2025-05-09 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast of the Leech Report is presented by Boone's
Butcher Shop in Barnestown at one hundred old Bloomfield Pike,
family owned and operated since nineteen forty six, with fresh
meat cut on site daily Boons Butcher Shop. Hello, everyone,
welcome in. It is the Friday edition of The Leech Report,

(00:20):
presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises. Glad you're on board
with us to wrap up the week and heading into
a nice Mother's Day weekend. Hopefully everybody's got everything lined
up from mom for Sunday. Coming up on our show today,
we'll lead off with UK offensive Coordinator Bush Hampden talking

(00:42):
about the various position groups and how it looks coming
out of spring. Then we will chat with Derek Terry
from Batcats Central. Important series for UK baseball this weekend,
just two sec series left and this is the last
one at home, so this could be the Sunday Mothers
Day could be the final home game unless Kentucky where

(01:03):
to get the opportunity to host, and that seems unlikely
at this point. Keith Farmer from BBN Tonight will wrap
us up today. Wild Cat News of the Day always
the service of Giuseppes of Lexington. We'll start with a
little basketball and Otega oway going through his draft process
with the NBA, getting evaluated, doing workouts. Most recent one

(01:25):
he did maybe in the first I'm not sure. I
think it is with Portland. And after he talked to
a reporter who covers the Trail Blazers, Otega said, quote,
I wouldn't say it's completely false about the second round
grade and where he believes where the NBA believes he's
projected at this point, but he said, but I believe

(01:47):
I'm a first round guy. So I'm just going to
go through these workouts, give it my all, and then
when it's all said and done, I'll see where I'm
at and then I'll make that decision. All seems perfectly
reasonable from everything I read. The likely feedback will be
that he's not a surefire first round pick, but possibly

(02:07):
could be by improving on one to three things. If
he really knocks it out of the park and these workouts,
or even just one of them for that matter, somebody says,
you know they'll take him in the first round, and
it's a guarantee or as close as you can get
to it, then maybe he takes it, so that's kind
of where it is. I still think it's highly likely

(02:28):
that they'll be back with the Wildcats next season, but
just you're gonna be seeing a lot of these stories
as he goes through the process. Jayalen Lowe is going
through it as well. I'm gonna hear from his dad
on the show next week. And college football Playoff might
be moving to sixteen teams. I don't think that's a

(02:51):
big shock to anybody. But there was a story yesterday.
I think Ross Dellinger, who's covered the college football's space
in this particular area really well, and he said the
momentum seems to be building for an expansion of the
playoff from twelve to sixteen for twenty twenty six, not
for this season, and the SEC and the Big Ten

(03:14):
would each get four slots and there'd be three at
larges left after all the other slots are doled out.
There was a story of the Athletic yesterday from South
Amberson and Andrew Marshan said ESPN's willing to pay the
SEC somewhere between fifty and eighty million dollars more per
year if the league goes to nine conference games, and

(03:38):
I think that was the to me that I was
always going to be the last shoot to drop. It
didn't make sense to go from eight to nine and
not get anything for it and make it tougher on
your team. So if you're gonna make it tougher on
your teams, then you should be the league should be
getting more in the Then ultimately that filters down to
the teams getting more in terms of the TV package,

(04:00):
So it sounds like that may be happening. Coming up,
we'll hear from Bush Hampden talk a little UK football
to start this Friday edition of The Leech Report, and
then Derek Terry and then Keith Farmer. Our opening segment
of Wildcat News, always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. They're
off Nicholasville Road, just out past man O War. Heard

(04:22):
from Brian Lane, the Trancity coach. The other day he
and his wife listened to the show and heard this
talking about Giuseppes went there to celebrate their anniversary and
had a fantastic time. You will too, celebrating anniversaries, birthdays,
any other special occasion, or just when you're looking for
a special night out, make it. Giuseppes go to open table.

(04:42):
Now make your reservation. We'll be right back. It is
the Leech Report Radio Network right edition of the Leech
Report coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
refresh and refuel at Clark's and their new loyalty rewards
program will help you save money when you refuel or
when you go into the store and do a little

(05:03):
shopping Clark's Pumping Shop. Joining us on the Club blueinil
dot com hotline is UK offensive Coordinator Bush Hampden. Now
that spring practice is in the rearview mirror, coach, I'm
sure you're all systems go on planning for the start
of the season in September. What did you get accomplished
relative to what your timeline or expectations were in spring?

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Obviously spring is a you know, is a good time
to install the schemes and work on fundamentals. I think
the you know, the part that that everybody's going through,
Tom is even though you're in year two, certainly the
amount of turnover from a roster standpoint, and so really
good to bring in the new players mixed in with

(05:47):
the guys who've been here and really you know, put
it all together of twenty five one cats.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Will be You got here a little later than I'm
sure you would have ideally wanted to last Ring with
the way things worked out, and so now you've had
a year to install your system. So the guys that
are back are with you, and you kind of maybe
a little more of a chance to kind of get
exactly the pieces to fit into the various slots that

(06:16):
you want. So does it feel much different to you
this time versus a year ago?

Speaker 2 (06:21):
I think so. I think the continuity with our staff
has been critical. You know, I think anytime your brand
new coordinator coming in and you're kind of the only
one coming in the adjustment period, if you will, To
get everybody on the same page takes time. So it's
been extremely fortunate to have just about everybody on staff

(06:43):
here again, but a lot of familiarity able to recruit
to the scheme. Certainly a lot of things that we
are excited about for the upcoming season.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
The identity of the offensive line here in this program
is kind of a unique situation with the big blue
wall moniker that goes back to coach Slarman, and that
gets tossed out a lot in terms of where you
want to get to with the offensive line. So that's
a big lead up to ask you what did you
see out of that group and are you pleased with
where you are looking to September.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
I think there's certainly a lot of experience upfront that
we've brought in. I think the biggest thing I could say,
just initially is the approach of the unit, mainly because
of the guys, the newcomers. It's an extremely focused group
and it's an experience group, and so that we feel

(07:40):
is heading in the right direction. There's certainly challenges and
new age college football as we all know, of building
the depth you know and making sure you have that
in place for a long year. But I do feel
strongly about the additions more than anything that the people
we've brought in from what their approach has been through spring.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
And then one of the guys that's been here throughout
his college career is Jagger and now he has been
playing center this spring. I think that was a little
bit of a surprise to fans because he had tried
that a couple of years ago and then they ended
up going back to ELI. Why is now a good
time for it to work for Jagger?

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, he's got, you know, tremendous athleticism. I think everybody
knows that about him. I think the biggest thing with
him is just getting more and more comfortable at the
center spot. It's not a situation with a player like
that when you make that decision that it's a full
sell one way or another. We had an injury early
on to another guy. We ended up putting him in there,

(08:42):
and he really did an position flexibility with his size
and athleticism, and certainly playing that position forces you to
be the main chain of communication, if you will, And
so I thought we got some good work with him there.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
And now that you get the young man from cam
It from Western healthy gives you a little depth there,
maybe more even more so than you thought you might
have had going in right.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Absolutely, and you know, again I can't say enough about
you know, the three to four guys we brought in
from the Portal or Wolford did a tremendous job. It's
players that have come in and that are extremely focused.
They know what they have writing on every practice, every workout,
if you will, to get themselves ready to play. And

(09:32):
I think those guys mixed in with really a good
quality young group have been a really good thing for
us in our second year.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Let's talk about the quarterbacks. One thing that jumped out
to me when I watched Zach Calzada play in practices
was the arm strength. In fact that the spring showcase,
I asked somebody that was talking to other sidelines, where
does he fall on the Lorenzen Levis scale of cannon
like arm strength over there? I don't know if he
quite gets to those levels, but he certainly does seem

(10:05):
to have a strong arm. Beyond that, what do you
like about what you saw?

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Plenty of arm strength for sure. I think for Zach,
as he knows that it's always going to come down
to throwing as catchable the ball as he can. I
think there was almost an adjustment for some of those
receivers early on, and just you know the velocity that comes.
And obviously we all know what the quarterback position. It's
more than just that. I think the biggest thing is

(10:30):
just the experience factor. It's a guy that's played in
this conference. He knows what to expect. We certainly liked
the moment was not too big with this guy as
a young player in this conference. So it's all those
types of things that led us to Zach from where

(10:52):
his next steps come is obviously this is another tricky situation.
First guy in the system, trying to learn the herbage,
trying to make it as simple for him as it
can be, and so it's always going to come down
to that decision making. But there's certainly a lot to
like with this prospect.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Ty Kaffins, the coordinator Bush Hamden here on the Leech report,
that catchable ball, that getting that the handle on that.
I'm sure that comes over the course of the summer
now with guys having the opportunity to work on their
own quarterbacks and receivers to get on the same page
in that area, right.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Absolutely, And I think again more than ever you hear
me kind of say this, you know now, I mean,
you're you're bringing in these rosters that fifty sixty percent
of the guys have never taken a snap together, and
so that'll be critical for these guys to get back,
get honed in and get on the rhythm with everything.
You know. But this is definitely the feel of a

(11:54):
quarterback that's got a lot of arm talent for him,
it's going to be knowing how to use that when
to take some off of it and when to truly
use it all. And so that's just something that will
develop with him in his final year.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Now have you seen Cutter Bowley grow from the experience
that he had last fall and now to come through
another spring practice having had that under his spelt.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think he's doing a great job, you know. And
you know, the biggest thing with these young talented quarterbacks
I think we're seeing everywhere is just stay in the
course and sometimes that outside noise can be in their ear.
But Cutter's a guy who can't take enough reps and snaps.
I mean, he just needs more and more and more

(12:38):
and more. And I think every week that goes by,
he's feeling more and more comfortable. And it's not just
saying hey in this system, but it's just being a
college quarterback. And I think, you know, towards the end
of his high school career, he started getting more meaningful snaps,
if you will, in a pro style type system. But

(13:00):
he's done a great job. I think he understands what
it's going to take for him to get to that level.
And he's a guy that's got to prepare like he's
the one for when his opportunity.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Comes comfortable with the numbers that you have in the
wide receiver room and the quality of those numbers, Yeah,
we feel comfortable.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
It's again, it's just been a challenge in general. I
know I'm saying this over and over again, but in
the past, where you were able to have some depth
in spots, that's just been tricky, you know, because if
a guy's not certainly in the top three at his position,
they've been a little bit more likely to leave. And
so what we do feel is out of that group,

(13:43):
I think there's about six or seven guys that are
all very capable. It's going to be extremely competitive. It's
going to come down to their work ethic, their focus,
who can make the place when we need them to.
You know, maybe not as many big names as as
we will have remembered from last year. That's certainly going

(14:04):
to be a really competitive, blue collar type unit in
that room.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
And then lastly, the running back group, is that a
committee approach as you see it at this.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Point, we'll see I mean, I think so much of
it is uh, you know, I don't mean the same
in this way, but you never know what you have
till kind of kicks off. And so between dow Dell
we brought in another transfer and Seth McGowan. You know,
Jason Patterson's done a really nice job. Mar will will

(14:34):
continue to grow. And so I think all those guys
you know, have different skill sets and we'll just kind
of see how they react to them when they get
live in games.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
Coach, I appreciate the time, Thank you, Thank you, guys.
It's the late reporting whippers. Bobcat Enterprises for locations around Kentucky.
Google Bobcat Enterprises. When you need to buy or rent
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the sale is well Bobcat Enterprises, We'll be right back.

(15:09):
Got a nice spring weekend in store for our commonwealth
of Kentucky. But man, we had a lot of rain
last week during Derby Week. And if that kind of
stuff gets you down or something else, a little pick
me up, something to take the edge off.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
A tough day.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
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co twenty percent off your first order at cornbreadhamp dot
com Cornbredhamp. This is the Good Life. Joining ex now
is Derek Terry from Batcatz Central Talk. A Little UK

(16:09):
Baseball is number fourteen Oklahoma rolls into Kentucky Proud Park
for a series that starts tonight at six thirty Eastern,
twelve thirty Eastern Tomorrow, and then one o'clock on Sunday,
Mother's Day. All games on the UK Radio Network. The
first and third ones will be on SEC Network plus
for TV. The Saturday game will be on the SEC Network.

(16:31):
And Derek, this is a huge series, is it not?

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's massive. You know. Unfortunately, with the
week that Kentucky had last week, both of these next
weekends are very important. Basically where they are with their
RPI at forty one and strip the schedules very good
at nine, but they got to get these sec wins up,
you know, I think he really anything under thirteen is

(16:56):
is gonna be tough to think that they'll get in.
I think thirteen at least gives them a shot, and
fourteen would be great. Fourteen I think they would get in.
So yeah, they're at ten right now. If you if
you win the next two, just two out of three,
that'll get you there, or so you can pull up
sleep in one of these, which they haven't done yet
this year. And these are two pretty good teams that

(17:17):
they're going to be playing the next two weekends. But
maybe there's some combination. If you can get to thirteen
and then get a couple down on Houber, maybe that
would get them there. But yeah, to your point, I mean,
in the here and now, these are critical games to win.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
And it's number fourteen Oklahoma this weekend, and then they're
at Vanderbilt next week, and they do have a middle
of the week game against NKU which they will need
to win as well. So it's uh, they put themselves
in a tough spot when it looked like they were
cruised along pretty well until last week happened. We're going
to get deeper into this with Derek when we come back.

(17:55):
We're coming up on the hard break at the bottom
of the hour. Saturday is Senior Day out of Kentucky
Proud Park, So if you're going out, you can honor
all of the players that are exhausting their eligibility or
that are moving on next season and u case. Avan
Byers is a finalist for the inaugural Tony Gwenn Trophy.
It's for players who are active in the community and
represent the program with integrity while also excelling in the

(18:17):
classroom and on the field. So congrats to Evan for
that recognition. More with Derek Terry from Batcat's Central when
we come right back on the Club blueennil dot com hotline.
Here on the Leach reportch We're coming to you from
the Clarks Pumping Shop studio, Return, Refresh and refuel at
Clark's and Derek Terry is with us from Batcats Central

(18:40):
and he covers UK Baseball at the site And Derek,
what can fans find there and where else can they
find your work?

Speaker 3 (18:48):
These days on Twitter, Derek s Terry can follow me there.
There's a lot coming up. This is kind of the
sweet spot for me once you know you're getting the
post season play, but then a lot of the roster
building stuff of the summer. I actually read a little
bit about this, just a little bit, and I'm l
bag yesterday. There are some really good questions in there,

(19:10):
kind of looking ahead. So answered some of those there.
And last year when I started it in June, we
got quite a few sign ups and I was hoping
for the same this year and that people will stay.
And it's been Gorena be a lot of good into
coming up here over the next couple of months, and
we'll be drafts as off coming in the summer.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Let's talk about the matchup with the fourteenth ranks sooners
this weekend. And as you said, Kentucky could help itself
immensely with its first SEC sweep, but just winning the
series is I guess borderline crucial, right, Oh.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yeah it is. You know it'll be a tough match
up tonight. Kyston Weatherspoon has been one of the best
pitchers in college baseball this year. I was freaking Keith
Walls mock draft at the Athletic yesterday and he had
Weatherspoon in the top ten. So this is the right
handed pitcher that they'll see this evening. It's like you,
Brad Park and uh Man, if you could get a
game tonight to still one, I guess you could say

(20:07):
against their best picture would would really be good, especially
with kind of how UK sets up there their rotation.
You know, they've kind of had been lever there all
year right at the end and typically they're going to
have the pitching matchup and in any game three that
they have, which is a good thing, but trying to
get these uh this first game to night with with
Nate Harris on the mound, he's been throwing pretty good.

(20:28):
I think overall for a freshman, he's done a pretty
good job. And then Nick McKay's been up and down.
I think he's one of these guys. His numbers, you know,
look pretty good. Uh, whenever you kind of dig into
some of the outings, I mean he's really kind of
had to gut his way through a couple. Obviously he
had the phenomenal outing against Tennessee. But with it being
Senior Day this weekend, this is a spot you would

(20:49):
love to see him kind of step up, and you
know he was assuming he was just phenomenal against Tennessee,
so he doesn't have to be quite that good again.
But if he could get them six or seven innings
and only give up two or three rounds, I mean,
that would be boost for the team.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
What was the issue last week down at Mississippi State.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
I think as a combination of things, that first game
got a little bit tough for him because the Harris
only lasted three innings. He wasn't throwing that poorly. He
just had a very high pitch count. I think it
was almost a eighty within three innings. And you know,
sometimes when those starters get those really long innings with
a lot of pitches, they don't they don't make it
much beyond whatever that current inning was. And I almost

(21:30):
think they reached the point with the bullpen where they
just got down that they threw some guys you know,
typically you wouldn't see early on in the series. And
I don't want to say they punted on it necessarily,
but you know they had to be strategic. Playing a
doubleheader that day, it was tough, you know that. I
thought that game too, even it was just kind of
felt like a lot of other games they've had this

(21:51):
year where it's posts tied, you're you're late in the game,
but can't quite make the plays to win the game.
And that was a tough one of stomach. And then Sunday,
I mean just kind of more of the same.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
It was just.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Close. I mean close ish, you know, through six innings,
I think it's still four to one, and then it
just gets away from them there later on in the game.
And uh, I felt like that was even in that
six five loft Saturday night, I just watching it, I
just never felt great about them finding a way to
get through. And that was kind of the toughest series
of the year. I really felt like even I mean,

(22:27):
it's obviously they got slept as a worst result, but
even just watching it, there was an They hit some
other games against Auburn Old miss early in the year
that were really close. It's like, you know what, you
dont they probably should have won this game. I didn't
really feel that way against Mississippi State, but they played
well enough in any of those games to win.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, It's it's interesting you say that because they could
have had the same feelag just watching as a fian because, uh,
back to the first series against you what was then
a top five Georgia team, they've played you know, so
many of the ranked teams in this league, and there
are obviously many of them, uh, and have played them
all very well, but they were just they've left some

(23:05):
opportunities on the table frequently, and that's kind of why
they're in the position they're in.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
They have. I mean, I read it that's that probably
about a month ago that even before this is pre
Tennessee series. It's like, you know, whenever you try to
project up the schedule, because at a point they were,
you know, a few games in the hole, and they
had Texas and Tennessee coming up, which at the time
where you two top five teams. So Texas still is
but and I wrote, you know, those losses that were

(23:33):
this closed, you can see them start to show up.
And that's kind of the disappointing thing about last week too,
is they'd really done a lot of work to put
themselves in a good spot. I mean, you're talking about
if you just salvage one game that series, you got
eleven SEC wins and then just don't get swept the
next two weekends and you're at thirteen and I think
you've at least got a shot. But they were going

(23:54):
to be in a spot where they just needed to
win one of these last two series probably, and now
I think to feel really good about where you are,
you got to win both. And you know these are
against two teams that for the season has absolutely been
better the Mississippi State.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
From a standpoint of what does Oklahoma do best? What
does Kentucky have to try to their pitchers have to
try to take away from them?

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Well, you know, he's gonna play some clean defense, and
it's kind of the same. I think every weekend. You know,
the good news I think defensively is UK got into
the spot. I don't mean to laugh, but they they're
so banged up at third base. Patrick Crayre has not
played much. He's been having a lingering injury. He the
handles out for the season than Kyus garget was. He
popped up on the SEC Villability Report on Sunday last week.

(24:43):
So Dylan tuns is playing third base and he's not
played there since his freshman year, so credit to him
for stepping in. But Kias isn't on the injury report
as the last night so you think you got to
hope that he'll be there at third, which will really
put them in a spot where you're kind of playing
three shortstops. That should help the defense, but a committee
free passes, I think as an offense Kentucky, you know,

(25:03):
I would love to see they do a lot of
damages if they can draw walks and they get hit
by so many pitches. I think they're second in the
country if they can just keep stacking some base runners
and get a couple of timely hits here and there.
They've had like one game a week and I went
and pull the stats and it's out of the eight
sec weekins they've played, I think at least six they've
had a series where they hit under two hundred as

(25:23):
a team and batting average is and everything. You know,
they get a lot of runners on base via hit
by pitch and walk. But Ben, he'd love to see
his bats get a little bit hotter and not have
these games where you know you're hitting one to eighty
two or whatever as a group. So hoping that that
can turn around a little bit for him this weekend.
And you know, I'll be out of town this weekend,

(25:46):
but you know, the last chance. They won't be hosting
this year, so if you want to watch Kentucky Baseball
plays these last three games and then Northern Kentucky as
well on Tuesday. But I think you mentioned the weather earlier.
It's been a weird spring where I think it's hard
to get a lot of people out there. So maybe
this week and'll be the one that draw a good
home crowd though, maybe push them over the top.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, glad you mentioned the Northern game on Tuesday. I've
neglected to mention that when I said the last home
game could be Sunday, it'll be Tuesday for this season,
and hopefully they can do what they need to do
this weekend and next to get to or at the

(26:28):
SEC Tournament if need be, to get back into the postseason,
because it is a lot of fun, as UK baseball
fans have found out in recent years. Derek Terry, Batcat Central, thank.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
You for the time. All right, Thanks Tom, having a
good day you too.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Eighteen away from the top of the hour. It is
the Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises, and we will
be right back a quarter before the top of the hour.
We go back to the club Blue nil dot Com hotline.
Bring on Keith Farmer from BBN tonight and l e
X eighteen, where they did a fantastic job of covering

(27:06):
Oaks and Derby last week in that wonderful weather. You
looked quite dapper there, mister Farmer.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (27:14):
You know, it's easy to do when you got a
tent over your head and you're not worried about getting
the rain, you know, hitting.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
You well, You and Maggie maybe a great team, a
lot of everybody else. I think you guys were you
guys are usually in the backstretch, aren't you correct?

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Yeah, Like right at the end of the first turn
heading into the back stretch is where we usually sit.
So that's where we were again this year, and it's
great view. And then now we can kind of see
some TVs from where we sit. But actually we both
were on the track watching watching them pass by both times.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
So really cool, you know, if you. I did a
couple of talks to groups last week and I said
this felt like a year where one of the one
seeds was going to win, and I think that happened.
I thought the ones were journalism, sovereignty, Burnham Square, and

(28:06):
I didn't have a strong opinion when I did the
talks on who the fourth one was after the pan
Street had scratched, but he probably would have, you know,
moved by ASA into that fourth number one slot. So
you know, he had all number ones at the final
four this year, and I would continue had all one
seeds in the top three in the trifecta of the
Kentucky Derby, and even though Sovereignty paid a little more

(28:30):
than a one seed, should he got overlooked, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
I think so too.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
I kept because that was my horse from the start.
And so I was sitting there saying, yeah, I know,
I don't know why. I just I liked the fact
that he was always even if he finished second, third whatever,
it looked like, he was running up catching that lead
horse and running past them, and I figured that that
extra bit of distance was going to help him out.

(28:56):
So I was always on him being my favorite. And
so yeah, when I saw everybody not necessarily betting him,
but betting Baffer and even Lucas and you know those
kind of horses, I was like, hey, do you all
go for it? Keep that price right where it is,
you know, So yeah, I at least made a little
bit of money on the winter.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
It would be interested to get your take on the
debate about changing the dates of the Triple Crown because
I had Randy Moss on earlier this week talking about
it and it's a hot topic, and Randy and I said,
it's a great sports talk topic because the opinions are
strong on either side tradition versus changing with the times.
And I was telling Randy, I think because if you

(29:41):
change it, I think you're changing it to keep the
top horses involved and you're keeping you want to do
that to keep the interest up. And so that to
me is then okay, we need some kind of polling
on just the casual fans that watch the Triple Crown races.
What do they actually prefer, so you know, you're not
covering this day in and day out as a racing fan,

(30:02):
what do you think.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
I would love to see them space them out more.
I just think it's, you know, a different day and
era in horse racing where they're thinking more about the
bottom dollar, the bottom line, and if you can win
one of the Triple Crown races, you're going to do
very well in the breeding shed. So I think that's
why people don't want to necessarily risk anything with their horse.

(30:26):
And we've seen some of the breakdowns recently happen, not many,
but enough to make you think, you know, I need
to think about the health of the horse, and so
I would love to see it happen, but I would say,
who's going to change? You know, Churchill Downs is probably
always going to want to keep it the first Saturday
in May. So I think then that becomes you know,

(30:47):
do you switch it at the Preakness in the Belmont
and move them back? And do they want to do that.
I'm not sure that they do. It's going to take
someone higher up to maybe force a hand to make
that happen. But I just think we're going to see
less and less horses and owners and trainers move on
to the second leg of the Triple Crown when it's

(31:08):
just so fast coming back. I mean, American Promise was
seven week layoff and that was, you know, considered long.
So I think, you know, five week layoff, you know,
is long enough. But I don't think we're talking about
that long. But I'm just saying, you know, we don't
want to come back as quickly as they're doing it
right now with the Pretmus and and if you start

(31:29):
having less horses go for the triple crown. Well, now
it does affect the fan base.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
I believe.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Another fun event that you had a chance to be
involved with covering was our buddy Goose Givens heading back
to where he went to middle school to hand out
copies of his book. They call me Goose to the
students there, and he was on with us yesterday and
you could just hear it in his voice how much

(31:56):
that meant to him and how much funny had doing it.
It's a couple of Wildcat fans he was on a
cruise with, and one of them, Peggy Henderson, is a
retired principal. You guys correct have the story up at
bbntnight dot com. So she and her husband provided the books,
and it had to be fun for you to cover that.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
I thought it was terrific.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
I mean, you know, they were really Peggy especially was like,
you know, so touched by the things that she read
in his book, and she just said, I think every
student should read this. And I don't know if she
was a middle school principle or what, but she wanted
to start at the middle school level and said, these
are the kids that need to hear this story, and
so yeah, they went to Lexington Traditional Magnet School and

(32:37):
they passed out books to all of the kids there.
The eighth graders had actually already had them, since I
guess they were on their way out, and so they
wrote some some nice letters to Goose, you know, on
things that they learned from reading his book. And it
was just neat to see as Goose was speaking to
the students trying to motivate them, the Hendersons were sitting

(32:59):
off to the side and just big smiles on their faces.
And I think at this point they're hoping somebody else,
maybe you know, picks up the next school and maybe
buys books for the next middle school and then so forth,
you know. But it was a great start to see
them do this for these students.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
Let's switch gears to a little football. Some stories out
there in the national media about for the folks that
cover college football about the move toward expanding the playoff
from twelve to sixteen teams that would likely happen in
twenty twenty six, according to the stories, and also at
ESPN's kicking in more money or willing to kick in

(33:37):
more money if the SEC goes to nine games. So
do you think both of those things are likely to happen.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
I think the SEC is going to push back a
little bit on the nine game. I think it's just
such a brutal league that we learned during the pandemic
how tough it can be, and so I think they're
going to push back a little bit.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (33:56):
Money does talk though.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Right, Yeah, but how you say there was again at
that extra.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
Exactly, Yeah, let's revisit that. Yeah, but with the expansion,
I have always been in favor, you know, when they
started just so low and then they expanded. I don't
want to see it become, you know, an NC DOUBLEA tournament.
But I believe we've always seen a sixteen team at
least format from you know, whatever you want to call it,

(34:24):
one double A Yeah, FCS. You know, we've always seen
that and it's worked and it's you know, not been
a problem for those student athletes. So I would love
to see them get to sixteen. But I think that's
where I.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
Would cap it.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
I don't think we need go much more than that
because then you just, you know, you're going to start
getting teams that probably don't deserve to be there.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Gith Farmer l e x eighteen BBN tonight and you
go to bbntnight dot com and see the story about
Goose going back to his middle school and giving out
the books. If you haven't seen that yet, really neat
story that they did at bb in tonight. Keith, thank
you much, have a great Mother's Day weekend with the family.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
Appreciation.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
That is Keith Farmer joining us here on the Club
Blueennil dot com hotline. They are the official NIL fundraising
partner for UK and proud to announce Club Blue Kids
as a new initiative. Go to their website Club Blueenil
dot com, click on the kids tab and you can
register your young person and they'll get a lanyard, a
membership card, a T shirt, plus access to exclusive events,

(35:27):
athlete experiences, meet and greets and more on the way.
So sign them up at four Club Blue Kids at
Club Blueanil dot com. Club Blue Kids, where future Wildcats
rep the Blue with pride. We'll be right back on
the Leach Report Radio Network our Derby and Triple Crown coverage.
This spring's presented again by Claiborne Farm doing the usual,

(35:49):
unusually well and goal oriented from the Bob Baffort Stable
is headed to the Preakness in what will be just
his third lifetime start, but on dirt was an impressive
winner of an allowance race in his first time, going
around two turns, and so they're going to give him
a shot at the Preakness. So Baffer will have two
in there, along with a Wooden memorial Winter Rodriguez. Still

(36:12):
no decision yet from the connections of journalism. One of
the owners in the head of the group is Aaron
Wellman with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and he said, we're going
to monitor journalism to the best of our ability and
then make the best decision for the horse at the
end of the day. But we're not saying we're in,
and we're certainly not shutting the door. So it's right

(36:33):
there down the middle. But I would have imagined we'll
get some kind of decision on the journalism status here
in the next day or two, since the Breakness is
a week from tomorrow. This day a wild Cat history
nineteen ninety one. It was the last edition of the
Big Four Classic. They pull the plug on it on

(36:53):
this day, did not renew the deal, and that was
when Kentucky and Louisville and Indiana and Notre Dame would
get together up in Indianapolis. It was an event fans
really enjoyed. Happy birthday to John Hood, former Wildcat basketball player,
now coach and great Reds fan. Just an all around
good dude from down in Madisonville. Wild Cat History Notes

(37:13):
presented by Kentucky road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia there
on Romedy Road in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot com.
Congrats to Alex Raider, the record setting kicker for UK
the past couple of seasons. He's signed a free agent
deal with the Tampa Bay Bucks and you came in
as Basketball officially announced the addition of Rhyese Potter from
Lexington Callig by way of Miami of Ohio yesterday, Mark

(37:36):
Pope said, he fits into what we do exceptionally well.
Most importantly, he understands what it means to wear the
Kentucky jersey. Have a great weekend everybody. Happy Mother's Day
to all the moms, and we will see you back
here on Monday.