question of whether
there was actually a signal by an official and stoops
and I can't remember if it was on the air
or you know, I were chatting off the air that
he said this, that there was an official on the
Kentucky side. I can't remember which positional official it was,
but Dick did give the touchdown sig, so there was

(05:00):
at least one official that did signal a touchdown. And
then Florida set off their touchdown celebration, and I don't
know that they're on the review. I couldn't ever see
a good clear angle of where the ball actually if
the ball perhaps got to the end zone, but it
certainly didn't appear like got much past the one yard

(05:21):
line in that mass of humanity. So a couple of
tough breaks there, but Kentucky was being played from the start,
so not one that you would blame on officials. Nevertheless,
back to the original point, the emphasis this week is
on finishing drives better and has been in previous weeks
as well. They just have to get better at that.

(05:41):
In response to a listener question, Stoop said it was
a mistake that dan Key and Barry and Brown were
on the bench that late fourth down play for Kentucky.
He said that Chip train them still not one hundred
percent and did tweak an ankle in the game, so
we'll see how that plays out this week. On the
availability report, and Stoops also said he was pleased with

(06:03):
Malachi Woods play at right tackle. He got about as
many snaps, maybe one more than the starter Gerald Mincy did.
So Wood as a red shirt freshman they are very
high on, just was going to take a little time
to develop him. And maybe Malachi is a little bit
ahead of schedule, so good job for him there. In
the other note to talk about it was the basketball
tip off luncheon yesterday in Louisville, and when Mark Pope

(06:25):
came up. I talked to Kenny Brooks first with Tiany Key,
one of his players, and then Mark Pope was there
to talk. And when he came up, first thing he
did was invite his wife, Leanne up to join him,
and great move because she was fantastic. The two of
them together were great, and somebody asked Leanne. They took

(06:45):
a few listeners or a few audience questions, and Leanne
was asked about the rivalry with Louisville and she told
a story about a mole they have that is doing
damage in their backyard and so they have nicknamed She
said the Cardinal and obviously that got a good laugh
and Mark confirmed the story, but then went on to

(07:07):
say that he does love rivalries in college sports and
that they drive you to do better. So that was
a fun moment at the tip Off luncheon yesterday. Great
crowd for that, by the way, the first turn experience
there at Churchill Downs. It was the Louisville Alumni Club
putting that on and it was a big hit yesterday.

(07:27):
Gonna get to a quick break and get back to
our show. It's the Leech Report. Chris Fisher will join
us first up from the Cat's Pause opening segment presented
by Giuseppes of Lexington, and make sure that you get
to open table and make a reservation to get to
Guseeppe soon after a UK sporting event or any other
special occasion. No place better to celebrate then at Giuseppe

(07:50):
So Nicholasville Road here at Lexington. We'll be right back.
But report comes to you each day from the Clark's
pumpin Shop studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's, download
their app and get the monthly specials for October. Said
to the club Blue andil dot com hotline. Bring on
Chris Fisher from katzpause dot com. We'll start with the

(08:11):
basketball side chrissl where the national recruiting analyst for twenty
four to seven Sports, Travis Brandam, has done has entered
a crystal ball pick for Kaden Lewis to Kentucky. When
might that announcement come if it the impact does, Yeah,
I would think it would be fairly soon.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Would I would definitely expect him to sign during the
early period in November, and so at the very latest,
would expect that announcement to come in the next couple
of weeks.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Kentucky already has the commitments for the two in state stars,
but this would be the first marquee recruit outside the state,
right this would be significant.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Absolutely. I think obviously this one has been trending in
this direction for some time now. I think it definitely
helped Kentucky that Cayden Boozer committed to Duke, and I
think Brayln Mullins, the sharpshooter from Indiana is expected to
commit to yukon tomorrow, I believe, and so I definitely

(09:17):
think that helps push things in Kentucky's direction even more.
And you know, I think for everybody the major question
mark from Mark Pope coming to Kentucky was would he
be able to recruit at a high level. And obviously
Malachai Moreno and Jasper Johnson, those two guys being from

(09:38):
the state of Kentucky certainly aided their recruiting efforts there,
but to land a top thirty five prospect the national
recruit like a Kaden Lewis out of Washington, d C.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Which, by the way, the addition would.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Push Kentucky's recruiting class to number one in the composite rankings.
I think that answers that question pretty emphatically.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I think I think a.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Lot of credit goes to Mark Pope, obviously, but it
also goes to the staff that he put together. I
mean Alvin Brooks, the third Jason Hart. Those guys were
known as ACE recruiters at their previous locations, and so
I think that's gone a long way in helping Kentucky
recruit that national town.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
We all remember how it played out back in April,
when the word was leaking out that it was going
to be Mark Pope and the initial pushback from fans,
and how that turned around to the massive news conference
on that Sunday afternoon at rupp Arena and from that
point forward, and correct me if I'm wrong here. I

(10:42):
don't think he's had a seal of you speaking gigs
and media sessions and you know, any public appearances and
et cetera, sec media days, et cetera. And you know
he's he's nailed everything from a stand point of perception
or what fans want to hear, et cetera. So we're

(11:04):
finally to the point, so we will see this team
that he had to put together in a short order
from a lot of different places in action against outside
competition undergame conditions. It spoiled the previous two years of
getting that summer preview. So tomorrow night, what are you
looking to see?

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Hmm?

Speaker 2 (11:28):
You know, I think everybody knows about Marks Pope's offensive
sets and you know, the perimeter shooting.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
You know.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
I think between the two teams combined, they put up
thirteen nine to three pointers in the Blue White game
the other night. But I think just to see that
in action, I think it's almost like unwrapping a Christmas present,
you know what I mean, Like that's what it feels
like to see that in action against another opponent for
the first time. I think is going to be a
real treat for Kentucky fans because this is going to

(11:58):
be a completely different style than than we've been used
to seeing over the last you know, fifteen years. I think,
you know, John Caliperry definitely depended more on get shots
to beat guys one on one, and this is certainly
going to be the opposite of that, where you want

(12:20):
your sets to get open shots and you know, make
those extra passes to create open shots. So I think
this is going to be a really, really fun team
to watch offensively. Now, defensively, I think there's a question mark,
you know, can they stop teams? And I think that's
a legitimate concern. But you have Brandon Garrison, you have
a Maari Williams, you have you know, if if my

(12:41):
two best players I would want them, or my two
best defensive players, I would want them to be my
point guard and my center, so you know, your first
line of defense and your last line of defense, and
so you know, I think that could go a long
way for Kentucky defensively. There's a ton of athletic wings
in the SEC, and so we'll kind of.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
Have to wait and see how that plays out.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
I asked him at the tip off. You know how
he came to embrace this style of play and he
talked about it being beautiful to watch first, and then
he talked about how he likes how it twists up
opposing teams and it is, as you said, going to
be different. It's kind of what's old is new again.

(13:27):
When his mentor, Rick Patino came here at Kentucky, it
was a full throated embrace of the three point shot
when not everybody else was doing that and Kentucky was
ahead of the curve here. It's the three point shooting
is a big part of it. There's also the analytics
component that he's big on, and you know, so it's

(13:49):
a it's some similarities to that started the Patino era
that Mark later became a part of.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, And I think I think the most telling part
is when you hear Mark Pope's peers talk about what
type of coach he is, and everyone to a man
says they're on the cutting edge of what teams are
doing offensively. And I know, you know, Danny Hurley has
had a lot of success watching tape, watching FEBA tape
and watching European style offense where you know they spread

(14:21):
you out and these types of things, and obviously has
had a lot of success with that at Connecticut as
evid since two straight national championships, and so, you know,
I think that's kind of all where the game is heading,
with the perimeter shooting, with the with the analytics, and
with the European style of offense, and I think Mark

(14:42):
Pope has kind of married all three of those aspects together.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
I just think it's going to be at watch. I mean,
fans are going to just heartily embrace what they're seeing
in terms of not and not just the three points
you did. I think just the way the ball is
going to move and the players are going to move in.
I think it is now obviously you got to win,

(15:06):
you've got to have the wins to follow, but they
are going to He's gonna have a lot of good
will just with style playing. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
And and two, you look at kind of the preseason
prognostications for this team. Some people have them kind of
near the middle of the pack in the SEC they
were picked to finish eighth. Some people think they could
finish in the top three or four. You know, some
analytics like them a lot, some don't, But you know,
I think with the way this team fits together and
some of those pieces and look ready to take the

(15:35):
next step. I think, you know, Andrew Carr, I think
unbelievable for Kentucky this season. And then you look at
what Jackson Robinson did at the at YU last season.
I think he has star potential. And then Colin Chandler
I think opened a lot.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
Of eyes at the Blue White Game with his athleticism,
his his skill, his size and all of those put together,
and especially coming off a two year layoff, I think
it's really really exciting to.

Speaker 4 (15:59):
En what he could be by the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Chris Fishercatspaws dot Com for seven on x or Twitter.
Thank you, Chris, all right. Thanks Late report presented by
Bobcat Enterprises with four locations around Kentucky. Google Bobcat Enterprises.
When you need to buy or just rent heavy equipment.
You'll find great service after the sale as well from

(16:22):
our friends at Bobcat Enterprises. We'll be right back with
Larry Vaught Twitter past the tip of the hour back
at the Club Bluenil dot com hotline. We bring on
Larry Vaught from your sports Edge dot com, Vossviews dot
com Larry the game tomorrow night got about a little
less than a minute here. What are you looking to
see in the first exhibition game?

Speaker 6 (16:45):
Just kind of how these guys execute together when they're
playing somebody different. Just to see the style that Mark
is wanting to put together and how they're going to
handle that, and maybe a little bit about his substitution pattern.
Who he's going to play together and win. But I
don't know that we'll learn an abundance about his team.
It's a long time till the first part of March

(17:06):
when it really matters. But at least we started getting
to look at him against somebody else.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, I think the biggest piece of information people are
going to be talking about leading up to tomorrow who's
he going to start?

Speaker 6 (17:18):
Yeah, that seems to be a big deal to a
lot of people, but I think it's more important who's
he going to have to finish?

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah? No, I agree with that, But it's just everybody's
always interested in that starting five. So we'll see. We'll
continue our chat with Larry Vauca. We come right back
here on the Leads Report, present it by bobcat Enterprise
Leach Report coming to you for the Clarks Pump and
Shop Studio, Return, Refresh and Refuel chat with Larry Vaught
from your Sports Edge dot com and Voughtsviews dot com.

(17:46):
And yesterday was the annual tip Off luncheon in Louisville,
and Kenny Brooks and Mark Pope both spoke and continued
to charm the BBN. And adding to that was Leah
and Pope coming up and joining up with her husband
at his invitation. I told her afterward that he invited
her Larry the right way, which was from the stage

(18:07):
where it made it harder to say no, and she
was really good.

Speaker 6 (18:10):
That's exactly right. But I think she's pretty comfortable in
that setting, and I believe got the biggest life of
the day even from you. Yes, with their little comment
about the mole in the backyard. I enjoyed the little
clip clip. I saw that in your reaction to it too,
But that great. Just how spontaneous that whole family is
and what's going to make this such a fun year

(18:31):
with the Pope family.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
I think ye for anybody didn't see it yet that
she said, they've nicknamed it the Cardinal in the Mole
in the backyard. She was also asked about their first date,
and she the guy who asked the question I was
talking to afterward and he said that Lee End did
a podcast at b y U and he had listened

(18:55):
to one of the episodes and that's where she she
had talked about it, so that's why I asked the question,
and she talked about they had. You know, everybody seen
the story where the two of them communicated through email
and phone calls for about six months before. I think
it was six months or six weeks six weeks, I
guess I can forget exactly, but anyway, they it was

(19:17):
a long long time before they actually met in person.
So he picks her up for the first date. First,
there's a baby in the back seat. Turns out that
was Mark's niece that they were dropping off to a
family member to babysit. And then I guess they go
to get gas and he says, you get whatever you
want in the convenience store. She you know left, oh,

(19:37):
big spender, so that the natural follow up was what
did you get? And it was twizzlers and a diet coke.
So quite a first date.

Speaker 6 (19:48):
Yeah, it's impressive that she can remember that. Obviously, Mark
made a big impression with with that first date doing that.
Maybe that's what other guys on a try, but yeah,
they truly have seemed like a perfect payer. And I
think think she's going to be much more visible than
probably any Kentucky coach's wife has been for a while.
It will be much more active in things. I was

(20:09):
glad to hear them when asked they are going to
have the women's clinic coming up just a little less
than what we have now been a lot of people
asking about that. And also I would imagine maybe Mark
and let Leanne run that clinic almost.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Maybe so Mark said that the people who attend, the
ladies who attend the clinic will get to see the
last part of a practice, and this is that's going
to be but three days before the opening game, the
official opener.

Speaker 6 (20:38):
Yeah, so it's going to be a little bit different
feel to that, but I'm sure with the way Mark
does things, that'll be a terrific outing for all the
ladies that get to come and are able to work
it out that this lady day to make that day
work for them. But I think that's an important thing
for du because a lot of female fan dro look
forward to that clinic.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
It is such an exciting time on the The basketball
office is over there with new men's coach and a
new women's coach. Kenny Brooks was there with one of
his players yesterday talking to the crowd and with the
new version of what they're calling Historic Memorial Kyliseum as
their home base, that there's more excitement for women's basketball

(21:20):
than there's been in a while, back certainly to the
Matthew Mitchell era when he had it rolling.

Speaker 6 (21:24):
Yeah, I think there is. I mean Kenny has done
a really good job since he's got here of showcasing
the personalities of his players and letting them be out
and involved in a lot of things. And I like
the fact that he acknowledges his whole in il things
kind of is way different for him and not something
that he's totally comfortable with. But he also smart enough

(21:45):
to know he's got to embrace it and make it
work and it is trying to figure out how to
do that. And I just like a lot of things
about him and Mark, and I like the way they
embrace each other too. I think that's really important. I
think you're going to have a lot of things, whether
they'll probably interact or over aff and just like the
media days on the same day. That's a little bit
different feel for the women men's and women's programs like that.

(22:07):
But it's going to be fun for both of them.
But I think in some ways they're both a lot alike.
I mean, they're going to have a very entertaining style
of play. We're talking about starting lineups. I could see
both these guys may not have a set starting lineup
all year. It may depend on who they're playing and
who's playing well, so they may kind of just change
that up and everything like that. But I think it's

(22:28):
going to be really, really fun. It's just hard to
believe that we've still got this much a football season
left and yet here we are with basketball getting ready
to row.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, it's a first exhibition game tomorrow. Night asked him
if coach Patino had given him any advice. Obviously Rick's
rooting for him to do well, believes in him, and
he said to make sure just to keep Laser focused
on what the most highest priority is, and that's you know,
the success that you have with the program and everything
else feeds off that.

Speaker 6 (22:58):
Yeah, And I think Mark does a good job that.
I think he's a really good multitasker. But I think
he understands what he's here to do and nothing will
distract him from from doing that. And we probably will
see a little less of Mark out doing some of
these other things once the season gets going.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
I think you would think, but he is uh never
know seamless, has seemingly has a boundless energy. He must
sleep at some point, we all have to. But he
he's rolling pretty strong. Uh. Let's switch to a little football.
And obviously these are troubled times for football right now.

(23:35):
With these last two games. It's amazing where we were
at the start of October to where it is now
after that win at ol Miss. So that team is
still in there somewhere. It's kind of like at at
Keenland if you're looking at a horse and he's not
running well right now, but you can see that he
did before. There's like, well, that ability is there, how
do you get it back?

Speaker 6 (23:57):
Yeah? And I think it sounds like listening to Mark
Stoops that he's about as confused and found that as
any thing is right now. And that's a little bit
troubling too, that he just doesn't even seem to know
what buttons to push to get this team back to
that point, and I don't know if they can. I
sure hope they can. But it's really been perplexing these
last couple of weeks when you see some of the

(24:19):
things that they have done or not done on the
field that compared to what you think talent wise this
team should be able to do, and what past Mark
Stoops teams have been able to do. There's just something
just doesn't seem right. It's hard to put your finger
on exactly what it is, but I mean, I think
I heard your buddy Jeff maccorrel talk about you. He'd

(24:39):
never seen the Kentucky secondary shredded like what it did,
giving up so many big plays, Like I mean, that's
just something I thought would never If you told me
any team was going to gain three hundred yards on
this on this defense this year out, I told you
you were wrong. If you told me Ben Florida, I
guarantee you how to bet my house that was was
going to happen.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Right, And they hit five for forty plus, And you know,
if you looked at numbers, that's one of the one
of the few negative stats they had. Is a greater
tendency than most all of their recent defenses to give
up those big plays for whatever reason. And you know
that's been from the start of the year, even when

(25:18):
they had everybody healthy. So they've obviously got to get
that cleaned up. But in previous games it was not
to the number that we saw in this one with
five for forty plus, that is, you know, a lot
to have to overcome. You would think that they you know,
you look at Georgia and how they got torched by

(25:41):
Alabama and then what they did to Texas, so that
you would think the defense would would come back to
its base level. I know it sounds like coach speak,
but I do think Mark's message about just tune everything
out and just focus on going one and oh this
week because you can get you know, fans certainly do it,
and it has to maybe sometimes filter through to players

(26:04):
where you know, after a win like old Miss, well,
if we did do this and this and this, we'll
be going to Tennessee with a chance to get in
the playoff. Or now in the other extreme, they may not,
you know, win another game other than Murray, it swings
from one extreme to the other in the big picture,
and as best as you can get your guys to
just tune all that out and just focus on getting
a win Saturday and we'll see where it goes from

(26:26):
There is the right message.

Speaker 6 (26:29):
Yeah, because certainly getting an SEC win at home has
not been a given for Kentucky the last three years.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
Now.

Speaker 6 (26:35):
I don't care who it's against. At Alburn, I thought
played very well against Missouri, better than I expect them
to be able to play at Missouri. So again, there's
obviously no easy games in the SEC this year, but
especially there's no easy games at Kroger Field for Kentucky
and the SEC. And this is just one that they've
got to win for so many different reasons. And whether

(26:58):
they can or not, I don't know, because right now
you still just worry about consistent Well that's a consistent offense,
the consistency before you able to put the ball on
the end zone, because they just haven't shown they can
do that, and that's worrisome.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yes, it is Larry Vatt. You can read them at
your sports edge dot com and Voughtsviews dot com. Hear
him here on Tuesdays and on the Sunday morning sports
talk show in the Lexington Market with Anthony White and
Jack Pilgrim and Bo Robinson, Larry, thank.

Speaker 6 (27:29):
You much, all right, Tom.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Sixteen Away from the top of the hour, Larry joining
us in the Club blueennil dot com hotline and it
is the official collective of UK Athletics Club Blue. They
just did the UK Blue White event last weekend. They'll
have other big events coming up to try to raise
funds for name, image and likeness, and you can contribute

(27:51):
by being a member. Membership packages start as low as
twenty five dollars a month. You can pick the sport
you want to support. They support all sports on camps
and they have special events if you're a Club Blue member,
meeting greets with players. Would be more of that with
the home football game this weekend. I would assume tailgate parties,
other special events that you'll learn about when you're a
Club Blue member. Club Blue nil dot com. Quick break

(28:14):
back with John Wong on the Leach Report Away from
the top of the hour, and we are still having
some issues with John Wong's phone. Thought we had this
worked out, so we're seeing if we can got Oh good,
it worked, We got it to work. Hello John Wong.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Hey Tom, it's good to finally be able to get
on with you. Sorry about the miscommunication there.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Who knows your phone, our phone, both phone sunspots, I
don't know. We'll blame it on all of the above
or none out of anyway, Enough technical discussion, Let's jump
into why we wanted to get you the program first
and foremost, and that is to talk about our friend
Lonnie Demory, who passed last week, will be laid to

(28:58):
rest later this week. And he's been a fixture around
UK sports for as long as I can remember. He
has covered the Cats for various outlets in Lexington and
been a fixture in the press box and back at
practice in the days when those were open. Always just

(29:19):
a joy to talk to. Loved sports of all kinds
at all levels, big Browns and Dodgers fan, and you
traveled with him on some of your road trips that
you frequently take, whether it was UK games or something else.
So just give me some of your remembrances of Lonnie

(29:39):
and Coach Stops even talked about him yesterday opening up
the news conference.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, Tom, the world just really lost not only an
outstanding and unique media personality. Of course, he was known
as the Mayor of UK football, but Lonnie was just
a really down to earth good guy. You know, for me,
it was hard breaking into this media world. I came late.
It's kind of like a second career for me. But Lannie,

(30:04):
I don't know why, Maybe he just felt sorry for me,
but he kind of took me under his wing and
he kind of showed me the ropes. He taught me
what to say, what not to say. He encouraged me
when I asked good questions, he chastised me when I
didn't ask good questions. And you know, one of my
goals was to go on and visit all these sec

(30:26):
road venues, and Lonnie was instrumental in getting me a
jump start and doing that. We took so many road
trips together. Tom. I know you are a big movie fan,
but did you ever tune into the Rush Hour movies
with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
I did not, and I should have because it's kind
of a movie I would like it. For whatever reason,
I don't know why, I didn't see him when they
were out, and then I've never watched since. So maybe
on a road trip I'll do that.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
Well, WELLMANI was Chris Tucker and I was Jackie chan
We would just laugh it up on these road trips,
and I remember one of these trips, we were trying
to get down to Starkville, Mississippi. That's hard to get to.
We were going around the backwoods of Alabama, and we
kind of joked with each other and said, boy, I
hope our car doesn't break down, because if it ever does,

(31:16):
a black guy and a Chinese guy riding around in
the convertible looking for directions may not sit very very
well with.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
The natives down there.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
But those were just some of the good times that
we had. I know another time, and I think this
kind of encapsulates the way Lonnie was.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
I hope I'm doing him justice.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
But it was one of these Bowl trips, Nashville Music
City Bowl, and we had rented this huge airbnb. A
bunch of us got together, but there weren't enough beds
in the facility. Lanni, being the senior guy in our tour,
we offered him a nice, comfortable queen beds.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
But he declined.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
He wanted to kind of sleep on the floor with
the rest of us. So after a night on a
deflated air mattress, I think he probably had second thoughts.
But that was the way Lonnie was. On one hand,
he kind of marched to the beat of his own drummer.
But on the other hand, he really wanted.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
To blend in. He wanted to be one of the guys.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
He didn't want you to make any concessions for him whatsoever,
just because of his age or his skin color.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
So true. He took a couple of road trips with
our UK football crew. We used to travel in an RV,
one those big RVs.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
One of our sales guys had worked at an advertising
trade and he would drive them Harrold Browning and we
went to all these places until our RV broke down
on a trip to Mississippi state actually, and so they
getting a thirty foot motor home toad on a Saturday
night in rural Alabama's not the easiest thing to do.

(32:57):
And so that ended our road trips. And it was
and it was nothing to do with the RV, by
the way, it was there was water in the diesel
fuel that we had taken on in Startful was what
caused the problem. But anyway, Lonnie, I don't think he
was with us on that trip, but he was. I know.
We went out to Arkansas and uh Tim Couch's second

(33:17):
year and I think he was on the trip there,
and Oscar went with a some but you know, different
Oscar combs. But Lonnie made a couple of those trips,
and so yeah, he was a great travel companion on
those UK trips. And I loved talking about you know,
all kinds of sports and movies, pop culture things. And

(33:38):
always sharp dresser too.

Speaker 4 (33:40):
Oh yes he was. His hat game was off the charte,
it was.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
I tried to model my hat game after Lonnie's, but
I didn't get anywhere close. Always color coordinated, his shoes
were always shined. But most importantly, Tom he knew his football.
Being around the program all those years, he had so much,
many stories to tell, and our media outlets were usually
seated right next to each other in the press box,

(34:06):
and I remember on so many occasions Lonnie would just
be calling out the plays. He knew all the players tendency,
he knew what the coaches were thinking. He really made
me look good because ninety five percent of the time
he was right on the play that he was going
to be called. And he also knew his way around

(34:26):
all those football stadiums that we visited, whether.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
It was Neeland or whatever.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
He kind of took great Pride. One of my biggest
fears was once that final horn went off, we had
to somehow find our way down to.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
The visiting media interview.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
Room, and being new in all these places, I didn't
know where I was going. I would just follow Lonnie
and he took off like a bad out of he
knows where, just to make sure that he could get
down to those places before everybody else did, and most
of the time he did. I don't know how he
snaked around the boalve of all those stadiums, because, as
you know, Tom, usually they put you in a corner someplace,

(35:05):
in a little closet where you're interviewing all the players.
It was hard to find, but Lonnie was always there
for me.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, it's we're doing with some of the same things
that those visiting locker rooms. Aren't exactly the ritz in
the SEC or other places, I guess, so we're doing
some of the postgame player and coach interviews. I know
what you mean, kind of finding the maze of tunnels
and different things to get to the spot. Well, anyway, Joe,

(35:33):
were short on time here. We lost a good one,
and I appreciate you coming on because I knew you
could give us just some good remembrances of our friend Lonnie,
and he will be greatly missed.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
Well.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Relationships mean everything in this world time and the impact
we have on others. Lonnie had a huge impact on me.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Where can folks find your work, John.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, they can go to blong Swinings dot com. That's
my blog site, also on the Nolan Group media website,
and also Sportsview America where I have.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
My Bengals coverage.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Thank you John, Thank you Tom. Always the pressure.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
We'll close it out and we come right back on
the lad Report present up by Bob Kat Enterprises Stay
a Wildcat history. In nineteen eighty eight, Kentucky upset number
eleven Georgia sixteen to ten, and a product of Georgia
Alfred Rawls went for over one hundred yards. I think
it was one twenty eight or one twenty three anyway,
big day for Alfred as Kentucky upset Georgia. Corn Bread

(36:31):
Hemp Kevin a try. If you're having trouble with stress
after a tough loss for your team, aches and pains,
the CBD gummies will help. The CBD Sleep Gummies are fantastic.
Go to cornbreadhamp dot com. And you can find out
all the details and get a thirty percent discount on
your first order too if you put in the code
Tom and checkout cornbreadhamp dot com Kentucky Grown Hemp and

(36:56):
it will do the trick give you a natural relief
that is high quality, safe and effective. At trusscorn Brett
Him you can too. We'll see you tomorrow on the
Leach Report Show. Email Leach Reports at gmail dot com.
We'll see you next time on the Leach Report.