2025-07-02 - BBI - Big Blue Insider with Dick Gabriel

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, oh, guess what day it is? Guess what day
it is? Huh?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Anybody, It's hump Day.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Yes, it is hump Day. Welcome to the Big Blindsider.
Dick Gabrielle with you on a Wednesday edition of our
program after taking a couple of days off. More to come,
I will warn you of that, but we are live
on tape in the garage today with our usual Wednesday lineup.
Aaron Gershan of the Cats Balls. Although he is a
short time he has taken another job. We'll talk to
him about that, but we'll get his thoughts as he's

(00:34):
heading out the door on the football and basketball Wildcay
and the baseball Wildcats as well. Sewn Wood's the unforgettable
guard and the coach of La Famiya, the UK entry
into TBT, the Basketball Tournament, and West n Bura chief
Geary More will join us as well in our number two.
It is summertime, but as always there is news about

(00:54):
the Wildcats. It's the talking season, as you know when
it comes to Kentucky football and coming up in a
couple of weeks now, as he's seen media days down
in Atlanta, so Mark Stoops will be front and center.
He's the last guy to talk though, believe it or not,
so we will have to wait a few days to
find out what he has to say about his team.
Some preseason honors starting to come in, and the Atlon

(01:19):
preseason All Conference Team for Kentucky. And you know it's
not going to be great going into this season. How
much expected of the Wildcats. So now you've got Atlon
with a third team offensive lineman Joshua Broun. One of
the new faces, Alex Afari named fourth team defense. He

(01:40):
has been moved to linebackers. He's an undersized linebacker. But
coming up in a few minutes, we hear from a
guy who was an undersized linebacker, Danny Trevathan, now in
the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. All he did
was become an All Conference linebacker and go on to
win a Super Bowl in the NA so it can

(02:01):
be done. So Afari named fourth team defense. Also fourth
team defense defensive back j Q Hardaway. So some preseason honors.
There will be more for the Wildcats. But unfortunately, as
I said, not a lot expected of Kentucky this year,
so you won't hear a lot preseason about Kentucky players.

(02:21):
Good news on the recruiting front for the Wildcats. UK
has managed to flip a four star wide receiver. He
had said yes to Auburn, but now he says he
will be a Wildcat. He's the fourth wide receiver to
commit in the class of twenty twenty six. His name
is Denarius Gray. He had been committed to Auburn since

(02:44):
January of twenty four. He had visited Washington, NC State
and Old Miss and two four to seven sports reporting
the Ladamion Washington really like what he saw in Danarius Gray,
so they kept after him and now he says he
will be a Kentucky Wildcat. So there's a long way

(03:06):
to go before signing day, but that's a good sign.
Looking at the baseball side of campus, Tyler Bell another
Accolade first Team Freshman All Americans, so named by D
one Baseball. Tyler Bell right now is busy playing for
USA Baseball, but maybe obviously the SEC All Freshman team

(03:29):
and now a first team Freshman All American per D
one Baseball. So congrats to Tyler Bell. There is a
lot of information out there right now about UK's new
blueprint for funds in athletics, the LLC model, but there's
also news according to on three dot com Nick Roush,

(03:53):
writing about the fact that UK has changed its employee
ticket policy and pricing as a revenue sharing era kicks off.
It actually kicked off officially yesterday July one, the beginning
of the fiscal year. Schools have got to come up
with a way to cover that twenty million dollars a
year that they have to pay out the student athletes,

(04:16):
and so they're looking for new revenue streams. At UK,
kids will require tickets to attend big games. Back in
the day, up until this past year, if you had
a kid and you wanted them to sit on your lap,
it was ten bucks. Now every person has to have
a full priced ticket, regardless of age. Children two and

(04:42):
under can still sit on appearance lap for free, though
at volleyball, women's basketball, gymnastics, baseball softball, dis kound of
tickets will be available for kids three to eighteen, senior
sixty five and older. UK also phasing out in employee
and faculty discounts this fall. Eligible employees get a twenty

(05:05):
percent discount on up to two season tickets, as well
as a twenty percent discount down from fifty percent on
the Associated K Fund donation for the seats. In twenty
twenty seven, discounts on tickets and k fund donations no
longer apply for men's basketball and football, women's basketball and baseball,

(05:32):
single game and mission for our university employees will transition
to a paid model in twenty twenty six. No more
employee discounts from twenty twenty seven on, and other sports
will follow suit, but a lot of changes. Men's and
women's soccer games are still free, but there had to

(05:54):
be a way for Kentucky to cover this cost. And
Mitch Barnard had said and has said more than once,
and he also said it in an article on cbssports
dot Com that they didn't want to immediately raise ticket
prices across the board. He said he just didn't think
that was fair that a fan base to tax them

(06:18):
all the time every time they need more money. And
he said, frankly, it's not going to be viable in
the state of Kentucky because of the population in the state.
It's just not as great as you know of other states.
And a reminder, and we talked about this before the
recent UK Board of Trustees meeting. The board approved a

(06:38):
one hundred and forty one million dollar loan, which will
include one hundred and ten million in capital investment loans.
Thirty six million go to the improving of Kroger Field.
They're also looking at exploring an entertainment district on campus.
They're just looking at more ways to make money, and
we talked about that a lot. They got to cover

(06:58):
this bill. The things they're gonna do very likely raise
the rent on Kroger Field for other events, concerts, probably
high school games. They don't have a you know, they're
not going to make a lot more money on TV
and radio or advertising if you will, so they got

(07:18):
to look around and do whatever they can. Maybe you
also charge more money for Rupp Arena for hosting NCAA
tournament events. But UK now with the model the LLC,
which should make things easier, should allow UK to be
more aggressive. And two schools in particular, Oklahoma and Mississippi State.

(07:43):
According to cbsports dot com, they're athletics directors are examining
what UK is doing right now. So there's a lot
to it. Go to cbssports dot com. There's a really
good article that will help you understand how the things work.
But they, like I said, they got to cover that

(08:04):
somehow twenty point five million. They can't you, and they're
not right now gonna jack up your ticket prices, So
it's worth a look. Speaking of big money, Shay Gildess,
Alexander is rolling in it now. He's got a brand
new contract. He has re signed with the Oklahoma City
Thunder after leading OKAC to an NBA Championship. It's first

(08:27):
new deal four years, two one hundred and eighty five million,
called the Super Maximum Contract Extension. I would think so
keeps him with the Thunder through twenty thirty thirty one.
He is now the richest player per contract in league history.
It's the richest annual salary for a player in league history.

(08:52):
Pretty amazing. Led to the league in scoring thirty two
point seven points during the regular season, average thirty points
a game in THES and one of the few ever
to win the MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
Jordan did it four times, Lebron twice, Larry Bird twice
and a few others but Sga in the conversation, and

(09:15):
also the first player to win a scoring title NBA
title in the same years since Shack did it back
in two thousand. Michael did it six times, Jabbar, George,
mikeh did it a couple of times, and Joe Folks,
and it's just an incredible run for SGA, and that
money is just crazy. And people are pointing out that

(09:38):
Michael Jordan in his career made ninety three point nine million.
If you saw the Last Dance, you know, he made
an extraordinary amount of money through Nike and other endorsements,
and he kind of kept his salary down so the
bulls will be able to spread it around a little
bit and sign talent new players around him. But people

(10:01):
also pointing out that, you know, Jordan played back in
the nineties and the early oughts. So I looked it
up to see how much money in today's dollars Michael
Jordan's ninety three million would be worth today. It would
be worth one hundred and sixty two and a half
million dollars. So SGA still got him. But as I said,

(10:25):
Michael made so much money in endorsements and again kept
his salary down a little bit just so the bulls
could spread it around. Smart while we're talking about money,
I would hope Shay gilgis Alexander is smart enough to
keep an eye on his right now Malik Beasley under

(10:46):
investigation in a federal gambling probe. It was so bad
that Beasley, well, first of all, had borrowed six hundred
and fifty thousand dollars from a marketing agency, was part
of actually a two plus million dollar advanced, but they
wanted the money back and he couldn't pay it. And

(11:09):
then came word that he couldn't pay fourteen thousand dollars
in rent at his historic high rise apartment building in
downtown Detroit. A celebrity barber shop sued him for nearly
twenty seven thousand dollars and one Cairo Cuts operates in Milwaukee.

(11:30):
That's where he played for the Bucks for two or
three years. And so, you know, I have this ongoing
discussion with my buddy Doug Flynn, who now believes Pete
Rose ought to be exonerated. Yeah, he bet on baseball,
but he'd bet, as Doug said, well, so what baseball's
in bed now? With fan duel and DraftKings in the
gambling outfit. Still, my argument is athletes should not be

(11:53):
allowed to bet, especially within their own league, their own sport,
because you just don't know when a guy is gonna
get upside down with his or her finances and start
looking around for a quick payday. I'llah fixing games. And
every time you think now that ain't gonna happen, a

(12:15):
Malik Beasley pops up. Guy was in terrible financial trouble
and evidently allegedly turned to gambling. Keep that in mind.
Up next, I chat with Danny Trevathan, now member of
the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here in the
Big Blue Sider six point thirty WAP. Welcome back to
the Big bluon Sider. Coming up in a couple of minutes.

(12:36):
Aaron Gershan of the Cat's pause, but not for long.
He is going to be moving on. We'll talk about that,
and we'll talk of course about the basketball and the
football cats. Say. Speaking of basketball cats, Sean Woods, the
ex Wildcat, the unforgettable guard, will join us. He is
also coaching the La Famia entry in TBT, the basketball tournament,

(12:57):
and we'll talk about a roster addition, it popped up
over the last few days. Also our West MBUA chief
Gary Moore coming up in our number two. While I
was taking a couple days off and of course over
the weekend, had a chance to go to the Kentucky
prof Football Hall of Fame banquet once again, and prior

(13:17):
to the dinner, we talked with my pal Jim Dapolis,
who was inducted this year. He's always shown up at
the banquet as a supporter, but some of us wondered
why he wasn't in, and sure enough now he is.
But we also got a chance to chat with Danny
Trevathan the night of the banquet. We talked to Jim

(13:38):
a few nights prior to the banquet. We talked to
Danny the night of. He, of course, a really talented
and popular Kentucky linebacker, played for the Wildcats from eight
to twenty eleven, played under Rich Brooks and then Joker Phillips.
He was an All Conference performer at Kentucky, led the
SEC in twenty ten in tackles with one hundred and

(14:02):
forty for He might have been the leader again his
last year, but he was injured, missed a couple of games,
and I'd forgotten about this. He went through the draft
evaluation process after his junior year, came back for his
senior year and it helped him. He was drafted in
the sixth round by the Denver Broncos. Even though he

(14:23):
was quote unquote undersized. He was only two hundred and
thirty seven pounds six feet tall, but so fast, and
the Broncos saw that they signed him. He played for
their Super Bowl champion team, super Bowl number fifty, led
by Peyton Manning, and after four years he signed a

(14:43):
free agent deal and finished his career the last six
years with the Chicago Bears. Not as much team success
with the Bears, but certainly had a great career. Ended
up with seven hundred and forty one tackles, ten sacks,
deflected thirty nine passes, picked off eight, and even had

(15:04):
a pick six. We got to see that in the
video when he was introduced at the banquet, But as
I said, I had a chance to chat with Danny
prior to that. He was already wearing the purple jacket
you know in Canton it's a gold jacket. Well, the
Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame, it's a purple jacket,
which is a good idea for one thing, it's regal,
it's a royal color. But the other thing, now, you

(15:26):
got a lot of UK guys, a lot of U
of L guys put purple or put red and blue together.
He got purple. Danny looked pretty good in it, and
he remembered me. He was surprised that I remembered him.
Of course I'm gonna remember him. He was one of
the greats and followed in the footsteps of the great
Wesley Woodyard. We talked about that, among other things, the

(15:47):
night of the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here's yours, truly,
and Danny Trevathan, Well, what was your reaction when somebody
gave you the call?

Speaker 4 (15:57):
At the time, I just play. But I felt honored.
I felt blessed. I really know how hard I worked here,
and you know, just to see people who actually see
that work man and and then not go n noticed
a lot.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Of long nights. It felt great.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
You know.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
When I got away from the game, I got to myself.
I got thinking about my career and where I started,
and this is one of the stopping grounds where I
started to pick up my pace and started to see
what type of world I was gonna be in, what
type of profession I was gonna do. So it's an
honor to be back here, and I'm looking forward to
receiving this this jacket and just wearing it every day.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
For I know, I never thought it would look good
in purple. Who ever thought red and blue would go good?

Speaker 4 (16:38):
But it's all about what it means, right, exactly exactly Royalty.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Man, You're from Florida. You came a long way to
play up here in the cold, but refresh you. Our
people are listeners memories. What brought you here? Why was
this the place for you? Well?

Speaker 4 (16:54):
I was looking, I was really close committing to Miami,
and last second, Kentucky just beat LSU in that bowl
where I think Braxton Kelly and Wesley Woodyard and.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
I stopped him on the yard. I was like, man,
that deep just looking excite. I don't want to be
part of that. You know, you know they want to
up and coming. Nobody sees him coming.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
That's how people always looked at me in my life,
like like I'm an.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Underdog, but I can always fight my way up.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
So when I came here and they told me how
the opportunity to play, I worked my tail off and
I'm grateful for that.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
Well, rich Brooks appreciated your work ethic. That had to
mean a lot to you.

Speaker 4 (17:27):
I think, right, oh yeah, we'll supposed man, that's like
the follow that I never had.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Man. You know, he really mentored me.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
Not only on the field, but off the field. Man,
And I think that go I noticed a little bit.
So I want to get him his credit for that
and tell him that it's very appreciated. Him and his
wife is doing great. And he was one of the
main reason why I worked so hard just to see
somebody really believe in you. That's all people need, somebody

(17:54):
just to believe in you a little bit and push
you towards that direction. And he was the guy who
did that. So hopefully he sees this, and you know,
he he he realized how much you mean to some people.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
You were not the biggest linebacker, but you might have
been the fastest linebacker I've ever seen you. Plus at
one point you were liveying and return kicks. You remember
that then? Yeah, I think, didn't you do it launch
in a blue white game? Yes, and it's spring game.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
Was like, I broke my wrist after that, and he
was like, oh no, get him out of there.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
He was like, He's like, he can't.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
You can't have him out here running. But I was
definitely wanting fast. Probably still I don't know how many
people can beat me and racing still, but I hold
my head high for that.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
One, and.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
It did. The game was changed when I got in
the league. You know, they used to be like he's
too small, he can't go type of play.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
But you know, once I got in that league, they
was changing to shotguns, quick passes, you know, no huddles.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
So I came in right in time. You had to cover.
I had to cover, and I love covering. My first
person I covered.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
Was I think it was Jimmy Graham that had doing
twenty oo gates and then I had a Julius Thomas
on my team was crazy against and pay Many. Once
pay Many knew my name and practice, I knew nobody.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
Nobody's gonna get over. Nobody's gonna get over what we mentioned.
You came up in Florida, you end up playing in Chicago,
you're playing Denver. You couldn't get away from the cold.
But did you learn to How did you learn the
cope of that orange and blue? All my life?

Speaker 4 (19:18):
That's true, even in high school, elementary I always had
orange and blue, so I came with it to grow
into it. Whether it's gonna be cold weather, it's gonna
be hot, well, it's gonna be any adversary. I'm gonna
face it for that orange and blue whatever any it's
either been orange or has it been blue in my career,
my whole life.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Man, it's crazy to think about it. It means that
much to me.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
So if I'm putting in a position where I can
work my way up to the top, nobody's gonna stand
in my way.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
I'll let you go over there. I know Wesley was
a mentor to you. You talked about him being a
bit of a role model for you. What was it
like and he was big in Denver for a long
time as well. What was it like having him as
a mentor. Weshley was a brother man.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
Wesley was a guy who really cared about the and
he was one of the youngest leaders I ever saw.
You know, he didn't care about whether he was a
freshman or sophomore, junior. He just wanted somebody who wanted
to lead and it can work hard. And he saw
that in me and.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
He pushed me towards towards being the leader.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
I saw him work not only just talk about it,
but be about it. And Wesley was a guy who
was humble. He treated everybody the same. He was just
an outstanding person man. And I just talked to him
not too long ago.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
He was playing a video game.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
I don't know if he wanted me to tell people,
but yeah, he was playing the video games.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
He's kind of bad at it, but hopefully get better.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
But just to still have that opportunity to talk to
him and you know, share with him.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
I told him even on the game.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
I know he didn't want me to get an emotional
or whatever, but I told him, you know, I'm very
thankful for what you did in my life.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Man.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
You know, I had a lot of men in my
life that tried to come in and.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Teach me things. So I took what I can from
every man. It's not one person I could just pinpoint.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
I took everything I could from each and every man
my life.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
And I try to make that who I ask and
is Danny Travathan And yeah, he was a favorite of
Rich Brooks. Although from day one I didn't bring this up.
We had talked to Danny about it when he was
a senior and he shrugged it off. He said, I
don't even know Rich Brooks for four years called him Travathian,
and so we were looking at each other like are

(21:22):
we getting it wrong. It was Travathan, but Rich kept
calling him Traviathian. But when you're the head coach, you know,
call him whatever you want. But Rich Brooks never stopped
singing his praises. And it wasn't just about you know,
how fast he was, how good he was. He just
loved him as a player, as a person, and as
you can tell of the feelings were mutual between Brooks

(21:45):
and Danny Trevathan. Good to see him, and congrats to
Danny for now being part of the Kentucky Pro Football
Hall of Fame. Tip of the Captive Frank Minifield for
the event that he and his people put on. It's
a lot of work but it comes off really well.
Brian Milem stepped in for Rob Bromley, hosted to Dinner,
did a marvelous job. So good night, a good weekend,

(22:08):
and good to see Danny Trevathan. Aaron Gershaw next on
six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bluinsider, joined
now as we are each and every Wednesday, but not
for long by Aaron Gershaw and the Catspaws. We'll visit
again with him next week. But your short time you
got a job lined up down in Florida, as I
understand it, I do.

Speaker 5 (22:29):
Yeah, I will be transitioning into a new role obviously,
very very bittersweet for me, just a move that just
kind of had to make for the family, and you know,
one that was totally on my own, so it wasn't
laid off or anything. And absolutely love it here. You
know how much I appreciate you and Darryl and everyone

(22:50):
that's given me my first opportunities here. And it's definitely
bittersweet leaving Lexing thing because it's become home. But you know,
it's part of life, and you know we're expecially for
the next chapter, but definitely going miss talking you every
week and being a part of things here. And you
know I'll be watching every game possible though and have
my thoughts.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
On it all. So I'm always all the way whenever
you want me.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well, well, we'll talk greatest hits next week. So tonight
we'll talk more about just working the beat. And another
story at the cats paus website two four seven Sports
about the fact that Kentucky's flipped yet another player. I
got a wide receiver who had been committed to Auburn
coming to Kentucky and I'll tell you, Ran, I don't

(23:35):
know if it's coincidence or what, but since the Big
Dog made his announcement, there's been a lot of positive
recruiting news, haven't there.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
There have there has.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
It's hard, It really is hard to say whether it's
by chance, whether it's simply you know, this time of
the year and it's going to get busy no matter what.
But it is very interesting. I think they're up to
twelve commits if I have that right, maybe it's thirteen,
and only two of them came before Marrow left, and
then one of those two decommitted, Jarvis Strickland.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
The offensive tackles from.

Speaker 5 (24:09):
Paduca, who's probably going to be hitting to Louisville with
all the crystal balls that are out there. Whole true.
So it is interesting, but I think it just goes
back to the philosophy change that Kentucky's kind of slowly
been rolling out, and now that Mince Marrow is no
longer here, they're fully going full blast on. And that's
they are letting the position coaches recruit their positions. Obviously,

(24:32):
the new wide receiver coach, Coach Washington is killing it
on the trail. He's done a phenomenal job. And obviously
that's where this wide receiver committed, this receiver, that's this
position group. You know the foot from Auburn here the
four star. But you know they're letting the position coaches
recruit their position, and then they're not necessarily keeping those

(24:54):
coaches in a specific geographical area, like obviously Marrow took
over Ohio and went into Michigan with Steve Clinkscale while
the clink was here, and you know John Sumrall when
he was here kind of handles Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Eddie Grant when he was the OC was going down
to South Florida, and even the last couple of years,

(25:14):
Mike Steups was going down to South Florida. Now it's
just wherever you find players, go get them, and you
know they've got an Mark Stewart has a win in Texas.
Coach Watson has a win in Texas, like Brad White
I think has had wins in Georgia, and I believe Alabama.
Like there's no specific state where these coaches are recruiting.

(25:35):
They're simply being told, Okay, get with the scouting department
and recruit the best possible players at your position and
bring them home. And that philosophy seems to be working
out pretty well, and they're you know, they're just they
fully embraced it.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
At this point.

Speaker 5 (25:49):
It was kind of a it felt like they were
kind of I don't want to I'm not accusing Vince
marylus in the match obviously, but I think they were
kind of health back on going full blown to that strategy.
And now that he's gone, it's made it easier to
kind of just say, all right, well he's gone. Now
we have no choice but to do this. And I
think it's look, you either adapt and Mark Soups has

(26:10):
said it, how many times you said this exact phrase,
where you're their adapts or you die, Like there's no
there's no in between. And you know, just as a
professional sports fan, like when you when you're all invested
in free agency in the trade market, like when your
team does nothing, you're not improving. So Kentucky knew with
all the struggles that they've had as a program, something

(26:30):
had to change, and they decided this is a change
they had to make. And you know, time will tell
if it works or not. But I give them props
for trying something different, and you know, it's obviously resulted
in a in a plot of commitments here lately, and honestly,
you know that you don't need that many more after
this because you're going to be relying on that portal still.
I know it's gonna you know, some of the fifth
and sixtiar guys are going to get weaseled out not

(26:52):
fit here. You have red shirts, but some of these
six and seventh year guys are are pretty much in
the be out of the game now with COVID years ending.
But you know, the portal is still just here forever,
and they're going to leave a certain amount of spots
open for that portal, and they have a lot of
shoes to fill just with graduating seniors on this year's
roster and then whoever leaves. So you know they've done
a they've done a really good job recovering, you know,

(27:12):
since Marat's departure.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, and there are two schools of thought here and
then there's no one right way of doing it, but
some some work other better than others. You can, as
you said, divide things geographically. You've got this cluster of state.
You have that, and the reason they do that, it
was explained to me many years ago, is certain coaches
have certain relationships with people at different high schools in

(27:39):
around the country, you know, the so called pipelines, if
you will, and if you can, if you've got a
guy who's got a great relationship, say with a coach.
Joker Phillips had great relationships, especially in South Carolina. You know,
So you go to the high school coach who goes
to the player and says, I know this guy, he's
a great guy. Listen to him. And then you know,

(28:01):
after that, oftentimes the head coach, the position coach will
follow up. But that's the geographic way and the other
ways you said is the position coach. And Jeff pi
Correl's talked about this with us a number of times.
The best relationship these kids have nine times out of
ten is with their position coach, as opposed to the

(28:21):
head coach, who's usually the CEO, and he'll have a
good relationship with kids, sure, but they live with a
position coach, and so you can see the value in that, right,
no question about it.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
You build those relationships and like you said, that's the
room you're living and that's the coach you're probably going
to be closest to.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Him the roster.

Speaker 5 (28:41):
I mean, yes, of course, Mark Jukes has good relationships
with his players and has over the years.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
You know, go look at his.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
Relationship with Josh Allen and Mike Edwards music in Benison now,
like when they were really had things rolling, and even
the last couple of years, guys like Eli Cox I
felt like they had like a weekly meeting and suits
office like it is a huge part of It's a
huge part of it. The head coach still has to
have a really good relationship with his players, but they are,

(29:10):
like you said, living in that position room. That is
the coach they are going to be closest to you.
That's the coach they're going to be working with the most,
and that's the coach at the end of the day
they ultimately trust the most in their personal development on
the field.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
So build that.

Speaker 5 (29:26):
Relationship early, build a trust and see if you don't
want to get that guy, you know, see if that
guy doesn't want to come play for you in that room.
And I think it's a it's a really good strategy,
and again you have to adapt. It just comes back
to that, and I think this is how a lot
of the great schools around the country do it. I mean,
you look at Georgia, look at Ohio State. That's how
they go about business. And you know, I'm not, obviously

(29:48):
not saying this move is going to turn Kentucky into
one of those, but you want to replicate what the
winners do, and I think this is the right most.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
By the way, you mentioned la Damian Washington or stepped
in when Kiel Schwartz suddenly left for Nebraska. Mark Stoop's
not happy about that. But as you said, and he
also said he's gonna when he signed his new coach,
whoever it might have been, he denounces back in December. Uh,
there would be a little more in the contract to

(30:15):
keep him in one place. And you gotta think, you
gotta think now he's happy it was. However, he's locked
down with Damian Washington because nothing but kudos for him, right.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
Yeah, he's on a he's on a fantastic job. He's
been definitely worth the money on the trail so far.
And you know, it's been really nice too. I think
in the wide receiver's room. And obviously we don't know
exactly that room's gonna shake out, but we do know
that he is for previous relationships with some of the
guys in that room, like Jamury Macklin. He was with
him at Missouri very early in Macklin Style's career. Same

(30:48):
with JJ Hester, the transfer from Oklahoma who was originally
at Missouri. Trendrick Law is from Shreveport, Alabama, just like
la Damien Washington. So, you know, I think that it's
really worked out so far in the relationship building process
and in the recruiting process, and you know, obviously the
biggest thing now it'll be on the field, But so
far so the early returns there are really good, and

(31:09):
it's really important to be really good, not just for
recruiting and then what happened with coach Shorts, but we
all know that room has had a lot of turnover
at the coach at that wide receivers coach position has
had a lot of turnover during SUPs of tenure. I
think he's number seven or eight, so it it would
be really nice to farm some stability there.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Also had a relationship with bush hamdon ed Missouri. It's
coming together. He is Aaron Gershaan of the Cats Paws
for now and we will talk more with Aaron on
the other side of the break here on six thirty
WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Aaron Gershan of the
Cast Balls. He's been covering baseball, football, and basketball for
the magazine and the website. He'll be with him for

(31:48):
another week and a half or so before moving on
to another job, but plenty of time to talk Kentucky
football and basketball. Shake Gilgess Alexander hits the Jackpod with
a huge contract. Meanwhile, Jackson Robinson signs with the Cavaliers.
Is an undrafted free agent and he's got some things
to work on, some things to prove. Lamont Butler gets

(32:12):
a free agent contract as well, so things are kind
of falling into place for some of Mark Pope's ballplayers.
But man, the headline an ex Kentucky player that can
only help the UK brand right with SGA.

Speaker 5 (32:25):
Yeah, absolutely, no question. I mean that contract and wow,
four years to eighty six, that's something else. And then
obviously you know, coming off the what was the third
player ever, fourth player ever to be finals MVPN regular
season MVP. So just an incredible, incredible season by him,
and what a career he's had after coming to Kentucky

(32:46):
to be Quade Green's back up originally, so really, really
impressive stuff from STA. But yeah, look, I mean Mark Pope,
you gotta this is not a calver s folks thing.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
But ask anyone before the year or who was going
to have more.

Speaker 5 (33:01):
Draft picks than the twenty five drafts, and I think
everyone would have said cal including me. And you know,
did a vote beat him two to one. So and
one of the guys that was at Kentucky at one point.
So that's really impressive to send two guys to the
NBA in your first year, two fiftier guys when you know,
we've talked about it on here in the past, like
the NBA is a little hesitant with these fiftier guys
just because how you know, they're already twenty three, twenty four,

(33:23):
Just how long are they going to last, like last
in the league compared to some of these others because
they've played so much college basketball, you know, a lot
of them at the highest level for five years.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
That's a lot on the body, you know.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
Obviously, Kobe Bray is a guy who became Mark Post's
first ever draft picks, was on in a wheelchair two
years ago, were having an injured So you know, how
much is that gonna you know, Mariy Williams has had
back issues obviously, Lamont Butler's had back issues and other injuries.
Jackson Robinson I think probably gets a true UDFA deal
if not sneaks into that second round if he doesn't

(33:56):
hurt his wrists. And then Andrew Carr also has back issues.
So like you see that why that's costing some of
these fiftier guys some spots. I mean, Walter Clayton going
eighteenth is mind boggling. But when you feel back the
onion a little bit and you realize he's a fiftier guy,
you know that's why. So it's still really impressive though,
to send you know, five guys into the league, at

(34:18):
least two being drafted. Look, Mary Williams got drafted to
a spot where he is a real chance to make
that team and possibly make an impact with some of
their lack of center depth and some of the injuries
going on in Boston. So I'm really happy for all
those guys, and really cool to have such a success
for Mark Popen, really good returns year one. That's only
gonna help him in recruiting, and you know, on top

(34:40):
of the SGA stuff. But you know, I think specifically
for this era of Kentucky basketball. To get two draft
picks and three udfa's and year one with all being
fiftier seniors is really good.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Just a couple of minutes left with Aaron Gershaan. But
you wrote recently about Jalen Lowe, who really really wanted
to be a Wildcat, played well at Pittsburgh and the ACC.
But he's another guy who grew up watching the Wildcats.
And we're hearing that from practically everybody. Mark Pope has

(35:12):
brought in through the portal, another guy who truly appreciates
being here.

Speaker 5 (35:18):
You guys are gonna love that guy. He's gonna give
you plenty of sound bite. Just want to let you know,
but nah, he is super pumped up to be here.
What you know struck me is he was telling the
story about how, you know, he didn't really specify when
in life it was, whether it was as a young kid,
whether it was at a high schooler. But at some
point during his you know, prep career, he you know,

(35:38):
made a list of eight schools that he wanted to
get offers from, and you know he mentioned the three
three of the blue Bloods, specifically Kentucky, Kansas and Duke
and he said, I got heard from absolutely none of them,
and that kind of you know, put a chip on
his shoulder, and you know, look a lot of kids.
He was still a top one hundred recruit, four star kid.
I think he was a number five player in Texas

(35:59):
that year. He goes like a lot of people be
envious of his position, but he had a chip on
his shoulder because he wanted to go to a blue
blood and he wanted to hear from a blue blood.
And then he goes on, you know, say, okay, so
I hit the transfer portal and one day later, you know,
Mark Pope is visiting me in my hotel of Minnesota
where I'm training. So it's like, well there's that blue
blood dream clearly, you know. And that's the good part

(36:21):
of the transfer portal. We hear all the negative stories
where you know, it's hurting mid majors and that's true
at all, and it's you know, taking away some of
the authenticity of the sport. And I agree with that
as well. But there is the part of it too,
where kids have these aspirations to play at places like
Kentucky or Duke or Kansas or even you know, just
schools like Florida or something like that, and maybe they

(36:43):
weren't ready at that point in their high school career.
Maybe they were overlooked, and they go out and they
prove themselves and then they get that opportunity. And I
think that's exactly what Jalen Lowe's story is. And he's
an impressive young man. He definitely is a confident young
man and he likes he likes the share. So you
got he's going to be intrigued. Really this whole group
that they like to share. So they're very, very confident,

(37:05):
and you know, it's it's fun to see.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
I just got about a minute. But here's a great
thing about him. He played in a really good conference,
not not you know, a mid major with one or
two I mean up and down. ACC was great prep
for Kentucky, wasn't it.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah, no question.

Speaker 5 (37:22):
I mean, look, it's not the ACC that we're all
used to plug, right, you know, Still you go against
I think he went against Duke at least two or
three times in his career. He played against that really
good Louisville team with Stuckey. Hepburn twice last year. So
and you know, you go look at some of the.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Non con games.

Speaker 5 (37:37):
He led them to a win over Mississippi State, who's
obviously going to be a team on Kentucky schedule. So yeah,
it's absolutely very good prep. It's not like you're getting
a point guard from a mid major or even like
I think you're even smaller than a mid major. You're
not getting a point guard from one of the smaller
conferences or a Utah Valley or something. You're getting you're
getting a acc point guard who was a third team

(37:59):
All Conference guy, who was a really productive player for
two years. And you know, fans freaked out about the
shooting splits a little bit, but you go look at
what Pit was dealing with last year and you understand
it a little bit. So I think I loved the
addition from day one, and I was even more impressed
getting to meet him in person for the first time.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
And he will make everybody better and that is the
job of a true point guard. We know this. Aaron
Gershan of The Catch Boss for Now a Gershon ninety
nine on Twitter, Thank you, Sarah. We'll talk to you
at least one more time next week.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yes, absolutely, And I said.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Aaron is moving on young guys with the career moves
that happens in this business. But we'll talk to him
one more time next week and we'll we'll keep him
in the in the rotation, the wide rotation of anything
pops up near where he is down in Florida that
we think could help us. Of course, our bureau chiefs
are a flung from border to border, like UK fans.

(38:51):
The big Booing cider is everywhere. Coming up. Our number
two with Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard and West n
Bureau chief, give me Moore on six thirty think.

Speaker 6 (39:04):
Any such stake taking the show, anything anything on.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. It is Wednesday,
which means we chat with our Unforgettable Guard, Shawn Woods.
He is the head coach at Scott County High School
and of course as the head coach of the TBT
entry featuring mostly UK players. LA for Meia and we're
going to talk about that in a minute. But Sean,
I mentioned to you earlier I chatted with Danny Trevathan

(41:14):
the night he was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football
Hall of Fame. And when he was at UK, you
were in your college coaching career, primarily as an assistant
then as a head coach in Mississippi Valley State. And
I was struck by Danny's comments about rich Brooks. So

(41:34):
you were kind of keeping an eye on UK from afar,
but you're a football fan. Danny talked about how hard
he worked and the faith that rich Brooks showed in him.
And as I told you off the air, when Brooks
was first hired, a lot of people first of all,
didn't know who he was. Secondly thought he was too old.
But I can tell you his players absolutely committed to

(41:59):
playing for him, becase because of his relationship with these
guys and the faith he had in them and the
work ethic that he demanded, but coach them through. I mean,
this guy, like you, it was a professional coach. And
Travathan gives him so much credit for a ten year
pro career in a Super Bowl ring. What comes to

(42:21):
mind when you hear about relationships be it football, basketball, whatever,
between player and coach like that.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
It's a beautiful thing, Dick, And it's one of the
reasons why I miss coaching, you know, because as coaches,
you know, we learn from players, we learned from kids.

Speaker 7 (42:41):
Meaning what I mean, it's just a you know, what
you know, making a difference. You know that locker room,
you miss, the camaraderie, you miss, you know, changing people's lives,
helping them because you got to remember now when kids
come into college, unlike now, they're straight out of high
school and they're just starting to develop mentally, physically, emotionally, socially.

(43:06):
And most coaches, especially with basketball, you're only dealing with
thirteen to fifteen guys, and football you're dealing with more,
way more than that. And so to for coach Brooks,
I mean, that's kudos for him to have strong relationships.
And it's hard when you're dealing with different positions, different

(43:27):
sizes of the balls. You got position coaches. Normally it's
your position coaches that you get close with because the
head coach is overseeing everyone. But you know, for Rich
Brooks to have close and intimate relationships with his players,
of that magnitude speaks volumes. And you know, the biggest

(43:48):
thing I get gratification I get with playing calls back,
you know, just ask how I'm doing, you know, thanking
you because it makes me feel and lets us know
that we did make a difference. You know, because coaches,
you know you it's two folds with coaches.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
First of all, you got a job to do, okay,
So you got bottom line, you got your ad, you
got your president, you got your booster saying you gotta win,
you gotta win, you gotta win, okay. And then you
have the kids that you're coaching. All right, sometimes you
don't win, but you still got to love them. You know,
you still got to have a relationship. You know, it's
still a process, and you going through some things, you know, twofold.

(44:30):
First of all, you're feeling the pressure after a loss,
will win okay. Second of all, you gotta deal with
the emotional ups and downs of the kids that you
that you're coaching to help you get through those wins
and losses. So when you're going through that type of deal,
you know, most coaches forget about it. As a young coach,
I did because I was just looking at the bottom

(44:52):
line and trying to get to the next job. But
my personality offset all of that because I'm a genuine
a person and I you know, even though I'm coaching hard,
I still like to have intimate relationships with my players,
you know, knowing where they come from. You know, when
you're recruiting you know that they're going through because you're
you're figuring out, you know, who is this kid? Do

(45:14):
I want him to coach? You know, do I want
him to become in my program? You know what type
of mindset does he have? And so you harness all
that stuff and you take all that stuff in and
that's what teaches you how to motivate, understand where they're
coming from, so on and so forth. So you know,
you have this thing. I have this thing and it's
called I do have favorites as a coach, and it's

(45:38):
it's a poem and it's and it goes like this.
You know in a nutshell that I pay attention to
the ones that pay attention to me, that that that
that gives me everything that they got, that that ask questions,
that do on the you know, and so on and
so forth, not the one that you got to always
get on. You know, they always the one, the rebellious one.

(46:00):
Because it's just like in your family, if you pay
attention to the worst kid in your family, what's that
say to the other kids that are doing right? The
only way I can get your attention is to act out, Okay,
And most times in coaching, you do spend more time
with the kids that are acting out because you've got
to always discipline them. You're trying to bring them into

(46:22):
your office and get them to do better, so on
and so forth, and you deal less with the kids
that are having on the ball that takes care of business,
So you kind of miss out a little bit. But
as coaches, sometimes we appreciate more the kids that we
don't have to get on the most and do take
care of business more so than the other one, except

(46:42):
for we got to deal with the ones that don't
take care of business the most because of discipline, action,
so on and so forth. So it's complicated. You know,
everybody thinks that they can be ahead coach, but it's
more to it than just coaching the game that you're coaching.
You know, it's relationships. How do you motive they how
do you get kids to evolve as adults in a

(47:03):
growth period Because they left their parents at eighteen, they're
leaving you at twenty two, and when they go out
in the world, okay, you're the last adult and and
major influence in their lives. So their products will view
in addition to their growth growing up with their parents.

(47:25):
So you play a major deal. And when you get
kids know that they grow up and really appreciate the
trials and tribulations and the lessons that they got from
their particular coach that speaks volumes. And when kids take
that the rules and regulation that you empowered and instilled
in them and go out into the real world, now

(47:46):
that significant impact that you made is off the charts.
And I think that's the situation that he was talking
about with Coach Brooks.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Talking to Danny, talking to Sean Woods. Yeah, I'll start
that again, talking to Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard. We
talked to him every week he as the head coach
at Sky County High School. And by the way, I
mentioned that Danny Treason went into the Kentucky Pro Football
Hall of Fame, I need to point out that Sean
and his teammates, the Unforgettables, were charter members of the

(48:19):
Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame the UK Hall of Fame
as the Unforgettables, And uh, that that had to be
I don't think I've ever asked you about that, but
that that had to be a special feeling to go
in with those guys to share that and again as
a charter member of the UK Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
It did, you know, because everything we did. You know,
one thing Coach A Tina was great about, especially with us,
was did he come in and shocked us mentally, physically,
emotionally with the demands that he brought to us. Yes,
he did. But the best thing he did was he
made us have to depend on each other. That was
the biggest thing that he did. And every thing that

(49:00):
we did we did four and with each other to
accomplish the goals that we did because those goals were
not were major feats, as you know, because nobody gave
us any type of thought that we would do the
things that we did coming in with the personnel that
we had, and we were just constant overachievers. And in

(49:21):
order to overachieve, especially with a team, you got to
have great camaraderie and respect and love for one another.
And that's exactly what we did. And that's the reason
why we're so tight now because it wasn't one person.
We didn't have a superstar. Even when Jamal Mashburn was
with us, he was our leading scorer, but he wasn't
the leader. He was just the guy that scored that

(49:43):
was the most consistent scorer for our team. But he
was part of that that unforgettable deal, even though he
was younger, but he was part of us. Reggie Hashen
was part of us. Derek Miller was part of us.
Jeff Brastow was part of us. You know. So it
was a collective deal, except we just happened to be
the seniors at that particular time to play against Duke

(50:04):
and stayed the longest in coach Betino's first three years.
But man, Dick that our whole group is still a
tight knit group. Our whole group is still still has
major respect for one another. And so when we went
into that Hall of Fame, that Innavro deal, it's like
we were one. We still are one. It was never

(50:25):
seaw Woods's team, was never Pales team, Darren's team, Richie's team.
It was our team. And everything that we did we
did together. And so all the accolades that we received
we received together. And that's the reason why we are
who we are. And you know, that's the epitome of team.

(50:45):
You know, I think, you know, I go back to
all the great teams that Kentucky they had a star,
you know, back in the in the late eight you know,
mid eighties you had Kenny Walker, he was a star.
You know, Before that, you had Bowie or Turpen or
something like that. You know, I'm saying that before that
you had Jack, you know, who's considered the start. Right
after Jack, you had cal Macy. But it was never

(51:07):
a team. You know, before that, years ago, you had
Ruffs Once. You don't mention the only reason why pat
Riley has mentioned more than anybody else is because pat
Riley became a la Laker, the coach, so on and
so forth. But that team is Ruffs Once, you know,
which is considered one of the best teams in the
history of Kentucky basketball, the Stem and five, you know,

(51:29):
so on and so forth. So you know, as there
been a lot of all Americans that come through Kentucky. Yeah,
but the best teams were the best teams collectively. And
that's what we were part of, and that's what we
were hanging I had on and that's the reason why
so many people appreciated us, because it was so pure
that nobody got more accolades than the next. We were

(51:51):
just all in this thing together trying to figure it out.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
Sean Woods, you in Forgettable Guard we'll come back and
talk moreo's with Sean also the head coach. Off for
me back in a minute. On six thirty w l
a P. Welcome back. We're talking with Sean Woods. He's
the head coach at Scott County High but also the
coach of La Fama, the UK based entry in TBT
the Basketball Tournament. You guys have added an interesting name

(52:18):
to your roster over the last few days. Coach, tell
me about Jesser.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
I'm gonna have to get with twenty on that one.
He's the he's the social media butterfly. So that's all
I know about it right now. You know what I
mean that was that was a general manager decision, right the.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Thirty one million subscribers, basically for pub for publicity. But
it should be fun, right, Oh yeah?

Speaker 1 (52:44):
I mean you know this thing here, you know, even
though it's a you know, we're playing for something, it's
still fun in games, and you you want to keep
the camaraderie and the and and and the fun into
this situation. And I think that's what twenty was doing. Yeah,
he's doing I hear. You know.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
I never added shoot this question before, either publicly or privately,
but you and I did radio back in the day
when you would graduated UK, you had quit playing and
you were in the business world and you did that,
Sean for almost ten years before you got into coaching.
What was that like when you before you got into

(53:21):
your coaching career and then was that tugging at you
all that time that you felt like you needed to
be back in the game.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
I needed to be back in the game. And I
guess what. Guess what, though the guy works in the
stairs leaves, I wouldn't have been the coach that I
became if I didn't do work into work in media
because I was. I was in sales. Remember not only
just doing on their stuff. I was in sales. And
sales is just like recruiting. And what I mean by

(53:52):
that is you got to prospect first, okay. Then you
got to come up with a strategic plan to what
get them to buy your product up okay, whatever you're selling.
So for instance, I was, I work for Claire Channel,
I worked for w L e X, and you know,
I had to sell me first before you know, and

(54:13):
establish a relationship with me first before I could sell
what I was selling. And it's the same thing with
with with recruiting, you know, you're selling yourself first. It's
about relationships first, and then you sell the university because
most kids, I'm telling you right now, okay, they go
because the relationship they have with the coach first and foremost. Okay,

(54:36):
then it's the university. The coach sells the university and
what the universe can do for them. But it's the
relationship and trust that you build first with the kid
and his family, so on and so forth, same way
you do when you walk into someone's business. You know,
you create a relationship and a trust first, and then
you get to the nuts and boats about what you

(54:57):
have to offer with the you know, with the people
that that you're representing the same thing. And that's the
reason why I became good because Mary Bobart really taught
me the game about selling and I've always taken that
with me as far as college is concerned and recruiting.
And then when you get that person to buy your

(55:20):
you know, your product and advertise with you what you
have to do, you have to continue to what sell them,
you know, and and and trusting them with the things
that you do and say same thing with coaching. You know,
they have to trust and you have to keep your
word and what you told them to get them to
come play for you. So it just, you know, kind

(55:43):
of came hand in hand and I became a natural
at it. And that's the reason why recruiting was really
easy for me, because first of all, I've always had
a personality and second of all, you know what I'm saying.
I believed in what I was saying, and I believed
in everything that I you know, the people that I
work for and the things that we can do for
the for our clients. Same thing with how I feel

(56:05):
about what I could do for that kid if he
came to play for me or us.

Speaker 3 (56:10):
Before I let you go, I got to get your
reaction to Shaye Gilgess Alexander signing the richest contract in
NBA history. What a year he had? A former Wildcat
just like you point guard, like you score a little
bit more than you did. But uh, what does this do?
What does this mean for UK basketball in your opinion?

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Well, it's just it enhances the UK brand. I tell
you that, you know, and you know Cal did. Cal
did one thing right, Okay, he sent the best players
to the NBA, but he was recruiting the best players

(56:53):
every year in and out of high school. So what
this does and it hanst our brand and and everybody
thinks you wear that that blue and white. You know,
your chances of becoming the NBA prospect enhance this. So
that helps them recruiting because everybody's trying to get to
the next level. So I think it enhances our brands,

(57:16):
as you know, and it keeps us out there because
you used to be Remember in the eighties and nineties,
Carolina had all the players in the pros. You know,
they were dominate and have more players in the pros
than any other school. Now it's Kentucky and it's Kentucky tenfold,
and these guys are winning. I mean, you look at
the playoffs. Almost every team in the playoffs coming down

(57:38):
the stretch had a Kentucky player. So now Mark Pope
is doing it just in another at another level. And
it's kind of different because you're getting the top players
out of the transport portal more so than you are
out of high school. But I'll tell you what Malakai
Marino from when I'm hearing the pros love him. Okay,

(58:02):
the other kid, Johnson, you know, he's a guy that
can go get his own. The pros love that. So
I think his two the two kids Kentucky kids that
he that he has coming in, you know, is going
to be has the potential to to make an impact
in the NBA. To one made the Olympic team, I
mean the United States team and Johnson and Malachi was

(58:25):
probably the best player out there, but it got hurt
and he came back. But you know, Kentucky has struck again.
He not only just in the transfer portal, but you
know out of the high school rings. And the great
thing is both of those kids are Kentucky kids, so
enhances it even more.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
That's right. He is Sean Woods. He's the head coach
of Scott County High also the head coach of the
TBT Entry Lapamia and we'll talk more hoops with Shawn
next week. Thank you, sir, have a great week you two.
Dick Weston Bureau she Gary Moore is next on six
thirty wlap welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining
us now in our celebrity highline as he does each

(59:08):
and every Wednesdays. He had Joe permitted is our Western
Bureau chief. Gary Moore, long time West Coast Bureau chief
when he worked for KLOS Radio in La now La
means Louisville area, right around the sixty four. Here he
is but a lot on his mind.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Two guys in a six pack, you and me six
things to talk about. Number one our first sip, as
it were, Dick confidence is very high that a very
rare baseball milestone will occur tonight in the aforementioned the
city of Angels and Dodgers. At some point tonight, while
facing the worst hitting team in the majors, the Chicago

(59:44):
White Sox, Clayton Kershaw will record strikeout number three thousand.
It's three away now, should go past three thousand, and
by the way, that's going to be on MLB Network
at ten eastern tonight. And in this day of triple
digit velocity and throw until you your arm falls off,
how is this thirty seven year old Kershaw four and
oh with an ERA of three point oh three, just

(01:00:06):
eight games off the il Well, he's pitching, not flamethrowing.
Last week in Colorado, Kershaw allowed one run on two
hits with no pitch harder than ninety point three miles
an hour. We're talking the very definition of a crafty
lefty here. So I ask you, what do you think
is more rare three thousand strikeouts which we may never

(01:00:28):
see again after tonight, or a pitcher with three hundred wins.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
That is a great question. I would make them equally
difficult because, as you know you and you alluded to it,
guys are throwing our arms out and you know what,
the money. I hate to say this, Gary, with the
money being what it is, you know, take your money,
take your ball and go home after you know, two

(01:00:54):
thousand strikeouts or whatever. You didn't have to pitch at
your life to make that kind of money. But there's
an article in USA Today today going back to his
first strike ad victim. He made his first start against
our Cardinals, right, and the first victim was skipped Schumacher

(01:01:14):
and Schumacher talked about when he saw the first couple
of pitches, he thought, who is this guy? They had
heard about this phenom, but they were, you know, they
were skeptical. And really it wasn't his fastball. It was
his curveball, which as you know, has been one of
his great money pitches. Oh, I'm telling you, and now

(01:01:38):
three times Cy Young Award, winner, too World Series and
MVP Gary, he'll be. Only the fourth left hander. That's
what amazes me in baseball history to go for three
thousand Carlton, Randy Johnson, C C. Sabbathia and he'll be,
He'll be. This is even more amazing. Only the third

(01:02:02):
to produce three thousand strikeouts in one uniform.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
That Bob Gibson in this Dan A Yeah, yeah, Bob
Gibson and Walter Johnson.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
So that'll never be done again. Well you see a
picture like him go seventeen years No, which is unfortunate,
but you need to.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Take it in now, right absolutely, And I'll tell you
there are twenty four pitchers who've got three hundred or
more wins, but only nineteen with three thousand or more strikeouts.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
Amazing. Second swig in the six pack.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
I hat some more baseball swigs down the line, but first,
let's do a big college football story here. It's a
big move that may have ramifications here in the Commonwealth.
As you've talked about, you saw, Texas State was announced
as the eighth football school to join the resuscitated PAC
twelve conference meeting. It can now continue as an FBS
conference or one A as we to call it PAC

(01:03:01):
twelve Commissioner Teresa Gould said, quote, We're extremely excited to
welcome Texas State as a foundational member of the New
pac twelve Unquote. Well, she's one of the few outside
of San Marcos, Texas who is amped up about it.
Texas State, not Tech, or A and M or even
utep Dick. Texas State wasn't even the top ten in

(01:03:22):
the far inferior sun Belt. They weren't even one of
the top three last season. Never mind at San Marcos
is over thirteen hundred miles to the American Pacific Ocean beaches.
Now you gotta wonder does the Sunbelt have to find
their replacement? Some say yes, some say no, it they do.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
It may just be the.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
Prodigal Wku Hilltoppers who were in the Sun Belt. As
you recall from two thousand and nine to twenty thirteen,
supposedly it's between La Tech and Western. Here's hoping it's
my alma mater because for one big financial reason, Conference
USA schools get about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars
and TV money, Sun Belt teams seven million a year.

(01:04:05):
Slight difference, wouldn't you say?

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
Yeah? And you're right, it's all about the money. But
I will say this about Texas State, and I worked
with a guy I went to school there back when
I think it was Southwest Texas State or something like that.
That school gary thirty six thousand undergrads thirty six thousand.
So what I'm and they got a really good baseball program.
What I'm telling you is give them that bump, give

(01:04:30):
them the uh. I don't know if it's prestige whatever,
higher profile with a PAC twelve. That could be a
sleeping giant because that's a state chock full of money,
chock full of football players, and I got to think
that they're going to get some big time donors involved
as well. So don't sleep on Texas State. And I

(01:04:52):
do hope the best for your for your toppers.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
We'll see what happens. Of course, you know the pack
wanted UNLV really bad. Yeah, you and ILV said nope.

Speaker 3 (01:05:01):
And by the way, it's best for college athletics period
to have a strong PAC twelve.

Speaker 6 (01:05:08):
It is.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
And maybe we can go back to some more sanity
when it comes to geography and travel, but we've beaten
that one to death.

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
Third swig in the six pack. Look what's back in
the mother country for one of them. There fortnights Wimbledon
London at its most expensive Dick hotel rooms. Well you know,
because you were over there covering basketball during Christmas time.
But in the summertime hotel rooms run thirty to eighty
percent higher or more during these two weeks than any
of the time of well the summer of the year
for that matter. With the exchange rate of a dollar

(01:05:37):
worth seventy two cents over there. Now you gotta love
tennis to go over there and get reamed like that.
And I say to heck with all this tariff stuff,
fix that. So a buck equals a pound again. So
we've already had some great first round matches. The number
two seed in defending champ, Carlos Alcaaz, got taken to
five sets on Day one. Fifth seeded American Taylor Fritz

(01:06:00):
dealt with the fastest serve in Wimbledon history, one hundred
and fifty three miles an hour from Frinchman Giovanni Peragard,
and he still won. He won that point too, by
the way, and he wont to comeback five set win.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Dick.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
Out of my top three favorite sporting events to watch,
Wimbledon is right there. With the World Series and some
Bowl games might even be number one at times. Where
does it rank for you?

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
Not nearly as high. I was not a tennis fan
growing up. As such, I don't pay much attention to
tennis unless it's Wimbledon of the US Open. Why because
of tradition and the big names and things like that.
But it takes an incredible amount of athletic ability to

(01:06:43):
excel at this sport. And that serve you mentioned conjured
up Roscoe Tanner served in one fifty three miles pro.
How in the world we talk about baseball players hitting
one hundred and one miles an hour. How in the
world do you turn that? But you talked about how
tough it was on one of the men Cocoa Golf

(01:07:07):
already eliminated. I gotta wonder, Gary, how much does that
affect the secondary cost of these tickets? You know, the
number two seed beaten by a young, up and coming Ukrainian.
But I will pay attention as we get closer to
the holiday weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
I started paying more attention to it when a guy
that I used to I was on a little league
team with, named mel Purcell. Yeah, got into I think
the I think got as far as the quarterfinals at
one point, yep, fourth Swig and the six pack. This
past Sunday and HBO's superb Last Week Tonight Show host
and minor league baseball fanatic John Oliver revealed the new
identity for the Eerie Sea Wolves, which happened to be

(01:07:47):
THEBA affiliate with the Detroit Tigers. For four home games
beginning this month, the Sea Wolves will become the Moon Mammoths,
inspired by the nineteen ninety one discovery of wooly mammoth
bones in the nearby lake by local resident George Moon.
Along with the requisite new uniforms and merch, they also
get a new mascot for these four games, a purple

(01:08:09):
wooly mammoth named fuzz E Mammoth. Because can you really
have a minor league team without a mascot? Of course not.
Forty seven minor league teams applied to have John and
his staff rebrand their club, but Erie's team president Greg
Coleman won them over with an email which, by the way,
I've put on nine to five to five Gary on

(01:08:29):
X to show you his eleven reasons why they should
be picked, including the fact that when Coleman was down,
I sixty five with the Bowling.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Green hot Rods.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
They launched apparently the first alternate identity promotion, turning the
hot Rods for one night into the Bowling Green Cave Shrimp.
In two thousand and nine, the first Moon Mammoth game
July nineteen's already a sellout. John Oliver is going to
be there, and tickets are already going fast for the
other three games, as well as all the new merch Dick,
this is exactly why forty seven teams wanted this. You

(01:09:00):
cannot buy this kind of publicity, can you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
Now?

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
I am a huge John Oliver fan. You know I
did minor league baseball for a couple of summers. I
love the fact that Oliver's involved. We have a little
clip here from YouTube some of his commentary.

Speaker 8 (01:09:15):
Overall, picking the team turned out to be really difficult,
and before we reveal our choice, let me just say this.
If you haven't been to a minor league baseball game,
you really should go, because minor league baseball is clearly
both incredibly special and inescapably stupid in the very best way.
But in the end, we have made a choice, so
please come with me, because it's hardly was we did

(01:09:40):
one the forty seven entries. I were excited to get
to work the team. We've selected this the Eerie Sea
Wolves in Erie, Pennsylvania to US west of eleven. Good
reasons to create that, one of which was the Sea
Wolves played baseball no out in near Let's see, which, Yeah,

(01:10:02):
that's a problem here, we can help you fix.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
And I just love the fact that he's got this
big British accent and here he is talking about minor
league baseball and we've talked before about rebranding, and yeah,
it's a merch grab, but it's an attention grab and
it's fun. That's the thing about minor league baseball. They
just you know. And Alan Stein, who has worked here
tirelessly through decade, helped bring the election in Legends to town.

(01:10:29):
He has told me about meetings that the minor league
executives have and they all they call it stealing, but
they borrow ideas from each other and it's so much
fun and I just love it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:40):
Let's talk about that the next couple of SIPs. By
the way, that first alternate identity for the Hot Rods.
It won the two thousand and nine Promotion of the
Year in the in Minor League Baseball. They do these
awards every year, and they did it again in twenty
sixteen when they became the Bowling Green Bootleggers, which is
a tribute to not only the distilling culture in Kentucky,
but also to the High Rod for aiding the bootleggers

(01:11:02):
over a century ago as a means we're out running
law enforcement. Bootlegger's identity is still so popular down there.
They do it every Thursday night for the home games
in Bowling Green, which clearly inspired here the Louisville Bats
to become the Louisville Mashers as well as the Julips
two different bourbon themed identities. And there over there, clearly

(01:11:22):
your Lexington Legends got a great idea on July seventeenth.
Coming up here very soon, the Legends will become the
Kentucky Bourbon Barrels in collaboration with the Hartfield and Company Distillery,
including barrel themed uniforms and a new cap with Mighty LECs,
the mustached baseball mascot who's now a mustached bourbon barrel
Bourbon and Baseball Dick. This is a classic case of

(01:11:44):
knowing thy.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
Audience absolutely and I'm happy Heartfield Guide involved Heartfield is
in Bourbon County, and for the longest time, even after
Prohibition ended, there were no distillery They were right something.
There were twenty something before prohibition, and after it ended,
distilleries never came back until Heartfield did. And the guy

(01:12:07):
who opened it, he had been an AD exeit. You'll
appreciate this was an AD executive and said, I hate this,
I love bourbon. I'm gonna learn how to make it.
I'm gonna bottle it. I gotta bottle of it upstairs
of Bourbon from the Heartfield. It's not blands, it's not
you know, wood for reserve. It's good and it's fun
and it's located in what used to be an automobile dealership.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:32):
So it's a great story and it all ties in
well to Minor League Baseball sixth and final swig.

Speaker 2 (01:12:39):
Speaking of promotion of the year, we may just have
a front runner for this one thanks to John Oliver
who called out the Saint Paul Saints for being boring.
Their name anyway being boring. So the Saints embraced the
underwhelming and had Plane Night as in staying with their
plain boring name, no wacky alter egos. The first one
thousand fans got a piece of plain white paper either

(01:13:03):
watt up and throw or make paper airplanes, whatever you
wanted to do. Ordinary white bread instead of peanuts, was
tossed into the crowd, and the concession stands sold only
vanilla ice cream the entire night. They gave out free
tickets to anyone named John or Oliver and Dick. There
was no kiss cam. They only showed people in khaki
pants and a tucked in shirt. By all accounts, a

(01:13:24):
meh time was had by all.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
That is so great and giving away white bread reminded
me of our former colleague Jack Patty. Yeah, at a
radio station down the street one day, just to prove
a point people will call in for anything, gave away
a loaf of wonderbread. That's call her a loafa in
the lines for jammed.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
They live up right exactly, Hey, we got some bread
we don't need to store.

Speaker 3 (01:13:51):
I love stuff like that. He is Gary Mories, our
Western Barrel chief. We'll come back with a couple of
hot reads for Gary in just a minute around six
point thirty WLP, Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
We are visiting with our West End Bureau chief, Gary Moore,
he has gone through two guys in a six pack
time to throw a couple of hot reads at him.
Gary the Red Panda. You've seen her either in person

(01:14:12):
or on TV. An Asian born woman Chinese I believe wrong,
new from Taiwan. She rides an eight foot unicycle, balances
bowls on her head, somehow tosses them up there with
their hands and feet. Well, she fell. I've seen her
at rupp Aerna a couple of times. Can't favorite during

(01:14:33):
halftime in Minneapolis, Indiana Fever versus the Minnesota Links at
the Target Center. Last night, she fell early in the app. Yeah,
hurt her wrist. Tried to walk it off, being a
show woman that she is, but then took a knee.
Medical personnel rushed in. They brought out a wheelchair, took

(01:14:55):
her off the court. Never lost consciousness, but yeah, she
was in and of course I got to wonder what
he did for the rest of halftime. But I don't
know about you, but every time I'd watch her, I'm thinking, Man.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
What if she falls off that I know she did.
Everybody thinks that she has to get on a ladder
to get on the dang thing. Yeah, that eight foot
unicycle and it's amazing. What's amazing hasn't happened before now
to me?

Speaker 3 (01:15:21):
And I love her and I love what she does.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
And she's even been out of Murray. I believe she's
been all over. Yeah, I think most every basketball arena,
of all the d one.

Speaker 3 (01:15:31):
I always wondering how in the world does she get started?
How she get discovered? I'm sure that's on line somewhere,
but best of luck to her. This today is a
forty fifth anniversary of the release. This is not sports? Really,
what sort of is of airplane? I know one of
your faves, one of my faves.

Speaker 2 (01:15:48):
Surely your kidding it's been forty Surely it has not
been forty five years.

Speaker 3 (01:15:51):
And don't call me Shirley. What people may not know
this is kind of a well known piece of trivia.
Robert Hayes played the lead right audition for that David Letterman.
He was a friend of the Zuckers and Jerry Abrams,
the directors, and as a favorite of them, he auditioned.
Didn't want it, but he auditioned, here's here's a clip.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
You're taking all the blame for what happened on that
raid was a pretty courageous thing too.

Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
Because of my mistake, six men didn't come back from
that raid.

Speaker 1 (01:16:21):
Seven lieutenants have died this week.

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
Such a funny You hear the laughter because this clip
was played on Letterman's show. But you can tell in
the audition he didn't want that role, and he would
have been totally wrong for it. But I like the fact,
not only him. Chevy Chase turned it down. Bill Murray
turned it down. Fred Willard was gonna take it, and
then he's an a. It's not for me. Can you imagine?

(01:16:46):
The female lead went to Julie Haggerty, Sigourney Weaver turned
it down. Shelley Long Wow, the role of the doctor
played by Leslie Nielsen. Vincent Price turned it down, Christopher
Lee turned it down. But my favorite note on this
Gary Kareem Abdul Jabbar right the co pilot Roger Murdoch.

Speaker 1 (01:17:07):
Eh.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
Their original choice was Pete Rose. Really Pete Rose for
whatever reason turned it down. Unbelievable. So they go to Jabbar.
Great choice, great line. Tell your old man to drag
wall in an eir up and down the court, out
there busting my buns every night. Jabbar. They offered him

(01:17:30):
thirty thousand dollars. He said, I'll take it. I'll take
the roll, but I need thirty five thousand dollars because
he had a real affinity for oriental rugs. He had
just seen one that he priced at thirty five brand
and he said, I need thirty five grand done. And
that's why Kareem Abdul Jabbar was in that cockpit next

(01:17:51):
to Peter Graves, who originally turned down the role. Thought
it was disgusting because the little kid, you know, and
his family read and then they go, you gotta do this.
It's hilarious. You like oysters. That's how it all came together.

Speaker 2 (01:18:06):
Wow, that's I saw that at South Park Theaters. There
they're no longer there, Renolds Road and Nicholas.

Speaker 3 (01:18:13):
You know what else? Turns forty five that I also
saw there at the same theater. Let me give you
a hint. The Cinderella boy grill his eyes. I guess
gunga yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
Caddy Shack came out in July of nineteen eighty, as
well as two of the greatest comedies of all time,
neither of which were nominated for Academy Awards because the
Academy hates to laugh at especially good comedies.

Speaker 3 (01:18:35):
And the great thing about that scene where Murray is
killing all the flowers ad libbed yeah, riband gave him
and just said have fun.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
As was the scene with he and Chevy Chase got added.
They didn't have that originally in the script and they
said you got to get these two guys together in
a scene, and they just did the whole ad lib
thing there.

Speaker 3 (01:18:55):
It's amazing. Yeah, and there was I think yesterday was
an anniversary for Animal House or over the weekend in
Belushi the food scene in the cafeteria.

Speaker 2 (01:19:03):
That was ed lib exactly. So it's the look on
the face when he says, guess what I am now?

Speaker 3 (01:19:10):
Well, is it?

Speaker 1 (01:19:11):
Get it? Beautiful?

Speaker 3 (01:19:13):
Love it? Love stuff like that. He is Gary Moore.
I love his stuff. He is our Western Bureau chief.
Joints his each and every week. But you don't need
to wait for Wednesdays. You can find him on Twitter
or x at.

Speaker 2 (01:19:26):
At nine to five to five Gary, And yes, Animal
House is my all time favorite movie, honest to god.

Speaker 3 (01:19:30):
You're also on x at, Big Blue and Sader one.
And I saw Animal House in the theater five times,
I'm not afraid to tell you that. And I've seen
it many more times since. Thank you, sir, we'll see
you next week. We are gonna die thanks to my
guest tonight, Gary to shun Woods, to Aaron Gershaw and
that's it. Good nights in the garage in Lexington listening

(01:19:50):
to you.

Speaker 1 (01:19:51):
I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA.

Speaker 3 (01:19:54):
I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your
old man at drag Waltman and Neurope and on the
court for forty eight minutes.

Speaker 6 (01:21:00):
They think anything, then change tact. Doth thin toast, don't

Speaker 1 (01:21:53):
Do

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