June 27, 2025 • 39 mins
Tom talks with Rick Bozich, Lee K. Howard, and Kevin Kerstein.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast of the Leech Report is presented by Boone's
Butcher Shop in Barnstown at one hundred old Bloomfield Pike,
family owned and operated since nineteen forty six, with fresh
meat cut on site daily. Boons Butcher Shop. Good Day, everybody.
Welcome into the Friday edition of the program, presented by
(00:21):
Bob Kat Enterprises and coming up today, we will chat
with Rick Bosch from WDRB and Louisville as he is
retiring after a long career in sports writing that was
with the Career Journal for many years and now he's
had a long run with WDRB and like our friend
(00:41):
John Clay that we talked to at the beginning of
the week, Rick is retiring from that job. We'll talk
to him about his career all the things that he's covered.
Lee K. Howard will join us from WKYT here in Lexington.
He's covered NBA drafts before, so that we get a
leek take on how the Kentucky guys fared in the
(01:03):
draft last night. And then Kevin Kirsting from Churchill Downs.
Big weekend at the Downs, they are finishing up their
meat before the racing shifts over to Ellis Park and
there's a stakes laden card coming up tomorrow headlined by
the Grade one Stephen Foster Steaks. And then you've also
got Therpeta Anna trying to bounce back from a setback
(01:24):
on Derby weekend. So that's the agenda for today. Wildcat
News of the Day always presented by Joseppies of Lexington.
Two Wildcats taken in the NBA draft's second round last night,
as projected by just about every mock draft that I
had seen. Kobe Brand number forty one, chosen by Golden State,
(01:46):
but it was known that that pick was going to
be traded to Phoenix, so he is apparently headed to
be a Phoenix Sun. And then Amari Williams went five
picks later at number forty six, chosen by Orlando, but
he is being traded to Boston. His trades get official
after the first of July next week, and I think
(02:10):
both of those seem like good fits. Amari is you know,
with Kobe, he always figured he might have a shot
to get drafted making the NBA because of his shooting ability.
But Amari was I think a surprise as he started
to move into these mock drafts in the second round,
(02:30):
because that was certainly not expected when he arrived from
Drexel last summer, nor was it expected for Kobe for
that matter, coming in from Dayton. But at least you
knew he was a world class shooter. Amari is certainly
not a world class shooter, but he is a tremendous,
tremendously versatile seven footer, top twenty rebounder statistically last season
(02:54):
in the country. And then you know he handled the
ball so well and was able to to be a
deaft passer. And I think he could be a great
role player for a team like Boston in the NBA.
At Kentucky, Mark Pope would talk about how they could
track from their analytics al Mary's production might drop off
(03:18):
after a certain number of minutes, and that's why they
had to manage that. I would imagine he'll be going
into a role if he makes the team in Boston
where it'll be a limited number of minutes where he'll
have a chance to come in and help. And Boston
shoot so many threes that his ability to run offense
through a seven footer could be very useful for the Celtics.
(03:39):
So best wishes to both of those guys in any
of the rest of the Kentucky guys that end up
trying to pursue their dream. I imagine we'll start to
hear others. Andrew car signed an undrafted free agent deal
with Portland. I would imagine we'll hear something on Jackson
Robinson and Lamont Butler getting their shots through free agent deals.
Probably hear something over the weekend, I would imagine, because
the NBA summer leagues not too far away. Former wildcatad
(04:03):
Thiero also got picked in the second round last night,
number thirty five pick overall, taken by Minnesota, but will
be traded to the Lakers to start his bid to
make it into the NBA. One story I meant to
mention yesterday and just neglected to is the NCAA approving
an increase for men's college basketball from thirty one to
(04:24):
thirty two games for the twenty six to twenty seventh
season and beyond. It's not required the teams play thirty two,
but they have the option to do that. I was
reading a story at cbssports dot com and in it
it says a couple of interesting things. They say multiple
high major coaches have told them that there's a push
for a non conference game within the conference season. Hallelujah
(04:47):
would be my response to that. I would love to
see more of that. Kentucky, you know, used to do
it when they play games on Super Bowl Sunday and
they played you know, Houston and January and played at
nca State one year. I think that would be great.
I think it's a chance to get outside the league. Helps,
(05:09):
you know, give a little more insight into you know,
one league versus the other, and you get to play
somebody else. It helps for NCAA tournament time. So I
hope that does happen. The other thing that came out
of the CBS story that I was reading, it's the
expectation of an increase from to thirty four or thirty
(05:30):
five games by the middle of the next decade. So
they're moving closer to Mark Pope's number of forty and
we'll see if they I don't know if they'll ever
get that far, but I'm all for this, and you know,
it seems like a pretty smart thing to do. I
think you can work in a few more games, certainly
into the schedules, and it creates more revenue and they
(05:50):
certainly need that. And then selfishly, those of us that
get paid by the game for these jobs. It's not
that way for everyone, but for those of us that
it is that way. Hey, play all you want. That
is great. All right, We're gonna get to a quick break,
Rick Bose that you'll join us when we come right back.
Leach Report opening segment always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington,
(06:14):
and if you haven't been lately, get to Open Table
today and make that reservation to enjoy a really unique
dining experience because the food's fantastic, but it's the ambiance
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the bar makes that fantastic espresso Martini. Check it all
(06:36):
out at Giuseppees. We'll be right back sixteen past the
top of the hour. Leach Report comes to you each
day from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, refresh and
(06:56):
refuel at Clark's and make sure you are signed up
for their Loyalty rewards program so you could discount some
fuel and items in their stores. We welcome Rick Bosic
to the program and we talked with John Clay earlier
the week. He's retiring after a long and successful career
with the Harald Leader, and we're going to finish up
the week with Rick Bosic, who's also retiring after a
(07:19):
long and successful career with a career journal in WDRB.
So was it a case of you saying, if they
ever enable a white Sox fan to be the pope,
I'm going to retire.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Sure, you know, the White Sox need all the help
they can get. I actually did already book the other
day a trip to Chicago indo July, so I'm taking
my grandson up to a game against the Silly So
we're getting up retirement off to a good start, creating
another white Sox fan.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
How did you become a white Sox fan.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well, I grew up in Gary and on the south
side of you know, of the South side of Chicago,
and and my dad was a white Sox fan. My
grandfather was a white Sox fan.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
My next door neighbor was a white Sox fan, and
he saw me outside one day playing catch and brought
me a white Sox hat. And it was game, set match.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I get that. What was your why, Rick in terms
of taking the career path that you did.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's a great question, Tom. I've been thinking about that
myself as I get ready to write my farewell column.
And it was a couple of things. One I this
subject I was best in school was usually writing our
English compositions and things like that. And I love sports.
Knew it wasn't going to be a professional athlete, and
(08:42):
I would go to games and a lot of times
look at the press box or look at press row
and see the guys that were there. And after credit,
my dad he worked in the Inland Steel which is
in each Chicago, Indiana, and he would bring home two
or three Chicago newspapers every day, and really that's what
I read more than anything else. And that sort of
(09:03):
created the formula. And then as I got a little
bit older into college and high school, I decided to
study journalism and just went from there.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I think for a lot of us it's maybe something
that's passed down. It was that way for me with
my dad, who actually also did a little stint at
a steel mill. He had turned down for the Army
from a medical condition that later we came to find
out was misdiagnosed, but so he went up to work
in the steel mills in Middletown, Ohio for Armco. Wow.
(09:35):
So those were tough guys that did that work.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yes, they were. My dad worked outside all winter, and
that's another reason my mom drilled it. And she saw
how hard my dad worked when he would come home
every day and it was super hot, you'd be exhausted.
When it was super cold. It took him a while
to warm up. And she drilled it in my head
from an early day that I really don't want you
to work in steel mill. But she did make me
(10:00):
work there three summers, so I realized what it.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Was like, so you would be more dedicated to your
studies exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
She was right. And then the first semester I went
to college, I had one bad grade. She said, and
you can't do any better than this. You can take
the next year at the regional campus. So after that
I got together.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's I always thought one of the great stories is
that of the Rick patino Are. He signs Scott Paget
and of Saint X there at Louisville. And I don't
know that Scott was particularly ranked very high, but I
think maybe at the time people thought, oh, he's just
signed a Kentucky guy to have a Kentucky guy in
the roster. Turned out Scott was really good long career
in the NBA, et cetera. But he has told the
(10:44):
story he has some issues where he didn't take school
seriously enough and actually ended up having to sit out
a year. And I think he mode lawns and did
telemarketing and was amazingly more dedicated when he went back
to school.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I remember him telling the story about doing the grass
and how hard he had to work, you know, during
that period of time, and how embarrassed he was by it.
And you're right, he did rally and turn around. And
he actually sent me a text message when my retirement
was announced to wish me well, and I told him
he was one of my favorite athletes at UK because,
(11:18):
as you know, he was a great talker and those
of us in the print media used to always go
to him because win or lose, he's sitting there and talking.
He had a run as a head coach there at
Sanford for a while, but now he's at Mississippi State
as an assistant and he should be in the Kentucky
Hall of Fame with us. I asked him if he
was in He said no, and you're going to write
(11:38):
a letter this next year nominating him, because without Scott Paget,
there's no nineteen ninety eight NCAA title.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, and then long run in the NBA as well.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, Yes, great shooter.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Was anything that. I mean, you've got to cover a
lot of great sporting events with the teams that you followed,
you know, success of you know, certainly Donald Four's with
Louisville Kentucky. But anything that you haven't been able to
get the chance to cover that you wish you did.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Uh, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I never went like in terms of Wimbledon, somebody was
talking yesterday, I actually saw a woman and said, she's
going to England next year, She's going to Wimbledon. I
never was. I never did that. Nobody from here really
ever covers Wimbledon.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I did the college World Series. I've done, you know,
national Championship Football games before the BCS and current playoff system.
I did like ten or eleven World Series, which was
a thrill to me. I did a bunch of All
Star games back in the early days when I was
working at the Louisville Papers. I mean, every big event
we went to I did the Masters once Derby. I
(12:51):
never state made it happen that I never covered a
triple Crown winner because in twenty fifteen when American pharaohon
I was actually in the hospital I had stomach surgery.
And in twenty eighteen when Justified did it, I was
doing working on something else and Eric went to that.
So that's the one thing I did miss, not seeing
(13:11):
a triple crown winner.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
We're chatting with Rick Bosch WDRB dot com. He's getting
set to retire from a long and outstanding careers of
sports writer here in Kentucky. We'll take a quick break,
come back, and we'll do one more segment here on
the Leach Report, presented each day by Bob Katt Enterprises
(13:43):
Leach Report. We're chatting with Rick Bosch from WDRB dot com.
Before they had a long run at the Courier Journal.
It's about fifty years of covering sports as a writer columnist,
and you know, you were one of the the You
and Eric, we're kind of ahead of the curve probably
in transitioning in the career world because of just changing
(14:08):
circumstances and going into you leaving a newspaper to go
write for a TV station's website and do a lot
of video, and you know that's people in in the
media world have had. Certainly, the phrase adapt or die
has certainly been an important.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
One, no doubt about it. We were very fortunate WDRB
was ahead of the curve and actually wanted us and
kept us, and Eric will still be there. And I
always say he's the most talented multi platform journalism that
I know. I mean, he's a great writer in addition
to a really terrific still photographer person, and a lot
(14:52):
of times he can do video and post stories when
he goes to events, so he can really do it all.
And people should breed Eric Crawford at WDRB dot com.
But you're right, I think back to when I first started,
and I actually started in the days when media people
would carry a portable typewriter with them on the road
(15:13):
in blank sheets of paper and white out and you
type your story and a typewriter, and there'd be a
guy at a lot of places that where you covered
events that had machines that were called telecopiers that were
precursors to fax machines, and you'd have to pay somebody
like twenty or thirty dollars and they would send your
(15:34):
story back to the newspaper. And the funny thing was
there were two different settings. One would be for four
minutes per page and the other was for six minutes
per page. If you're on a really tight deadline, you
probably had to do the four minute one, but if
you had time, it was better to do the six
minute one because it was more likely to come out
clear with the six minute one.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I bet. The interesting note on the technical side of
it back then, what about an interview? A favorite interview?
You've got to a post up, you know, sending good
wishes to Dewayne Lucas after the announcement of his health issues.
I'm sure you know he was certainly an interesting and
challenging interview. I don't know if it was him or
(16:16):
somebody else, But is there any one individual that standard
that stands out that you most enjoyed covering or interviewing?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
You know, My favorite person that I ever dealt with
in the media is Mary T. Maher, who's swimmer early
in Louisville.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Who had a butterfly.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Right multiple yeah, won multiple gold medals, and I always
admired her, and I'll tell the story real quick. But
when I first started, she was the world champion in
one hundred and one hundred meter and two hundred meters
butterfly and was supposed to go to the Olympics in
Russia in nineteen eighty and that was the year that
Jimmy Carter announced we would boycott the Olympics, I think,
(16:54):
after the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia. And she was at the
prime of her career then. And then four years later
she went to la and I covered that Olympics, and
she won three gold medals and performed really well, but
she wasn't you know. Her times weren't what they were before,
and people told her, yeah, that's nice, but the East
Germans weren't there and the Russians weren't there, and you know,
(17:17):
so then she trained four more years and went to Seoul,
South Korea, and I think she won a gold medal
maybe in a relay, but didn't win her main events.
And just to watch her deal with all of that,
all those circumstances that were out of her control and
had to be personally challenging to train that long and
(17:38):
swimming it was back in the days before swimming not
like now we're leadeki and some of these people were,
you know, were getting paid.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
She did it.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Because she wanted to do it to chase the gold
medal and represent her country. And after she got beaten
South South Korea, just to watch all the all the
swimmers and all these swimming coaches from all over the
world who came up and just hugged her and and
told her how much they admired her. That I've never
forgotten that. It's like, that's really the part of sports
that I love and I'm attracted to. There's all this
(18:10):
other stuff that controversies and money that we always are
dragged into talking about, but this was somebody who was
competing to compete, and I've never forgotten that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Great way to finish up the interview, Rick, thank you
for the time, Thank you for the career, For everybody
who's read your work and enjoy retirement.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Thank you, Tom, and I hope to so. I'm sure
I'll see you down the line somewhere, but best wishes
for it for good season this year.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Thank you very much. That is Rick Boza, che DDRB
dot com. We'll be right back. I'll the Leak Report
it reports presented each today by Bob Kat Enterprises with
four locations around Kentucky. So when you need to buy
or rent heavy equipment for a job talking loaders and excavators, forklifts,
(19:01):
et cetera, Bobcat Enterprises will have what you need fantastic
service after the sale or the rental agreement is executed.
So google Bobcat Enterprises to find the location that is
closest to you. They also zero turn moors for your
home lawn too. Lee Kay Howard joining us now from
WKYT TV here at Lexington and Lee K. You've covered
the NBA draft how many times?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Let's see, Tom, I covered it from twenty sixteen to
twenty nineteen, So guys like Shay Gildis, Alexander and Fox,
Bam and Monk and some of those guys in between.
It was quite a funning experience covering the draft there
in person in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I bet you you were maybe the only guy there
that night in twenty eighteen that said I tell you this,
Shay Gildess Alexander, he is going to be an MVP
one day.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, I believe I called it. Yes, we're gonna give
myself credit for that. No, No, it's you know, they
of course changed a lot of the regulations of how
they let you cover the direct aft after when COVID hit,
and they didn't bring some of them back unfortunately. But
during that time, you know, we had the ability to
sit down or I had the ability to sit down
(20:09):
one on one and talk to these guys moments after
they were drafted. So it was really a neat deal
because I think we a lot of times focus on
kind of the dollar signs and all the money that
these guys are making, but you kind of forget that
their kids that have had their life changed kind of
in that moment. And I'll never forget sitting down with
Jamal Murray probably thirty minutes after he was picked, and
(20:32):
and he hadn't even got a chance to celebrate with
his own family, and he was just like a little
giddy kid, you know, just so excited to be in
the NBA and everything. So that moment, and I think
that's something that I think about every time I watched
the draft. I grew up watching the NBA Draft, loving
the draft, and now since going to the draft for
four straight years, I just think about kind of the
(20:55):
backstage stuff and what goes on and what a big
moment it is for these guys to get a chance
ants to hear their names called.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Two Kentucky guys got that honor last night, and this
time of year ago, maybe some people were thinking, you know, well,
Kobe Brae, you know, we'll see how it goes at Kentucky.
Maybe he could get drafted just because he's a great shooter.
What about a Mariy Williams as a draft prospect who
right coming in from Grexel and played his way into
(21:24):
the second round. And seems I think both of the
guys ended up in good spots. But what was your
take on their how it played out for them?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, And you know, Tom, I think there was a
lot made first of all, that that Kentucky didn't have
a first round pick for the first time since two
thousand and nine, and that was expected with the roster
that Pope had put together. But you know, I think
you look at this group and you go, Okay, that's
kind of the dream of any college player. You start
your career at Drexel or at Dayton, and you find
(21:54):
your way to Kentucky for one year, and that gives
you the big enough, big enough platform to be able
to get noticed and get recognized and make it to
the NBA. I think that's a great thing, and I
think it's kind of a one off as far as
not getting a player in the first round. I think
next year you've got Jaden quaintins Is if he's healthy,
(22:15):
he's certainly a lottery pick, maybe even a Jasper Johnson
Cam Williams make their way into the first round. But
to see those two last night, in particular Kobe and
Amari go from where they started to being selected in
the NBA, I think that kind of represents kind of
the dream of what a lot of these players who
aren't a lottery pick can do with the school like Kentucky, and.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I think Jackson Robinson would have certainly been drafted and
might have made it into the first round had he
been able to stay healthy. When you look at the
trend line that he was on when he got hurt,
that it really started to click for him. So hopefully,
you know, he'll end up getting his shot via free
agency and make it as he recovers from his injuries.
(23:01):
On your Car signed a free agent deal with Portland.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
That's right. And Lamont Butler got a two way contract
actually with the Atlanta Hawks. You yeah, and so that
was good. So yeah, Andrew Carr got the Exhibit ten,
which is a non guaranteed contract, but each team only
gets six of those. So for him to go get
that Exhibit ten means he's going to have a shot
to make the Trailblazer squad through the summer league. Likely
(23:27):
obviously ends up with the G League squad. A lot
of those guys end up with the G League for
at least one year and then that two way contracts.
That's what Oscar Sheboy did a couple of years ago
with the Pacers organization, and that almost guarantees that they
will be a G League player for their organization at
least this next year, because there is some guaranteed money
involved there. So, you know, Lamont, that's that's excellent for him.
(23:52):
I think he's a guy that could could actually do
some things in the G League. And then you mentioned Jackson.
You know, he's a guy. Had he not been injured,
he's probably drafted in the second round. So there's kind
of wait to see where he ends up. I think
he'll get a shot. I think a lot of that
depends on his health. But you're right, you hate to
see that for him. But overall, though, these guys are
(24:13):
going to get an opportunity to make a team, and
so that's all you can ask for, I think for
for a lot of these.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Guys, Jackson's I wonder if it might take a few
more days to work itself out to lands where, because
I think he just got cleared to start doing workouts
maybe last week, and so teams are going to want
to kind of assess his, you know, medical situation before
they make a commitment. I would think, yeah, And I.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Think that's right because, like I said, teams only get
six Exhibit ten guys, three two way contract guys, and
they can add some others, but they're they're I mean,
they're probably not going to spend one of those contracts
on a guy that they don't know is fully healthy.
So I fully expect Jackson to get a chance with
somebody in the summer league to prove his health and
(24:59):
he can go from there. We know what Jackson can
do when he's healthy and in his game fits kind
of the the NBA and what guys are looking for,
so I fully expect him to get an opportunity as well,
so that you know, if that happens, then there's five guys,
five of the seniors from this past year's team that
have a chance at least to make to make the NBA.
(25:21):
And so that's I think that's great for this group.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And Otega away, we would hope would be in a
position to And the thing is, you want to if
he's a first round prospect next year, that means he's
had a really good season.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yeah, it does. And like I said just a bit
ago that you know, Kentucky did not have a first
round pick for the first time since Jody Meeks went
in the second round and in nine. But already some
of these, like I said, I'm kind of a draft
nerd uh looking at the way too early draft mock
draft for twenty twenty six, some of them have Otega
in there. Jaden Clayton certainly is in there. Uh. Even again,
(26:00):
like Cam Williams, who not a lot of people are
even thinking much about going into this this upcoming college season.
In some mock drafts, he's a projected first round pick,
and then who knows what Jasper Johnson does. So yeah,
I mean, so it's it's interesting that Kentucky could have
multiple in the in the first round and certainly in
the second round, depending on how the year plays out
(26:20):
for them individually and as a team. I think that
has a lot to do with it, so uh, you know,
and I think that'll kind of be the case every year.
Pope's gonna kind of put together his roster of highly
touted freshmen and with some veterans and and I think
that'll be kind of the trend going forward for him
and and this team.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It's interesting about Cam Williams because I think he gets
lost a little bit in a lot of the discussions.
You don't hear his name popped up as much when
people are projected to do their starting a line of
projections and those kinds of things. I think part of it.
You know, he committed during the NCL like tournament right
as soon as almost as soon as you could do that,
and then you know, more transfers you rolling in after that,
(27:00):
and but yeah, tell he wants to shoot even more
threes next year, and he does that.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Really well, he does, you know. And honestly, Cam Williams
is kind of my guy that I'm watching as the
guy that's going to surprise most Kentucky fans this next year.
Because you're right. He committed when we were in Indianapolis
for the for the tournament, and it kind of got,
you know, put to the back burner because of the
team was plunt because the team was playing. But if
(27:25):
you look at his skill set, he's kind of I mean,
he's an athletic, much more athletic than Kobe was. Uh.
He can shoot. Uh, he's he's kind of that wing
guy that that a lot of NBA teams are looking
for as far as a piece a guy like like
Kobe who can spread the floor. And so I you know,
I think that Cam Williams is certainly a guy that
(27:47):
he may not be as high on even college uh
fans rosters as he might be on NBA. Uh, you
know in their minds as of kind of a guy
who can transition and playing that game. So I think
Cam Williams is certainly a guy to watch this next
season for what he does.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I was happy to see Douthi Erro get picked in
the second round last night. He's going to the Lakers
via trade, and you know that's the guy. When he
signed or committed, I can't remember which to Kentucky. Maybe
it was just a commitment. Anyway, he had no stars.
I mean he was even rated, and then once you
saw him and saw him been actually he was like, wow,
(28:25):
this guy's pretty good. And then he you know, once
he's once he signed with Kentucky, he started he started
to get the stars, but he had none when he committed.
And so it's always you know, that doesn't happen much
these days, where somebody's that far under the radar and
makes it.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
No, it doesn't. And I remember when a Due signed
with Kentucky, it almost felt like a favor for his dad,
who played, you know, under calat Niphis. It almost felt like, oh,
this is a guy who Cal coached his father, and
he was smaller. If you remember that season, he played
a lot of backup point guard. You know, he played
a lot of guard for Kentucky. And then with all
(29:02):
the talk was just he was going to keep growing
and growing, and he did and he matured, and you
know that's that is I think a success story for
the Caliperi era at Kentucky. A guy that came in
with no stars, like you said, and made himself into
a very good player. I read something last night that
the Lakers had actually grated a do as a first
(29:22):
round prospect in their grading system, and that's why they
actually moved up and traded up when he was still
available going into that second round to get him. And
let me just say this too real quick about the
second round. You know, last year was the first time
they split it up into two nights where there was
you know, round one on one night, round two on
last night, but they only had that second round last
(29:44):
year kind of in a studio. I thought it was
a nice touch last night to invite another group of
players into the green room, so to speak, for round two,
like a do like Kobe, like Jeni Broom of Auburn
and give those guys a chances well to walk across
the stage and hear their names called. So I think
that was a neat thing that they did for the
first time last night.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Well said Lee K. Thank you much, interesting insight there
on the draft.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
I appreciate it all right, Thank you, Tom.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
That is Lee K. Howard from dody KYT TV here
in Lexington and it is a quarter before the top
of the hour. We'll talk about the closing weekend, the
Churchill Downs, the big card of stakes races coming up
tomorrow with Kevin Cursting Will we come right back. It
is the Leech Report from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio.
Return refresh and refuel at Clark's our Roddy edition of
(30:47):
the Leech Report. Say, we welcome Kevin cursting to the
program from Churchill Downs to talk about the big closing
weekend there and a bunch of stakes races on the
card tomorrow. Kevin headline the Grade one Stephen Foster and
it's field that is at seven. But uh, it is
very very well matched group. How do you, uh, what what?
(31:12):
What's what's your What would you tell fans about that
field and what to expect in that race? Oh, good
morning Tom.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
It's setting up to be a great closing weekend here
at Churchill Downs. It's hard to believe Derby felt like
it was just last week. But the Stephen Foster you
sort of alluded to it. It is a star studed field.
It is the richest earnings field in Stephen Foster history.
Six of them are millionaires. You have the Kentucky Derby
winner of last year, missedic Dan, facing off against the
runner up Sierra Leone, who want to go on and
(31:40):
win the Breeders Cup Classic. And oh, by the way
add in a Dubai World Cup winner and Hit Show,
plus the winner of the Churchill Downstakes here on Kentucky
Derby Day and mind Frame. It is a star studed field,
a great lineup, and it is a race that I've
been looking forward to for the last several weeks and
I'm really excited for it to come to Fruition just
after six pm on Saturday evening.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Working there at Churchill, you get to talk to the
horseman just walking around the backside of the morning, see
the horses training. Who's has anybody caught your eye more
than anybody else in that group?
Speaker 4 (32:10):
It's interesting. So I mentioned this sort of those top
four horses that really have the resume and the accolades
in that Stephen Foster. But there's one that I didn't
mention in trainer Brad Cox, who has risen to the
top of the trainer ranks as we know in the
horse racing world. He's having two horses in this race.
One of them is Hit Show, who is the Dubai
World Cup winner, but another one is First Mission, who
exited the Oakland Handicap in his last start. He won
(32:32):
that race and he was actually the favorite in this
race last year and didn't come to fruition. But he's
one that I think mich Go a little bit unrecognized
because you have several of those other big time horses
in this race. So if you're looking to get the
most bang for your buck through the windows, he might
be a little bit ignored at the windows, but he
definitely is poised I think to get his first grade one.
It's not to take away anything from the Kentucky Derby winner,
(32:54):
the Breeders' Cup Classic winner, and mistic Dan and Sieri
Leone respectively, but first Mission, I just think he's poised
for a top effort on Saturday. Just by the way
that he's looking in the mornings and by the way
that the race shape could shape up for him. I
think he's going to sit a good trip from the
inside with Louis Ayas.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
He looks like one of those horses that they clearly
thought had big time. Potentially when the Lexington he was
being pointed to the Preakness, said some kind of issue
that they kept him from getting to run in the Preakness.
But then he runs back and nearly wins the Clark
Candy Cap. But maybe that last race, just on numbers.
I kind of thought maybe he's finally you know, realizing
(33:31):
the potential they thought he had for a long time. Yeah,
I believe so.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
And you know, it's just that Grade one race for
you know, the Marquis Stallion writes with Godolphin just has
eluded him and he was going to be the favorite
for that Preakness, and you know, it was just a
shame that things came to, you know, shape the way
that it did. But I think he's really coming into
his own and this could be really a check mark
on his storied career for this, you know, top ownership
(33:59):
group and go Dolphin.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Also on the card is last year's Kentucky Oaks winner
and the horse of the Year Torpedo Anna, who had
a very very rough trip in her race on Oaks
Day and finished up the track and so now she's
trying to bounce back reputation wise. How has she looked?
Speaker 4 (34:19):
You know, it just this this race just goes to
show the how top notch of this card is on
Saturday with the horse of the Year in Torpedo Anna.
And it's a big question mark Tom as you mentioned,
because you know when horses sort of encounter that trouble
as she did in the phase of Tipton Lacherin on
Kentucky Oaks Day. It's sort of like, okay, well, how
is she going to mentally come back off of that? Physically?
(34:41):
She just looked fine in the morning's Jackie Brian Hernandez
Junior and I were talking this morning and he said,
she's doing everything right in the morning. She's you know,
feels like that she's back to her old self and
coming into the race as she did a month ago.
But how does that affect on her mentally? I don't
know if it's the you know, sort of the four
other phillies and mayors that she's facing this race. I
(35:01):
don't know if they're going to be quite the same
competition she would face a year end and the Breeders'
Cup distaff, But it is some question marks of how
she will handle this mentally.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
On Saturday, when's the how many stakes races and when
is the first one on the card? Tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (35:17):
We have six straight steak races tomorrow with Stephen Foster
Day almost four million dollars in purses. The action will
get kicked off in race number seven with that phase
of Tipton flirtal Lee going at three point fifty two pm,
goes all the way to Race twelve six thirty two
pm with the American Derby, and then Sunday we come
back with closing day of the Spring Meet with five
(35:38):
stakes races on the card. So it's a really star
studded weekend to close things out here at Churchill Down.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
And then the racing of shift down to Ellis Park
at Western Kentucky. And I see that's when Tyler gaff
leone is going to make a long awaited return.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Yeah, a lot of people were waiting for Tyler to
get back to the races. He had an unfortunate incident
in March at Gullstring Park. It was actually a horse
that he wasn't named a ride original and then he
was a replacement jockey on and in the paddock the
horse reared up and he ended up fracturing his ankle,
having a couple of surgeries on it. So he's been
out since March, and he's going to return the summer
and ride in Henderson, Kentucky at Ellis Park for some
(36:12):
big money one hundred thousand dollars main special weights allowances
in the six figures as well. It's gonna be a
great summer down at Henderson.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
KK appreciate the time it's at horse Racing KK on
X and Kevin Kirstik from Churchill Downs, thank you. Thanks Tom.
Fantastic card coming up tomorrow at Churchill. We're going to
get to our final break and come back with one
more segment of this final edition of the Leach Report.
For this week, Say Wow Cat History presented by Kentucky
(36:54):
Road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia. They are on Romedy
Road here in Lexington at a roachhow arts dot com.
Some birthdays, Happy birthday Will Levis the former Kentucky QB,
Dominique Hawkins. Happy birthday to dom and Antoine Barber those
both Antwine and Dominique coming out of Kentucky High School
(37:17):
Basketball Dom at Madison Central, Antwine at Etown. And then
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calories per can. Go to Cornbreadhemp dot com. This is
the good life. A Jel arts she signed with a
pro team in Kosovo. Good luck to her. The Bengals
have extended their lease with Cincinnati, so they're gonna stay
at pay Course Stadium. At least your twenty thirty six
have a great weekend, everybody will see a Monday on
the Leach Report, presented by Bob Kat Enterprises.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
Ape dot com or seven ninety Louisville dot com, and
anytime you're out of range of the stations, catch the
show via the iHeartRadio app. If you have any questions
for Tom, email Leach Report at gmail dot com and
check out his website, Tom Leach KWY dot com
This podcast of the Leech Report is presented by Boone's
Butcher Shop in Barnstown at one hundred old Bloomfield Pike,
family owned and operated since nineteen forty six, with fresh
meat cut on site daily. Boons Butcher Shop. Good Day, everybody.
Welcome into the Friday edition of the program, presented by
(00:21):
Bob Kat Enterprises and coming up today, we will chat
with Rick Bosch from WDRB and Louisville as he is
retiring after a long career in sports writing that was
with the Career Journal for many years and now he's
had a long run with WDRB and like our friend
(00:41):
John Clay that we talked to at the beginning of
the week, Rick is retiring from that job. We'll talk
to him about his career all the things that he's covered.
Lee K. Howard will join us from WKYT here in Lexington.
He's covered NBA drafts before, so that we get a
leek take on how the Kentucky guys fared in the
(01:03):
draft last night. And then Kevin Kirsting from Churchill Downs.
Big weekend at the Downs, they are finishing up their
meat before the racing shifts over to Ellis Park and
there's a stakes laden card coming up tomorrow headlined by
the Grade one Stephen Foster Steaks. And then you've also
got Therpeta Anna trying to bounce back from a setback
(01:24):
on Derby weekend. So that's the agenda for today. Wildcat
News of the Day always presented by Joseppies of Lexington.
Two Wildcats taken in the NBA draft's second round last night,
as projected by just about every mock draft that I
had seen. Kobe Brand number forty one, chosen by Golden State,
(01:46):
but it was known that that pick was going to
be traded to Phoenix, so he is apparently headed to
be a Phoenix Sun. And then Amari Williams went five
picks later at number forty six, chosen by Orlando, but
he is being traded to Boston. His trades get official
after the first of July next week, and I think
(02:10):
both of those seem like good fits. Amari is you know,
with Kobe, he always figured he might have a shot
to get drafted making the NBA because of his shooting ability.
But Amari was I think a surprise as he started
to move into these mock drafts in the second round,
(02:30):
because that was certainly not expected when he arrived from
Drexel last summer, nor was it expected for Kobe for
that matter, coming in from Dayton. But at least you
knew he was a world class shooter. Amari is certainly
not a world class shooter, but he is a tremendous,
tremendously versatile seven footer, top twenty rebounder statistically last season
(02:54):
in the country. And then you know he handled the
ball so well and was able to to be a
deaft passer. And I think he could be a great
role player for a team like Boston in the NBA.
At Kentucky, Mark Pope would talk about how they could
track from their analytics al Mary's production might drop off
(03:18):
after a certain number of minutes, and that's why they
had to manage that. I would imagine he'll be going
into a role if he makes the team in Boston
where it'll be a limited number of minutes where he'll
have a chance to come in and help. And Boston
shoot so many threes that his ability to run offense
through a seven footer could be very useful for the Celtics.
(03:39):
So best wishes to both of those guys in any
of the rest of the Kentucky guys that end up
trying to pursue their dream. I imagine we'll start to
hear others. Andrew car signed an undrafted free agent deal
with Portland. I would imagine we'll hear something on Jackson
Robinson and Lamont Butler getting their shots through free agent deals.
Probably hear something over the weekend, I would imagine, because
the NBA summer leagues not too far away. Former wildcatad
(04:03):
Thiero also got picked in the second round last night,
number thirty five pick overall, taken by Minnesota, but will
be traded to the Lakers to start his bid to
make it into the NBA. One story I meant to
mention yesterday and just neglected to is the NCAA approving
an increase for men's college basketball from thirty one to
(04:24):
thirty two games for the twenty six to twenty seventh
season and beyond. It's not required the teams play thirty two,
but they have the option to do that. I was
reading a story at cbssports dot com and in it
it says a couple of interesting things. They say multiple
high major coaches have told them that there's a push
for a non conference game within the conference season. Hallelujah
(04:47):
would be my response to that. I would love to
see more of that. Kentucky, you know, used to do
it when they play games on Super Bowl Sunday and
they played you know, Houston and January and played at
nca State one year. I think that would be great.
I think it's a chance to get outside the league. Helps,
(05:09):
you know, give a little more insight into you know,
one league versus the other, and you get to play
somebody else. It helps for NCAA tournament time. So I
hope that does happen. The other thing that came out
of the CBS story that I was reading, it's the
expectation of an increase from to thirty four or thirty
(05:30):
five games by the middle of the next decade. So
they're moving closer to Mark Pope's number of forty and
we'll see if they I don't know if they'll ever
get that far, but I'm all for this, and you know,
it seems like a pretty smart thing to do. I
think you can work in a few more games, certainly
into the schedules, and it creates more revenue and they
(05:50):
certainly need that. And then selfishly, those of us that
get paid by the game for these jobs. It's not
that way for everyone, but for those of us that
it is that way. Hey, play all you want. That
is great. All right, We're gonna get to a quick break,
Rick Bose that you'll join us when we come right back.
Leach Report opening segment always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington,
(06:14):
and if you haven't been lately, get to Open Table
today and make that reservation to enjoy a really unique
dining experience because the food's fantastic, but it's the ambiance
that really adds to it. The live jazz music if
you sit in the lounge area, the fantastic service, one
hundred and thirty seven different wines and bourbons. Scott at
the bar makes that fantastic espresso Martini. Check it all
(06:36):
out at Giuseppees. We'll be right back sixteen past the
top of the hour. Leach Report comes to you each
day from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, refresh and
(06:56):
refuel at Clark's and make sure you are signed up
for their Loyalty rewards program so you could discount some
fuel and items in their stores. We welcome Rick Bosic
to the program and we talked with John Clay earlier
the week. He's retiring after a long and successful career
with the Harald Leader, and we're going to finish up
the week with Rick Bosic, who's also retiring after a
(07:19):
long and successful career with a career journal in WDRB.
So was it a case of you saying, if they
ever enable a white Sox fan to be the pope,
I'm going to retire.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Sure, you know, the White Sox need all the help
they can get. I actually did already book the other
day a trip to Chicago indo July, so I'm taking
my grandson up to a game against the Silly So
we're getting up retirement off to a good start, creating
another white Sox fan.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
How did you become a white Sox fan.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well, I grew up in Gary and on the south
side of you know, of the South side of Chicago,
and and my dad was a white Sox fan. My
grandfather was a white Sox fan.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
My next door neighbor was a white Sox fan, and
he saw me outside one day playing catch and brought
me a white Sox hat. And it was game, set match.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I get that. What was your why, Rick in terms
of taking the career path that you did.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's a great question, Tom. I've been thinking about that
myself as I get ready to write my farewell column.
And it was a couple of things. One I this
subject I was best in school was usually writing our
English compositions and things like that. And I love sports.
Knew it wasn't going to be a professional athlete, and
(08:42):
I would go to games and a lot of times
look at the press box or look at press row
and see the guys that were there. And after credit,
my dad he worked in the Inland Steel which is
in each Chicago, Indiana, and he would bring home two
or three Chicago newspapers every day, and really that's what
I read more than anything else. And that sort of
(09:03):
created the formula. And then as I got a little
bit older into college and high school, I decided to
study journalism and just went from there.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I think for a lot of us it's maybe something
that's passed down. It was that way for me with
my dad, who actually also did a little stint at
a steel mill. He had turned down for the Army
from a medical condition that later we came to find
out was misdiagnosed, but so he went up to work
in the steel mills in Middletown, Ohio for Armco. Wow.
(09:35):
So those were tough guys that did that work.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yes, they were. My dad worked outside all winter, and
that's another reason my mom drilled it. And she saw
how hard my dad worked when he would come home
every day and it was super hot, you'd be exhausted.
When it was super cold. It took him a while
to warm up. And she drilled it in my head
from an early day that I really don't want you
to work in steel mill. But she did make me
(10:00):
work there three summers, so I realized what it.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Was like, so you would be more dedicated to your
studies exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
She was right. And then the first semester I went
to college, I had one bad grade. She said, and
you can't do any better than this. You can take
the next year at the regional campus. So after that
I got together.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's I always thought one of the great stories is
that of the Rick patino Are. He signs Scott Paget
and of Saint X there at Louisville. And I don't
know that Scott was particularly ranked very high, but I
think maybe at the time people thought, oh, he's just
signed a Kentucky guy to have a Kentucky guy in
the roster. Turned out Scott was really good long career
in the NBA, et cetera. But he has told the
(10:44):
story he has some issues where he didn't take school
seriously enough and actually ended up having to sit out
a year. And I think he mode lawns and did
telemarketing and was amazingly more dedicated when he went back
to school.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I remember him telling the story about doing the grass
and how hard he had to work, you know, during
that period of time, and how embarrassed he was by it.
And you're right, he did rally and turn around. And
he actually sent me a text message when my retirement
was announced to wish me well, and I told him
he was one of my favorite athletes at UK because,
(11:18):
as you know, he was a great talker and those
of us in the print media used to always go
to him because win or lose, he's sitting there and talking.
He had a run as a head coach there at
Sanford for a while, but now he's at Mississippi State
as an assistant and he should be in the Kentucky
Hall of Fame with us. I asked him if he
was in He said no, and you're going to write
(11:38):
a letter this next year nominating him, because without Scott Paget,
there's no nineteen ninety eight NCAA title.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, and then long run in the NBA as well.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, Yes, great shooter.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Was anything that. I mean, you've got to cover a
lot of great sporting events with the teams that you followed,
you know, success of you know, certainly Donald Four's with
Louisville Kentucky. But anything that you haven't been able to
get the chance to cover that you wish you did.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Uh, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I never went like in terms of Wimbledon, somebody was
talking yesterday, I actually saw a woman and said, she's
going to England next year, She's going to Wimbledon. I
never was. I never did that. Nobody from here really
ever covers Wimbledon.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I did the college World Series. I've done, you know,
national Championship Football games before the BCS and current playoff system.
I did like ten or eleven World Series, which was
a thrill to me. I did a bunch of All
Star games back in the early days when I was
working at the Louisville Papers. I mean, every big event
we went to I did the Masters once Derby. I
(12:51):
never state made it happen that I never covered a
triple Crown winner because in twenty fifteen when American pharaohon
I was actually in the hospital I had stomach surgery.
And in twenty eighteen when Justified did it, I was
doing working on something else and Eric went to that.
So that's the one thing I did miss, not seeing
(13:11):
a triple crown winner.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
We're chatting with Rick Bosch WDRB dot com. He's getting
set to retire from a long and outstanding careers of
sports writer here in Kentucky. We'll take a quick break,
come back, and we'll do one more segment here on
the Leach Report, presented each day by Bob Katt Enterprises
(13:43):
Leach Report. We're chatting with Rick Bosch from WDRB dot com.
Before they had a long run at the Courier Journal.
It's about fifty years of covering sports as a writer columnist,
and you know, you were one of the the You
and Eric, we're kind of ahead of the curve probably
in transitioning in the career world because of just changing
(14:08):
circumstances and going into you leaving a newspaper to go
write for a TV station's website and do a lot
of video, and you know that's people in in the
media world have had. Certainly, the phrase adapt or die
has certainly been an important.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
One, no doubt about it. We were very fortunate WDRB
was ahead of the curve and actually wanted us and
kept us, and Eric will still be there. And I
always say he's the most talented multi platform journalism that
I know. I mean, he's a great writer in addition
to a really terrific still photographer person, and a lot
(14:52):
of times he can do video and post stories when
he goes to events, so he can really do it all.
And people should breed Eric Crawford at WDRB dot com.
But you're right, I think back to when I first started,
and I actually started in the days when media people
would carry a portable typewriter with them on the road
(15:13):
in blank sheets of paper and white out and you
type your story and a typewriter, and there'd be a
guy at a lot of places that where you covered
events that had machines that were called telecopiers that were
precursors to fax machines, and you'd have to pay somebody
like twenty or thirty dollars and they would send your
(15:34):
story back to the newspaper. And the funny thing was
there were two different settings. One would be for four
minutes per page and the other was for six minutes
per page. If you're on a really tight deadline, you
probably had to do the four minute one, but if
you had time, it was better to do the six
minute one because it was more likely to come out
clear with the six minute one.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I bet. The interesting note on the technical side of
it back then, what about an interview? A favorite interview?
You've got to a post up, you know, sending good
wishes to Dewayne Lucas after the announcement of his health issues.
I'm sure you know he was certainly an interesting and
challenging interview. I don't know if it was him or
(16:16):
somebody else, But is there any one individual that standard
that stands out that you most enjoyed covering or interviewing?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
You know, My favorite person that I ever dealt with
in the media is Mary T. Maher, who's swimmer early
in Louisville.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Who had a butterfly.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Right multiple yeah, won multiple gold medals, and I always
admired her, and I'll tell the story real quick. But
when I first started, she was the world champion in
one hundred and one hundred meter and two hundred meters
butterfly and was supposed to go to the Olympics in
Russia in nineteen eighty and that was the year that
Jimmy Carter announced we would boycott the Olympics, I think,
(16:54):
after the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia. And she was at the
prime of her career then. And then four years later
she went to la and I covered that Olympics, and
she won three gold medals and performed really well, but
she wasn't you know. Her times weren't what they were before,
and people told her, yeah, that's nice, but the East
Germans weren't there and the Russians weren't there, and you know,
(17:17):
so then she trained four more years and went to Seoul,
South Korea, and I think she won a gold medal
maybe in a relay, but didn't win her main events.
And just to watch her deal with all of that,
all those circumstances that were out of her control and
had to be personally challenging to train that long and
(17:38):
swimming it was back in the days before swimming not
like now we're leadeki and some of these people were,
you know, were getting paid.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
She did it.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Because she wanted to do it to chase the gold
medal and represent her country. And after she got beaten
South South Korea, just to watch all the all the
swimmers and all these swimming coaches from all over the
world who came up and just hugged her and and
told her how much they admired her. That I've never
forgotten that. It's like, that's really the part of sports
that I love and I'm attracted to. There's all this
(18:10):
other stuff that controversies and money that we always are
dragged into talking about, but this was somebody who was
competing to compete, and I've never forgotten that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Great way to finish up the interview, Rick, thank you
for the time, Thank you for the career, For everybody
who's read your work and enjoy retirement.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Thank you, Tom, and I hope to so. I'm sure
I'll see you down the line somewhere, but best wishes
for it for good season this year.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Thank you very much. That is Rick Boza, che DDRB
dot com. We'll be right back. I'll the Leak Report
it reports presented each today by Bob Kat Enterprises with
four locations around Kentucky. So when you need to buy
or rent heavy equipment for a job talking loaders and excavators, forklifts,
(19:01):
et cetera, Bobcat Enterprises will have what you need fantastic
service after the sale or the rental agreement is executed.
So google Bobcat Enterprises to find the location that is
closest to you. They also zero turn moors for your
home lawn too. Lee Kay Howard joining us now from
WKYT TV here at Lexington and Lee K. You've covered
the NBA draft how many times?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Let's see, Tom, I covered it from twenty sixteen to
twenty nineteen, So guys like Shay Gildis, Alexander and Fox,
Bam and Monk and some of those guys in between.
It was quite a funning experience covering the draft there
in person in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I bet you you were maybe the only guy there
that night in twenty eighteen that said I tell you this,
Shay Gildess Alexander, he is going to be an MVP
one day.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, I believe I called it. Yes, we're gonna give
myself credit for that. No, No, it's you know, they
of course changed a lot of the regulations of how
they let you cover the direct aft after when COVID hit,
and they didn't bring some of them back unfortunately. But
during that time, you know, we had the ability to
sit down or I had the ability to sit down
(20:09):
one on one and talk to these guys moments after
they were drafted. So it was really a neat deal
because I think we a lot of times focus on
kind of the dollar signs and all the money that
these guys are making, but you kind of forget that
their kids that have had their life changed kind of
in that moment. And I'll never forget sitting down with
Jamal Murray probably thirty minutes after he was picked, and
(20:32):
and he hadn't even got a chance to celebrate with
his own family, and he was just like a little
giddy kid, you know, just so excited to be in
the NBA and everything. So that moment, and I think
that's something that I think about every time I watched
the draft. I grew up watching the NBA Draft, loving
the draft, and now since going to the draft for
four straight years, I just think about kind of the
(20:55):
backstage stuff and what goes on and what a big
moment it is for these guys to get a chance
ants to hear their names called.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Two Kentucky guys got that honor last night, and this
time of year ago, maybe some people were thinking, you know, well,
Kobe Brae, you know, we'll see how it goes at Kentucky.
Maybe he could get drafted just because he's a great shooter.
What about a Mariy Williams as a draft prospect who
right coming in from Grexel and played his way into
(21:24):
the second round. And seems I think both of the
guys ended up in good spots. But what was your
take on their how it played out for them?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, And you know, Tom, I think there was a
lot made first of all, that that Kentucky didn't have
a first round pick for the first time since two
thousand and nine, and that was expected with the roster
that Pope had put together. But you know, I think
you look at this group and you go, Okay, that's
kind of the dream of any college player. You start
your career at Drexel or at Dayton, and you find
(21:54):
your way to Kentucky for one year, and that gives
you the big enough, big enough platform to be able
to get noticed and get recognized and make it to
the NBA. I think that's a great thing, and I
think it's kind of a one off as far as
not getting a player in the first round. I think
next year you've got Jaden quaintins Is if he's healthy,
(22:15):
he's certainly a lottery pick, maybe even a Jasper Johnson
Cam Williams make their way into the first round. But
to see those two last night, in particular Kobe and
Amari go from where they started to being selected in
the NBA, I think that kind of represents kind of
the dream of what a lot of these players who
aren't a lottery pick can do with the school like Kentucky, and.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I think Jackson Robinson would have certainly been drafted and
might have made it into the first round had he
been able to stay healthy. When you look at the
trend line that he was on when he got hurt,
that it really started to click for him. So hopefully,
you know, he'll end up getting his shot via free
agency and make it as he recovers from his injuries.
(23:01):
On your Car signed a free agent deal with Portland.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
That's right. And Lamont Butler got a two way contract
actually with the Atlanta Hawks. You yeah, and so that
was good. So yeah, Andrew Carr got the Exhibit ten,
which is a non guaranteed contract, but each team only
gets six of those. So for him to go get
that Exhibit ten means he's going to have a shot
to make the Trailblazer squad through the summer league. Likely
(23:27):
obviously ends up with the G League squad. A lot
of those guys end up with the G League for
at least one year and then that two way contracts.
That's what Oscar Sheboy did a couple of years ago
with the Pacers organization, and that almost guarantees that they
will be a G League player for their organization at
least this next year, because there is some guaranteed money
involved there. So, you know, Lamont, that's that's excellent for him.
(23:52):
I think he's a guy that could could actually do
some things in the G League. And then you mentioned Jackson.
You know, he's a guy. Had he not been injured,
he's probably drafted in the second round. So there's kind
of wait to see where he ends up. I think
he'll get a shot. I think a lot of that
depends on his health. But you're right, you hate to
see that for him. But overall, though, these guys are
(24:13):
going to get an opportunity to make a team, and
so that's all you can ask for, I think for
for a lot of these.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Guys, Jackson's I wonder if it might take a few
more days to work itself out to lands where, because
I think he just got cleared to start doing workouts
maybe last week, and so teams are going to want
to kind of assess his, you know, medical situation before
they make a commitment. I would think, yeah, And I.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Think that's right because, like I said, teams only get
six Exhibit ten guys, three two way contract guys, and
they can add some others, but they're they're I mean,
they're probably not going to spend one of those contracts
on a guy that they don't know is fully healthy.
So I fully expect Jackson to get a chance with
somebody in the summer league to prove his health and
(24:59):
he can go from there. We know what Jackson can
do when he's healthy and in his game fits kind
of the the NBA and what guys are looking for,
so I fully expect him to get an opportunity as well,
so that you know, if that happens, then there's five guys,
five of the seniors from this past year's team that
have a chance at least to make to make the NBA.
(25:21):
And so that's I think that's great for this group.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And Otega away, we would hope would be in a
position to And the thing is, you want to if
he's a first round prospect next year, that means he's
had a really good season.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yeah, it does. And like I said just a bit
ago that you know, Kentucky did not have a first
round pick for the first time since Jody Meeks went
in the second round and in nine. But already some
of these, like I said, I'm kind of a draft
nerd uh looking at the way too early draft mock
draft for twenty twenty six, some of them have Otega
in there. Jaden Clayton certainly is in there. Uh. Even again,
(26:00):
like Cam Williams, who not a lot of people are
even thinking much about going into this this upcoming college season.
In some mock drafts, he's a projected first round pick,
and then who knows what Jasper Johnson does. So yeah,
I mean, so it's it's interesting that Kentucky could have
multiple in the in the first round and certainly in
the second round, depending on how the year plays out
(26:20):
for them individually and as a team. I think that
has a lot to do with it, so uh, you know,
and I think that'll kind of be the case every year.
Pope's gonna kind of put together his roster of highly
touted freshmen and with some veterans and and I think
that'll be kind of the trend going forward for him
and and this team.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It's interesting about Cam Williams because I think he gets
lost a little bit in a lot of the discussions.
You don't hear his name popped up as much when
people are projected to do their starting a line of
projections and those kinds of things. I think part of it.
You know, he committed during the NCL like tournament right
as soon as almost as soon as you could do that,
and then you know, more transfers you rolling in after that,
(27:00):
and but yeah, tell he wants to shoot even more
threes next year, and he does that.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Really well, he does, you know. And honestly, Cam Williams
is kind of my guy that I'm watching as the
guy that's going to surprise most Kentucky fans this next year.
Because you're right. He committed when we were in Indianapolis
for the for the tournament, and it kind of got,
you know, put to the back burner because of the
team was plunt because the team was playing. But if
(27:25):
you look at his skill set, he's kind of I mean,
he's an athletic, much more athletic than Kobe was. Uh.
He can shoot. Uh, he's he's kind of that wing
guy that that a lot of NBA teams are looking
for as far as a piece a guy like like
Kobe who can spread the floor. And so I you know,
I think that Cam Williams is certainly a guy that
(27:47):
he may not be as high on even college uh
fans rosters as he might be on NBA. Uh, you
know in their minds as of kind of a guy
who can transition and playing that game. So I think
Cam Williams is certainly a guy to watch this next
season for what he does.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I was happy to see Douthi Erro get picked in
the second round last night. He's going to the Lakers
via trade, and you know that's the guy. When he
signed or committed, I can't remember which to Kentucky. Maybe
it was just a commitment. Anyway, he had no stars.
I mean he was even rated, and then once you
saw him and saw him been actually he was like, wow,
(28:25):
this guy's pretty good. And then he you know, once
he's once he signed with Kentucky, he started he started
to get the stars, but he had none when he committed.
And so it's always you know, that doesn't happen much
these days, where somebody's that far under the radar and
makes it.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
No, it doesn't. And I remember when a Due signed
with Kentucky, it almost felt like a favor for his dad,
who played, you know, under calat Niphis. It almost felt like, oh,
this is a guy who Cal coached his father, and
he was smaller. If you remember that season, he played
a lot of backup point guard. You know, he played
a lot of guard for Kentucky. And then with all
(29:02):
the talk was just he was going to keep growing
and growing, and he did and he matured, and you
know that's that is I think a success story for
the Caliperi era at Kentucky. A guy that came in
with no stars, like you said, and made himself into
a very good player. I read something last night that
the Lakers had actually grated a do as a first
(29:22):
round prospect in their grading system, and that's why they
actually moved up and traded up when he was still
available going into that second round to get him. And
let me just say this too real quick about the
second round. You know, last year was the first time
they split it up into two nights where there was
you know, round one on one night, round two on
last night, but they only had that second round last
(29:44):
year kind of in a studio. I thought it was
a nice touch last night to invite another group of
players into the green room, so to speak, for round two,
like a do like Kobe, like Jeni Broom of Auburn
and give those guys a chances well to walk across
the stage and hear their names called. So I think
that was a neat thing that they did for the
first time last night.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Well said Lee K. Thank you much, interesting insight there
on the draft.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
I appreciate it all right, Thank you, Tom.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
That is Lee K. Howard from dody KYT TV here
in Lexington and it is a quarter before the top
of the hour. We'll talk about the closing weekend, the
Churchill Downs, the big card of stakes races coming up
tomorrow with Kevin Cursting Will we come right back. It
is the Leech Report from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio.
Return refresh and refuel at Clark's our Roddy edition of
(30:47):
the Leech Report. Say, we welcome Kevin cursting to the
program from Churchill Downs to talk about the big closing
weekend there and a bunch of stakes races on the
card tomorrow. Kevin headline the Grade one Stephen Foster and
it's field that is at seven. But uh, it is
very very well matched group. How do you, uh, what what?
(31:12):
What's what's your What would you tell fans about that
field and what to expect in that race? Oh, good
morning Tom.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
It's setting up to be a great closing weekend here
at Churchill Downs. It's hard to believe Derby felt like
it was just last week. But the Stephen Foster you
sort of alluded to it. It is a star studed field.
It is the richest earnings field in Stephen Foster history.
Six of them are millionaires. You have the Kentucky Derby
winner of last year, missedic Dan, facing off against the
runner up Sierra Leone, who want to go on and
(31:40):
win the Breeders Cup Classic. And oh, by the way
add in a Dubai World Cup winner and Hit Show,
plus the winner of the Churchill Downstakes here on Kentucky
Derby Day and mind Frame. It is a star studed field,
a great lineup, and it is a race that I've
been looking forward to for the last several weeks and
I'm really excited for it to come to Fruition just
after six pm on Saturday evening.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Working there at Churchill, you get to talk to the
horseman just walking around the backside of the morning, see
the horses training. Who's has anybody caught your eye more
than anybody else in that group?
Speaker 4 (32:10):
It's interesting. So I mentioned this sort of those top
four horses that really have the resume and the accolades
in that Stephen Foster. But there's one that I didn't
mention in trainer Brad Cox, who has risen to the
top of the trainer ranks as we know in the
horse racing world. He's having two horses in this race.
One of them is Hit Show, who is the Dubai
World Cup winner, but another one is First Mission, who
exited the Oakland Handicap in his last start. He won
(32:32):
that race and he was actually the favorite in this
race last year and didn't come to fruition. But he's
one that I think mich Go a little bit unrecognized
because you have several of those other big time horses
in this race. So if you're looking to get the
most bang for your buck through the windows, he might
be a little bit ignored at the windows, but he
definitely is poised I think to get his first grade one.
It's not to take away anything from the Kentucky Derby winner,
(32:54):
the Breeders' Cup Classic winner, and mistic Dan and Sieri
Leone respectively, but first Mission, I just think he's poised
for a top effort on Saturday. Just by the way
that he's looking in the mornings and by the way
that the race shape could shape up for him. I
think he's going to sit a good trip from the
inside with Louis Ayas.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
He looks like one of those horses that they clearly
thought had big time. Potentially when the Lexington he was
being pointed to the Preakness, said some kind of issue
that they kept him from getting to run in the Preakness.
But then he runs back and nearly wins the Clark
Candy Cap. But maybe that last race, just on numbers.
I kind of thought maybe he's finally you know, realizing
(33:31):
the potential they thought he had for a long time. Yeah,
I believe so.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
And you know, it's just that Grade one race for
you know, the Marquis Stallion writes with Godolphin just has
eluded him and he was going to be the favorite
for that Preakness, and you know, it was just a
shame that things came to, you know, shape the way
that it did. But I think he's really coming into
his own and this could be really a check mark
on his storied career for this, you know, top ownership
(33:59):
group and go Dolphin.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Also on the card is last year's Kentucky Oaks winner
and the horse of the Year Torpedo Anna, who had
a very very rough trip in her race on Oaks
Day and finished up the track and so now she's
trying to bounce back reputation wise. How has she looked?
Speaker 4 (34:19):
You know, it just this this race just goes to
show the how top notch of this card is on
Saturday with the horse of the Year in Torpedo Anna.
And it's a big question mark Tom as you mentioned,
because you know when horses sort of encounter that trouble
as she did in the phase of Tipton Lacherin on
Kentucky Oaks Day. It's sort of like, okay, well, how
is she going to mentally come back off of that? Physically?
(34:41):
She just looked fine in the morning's Jackie Brian Hernandez
Junior and I were talking this morning and he said,
she's doing everything right in the morning. She's you know,
feels like that she's back to her old self and
coming into the race as she did a month ago.
But how does that affect on her mentally? I don't
know if it's the you know, sort of the four
other phillies and mayors that she's facing this race. I
(35:01):
don't know if they're going to be quite the same
competition she would face a year end and the Breeders'
Cup distaff, But it is some question marks of how
she will handle this mentally.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
On Saturday, when's the how many stakes races and when
is the first one on the card? Tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (35:17):
We have six straight steak races tomorrow with Stephen Foster
Day almost four million dollars in purses. The action will
get kicked off in race number seven with that phase
of Tipton flirtal Lee going at three point fifty two pm,
goes all the way to Race twelve six thirty two
pm with the American Derby, and then Sunday we come
back with closing day of the Spring Meet with five
(35:38):
stakes races on the card. So it's a really star
studded weekend to close things out here at Churchill Down.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
And then the racing of shift down to Ellis Park
at Western Kentucky. And I see that's when Tyler gaff
leone is going to make a long awaited return.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Yeah, a lot of people were waiting for Tyler to
get back to the races. He had an unfortunate incident
in March at Gullstring Park. It was actually a horse
that he wasn't named a ride original and then he
was a replacement jockey on and in the paddock the
horse reared up and he ended up fracturing his ankle,
having a couple of surgeries on it. So he's been
out since March, and he's going to return the summer
and ride in Henderson, Kentucky at Ellis Park for some
(36:12):
big money one hundred thousand dollars main special weights allowances
in the six figures as well. It's gonna be a
great summer down at Henderson.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
KK appreciate the time it's at horse Racing KK on
X and Kevin Kirstik from Churchill Downs, thank you. Thanks Tom.
Fantastic card coming up tomorrow at Churchill. We're going to
get to our final break and come back with one
more segment of this final edition of the Leach Report.
For this week, Say Wow Cat History presented by Kentucky
(36:54):
Road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia. They are on Romedy
Road here in Lexington at a roachhow arts dot com.
Some birthdays, Happy birthday Will Levis the former Kentucky QB,
Dominique Hawkins. Happy birthday to dom and Antoine Barber those
both Antwine and Dominique coming out of Kentucky High School
(37:17):
Basketball Dom at Madison Central, Antwine at Etown. And then
we'll levi us happy birthdays one and all. Well, summer
is here and corn Bread Hamp has some great products
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calories per can. Go to Cornbreadhemp dot com. This is
the good life. A Jel arts she signed with a
pro team in Kosovo. Good luck to her. The Bengals
have extended their lease with Cincinnati, so they're gonna stay
at pay Course Stadium. At least your twenty thirty six
have a great weekend, everybody will see a Monday on
the Leach Report, presented by Bob Kat Enterprises.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
Ape dot com or seven ninety Louisville dot com, and
anytime you're out of range of the stations, catch the
show via the iHeartRadio app. If you have any questions
for Tom, email Leach Report at gmail dot com and
check out his website, Tom Leach KWY dot com
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