2025-05-30 - BBI

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Boon Sider Dick Abriel with you.
It's a Friday, and it does not end well for
Kentucky fans as the Wildcats blow an early lead and
fall in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament four
to three. West Virginia walks it off on a sacrifice fly.
Kentucky scoring three runs in the top of the fourth,

(00:21):
but give up two runs unearned in the bottom of
the fifth, another run in the sixth, and then it
remained scoreless until the ninth, when West Virginia leads off
the inning with a double, runner, moves to third base
on a pass ball, and then scores on a sackfly.
Griffin Cameron made a tumbling catch in center field and

(00:43):
came up throwing, but never had a chance to nail
the speedy West Virginia runner from third. So the Wildcats
open tournament play with a four to three loss in
the Clemson Regional. It's double elimination. They'll play again tomorrow
against the winner of Clemson and USC Upstate, and got

(01:03):
to win from here on now. Kentucky has won a
couple of regional titles under Nick menjeone, having lost a
game coming out of the bottom bracket, the losers bracket,
but they won their opener, then they lost the next one.
This is gonna be much much tougher. As the Cats
missed opportunities, they gave West Virginia new life with mistakes.

(01:28):
Kentucky with a couple of errors. West Virginia made mistakes
as well, and the Wildcats took full advantage. Now, the
first run scored by Kentucky came in Kentucky fashion, the
Wildcats dropping down a bunt Cayas Gargett, but it was
not a great bun. He popped it up. And we
have seen that all year. Too many times Kentucky called

(01:50):
upon to bunt, they pop it up. But this time
the Cats got a little lucky because Gargets pop up
didn't go very far, and the West Virginia pitcher tried
to make a diving catch, couldn't come up with a
ball cleanly. Eventually handled the ball, but by then the
UK runner had broken for the plate and scored the

(02:11):
game's first run. Here's the way Darren Hedrick called it.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
He needs to get this ball through the infield. Right
field is wide open. First pitch, he squares the butt
and popped it up. Third base side and it drops
fair and scoring his Swartz to thrown a second not
in time.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Off the bat.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
It didn't look like a great butt, but the result
for Kentucky is terrific and they grabble one nothing lead.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
So that made it one nothing Wildcats and break for Kentucky,
and that Kentucky got even luckier after that. We're still
in the top of the fourth inning and the Wildcats
took advantage of West Virginia mistakes to put up two
more runs and take a three to nothing lead.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
The old one swung on it bounce left side and
it's bobbled by the short.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Stop Hi throw his wild over the first baseman. Herrera
stores carget process, standing it'll be an error on the
throw by the shortstop Cresser. But Kentucky grabs two and
takes a three to nothing lead in the fourth.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
But then the offense went to sleep. And we've seen
it again happen this year, Kentucky taking an early lead
in a game, mostly in the SEC games, and then
not build on it and the Wildcats lose another one
run game. Eleven of UK's SEC losses came by one

(03:35):
or two runs. Twelve of UK's SEC loss this of course,
was an NCAA tournament loss came by a total of
seventeen runs. It's just been that kind of frustrating season
for the Wildcats and Kentucky and SEC games led in
twenty eight to thirty one games. So now if you're
throwing this one twenty nine of thirty two games. Wildcats

(03:59):
get the early lead, but then just can't hang on.
They make too many mistakes in the field and a
couple of mistakes on the mound, a pass ball by
Devin Burks, and the Wildcats fall four to three to
West Virginia. This is not the same Kentucky team, nor
is it the same West Virginia team. But these two
programs met two years ago in the NCAA Tournament in

(04:23):
Lexingon and Kentucky won by a total of ten to nothing.
So the Cats aren't out of it yet. But now
Ben Cleaver pitched today. Was good, not great, was good,
should have won and at times he was great. But
now he's their best starter. He had been their Sunday starter,
but he's done. Simon Gregorson came in, ran into trouble,

(04:48):
gave way to Jacksonoviy the ninth inn and Gregorson gave
up the double Novie gave up. It was just a
flare off the fists into center field. But it was
just one of those in betweeners and there's no way
Kentucky could have kept that guy from scoring. So anyhow,
another tough loss for the baseball Wildcats. They'll play tomorrow
and we'll have to let you know a little bit

(05:09):
later on about what time they play. Keep an eye
on the internet if you will. Tonight on the show,
coming up, we're gonna be from Mark Pope as he
talks about otego oh way. We got more information about
the Wildcats and what they've got coming back and what
they're looking at this coming season. But some interesting comments

(05:30):
from Pope earlier in the month about otago away. And
we'll take a look at what Kentucky has coming back,
and we're gonna look at some interesting comments offered by
Mark's story at Harold Leader, who is wondering about the
UK offense coming up this season, So we'll talk about
that as well. Also coming up at the bottom of

(05:52):
the hour, Kenny McPeak, the trainer of last year's Kentucky
Derby winner and Oaks Winter Torpedo Anna Derby Mystic Dan
my day started at three am. I got up early.
My partner and I the exec producer of our show,
Tim Francis, We drove to Churchill Downs today and we
were going to watch both of those horses work. They galloped.

(06:14):
We saw Anna gallop in a driving, absolutely driving rain
with Robbie Albarado up. So afterwards we talked to Kenny
about those two horses, and we also talked to Robbie Albarado.
The jockey won more than five thousand races before he
retired and and now is working for Kenny. He galloped

(06:35):
torpedo Anna today, So that's coming up at the bottom
of the hour. A little bit later on Billy Rutlers
will join us. We'll talk about Kentucky football and Kentucky
basketball as well. Billy you hear him on this very
radio station every morning after the Leads report at nine
AM on the KSR pre Show, and we'll top off
the week with Heroes, fools and flakes. That's all ahead

(06:55):
here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome
back to the Big Blue and Sider. It's been a
good week for Kentucky basketball fans. Of course, former Wildcats,
say Gildris Alexander Sga is the MVP of the Western
Conference Finals. He has led the Thunder into the NBA

(07:15):
Championship Round, where they will face either the Pacers or
the Knicks. The Karl Anthony Towns led Nicks now down
only three to two in their series, but it's going
back to Indy and right now the Pacers look like
the team that's going to play Oklahoma City for the
NBA Championship. Also, of course, for UK fans, it was

(07:37):
a great week because Otega Olway announced as expected that
he would return, but he needed to get as much
information as he could from the NBA and now he
will tackle his second season as a Kentucky Wildcat. And
earlier this month, Mark Pope answered a lot of different
questions about his team, his program as players, and you

(07:59):
might recall this is what he said about what Otega
Oway brings to the table as a ballplayer. He was
talking specifically then about what NBA scouts would see in
a way what Kentucky fans already see, and it's kind
of the starting point for a way to improve his game.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
Oh Otega's physicality is elite. His physicality on the offensive end,
defensive end, and and that shows up in a lot
of ways. It shows up in in contact, actually hits.
He shows shows up in his explosiveness, He shows up
in his first step, shows up in his ability to
kind of navigate h Garden guys off the ball through

(08:40):
screens and on the ball through screens by creating space
with his chest. So he has a in those ways,
he is you know, he is as good as you're
gonna find.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
He's really special.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
He's he grew so much last season.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
In case you need a reminder about Otago Away's numbers
this last year. First of all, I guess when you
think back at all the injuries and the shifting of
lineups and things like that that Mark Pope and his
staff had to endure this past season. Yeah, I guess
it might not surprise you to know that Otega Oway

(09:16):
was one of only two Wildcats to start every game.
Give it a second, who was the other osa Mari Williams.
Of course, who are the Wildcats who played in every
game Besides Oway and Williams, Well, there are only a couple.
Kobe Brea played in every game, Ainsley Almanor played in

(09:40):
every game. Brandon Garrison missed a game to injury. Andrew
Carr missed the game to injury. Jackson Robinson only played
in twenty four games. Lamont Butler missed nine games to injury.
By the way, Andrew Carr started twenty nine games. Brandon
Garrison and missed the one game he never started, so

(10:03):
he played in thirty five games without a start. Kerk
Creaes only played in those nine games. Now, as far
as the guy's coming off the bench are concerned, Travis
Perry played in the most games he played in thirty one,
started four. Of course, he's now at O miss. Colin
Chandler played in thirty games without a start. Trent Noah

(10:25):
played in twenty four games without a start. So again,
Oway and Amari Williams the only Wildcats to start every
game this season. And Oway led in minutes played at
twenty eight point three per game. Jackson Robinson averaged twenty
eight point one, so did Kobe Brea average twenty eight

(10:49):
point one. Lamont Butler only twenty six minutes a game. Remember,
he had the ongoing injury situation, so they had to
sit him in some games and he got into some
foul trouble. Amari Williams sharing the time in the low
Post averaged twenty two point eight minutes per game. Car

(11:09):
averaged twenty four. Brandon Garrison averaged a little more than
seventeen minutes a game, So very similar to the kinds
of numbers that and again, this team not nearly that good,
similar to what Rick Patino's national title team in ninety
six was like because Antoine Walker led that team in

(11:32):
minutes played somewhere between twenty six and twenty eight minutes
per game. Really really unusual. Now the guys coming back, now,
you've got Oh Way, You've got Brandon Garrison, you've got
Colin Chandler. Those are the guys that it's going to

(11:53):
be really interesting to see what did Owen Trentoah, what
do they do in year two? Because Pope was talking
about this, the fact that because his system is so
unusual and you could see it this year, it took
a little while for these guys to figure it out
and to play without thinking so much. Well, now, Pope said,

(12:14):
second year guys make huge strides, huge improvements because they've
already mastered, my word, what he's asking them to do.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Our guys make a massive jump from year one to
year two. The guys that kind of are in our deal,
you know, wherever I've coached, it's so fun. Year two
is so fun because year one is just this onslot
of learning decision making. I mean, as a broad brusher,

(12:47):
just overwhelmed with learning decision making. Learning decision making takes time, right,
Learning dot to dot takes a little bit of time.
Learning how to make decisions takes a lot of time.
And understand why and where and how and the skill
set actually do it and so and what works and
what doesn't and what works for you as an individual
player with your skill set and what doesn't. And so

(13:08):
the guys coming in second year for me, almost without failed,
they take massive leaps. And so we expect all these
returners to be much much better than they were last year,
which is saying a lot, because they were really good
last year.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
So now when you figure in always inherent knowledge now
of Mark Pope's system and how he wants things to
do and what's expected of him, mix that in with
what Oway took away from his NBA workouts, it's going
to be fascinating to see what kind of player he becomes,
as well as the other guys Garrison and Noah and

(13:46):
Colin Chandler and Pope talked at Linked about Chandler as well,
quite how much he expects him to improve this year.
So it's going to be really fascinating to see what
these guys are like coming right out of the block.
Bad news on the basketball front is it looks like
they're gonna screw it up. They're going to screw up

(14:08):
the NCAA tournament. Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAAA,
said one of his top priorities, and he was at
the Big twelve spring meetings, was talking about expanding March Madness,
which could come as soon as twenty twenty six. He
said that would be the goal. To try and do

(14:29):
it for this next do this for next year. We've
been talking about seventy two and seventy six. Stop it,
Stop it now. He said, if you have a tournament
that's got sixty eight teams in it, we're gonna have
a bunch of teams, probably among what most people would
consider being the best sixty eight or seventy teams in

(14:51):
the country, that aren't going to make the tournament period,
because you get a whole bunch of people who win
their conference tournaments who aren't in that group. Sow what
stop it. Stop screwing with it, because what you're gonna
do is add more mediocre games. Quit screwing around with

(15:13):
what has been fantastic. You're just gonna mess it up.
How can adding more and more teams that don't belong
there playing mediocre games improve anything except and here's the answer,
to put money in your pocket for the schools, for

(15:34):
the conferences, because there's more commercial inventory out there. I
get that at some point you gotta think about the fans,
don't you. Well, apparently not, because everybody's looking to get
by now, but they are going if they're not careful,
they're going to wreck March Madness. They did it. I

(15:56):
realize this is different in the high school ranks in Indiana,
which rivaled Kentucky for the greatest tournament in March, and
they screwed it up, and they've tried to get back
to it and they can't. Bad decisions. Here's another one.
I can't say this is a bad decision, but it's

(16:17):
going to really be untenable. SEC Commissioner Greg sank Down
in Florida announced that the conference is moving away from
the escalating fine system and now they're going to be
charging each school half a million dollars for each court
or field storming. He said the motivation was field rushing.

(16:39):
Is field rushing the first time or the eighteenth time?
He said, the random nature of it. If you're the
one getting rushed, it doesn't feel good. He said. It
might be the first time it's happened, but it might
be your sixth time in a row. Literally, No, I
didn't know this, but evidently the conference could wave the fine,

(16:59):
but only if the opposing team and staff members and
the officials can get off the field and in their
locker rooms before the storming happens. That's not gonna happen anywhere.
And Mike, with basketball, if you've got a lot of
security people, it's not gonna happen with football because just

(17:20):
as the clock expires, fans are gonna come over the
wall and rush the field, and the other team will
not have a chance to get out of there. I've
always maintained this is a made for TV situation. Fans
storm the field and the courts because it looks good

(17:41):
on TV. And I reach out to my brethren and
say stop showing it, and that would help. Might not
stop it, but that would help here's the other thing
that's gonna stop it. If your school is penalized half
a million and another half a man and another half
a man, you're going to force the athletic department to

(18:04):
raise your ticket prices. And people like to joke about, Oh,
put buckets at the at the gates and people can donate. Yeah,
it's going to take a lot more than that to
absorb this kind of cost. But if you start jacking
up ticket prices, and if you do that, if you're
the schools, you should say your tickets are going to

(18:25):
cost you an additional five dollars per this season because
of the court storming and the field storming, that would
go a long way to putting a stop to it.
You cannot stop it at football stadiums unless you hire
an army of security people. A lot of places have
already stopped it when it comes to basketball, and it

(18:47):
doesn't happen at Repperena because the configuration of Rupperina and
they've got enough security people there to short circuit it.
But hit them in a wallet, hit them in a checkbook.
That'll bring it to a club up next. Saggy trip
to Churchill Downs today here on six thirty wlap Welcome

(19:09):
back to the Big Blue Insider. I hope you and
yours made it safely through the weather we had earlier today.
My business partner and I, Tim Francis basically the execut
producer of The Big Blue Insider and a guy who
was quite active with the group that stages the Mark
Stoops event in the summertime, Coaches for Kids event. We

(19:31):
took a trip over to Churchill Downs to watch Torpedo
Anna and Mystic Dan training and also to get the
trainer Kenny McPeak to sign some items for the Silent Auction,
and it was obviously a terrible day to do that.
We knew that rain was in the forecast, just not
this kind of rain. We drove through a monsoon which well,

(19:55):
it was still there when we got to Churchill and
I spent a lot of early morn a Churchill Downs
covering the Kentucky Derby and Breeders Cup and things like that.
Never have I encountered rain like this. And then when
Kenny McPeak showed up, it is born. We actually get
those barn a few minutes before he did. Well, he
showed up, and of course he is driven back and
forth between Lexington and Louisville for decades. Literally, he says,

(20:20):
I've never seen rain like this coming to the racetrack.
And I told my partner, I said, I bet they
don't send these horses out. Well they did. They sent
them out to gallop. We watched Anna gallop. They didn't
gallop Dan until later on in the morning. But in
the driving pouring rain, a lot of trainers had their

(20:40):
horses out and Thorpina Anna was one of them. And
of course she's a pro. She's a pros pro. Robbie Albarrato,
who works now for Kenny McPeak three, he's retired as
a jockey. He galloped and this morning we're gonna hear
from Robbie coming up a little bit later on. But
I had a chance to chat with Kenny after the

(21:03):
champion Philly galloped. And remember now Torpeda Anda won the
Kentucky Oaks last year for Kenny McPeak, and the next
day Mystic Dan won the Kentucky Derby. Such a rarity
for a trainer to win the Oaks on Friday and
the Derby on Saturday. But Kenny McPeak, a UK product,

(21:26):
a Tates Creek High School alum, did that and we
had a chance to chat about it. I talked to
him a couple of days after the race. He was
on the show the Monday after Kentucky Derby. Well we
caught up this morning between the rain drops. How bad
was that rain this morning?

Speaker 5 (21:43):
Yes, all the year, all the years that I've been
training at Churchill, I've never seen rain like that coming
in or while I was there.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
So it's pretty.

Speaker 5 (21:53):
That's sunny in the background there. But yeah, it kind
of puts a dam on our day general.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
It's okay, I go say, how does it affect your work?

Speaker 5 (22:03):
Well, everywhere you get frozen race tracks, you get sloppy racetracks,
you get different different setups. But and sometimes it's too
hot too. You try to get done early. So it's
as typical. We have to just what.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Has life been like for you? I mean, you haven't
been a low profile, but since you won the Oaks
and Derby back to back.

Speaker 5 (22:22):
Well, I've signed a lot of things I've got I
think the membabilia people have actually learned how to forge
my signature, which is interesting, but but that's you know,
that's an honor to do all that, and you know
a lot of people want to have selfies and things
like that. So yeah, it's been kind of unique. It's
a long way from you know, Tates Creek HW School
or growing up in Lexington.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
I hear you on with Tony Kornheiser and you're lobbying,
lobbying to do the five Good Minutes on PTI. But
just the fact that you've you've got a little more
notoriety now, which is great for the sport, isn't it.
And I know you're not looking to promote yourself as
much as you are the sport.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
Well, you know, me a long time when I had
that good horse to Hana run years ago, my mother
would say, speaking full sentences, make sure you take your
sunglasses off, and you do interviews all that. She always
critiqued all that. So I've you know, learned to be
relatively well spoken. So they then you all tend to
gravitate to me, which is fine. I don't know if

(23:21):
that's well, it's obviously it's always good. But I think
this sport needs more openness, more information out there, and
the more people understand it, I think the more they
can appreciate what we do.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, it's interesting because you know, kind of growing up
professionally covering races, ran into so many trainers. You just
didn't trust the media, which I can I can get
if they're not used to that. But I mean, you guys,
you're independent contractors and you're promoting the game right well.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
I think anytime, like for example, you're you're you're helping
talk about the sport right now and and and anytime
people can learn about it, I think it's just better.
I mean, I've always been open, and you and I've
known each other a long time and I'm not going
to change that. Whether I won the Derby or the
Oaks or not, this conversation wouldn't be any different. But
it's it's real, you know, an honor for somebody to

(24:13):
seek out your opinion or certainly care about what you're
up to. And and I think horse racing really does
need to be much more open, and I wish more
guys did.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
That helps to have a superstar like Anna, doesn't it.
She was galloping today in the weather and Robbie the
first thing he said when he got off is she's
the smartest horse he's ever been on. That's got to
be a huge plus as a trainer, I would think.

Speaker 5 (24:37):
Well, I've said to my whole time. It's for a
long time, Sonny, get over here, come here. I've said
to my team for a long time. You know, we
were always one good horse away from from uh really
getting the lights shine shining on us a little bit more.
And and it really is all about stock. I mean,
I've got some great clientele, and you know, we work
those sales really hard. And if you could come up

(24:58):
with a horse like Mystic dang or Anna and actually,
you know, Mystic Dan's probably my proudest moment. I don't
know if you know all the backstory on that, and
I don't know people out there do. But so I
bought his mother. Actually the ownership wasn't going to keep
her as a mayor, and I convinced him to and
then I did the mating and then we fold her

(25:20):
at Magdalena and Lexington and he's subsequently born. We raised him, Yeah,
we raised him at Magdalena, We broke him to saddle.
We obviously raced him and win the derby. And then
I mean all that that most people are happy to
have their fingerprints on just one stage. We had her
fingerprints on every stage. That's probably my proudest moment is

(25:43):
as a as a horseman. I mean, there are people
that are very proud to have fold a mayor or
made it a mayor and raised a Derby winner, And
I mean, look, I probably should have quit on Sunday
after that weekend. Anyway, it's all good you doing. He's
doing great, He's in tomorrow, and he's a horse that

(26:04):
I think we made some mistakes with him coming out
out of his Derby win. We maybe shouldn't run in
the Belmont in hindsight, his two races late in the year,
late three year old, early four were in hindsight, I
wish I could kind of have a do over there.
But then we backed up and we regrouped, and his
last race was superb, and so we'd like to think
we're getting back in the winter circle tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
We won't have a triple Crown winner this year, obviously.
And I know you've been interviewed about Bill Mott's decision,
and it's hard to second guess of Bill Mott. I
know where are you on the calendar and in tradition
and should things change in thoroughbred racing, Well.

Speaker 5 (26:41):
I think this should change it, and I think it
should be the first Saturday in May the first Saturday
in June, the first Saturday in July. You know, there
will be people who would argue with that. But every
support changes, you know, I can remember, you know, the
NBA Finals are over much earlier than June.

Speaker 6 (26:56):
You know.

Speaker 5 (26:56):
Now now March Madness goes into April. You know, they've
gone from I don't how many games fourteen games now
they play eighteen. You know, So those things do change,
and I don't think it's a big deal, but I
think pattern wise, for trainers to come back in two
weeks three weeks, it's not the best thing for the horse.

(27:17):
In hindsight, I wouldn't have run Mystic Dan in the Preakness.
I would have skipped it and maybe just gone straight
to the Belmont. That's would have been similar to Bill,
and I respect Bill for his decision.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Why did you run? I mean you did? Do you
feel like that was part of the racing lore?

Speaker 5 (27:33):
Well, he was doing good and he ran well, he
ran second, He didn't he didn't embarrass us at all.
But after that race, you know, look he was over
the top, and of course we didn't know that until
he ran really flat in the Belmont. But it's not
the first time that's happened to any horse. I guess
that makes the Triple Crown that much more difficult. But
you know, look in this day and age, I think

(27:55):
I think it'd be better for the horse, and we're
all worried about the health and welfare of the horses
and to just that. But you've got to get into
these like Pimlico to agree and Valmont to agree and
how does that happen? And that's somebody with a higher
pace scale than me.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Well, I'll let you go with this. People may or
may not know. You're a huge UK fan keeping an
eye on Mark Pope's stable. I mean, he's got some
some pretty nice stock over there.

Speaker 5 (28:21):
Yes, So so Pat Kelsey comes around. We've got a
horse named after coach, Yeah, Louisville coach and my wife's
a U of L graduate and so that's a little
bone of contention around our family at home. But I
threw L's down with Kelsey here derby week and Pope
called me the next day and actually reached out to
somebody get me his phone number. So he reached out

(28:43):
to me. So we've gotten to know each other a
little bit. Actually facetiming over another deal about a week
ago and we were chatting and Gino's formal affairs got
some some suits, took some formal suits for the basketball
team over there, and I reached out to Mark and
let him know that. But yeah, I'm gonna My goal

(29:04):
is and how you know this is to do the
widet mid court.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Gotta happen.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
I wanted to do it this year's U of L game.
I gotta wait next year. I suppose Pope says I
need to win another Derby.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
Man, that'd be all right.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
I'm here working, right't I right?

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Thanks, Kenny, You're welcome. Kenny's a great trainer. He's got
more than two thousand career wins. He's won virtually every
stakes race you can win in America, breeders Cup races,
He's won the Bellmont, He's won the Preakness and the
Kentucky Derby, and has his own racing app called horse

(29:40):
Racing Now, and through that app you can listen to
his podcast. And on that podcast, he picked this year's
Kentucky Derby winner and he believes that horse will win
the Bellmont. He's picking Sovereignty. He's picking Sovereignty to win
the third leg of Racing's Triple Crown, the Triple Crown

(30:00):
winner this year, of course, But yeah, he knows his
stuff and in fact I got to know him fairly
well in nineteen ninety five when he trained a horse
called the Hanul Run. He picked the horse out of
a sale for six thousand dollars, purchased the horse for
the Monroe's Roy and Joyce Monroe and trained him up

(30:22):
to the Kentucky Derby. And you might recall us if
you're a racing fan. He trained at Keenland all week long.
Didn't bring him over to Churchill Downs and people were
throwing their hands up and scratching it. You can't do that.
Well he did it and Awadors ran second in the
Kentucky Derby in nineteen ninety five. That was as close
as Kenny got until he won it with Mystic Dan

(30:45):
this past year, and Donald Run, by the way, went
on to be a successful stallion up in Canada. So
despite the whether, we had a good time talking to
Kenny and coming up next with you from Robbie Alvarado
and by the way, we enjoyed being around Sonny the
big Yellow Lab was excited about something this morning and
let us know about it. I want to come on

(31:06):
six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Moons sight here.
As we mentioned earlier, we were at Churchill Downs this
morning in the monsoon to watch Torpedo and a gallup.
We were gonna watch Mystic Dan, but they kind of
held off on him for a little while because of
all that rain. But I had a chance to talk
to Robbie Albarado. He is one of the winningest jockeys

(31:28):
of all time. Of course, he retired back in twenty
twenty one, about a year after he little more than
a year after he won the Preak Mistakes on Swiss
Skydiver for Kenny McPeak. So he works for Kenny now,
and he's a guy who has known so much success
at Churchill Downs. In fact, he is third all time

(31:51):
as a jockey at Churchill Downs in victory, behind only
Pat Day and Calvin Burrell. He's won more than five
thousand races. But now, as we said, working for Kenny
galloping horses in the morning, thinking that it is still
about becoming an agent. But we talked to him right
after he got off Torpedo Anna, because before and after

(32:14):
he galloped that horse, he told us she is the
smartest horse he has ever ridden, Robbie, this rain is
something else. What is it like when you're out there
galloping in weather like this?

Speaker 7 (32:25):
It's a little fun, man, But it's always nice to
be on a battle horse, a really talented horse, which
I was on this morning. I was on the infamous
torpedo Anna. She's special. She's the smartest horse I've ever
been on. I've ridden thirty thousand race thirty four thousand
races and maybe another fifty thousand more in the mornings,
and she's bout for all the smartest horse I've been on.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
What is the smart horse to do? How do you know?
She's smart?

Speaker 7 (32:48):
But like the conditions is normally on a fast track,
she will try to get rank and run off and
try to she can't, but she tried to run off
get really strong, and today she got out there. It
was raining really hard in the track condition, I guess,
and she felt it, and she was very calm and easy,
whichy'all wanted that this morning from her.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
You've ridden great horses. I mean a lot of the
great ones are pretty smart. They're not all that smart, though.

Speaker 7 (33:12):
Are they?

Speaker 5 (33:14):
They?

Speaker 7 (33:14):
You know, they're not all smart. Some of them are are.
You get a lot of coachs that get honoring and
stubborn some time, and then some bunch of phillies have
got there, you know, some more sensitive and you can't
do much much on them. But uh, the smart as
they're different, they're they're the good ones. They're different. They
breed different there, they move different, they act different. They
sleep all day long in the stall, and you got's
a good telltale sign.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Of a really good horseman. Why. I don't know. I
don't know why.

Speaker 7 (33:37):
I guess sleeps to their advantage. They train hard. They
train hard, so they they sleep well. I don't know
what it is curling horses, right, curling course of the year,
so lay down all the time? Mindshaft another horse of
the year, so lay down all the time?

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Swis skydiver?

Speaker 7 (33:50):
I mean I can name read all some gulls I've
been on that they slate, they sleep all day long.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Well, we've seen Thorpedia and a wind. She's she's the
greatest female out there right now. How does being smart
do you think help her when she's actually racing?

Speaker 7 (34:05):
Well, I feel like and uh, she can overcome quite
a bit of in a race, and she adjust to
if you have to call anaudible. She's there for you
if you need to give her back a little more,
get her forward a little more. She's pretty manageable in
a race. The more in time she gets ranged. But
in the race time she's managed. But looks like Brian says,
she'd just about doing anything with her. And they execute
off other horse's mistakes. It's like the humans. They see

(34:26):
what happens. They're like athletes, ball players, right, they see,
they see a play about to happen. They adjust.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Then it's a great feeling to be on them. Kind though,
what she like around the barn, because not all great
horses are great citizens.

Speaker 7 (34:39):
Well, right now she's walking around. She's got a bath
this morning. She gets pampered pretty good around here. Obviously,
she's walking around the barn now. And when they put
her install, she'll probably be a little hate and she'll
lay down, take a nap. She'll get back out for
a while, leaning against the right side of the stall
or a but to the to the gate, and she
don't be bothered. I mean, she don't want to be bothered,
so she does that, and she wants to be bothered.

(35:01):
She'll be facing the gate here this morning, with.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
All this weather. We're hearing about all the scratches for
the race car today, which is not unusual. But a
lot of you guys were out there galloping horses in
weather like this. I mean, that's all part of it, though,
isn't it.

Speaker 7 (35:15):
I rode for thirty one years and I'm from Louisiana.
We're called mudbugs from Louisiana, and I hate it right
in the mud. I just absolutely hated it. I mean,
I didn't like nothing about it. It's hard to focus,
especially when it's raining hard like it was.

Speaker 6 (35:27):
It's morning.

Speaker 7 (35:27):
It's hard to focus, it's hard to get up. You know,
some horses don't like it, some horses love it.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
You gotta call it. Make changes you got.

Speaker 7 (35:33):
There's so much involved in the mud and I want
to other things. You If you come from way back
in their mud race, I mean you get drenched with
water and mud, and so you're about ten pounds heavier
than the horse that up front. So that's when people
handicap if they take that in consideration. Come from behind
horse and his muddy. By the time they get to
the stretch, you can have ten pounds more mud and
water drenched posts of the guy that's in front clean.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
And some horses would just stop. They hate that.

Speaker 7 (35:58):
You can tell, you can tell right away. Yeah, you
can tell in the post ray when you're warming them up.
You feel them, you can feel they're you know, if
they're not like they're normally or uncharacteristic themselves, and so
you can tell right away the ones that do. Like, Man,
you know what a lot goes to their breedings. Man
that the breedings of the mud runners are like if
you ride a curling in the mud, you can almost
go to the window because they're gonna be right there one, two, three.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
But you want to be on the one clean horse
because that means you're out in front. Derby coverage this year,
I don't know if you've got a chance to watch
much of it. It's gonna be an off track. Everybody
knew and Jerry Bailey talked a lot about the multiple
goggles you guys would wear. Tell me about learning how
to do that and how many. I mean when you
have five or six goggles and you got to peel
them off one other time?

Speaker 7 (36:38):
I want one time I wore seven pairs of goggles
in the Kentucky Derby. I mean, you don't peel, you
pull them down. I mean you got to clear. Seven
pairs of goggles gets clear, crystal clear, the top one
gets mundy. You just pull it straight down, hangs around
your neck. We pull them off the track before the
goggles right an expensive too, so you so you pull
them down and then you clear. And every time you
get muddy, pull them down. You try to get behind

(36:59):
the horsemuck. A bad part is when you get half
a three smile ago and you're out of goggles. That's
the bad part. What do you do want a doubt
you will out?

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Well, I'll let you go with this. Anna is gonna be,
you know, forever known as one of the greats.

Speaker 5 (37:15):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
But just tell me about what it's like to get
on a nice day, just to get on her uh
as often as you do. I mean, is it still
a thrill for you?

Speaker 7 (37:24):
Absolutely? Man, We have a good communication, me and her.
I could tell every move she makes. I know how
she's feeling. I know how she's felt every time. I
can tell you when she s ad a tip top shape,
when she feels the best. But out here telling me
what I heard talking to him and telling me I
could feel her. She does little things that makes her like, well,
she's got her ears for it, her HER's for it.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Bouncing Ford, She's doing well, she's doing professional.

Speaker 7 (37:44):
She's professional.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Robby Albarado who galloped Torpedo Anna this morning. Robbie admits
to he is something of a UK fan, but he
is a big, big LSU fan, as you can tell
from the accent. He is a Cajun. And I had
a windbreaker on this morning, but not a rain jacket,

(38:08):
and he told me he had an LSU rain jacket
out in the car and I said, no, no, that's fine.
I'm good where I am. But yeah, still lives in
Lexington and as I said, gallups horses for Kenny McPeak.
This is after winning five thousand, two hundred and twenty
two races. Never did win a Kentucky Derby, but twice

(38:31):
won the Preakness and won three different Breeders Cup races
during his career, and of course was the regular jockey
for Curlin. It was third in the Kentucky Derby, but
then went on to win the Preakness that year in
twenty seven and the Breeders' Cup Classic Board Curland later

(38:52):
that year, and those two followed up the following year
to win the Dubai World Cup. I remember two is
up next year on six point thirty packing Welcome back

(40:52):
to the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now is a
familiar voice. You hear him every morning on this very
radio station, Billy Rutledge, who also joins us during the
seasons basketball and football. But Billy and a dude every
day at nine am. He and Shannon the Dude following
the lead's report. We even't had a chance to really
chat with Billy on the air since the season ended,

(41:13):
so we thought we would find out what's up. And
of course, you know you hear him giving his opinions
and his outlooks on his own show. But mister Rutledge,
first of all, we need to talk about the fact
that an assistant coach whom you kind of questioned a
little bit, has just received a new contract from UK,

(41:35):
Eric Wolford, the Kentucky offensive line coach, and you've got
issues with this guy, don't you.

Speaker 8 (41:42):
Well, Dick, I always enjoy being on the Big Blue Insider,
so thank you for having me on again. I missed
our statewide shows after the Mark Pope or Stoop Show
and looking forward to wing those returns. Yeah, you know,
we always get into some great conversation, and some of
the conversation we've gotten into in the past year or
so is obviously the Kentucky offensive line, and that's got
to return to form if Kentucky wants to start winning

(42:03):
winning ten win seasons again. And that might be a
pipe dream when we go to nine conference games, but
for now, you know, it's I guess it is still
a possibility. But you know, I didn't love the contract
extension of Eric Wolford, to say the least. But you know,
I like to remain optimistic. I'm not out on this
Kentucky football team yet, So let me try to give

(42:24):
you the positive. Let me try to give you the
spin here, because I don't see any offensive line play
with Eric Wolford as the offensive line coach that justifies
a raise in the offseason. But what we do know
about Eric is that he is a great recruiter, and
he's somebody that's brought in a lot of position players
outside of the offensive line in a year's past. So, Dick,

(42:45):
in the new world of name, image and lightness and
the transfer portal, if your goal is not to develop talent,
then I think This is a fine move, but Eric
has shown that he plays only the starters. He didn't
have a great rotation of the backups that hurt Kentucky
in the past. He's also somebody that left at the
drop of a hat when he was still in the
rental car for Kentucky football. You know, there's just been

(43:08):
some warning signs for to me, that does not justify
an offseason race. Now, the thing about Soups over the
past few years, he hired his brother, He's hired his
college roommate. Maybe you could liken that to Cal and
how he maybe he got complacent in the final years
at Kentucky basketball. But I want to hold out hope,
Dick that Eric is the guy. He is a great

(43:31):
recruiter that was able to bring in the offensive linemen
that are going to do a great job this year.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
I want to have that hope.

Speaker 8 (43:38):
But I have not seen anything on the field that
would justify that. So I'm gonna the Jerry still out
for me. I'd love to criticize it even more, but
I'd like I still believe Soups can get this on
the right track. It's just a matter of who he
does it with.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
I think that's fair, But I will say, in pushing
back a little bit that yeah, in the immediate passed.
You know, the Kentucky old line just really over the
last three years hasn't really done much of anything that
you can hang any any kind of hat on. But
when Wolford got here, I felt like that the talent

(44:15):
level had dropped off. Now, you know, you could make
the argument that that that he did not do anything
to help develop it by by simply in his first
year here playing the starters, but you know how much
was on the roster in terms of talent. The one
thing that John Schlarman did while he was here, and
he was a good recruiter and and really helped develop

(44:38):
that line. And you know, we go back to the
best Kentucky offensive lines when I think you'll recall, because
we talked about this on the show, they would sub
out everybody but Drake Jackson the starting center for an
entire series, no matter what was going on, even even
when the Wildcats would get into the red zone, they

(44:59):
would leave those back up old lineman in there, and
of course they would build depth. But as those guys
moved on, I felt like, for whatever reason, Kentucky just
didn't move to rebuild the roster. They either made mistakes
or missed out on recruits. So when Wolford got here,
and I know it sounds like a bit of an excuse,
the cupboard wasn't bare, but it wasn't as fully stocked

(45:22):
as when John Schlarman was here. So uh yeah, I'm
still I'm still like you, I'm kind of holding out hope.
And now the picture is really different given all these
transfers who have come in. I mean, you talk about
totally rebuilding that offensive line room. It seems like they've
got what they need right now, does it not?

Speaker 8 (45:44):
It does, And that's why I'm optimistic because in this
new era, maybe you don't need to rotate as many guys.
It's not about keeping guys in health and developing that talent.
It's about getting the best five or six guys and
then you know, and then running with it and then
getting another five or six year. So that's that's why
I still like to think that he has a huge

(46:04):
part of the reason why they can find some success. Again,
I mean, if you want to stay in the same ballpark,
Vince Marrow is integral to what Kentucky does. But the
tight ends have been done anything in a decade, right,
So I mean I think you can you can categorize
it that way. But also at the same time, they
do much more for the program than just those positions.

(46:25):
But the lasting image I have of the offensive line
last year, Dick is Gerald Mincy at the concession stand.
I mean, Brock Vandergriff eventually quit football because he got
injured so much from this offensive line, and fair or not,
I mean, that's the reality. And so the number one
thing that's going to help this Kentucky team get back
to seven, eight, nine, nine game winning winning seasons is

(46:49):
that offensive line. And will it ever be the big
Blue wall again? You know that's going to be tough
to recreate. John Schlarman was one of one, right, But
you know, can they find success by adapting to how
the college football landscapes that today, like the transfer portal.
Maybe Eric Wilford is a better recruiter than he is
a position coach, and maybe that's what Kentucky needs right now.

(47:10):
But just pr department optics of it all just could
not be worse. I think.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
I don't know if you saw this on the wire,
but I was talking about it the other day the
research that Yahoo Sports did into the transfer situation for
college football, the position that had the lowest level of
transfer it was offensive line thirty two percent of the

(47:37):
kids from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two. I think
it was for three only thirty two percent, where old
Lignement's sixty nine percent, which was predictable was quarterbacks, which
kind of surprised me a little bit, Billy, because you know,
and D linemen, we're almost we're just a little bit more,
a little bit higher than old lineman. But it would

(47:58):
seem to me that those are the more valued commodities,
you know, quarterbacks aside, that's always going to be the
highest number of transfers. But I was really surprised by
that loan number. Does that surprise you.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
A little bit?

Speaker 8 (48:13):
You know? I hear you rattle off those positions, and
I think of the most three important positions in the
NFL quarterback, left tackle, and Eddrescher right, And that's where
you're going to see the people make the most money
in college football because those are the valuable positions. But
it seems like offensive line, if you've got a good one,
you need to hold on to them, you know, and
when it comes to the quarterback, there's only one slot

(48:35):
really available, and so I can understand if you're if
you're not the guy, you're going to look elsewhere. Offensive line,
you've got to have five and maybe even six or
seven you just keep up with that depth in rotation.
So I mean that means the numbers are going to
dwindle even more so when there's a good guy out there.
So you know, it does surprise me a little bit.
But at the same time, those big, you know, big

(48:58):
guys up front are going to be those valuable commodities
that people are going to emphasize and probably spend more
of their budget on. And when you compete in the SEC, Dick,
you have to have the offensive lineman. So you've got
to go to one of these two schools of whether
you know, recruit your guys from high school and develop them,
or to go to the transfer portal. So we have
it feels like the entire state of New Mexico transferred

(49:20):
in to be on the offensive line. And then the
guy from Western Kentucky as well, Jagger Burton, is hopefully
somebody that has improved from last year. So look, I
mean there's a lot of Debbie downers on the Kentucky
football team coming up, just with how tough the schedule is.
I mean, if you look at Power four teams, I
think Kentucky has the fifth fifth worst odds, are the

(49:44):
fifth lowest win total when it comes to four and
a half. Is just the people are down right now.
So I mean it's it's tough, but you know, I
think the you know, with the Eric Woodford contract extension
and a second year of Bush Hampton, there's never been
more pre for Mark Soops to get to that six
one month.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Yeah, I agree with you. We're talking with Billy Rutledge.
Hear him every morning Billy and a Dude following Tom Leech,
She and Shannon the Dude on the KSR pre Show.
We haven't had a chance to chat with Billy since
the season ended. The basketball season. That is because he
and Aaron Gershawan join us on the State Wide Show
each and every week. We'll come back and talk basketball
in just a minute with Billy on the other side

(50:24):
of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back.
We're talking with Billy Rutlids. You hear him every morning
following the Leads Report on the KSR pre show, he
and Shannon the Dude. I like to call him Billy
and the Dude. I think that that name just kind
of rolls off the tongue. Billy. I can't I can't
get any traction on it, but unofficially that's what I
call your show.

Speaker 8 (50:44):
I tried to get a changed and Shannon for some
reason had an issue with my name being first. It's
just alphabetical, like there's nothing to it. But so I'm
still working on that.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
I just think it's more poetic. I really do so, anyway,
but I can see that with Shannon no quote. Let
us talk about basketball, and of course, the last time
we chatted was following Kentucky's season ending loss and now
a win with otego Away coming back. I know you're
not shocked by that, so I'll put it to you

(51:15):
in this way, too early time to evaluate things. What
does that do for the Wildcats? Where do you think
it leaves Kentucky and Mark Pope when we look ahead
to the upcoming season.

Speaker 8 (51:28):
Well, you know, in the summertime, Dicky, we do a
lot of lists and we do you know great And
so when people were asking me what I thought of
Mark pope first season at Kentucky. I gave him an
E an upgrade from a minus after he made the
Sweet sixteen after beating Illinois. You know, he was able
to put together a roster in a matter of a month,

(51:48):
implement his offense, bring back a love and joy to
the fan base that hadn't seen in a while. I
gave him a solid A. And when somebody asked just
this week what I would give the grade for Mark
Pope for this off season, and I said A again, Dick,
I mean, just to get some of these guys like
Mo Diabat from Alabama and Denzel Aberdeen from Florida. I mean,
this is a national champion, sixth Man of the Year

(52:10):
that's going to be in a starting role with Florida
and he ends up going to Kentucky and is already
talking about winning number nine. You know, to get the
wealth of talent and the depth of talent that Mark
Pope did when you finally gave him a full recruiting
cycle to get to work and he's not driving a
six shift in South America. I mean, he really filled

(52:31):
out this roster. And I hated to see Travis Perry go,
but you're continuing the Kentucky tradition with guys like Malachai
Moreno and also Trent Noah who's expected to gain eighteen pounds.

Speaker 6 (52:42):
Bet.

Speaker 8 (52:42):
I hope he's going to Chipotle working on that. But look,
how can you not be extremely optimistic about what you've seen?
And something that maybe gets lost at times is how
much Mark Pope talks about the jump that his players
take from year one to year two in his system.
That's what I'm only excited to see guys like Colin
Chandler and Brandon Garrison and what they can do, Dick.

(53:05):
I mean, they could become guys that well, Brandon Garrison
is going to have to be that guy early on
as they wait for jad and Quaintance to come back
from injury. Finally, Jaden Quainton as people look at him
as a top ten pick in one of the NBA
drafts coming up. So I mean, if he can fill
out to his potential, and these guys that who are
staying in the system for a second year can become,
you know, playmakers. I mean, Colin Chandler was playing important

(53:28):
minutes late into the year last year, so and now
you bring back maybe the preseason SEC Player of the
Year in otakea Oway. If he's not that, I think
he's close as he was somebody that was an All
American and on SEC Award list last year. That guy
surprised me so much, and really I think still has
some room to grow.

Speaker 5 (53:47):
Dick.

Speaker 8 (53:47):
I mean his shot didn't look great at times. I
mean he scored double digits in every game but two,
So I guess he's got two games and that he
could do better in at least. But look, that guy was,
you know, to a degree, that heart and soul of
the team last year. You saw them at their best
when he was hitting game winners versus Oklahoma, or he
was able to put twenty on the board. But this

(54:09):
roster is gonna be different. Look, they're not going to
have the shooting prowess that they did maybe last year.
It's not Kobe Brayer on this roster, but they're deep
and if you looked at the weaknesses of the roster
last year, I think they got noticeably better in all categories,
whether it be athleticism, whether it be defense. Mark Pope
after one year in the SEC and by the way,
may have been one of the greatest seasons ever in

(54:30):
the SEC conference for basketball. That's not the best. I
think he now realizes what he needs on his roster,
and then you throw in a Croatian dick. I mean
it's a big d all over again.

Speaker 4 (54:40):
Like this is.

Speaker 8 (54:41):
You know, this could turn into a really special season,
and I think this is exactly what all VbN wanted.

Speaker 1 (54:47):
I know we're a little bit biased here, but when
you look at and you're right, we spend the summer
just categorizing and listing, and you know we've talked about
him many times. The internet is a bottomless pit and
we have to fill it. But everybody, and this all
started way back, almost before you were born. With USA today,
that was one of their real specialties, was lists and

(55:11):
pie charts and all this stuff. But I've not yet
seen a breakdown, And if it's out there, I'd love
to have someone direct me to it. People like the
list who had the best transfer portal class, who had
the best recruiting class. I want to see overall roster
when it comes to building an off season roster, who

(55:32):
has done as well or better than Pope and company
when it comes to portal transfer, transfer, portal returning roster
and incoming freshmen. Because you know you've got Patino up
in New York strictly doing portal work. You got other
places that are strictly doing not entirely recruiting, but kind

(55:56):
of lightly going after the portal. But I just think
Kentucky with whole has done the best job of blending
all of it, you know what I mean?

Speaker 8 (56:06):
Yeah, And you know we'll have to see, you know,
how it's managed, because he's somebody that plays guys maybe
a little bit less minutes than what you would expect,
and so how would he manage egos and personalities? Like
everybody's coming into this with an understanding that you play
for your time, you know, nobody's promised starting time. And
I think that's a welcome change to the program in

(56:27):
recent years. But Dick, you know, I think Mark Pope
struck a chord with some of the fan base recently
when he said, we do want to be the team
that spends the most money in nil you know, we
want to be the team that's known as doing it
the best when it comes to college basketball because we
are Kentucky. In Kentucky is the pinnacle of the sport.
And so Cal has always had that mindset too. You know,

(56:49):
I always thought he was great at saying, you know,
we can't hide you here, and I think even Hope
said something to that regard, is that you don't come
here to hide, right. But at the same time, you
know it had shifted into maybe an NBA factory where
you know, one and done. Freshmen come in and you
try to cobble it together to go on a run

(57:09):
in the NCAA tournament, and sometimes that kind of comes
and bites you at the end. Now it just feels
a little different. The philosophy feels different. You know, you've
got guys staying for a second year, You've blended the
transfer portal with freshmen and then returning guys. Like you said,
it's just a much different ecosystem. But you talk to
anybody around the program, they're nothing but excited as well, right,

(57:31):
I mean even us in the media having to work
with the media relations teams and the sids. I mean
it seems like their quality of living got a little
better too with the change. So I think, you know,
it's Pope checked all the boxes. It's it's and it's
a hard job to do that for especially year one,
and uh, you know, I'm just really excited to see

(57:52):
who's starting because with all the guys, you know, you
got to think those practices are going to be really competitive,
and you know who is going to be on the bench,
who's going to be that starting five, who will play
the most minute? You know, it's the great thing about
the state. We'll talk about it for six months, right
and leading up to it.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
I agree, it's sometimes it seems like a long summer,
and sometimes it seems like football is right on top
of us. We have a few minutes left with Billy Rutledge.
You hear him every morning on the show with Shannon
the Dude on the KSR pre show after the Tom
Lee Show, i should say, after the Leitch Report, and
you hear him on our show on Monday nights following

(58:29):
the Coaches shows, either the Stoop Show or the Mark
Pope Radio Show. In our state wide edition. One thing
you brought up, Calip Perry. One thing I think people
need to take a good hard look at when now
with some perspective, given the joy that you reference from
the Mark Pope debut season was just how I don't

(58:51):
know what the word I'm looking for is, but the
second half of the Caliperi era versus the first half
I mean, it was nothing but highlights those first six years,
final four appearances, national championship, but then it, you know,
it became so brittle in the second half, when an
injury here and there, a missed free throw here and there,

(59:13):
and everything it seemed was going wrong. I still say,
if the twenty fifteen team had finished things up the
way people had hoped, Caliperiu might still be here. If
North Carolina doesn't hit the shot that sends the Tarios
to the Final four instead of bam at a buyo
on to Aaron Fox in that bunch, he might still
be here. If they close out against Auburn when they

(59:36):
blew it in the second half, he might still be here.
So you know, it can really be, you know, thin
ice when you're trying to get things done. But that
also underscores the pressure, now, doesn't it? On Mark Pope?
There wasn't as much pressure this past season that there
is going to be this year and in the years
to come. Is that fair?

Speaker 8 (59:58):
It is? And we live in a what have what
have you done for me lately? But I also think
Mark is a completely different person than Cow And when
the gravitas and the swagginess of Cow was at its best.
It was awesome. But then you know, winning cures all Dick,
and when the winning wasn't there, he was, you know,

(01:00:19):
he was. He's a great ambassador for the state. But
when he's on his coaches show talking down to the
fan base, or he's calling out media members or you know,
like he's you know, I think deliberately felt like he
was flighted at some point. I don't know if it
was the Wisconsin game that broke him, Dick, but he
just I think he was a completely different person personality wise.
And it goes back to what I was saying with

(01:00:41):
Soups a little bit. You know, you hire a Bruiser
Flint and a chin Coleman and a Brad Calipari, and
this is this is fine when you're winning, but these
are your boys, and so when you start to lose,
I think people look at it as like why not,
why not you know, retain a guy like Robic, you know,
why not get a why did Welch only say for
one year?

Speaker 6 (01:01:00):
Right?

Speaker 8 (01:01:01):
Like it's you know, I felt like he was starting
to lose parts of himself, whether it be Dwayne Peevie
or the assistants that did so much for him Kenny Payne,
who was that kind of good cop of Cow's bad cop.
You know, you know, you're only as good as the
people that you surround yourself to a degree, and I
felt like he was surrounding himself with not the right people.
But you know, you could be right, you know. I mean,

(01:01:24):
we could be four or five years into the Mark
Pope experience and he hasn't gotten past the Sweet sixteen,
and you know, the fan base it'd probably be sooner
than that. Bick, It's probably be three or four years.
But you know, how he's been able to connect to
the fans is similar to Calan ways, but also I
think a little different, and you know, being the captain
with Patino and Rick being welcome backed in the way

(01:01:46):
that he was. It just I think that, you know,
hopefully it never gets to that point. But you know,
cal said no lies when this is about a ten
year job, I mean, and I think that was probably
one of the main factors of why Cow left. Even
though you had some bad losses with Saint Peter's in Oakland.
Could he have still been the coach of this team
if he had won those games?

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Maybe?

Speaker 8 (01:02:09):
Yeah, But does that change that this is still the
time for when he needed to walk away. I don't
think so. I mean, it really seems like that's about
the timeframe of when you got to give this job
up and to somebody else. I say that, and Mark
Pope could win four national titles and coach here for
twenty five years. But you know, that's that's the that's

(01:02:29):
the that's the hope. But it just that I think
we all needed this change and the reset, and change
can be good and and now these guys can can
push forward. And I guess my really only regret is
that Travis Perry isn't on the roster anymore. I hated
to see that he's going to come in and score
twenty two.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Against and Cali Perry showed he can still get it done,
you know. I Mean, Arkansas w on a nice run
but lost a game it shouldn't have lost in the
nca tournament. So there's always going to be that that
question mark. And now the wild card here when you
look at the SEC is Boogie Flann leaving Arkansas for
Florida because he probably wasn't going to get to squeeze

(01:03:11):
the air out of the ball at Arkansas the way
he will at Florida. You know, Arkansas showed that once
he came back, he was better as a complimentary player.
The team was better when Boogie was a complimentary player.
But Kentucky's still going to have to deal with him
at least twice a year. Billy Rutledge co hosts with
Shannon the do the KSR pre show after the Leachs
Report on this very radio station. Good talking to you, Sarah.

(01:03:34):
We'll talk to you again.

Speaker 8 (01:03:34):
Sooner any time.

Speaker 5 (01:03:37):
Jack.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Thank you more to come here on The Big boon
Sider including Heroes, Fools and Flakes on six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back to the Big Boonsider. Thanks again to Billy
Ruttledge for joining us. Good to check in with Billy
now and then and to follow up on the conversation
about Kentucky basketball. Interesting column from Mark's story and the

(01:03:57):
herold Leader. You can find it on one a Kentucky
dot com if you're a subscriber, or just pick it
up on the news rack if you will a hard copy.
But he brings an interesting question. You know, we've talked
about this roster, this Kentucky roster. But as he points
out and in the headline at states or asked a

(01:04:19):
question should Kentucky fans have a counterintuitive worry about Mark
Pope's upcoming basketball team? And what it's based on is,
of course the offensive ability of Oh, take a Oway
coming back, no question about that. But where else is
the offense going to come from? Because only Oway and

(01:04:43):
transfer point guard Jalen Lowe have average double figures at
this level of college hoops. Of course low average nearly
seventeen a game for Pittsburgh. I'll take away average sixteen
a game for the Wildcats. So question Mark is posing
is where's the offense going to come from? There's a

(01:05:05):
lot of athletic ability on this team, and you've got
the Mark Pope's system in place, and we talked earlier
and we heard from Pope talking about guys who go
from year one to year two. But it's a legit question,
and it's one it's kind of fun to think about it.
I don't think it's going to be a problem. Will

(01:05:26):
this Kentucky team score the way it did last year?
Maybe maybe not. Should be better defensively, should be better athletically,
but will it put up points? As Mark pointed out,
UK finished tenth in adjusted offensive efficiency last year? Seventh
in the nation and scoring at eighty four points per

(01:05:46):
game eighty four point four. Remember early in the year
when Kentucky was leading the nation twentieth and assists at
seventeen per game, twenty first and fast breakpoints. Will we
see that this coming year's legit question. That's something to
think about and something to ponder as the season draws near.

(01:06:07):
Where will the points come from? Now? The Cat's pause.
Whoever handles their website or their social media has pointed
out that now that the old way is returning, Kentucky
will return only twenty percent of it starts, thirty percent
of its minutes, thirty percent almost thirty one of its points,

(01:06:30):
nearly thirty percent of its rebounds, twenty six percent of
its assists, forty four percent of it steals, thirty percent
of its blocks, and twenty percent of its made three.
Some of those numbers are good. Some of those numbers
can give you pause. But it's just going to be
up to new people to make things happen. So again,

(01:06:53):
I don't think it's anything to fret about, but I
do think it's interesting and I'm curious as to where
this is, this new found offense will come from. Otaga
Oway is that rare Kentucky player to average sixteen points
or more and come back for another year since nineteen

(01:07:16):
ninety two. The Twitter account Rare Rookies hashtag BBN pointed
this out. Otago Oway joins Oscar Sheebwey, Patrick Patterson, Keith Bogans,
Tayshawn Prince, Tony Delk, and Jamal Mashburn as the only

(01:07:39):
players dating back to nineteen ninety two who have returned
after averaging at least sixteen points per game. That is
an interesting, interesting number. I also like the site that
pointed out how crazy it is when you look at
the NBA. This was on a site or a Twitter

(01:08:02):
account called Hoops the UK Guards And if you follow
the NBA at all, if you just glance at it,
you can't miss it. I mean, you start with Devin Booker.
He is a true NBA superstar. He is becoming and
if he's not already one of the greatest players in
the history of the Phoenix Suns. Jamal Murray in Denver,
He's already got a ringd Aaron Fox Is in San Antonio,

(01:08:26):
He's gonna get one. Playing with Wemby. I gotta think
Malik Monk in Sacramento, got off the kind of a
false start in Charlotte Lands in Sacramento, played with Fox
for a while and this past season averaged seventeen a game,
nearly four rebounds, five and a half assists, and hit
forty four percent of his shots. Alik Monk solid now

(01:08:50):
in the NBA. Ty Ty Washington's on a two way
with Phoenix Tyrese Maxi approaching superstar status in Philly. They
need to win more for him to get there, but
I think he will a Tyler hero Hughes in Miami.
Apparently he's grown up to the point where pat Riley
wants to keep him around. That was touch and go
for a little while there. And of course, Shay gilgis

(01:09:14):
Alexander your current reigning NBA MVP and the MVP of
the Western Conference finals. UK guards in the league and
you can say, if you care, thank you, John Caliperi
something else on Twitter today or ex if you will
from Kat's Classics, whoever runs it posted a photo of

(01:09:38):
Mark Pope and his teammates from the ninety five to
ninety six team, including a young Rick Patino. Scott paget
Is in uniform. Athough he did not play for that team.
Jeff Shepard and Twin Walker and Walter McCarty. It is
them celebrating a win in in Italy. Back in August

(01:10:02):
of ninety five. They went four and one versus some
professional teams, averaging one hundred and sixteen points and won
their games by a margin. This is a college team
now beating pros by an average of twenty seven points
per game. The reason it caught my eye, well, it
was different, but I flashed on a moment that was

(01:10:23):
not pleasant for me. I really wanted to make that trip.
When I heard they were going, I went to my
bosses at WKYT and I said, we need to cover
this team. They're going to win the national title. They're
going to Italy. I can produce a series. I can
produce a documentary. Whatever money we spend, we can make
it back selling the advertising for this project. And they

(01:10:49):
approved it. So now we had to get the ok
from Patino in UK. So I very gently approached the
UK and I got the approval. I was going to Italy,
and I don't I think I was taking a videographer
with me. These days they would just send one person.

(01:11:11):
But I mean it was all set. Then the next
thing you know, I heard it was canceled. Why because
the station in Louisville had the same idea. But and
to sell Patino on it, it was basically, look, you
won't even know we're there. We're just gonna shoot the video.

(01:11:31):
We may do the occasional interview. Blah blah blah. Now
the station in Louisville screwed it up. They presented a
list of demands. They presented their plan. Here's what we're
gonna do. Here's what you're gonna do for us, Here's
what we need from you. Here's how we're going to
impose upon you while you're over there playing basketball, trying

(01:11:55):
to learn your team, trying to see the sites and
all that stuff. Patino took one look at it and
said nope, and out the window it went. And with
their request to accompany the team, out the window went.
Yours truly in my videographer, Oh man, was I upset?

(01:12:17):
It was all good. We were going it was gonna happen.
But no, this high faluting station, I won't say which
over in Louisville. I think the people who were responsible
are gone by now, screwed it up for the rest
of us, meaning me and my shooter. No other station
was going to go from Lexington just us. I mentioned

(01:12:40):
the NBA second ago, uh as many of you know
who listened to the show, and we appreciate that. I
really love Inside the NBA, the TNT show, which is
sadly going away because they're losing the NBA contract. TNT
is losing it to ESPN, and there's all kind of
conjecture and speculation about what's going to happen to show.

(01:13:00):
Shaquille o' neil, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson. It's
probably the greatest studio show in the history of television.
Well Shack had a message last night for anybody who
might be wondering.

Speaker 6 (01:13:14):
There's all saying when something passes away as something that's reborn. Yes,
it is the ending of the Inside the nd T
and Team, but it's the new beginning for us. I'm
glad we're still together on whatever network we go to
and whatever network we're coming to, we bring it the pain.
Just letting you know right now, Okay, I know everybody
said or they ain't gonna be the show. The show

(01:13:34):
is still here, baby. You can never kill the four
horsemen were coming and were coming to take spots, were
coming to kick ass, and we come to take names
doing it our way. Hey, okay, you got it. You
know all this time, that's about that show. Were coming
with a whole brand new show, and we don't care
who went our way, coming to kick ass and ten names.

(01:13:56):
I could play with this. That's why I wanted to
play with him. Can I be Rickclaire? Yes, we got
in that lasstake the last thing man changes, but the
boys are here that we did them. Boys, we don't
ever forget it. We don't lost.

Speaker 9 (01:14:13):
We lost, we.

Speaker 6 (01:14:19):
Coming. We come it stump to tears.

Speaker 8 (01:14:21):
I couldn't.

Speaker 6 (01:14:22):
I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Speaker 1 (01:14:24):
That was great, and so was Charles Barkley when they
flashed a photo on the screen of their broadcast position
in Madison Square Garden last night, way up there, and
somebody had put together a shot photoshopped of their broadcast
spot with the Ninja turtles around because they had said
they were in the ventilation system, and Barkley had a

(01:14:48):
great take on it.

Speaker 6 (01:14:49):
In the cloud, up in the cloud, I could touch
guy right now.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
That's all the chance I'll ever gonna get to see him.

Speaker 6 (01:14:54):
I'm going to hell, damn, but I'm gonna see a
lot of y'all laughing. Hey Shack, good to see you again.
You go have on some gasolines, rolls.

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
Or up in the clouds. I can touch God. Love
it well. Come back with heroes, fools and flakes in
just a minute here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back
to the Big Blue Insider, final segment of our program.
Thanks again to Billy Rutledge, to Kenny McPeak, to Robbie Albarado.
We start today. Our hero is a youngster from Alan, Texas.
His name is Baison Zachai. I think it's how he

(01:15:29):
pronounce his name. He is the champion speller. He has
won the scripts National Spelling Bee age thirteen. He was
the runner up last year and was the favorite going
in this year because last year he never misspelled a
word in the conventional spelling rounds. He only lost in

(01:15:51):
a lightning round tiebreaker that he didn't really prepare for,
so he was ready to win this year, but.

Speaker 6 (01:16:00):
Blew it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
The b was down to three spellers and the first
two missed their words back to back, so this kid
was two words away from victory and the first was Jamalina,
but instead of asking, you know, can you give me
a definition language of origin to make sure, he jumped

(01:16:22):
right in and started to misspell it and he goes kam.
Then he stops himself and says, realized that he had
misspelled it, and he says, just ring the bell to
the judge. So now the final three went at it again,
and he finally prevailed by spelling a claire systemon. I

(01:16:44):
have no idea E C L A I R C
I S S E M E N T. Had to
look it up, no idea what it means. It has
nothing to do with chocolate a Claire's. It's a noun
French origin, which means claire vocation or explanation. And clearly
this kid knew it, and he finally prevailed after almost

(01:17:07):
blowing it. But he is your one hundredth anniversary Scripts
National Spelling Bee champions, so congrats to him. Our fool
tonight is any of the cowards who issued death threats
the Houston astros pitcher Lance mccullors Junior. He said to

(01:17:27):
higher security after receiving online threats aimed at his family.
I don't know why they happened. I don't care why
they happened, but this is so cowardly. And he's not
the only Major leaguer who has received death threats this year.
And I always believe these things go back to gambling.

(01:17:49):
But he got some death threats, and actually the situation
became public back when May the tenth, he had a
rough outing against the Reds and quote unquote fans started
threatening him online. He had to explain to his five
year old daughter what it means to be threatened. Liam

(01:18:11):
Hendrix of the Red Sox, a reliever, he got death threats.
Another Red Sox player, outfielder Jared Durant, also got death
threats and got some really nasty comments sent to him
because he's been public about his battles with depression and
he had a comment about his suicide attempt that was
hurled at him. It came out in a documentary on

(01:18:34):
Netflix called The Clubhouse. People are being so ugly out
there and I hate it. Our flake tonight, it's the
SEC and the Big Ten. They are talking about head
to head competition on a regular basis when it comes
to football. But the games could possibly be a play

(01:18:55):
in style format that could decide up to eight bids
for the college football playoff, So this this scheduling stuff
is just running them up. Quite frankly, there's so many
people weighing in about how the college football playoffs should
be structured, and now two of the biggest conferences, the

(01:19:17):
Big Ten and the SEC, are trying to make it
their own personal play thing. And unless the rest of
college football rises up, it just well may happen sooner
rather than later, that's going to do it. Thanks so
much for listening, Have a great weekend. That said, good
night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 5 (01:19:37):
Unless sir official, let me ask you something, six of
you miss a play like that.

Speaker 4 (01:19:43):
When the ball jumped out of there.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
Soon as we make Camptown number.

Speaker 6 (01:19:46):
Tack what you were talking about you if you on
the field.

Speaker 9 (01:19:48):
Now watch set such station the tact anything doing can

(01:20:48):
anything back seat, anything can let the fact tolack them

(01:21:26):
from typing donning the