2025-07-25 - BBI

Mark Stoops on remaking his team; (8:00) serious shade being tossed about in college football among conferences; (19:00) West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore; (39:00) WTVQ anchor/reporter Hallie Devore; (58:00) a look back at the Week That Was with some former all-star football Wildcats; (1:08) Heroes, Fools and Flakes and a classic tantrum on the tennis court...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Big Blue Saderday.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Gabriel with you on a Friday, one day closer to
college football, and we're closer still to Fan Day that's
going to come up one week from tomorrow at the
Craft practice facility, weather permitting. A reminder, if the weather's bad,
in other words, rain, it's gonna be hot.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
But if it's.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Raining so much so they got to go inside, fans
can't go with them, so check the website, check the
local weather before you go. But it should be okay
from what I understand the long term forecast, and it'll
be a chance for you to see the Wildcats in
a full practice mode. With the season opener on the way,

(00:42):
we'll talk a lot of football tonight. Upcoming on the program,
We've got our Western Bureau chief is back.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
He's been off for a few days, but Gary Moore
is going to join us.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Usually he's with us on Wednesdays, but he's going to
be with us today. Coming up really at the bottom
of this hour, we will also talk Kentucky football and
basketball and some high school football with Halle Devor from
Channel thirty six WTVQ. A little bit later on, we'll
go back over the week that was and Heroes, fools
and flakes and coming up in a few minutes. Man,

(01:12):
there's a lot of shade being thrown back and forth,
especially within college football, especially between the ACC.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
And the SEC.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's been kind of fun to see that unfold, so
we will visit that. Coming up momentarily. Mark Strups preparing
for yet another season as the longest tenured coach in
the Southeastern Conference. Some are wondering will this be as
last year at Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
I do not believe that, but you just never know.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
And the one thing you don't know about this Kentucky
football team is how's it going to hold up when
things really get tough. And we don't know this because
there are about fifty new faces on this roster. Remember
now eighty five scholarships plus some walk ons. But about
fifty of these guys weren't here last year. They're either

(02:04):
true freshmen or they came through the portal. And prior
to spring beginning, Mark Stoops talked about the fact that
guys were going to come and go, that some guys.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Were gonna leave of their own volition.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
And find other places to play, and they did. Dang
Key left, Marian Brown left, and others, and some of
the guys were going to have to be shown the door.
He strongly implied that. He said, we need some guys
to leave, and they did. They just needed a change,
you know how cali Perry kind of needed to leave.

(02:42):
Both sides needed to change, and it worked out for
both sides. Worked out for UK basketball with Mark Pope,
and it worked out for John Caliperi.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
His Arkansas team had a great year, much better than
people thought it would, much.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Better than it appeared to have or to be on
its way early in the year when Arkansas just wasn't
very good. But that's essentially what Mark Steups is hoping for,
you know, new life, new blood, and new approach from
these new guys. But at SEC media days, he was

(03:16):
quite frank about the fact that they looked hard and
his assistance at their team and they knew they had
to make some big changes.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
We need a change. I think the roster turnover for
this year was important for us. We needed that. I
think there's a great balance for us with the new faces,
the fresh faces, the energy, the juice that these players
are bringing, and the experience that they have. But I
also love the continuity that we have with our staff.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
And by the way, lets you think he's pointing fingers
solely at the players. He admitted that he leading the staff,
but he said it was on him. Did not do
a very good job last year.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Really the last couple of years of evaluating talent as
people as players, the guys coming through the portal, that's
only on one person or one group of people, and
that's the coaches, the people in charge of scouting talent,
evaluating and seeing how they're going to fit in. Sometimes

(04:19):
it's easy a Wandale Robinson comes through the portal. Yeah,
Will Levis might have been a little easier than others.
I don't know that they expected Levis to be as
good as he was, But when you're thrown to a
guy like Wandale, yeah, that's a big help. But there
were other players who came through the portal who just

(04:40):
didn't measure up. And I'm not blaming the quarterbacks. I'm
not blaming Devin Larry, I'm not blaming Rock Vandergriff because
the old line.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Let them down.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
That's really where the staff has been lacking of late,
is not being able to build an offensive line. Well,
they have totally just about rebuilt the old line this year,
and we will know soon what kind of job they've done.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
The good news with all this rebuilding is that.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
The guys who are coming in, a lot of them
were able to not just play, but play well at
their previous stops through the years. You know, Kentucky got
some kids to transferred in and they weren't playing at
their previous schools, and now they transferred to Kentucky looking
for a place to play well. The reason they weren't
playing at their previous school some of them in the SEC,

(05:30):
they couldn't compete at other SEC schools. Now they're expected
to compete at the highest level for Kentucky. Not so
much the case with a lot of these guys coming
through the portal. Now they were successful at other places
and they're looking to be even more successful at Kentucky.
But what goes along with that is an attitude of well, yeah,

(05:53):
things that happened here last year not great, but we
don't care. We weren't a part of that. We're not
going to worry about it that. We're just going to
do the best we can. What's past is past, was
done is done. Let's move on and Stoop's talked about
that as well.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
So I think there's a good mixture with new people,
new faces, fresh energy, guys that aren't tied up with
the negative season that we had last year. That's gone,
and the fifty players that are here that are new,
they really don't care about what happened last year. They
acknowledge it, they understand it, but they're really concerned about
what we're doing now and how we're going.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
To move the program forward.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
And so that's been a fresh change.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
On the flip side of that is the guys who
are coming back, especially the guys who will play a
lot and have played a lot, they don't want to
see this happen again. And in fact, that's exactly what
ty Bryant said. He didn't come down to media days
in Atlanta, but he talked to the media after one
of the spring practice sessions, and I asked him about

(06:58):
the fact that he is a guy grew up with
UK football, his dad played here, and he had known
prior to last year as a fan and as a
legacy as a player, he had known nothing but success,
nothing but bowl games, nothing but winning seasons until last year,
and he said, nobody wants that to happen again. So

(07:20):
the guys who were back, the guys who will be
leaders to steal a page from the basketball cats. They
know the assignment win more than you lose. Get back
to a bowl game.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Up next.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
There's a lot of back and forth between some of
the major conferences, the Big Ten, the SEC, the ACC.
Here in the talking season at the bottom of the
ur Gary Moore or Western Bureau Chief here on six
thirty WLAP.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Coming up at the bottom of the hour, our Western
Bureau Chief Gary Moore.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
We got him coming up a little earlier in the show.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Usually he's in the second hour, but be at the
bottom of this hour in hour number two.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
HOLLYE.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
DeVore of WTVQ Channel thirty six, weekend Sports anchor, and
she'll talk about not just the Wildcast, but high school
football as well, because the previews are cranking up, or
at least the local stations are gathering material for the
previews on high school football. There was some interesting back
and forth between the SEC and the Big Ten recently,

(08:26):
and by that I mean two different people, all right.
James Franklin, formerly the head coach at Vanderbilt, now at
Penn State was talking about how other conferences do business
compared to the Big Ten, and he made reference to
the Southeastern Conference, but he didn't say it by name,
which probably would be bad form at Big Ten Media

(08:50):
Day because those are the two big you know, the
heavyweights as you know right now, and when it comes
to college athletics in general, not just football, the SEC
and the Big Ten refer to the SEC as that
other conference. Greg Sankey or somebody in the SEC latched
onto that in a really hilarious way and under Greg

(09:14):
Sanke's Twitter handle, and it was basically Sankey tweeting greetings
from that other conference, and it included the logo the SEC,
the template you know that that yellow and blue kind
of oblong shape where usually you see the letters SEC.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
But it s ad t O C.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
I saw that as I was scrolling through Twitter earlier today,
like TOC, and then you look down and it's Sanke's message,
greetings from that other conference. Now you need to understand
James Franklin can be a little bit inflammatory, but he
makes great points. He's not It was kind of a
backhanded compl really toward the SEC because Franklin was pointing

(10:05):
out how the SEC did things in some ways better
than the Big Ten. For instance, the Big Ten Media
Days are in Las Vegas, I mean my holes from
the epicenter of that conference, and that conference has spread
all over the country now, which is likely why they

(10:28):
have it there.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
But Franklin pointed out.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Most of the schools are in the Midwest, most of
the media outlets that would cover the Big Ten are
in the Midwest, meaning Vegas is more of a more
expensive trip to get there, meaning less coverage. And of
course the SEC Media Days at least this year or
in Atlanta last year in Dallas. They move it around
a little bit, but it's often as Birmingham, but it's

(10:52):
in a centralized location as it pertains to the conference.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
He also talked.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
About the winter meetings that are in Destined, Florida the SEC,
and he said those are really, really media friendly. He said,
when the conference hosts annual spring meetings, I should say
not winter meetings, Sank and coaches hold media availabilities throughout

(11:20):
the week, and of course Paul Finebaum does his TV
slash radio show down there and Sanky pops up all
the time. The Big Ten this year had spring meetings
in Los Angeles, which is now part of the Big Ten,
but didn't hold media sessions like that. So Franklin was

(11:40):
promoting the fact that they need to promote better. He said,
other conferences, when they have their meetings, there's a press
conference basically every single day, and he said it keeps
people talking about that conference at a time of the
year at that time of the year and makes them relevant.
He said, we're not doing that. Said, we need to

(12:00):
be talking about the Big Ten and our programs and
the things we've done and make it as accessible to
everybody as we possibly can and connecting with the fans.
And he pointed out he said, I'm not knocking Vegas.
He said it's a special place. They run events as
well as anybody. But he said, I've been at those
other places where people are putting up babies for you

(12:25):
to autograph. Said, it's just a different feeling. He stopped
short of saying it just means more. Here's another thing
you talk about. He said he was in a room
back when he was at Vanderbilt when the SEC considered
the first time going to nine games, and Franklin believes
everybody should play nine or eight. He said, if they're

(12:46):
competing for a national title through the playoff. Now it
should be a uniform format. Every league plays eight or
nine conference games, and he said every buddy should play
a conference championship game or not. Said everybody should be

(13:07):
in a conference. He believes Notre Dame should be in
a conference. I'm not sure why that's so important him,
except for the fact that it factors into how Notre
Dame gets into the playoff or an independent might get
into the playoff. But there aren't that many independence anymore. Really,
you're just talking about Notre Dame. And he talked about
it before Penn State's game with Notre Dame last year,

(13:29):
and he said people thought he was slighting Notre Dame,
but he's not. He said, I've been saying that for
ten years. And if he didn't say it at that point,
he would have felt like a hypocrite. So James Franklin
speaking out and referring to the SEC as that other conference,
and Greg Sank and his league pounced on it. It's

(13:52):
pretty funny.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Really. You might have seen this a little while back.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
Florida State's Tommy Castellanos, the quarterback, was talking about fs
thank us upcoming season opener with Alabama and He said
a couple of weeks ago that he has dreamed of
playing against Bama, and he said they don't have Nick
Saban to save them. I just don't see them stopping me.

(14:19):
This was back on June twenty third, and he was
given a chance to walk it back earlier this week.
Somebody said, do you wish you would have said some
things differently? And Castellano said, most definitely, But I stand
on we stand on what I said. So I said
what I said, and we stand on that. He said,

(14:41):
I don't mean no disrespect to none of those guys
at Alabama. I just have confidence in my guys.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Good on you.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Alabama's going to destroy Florida State, and I'll walk that
back if they don't. That's some serious talk right there.
Serious talk from SMU coach Rhett Lashie. He played quarterback
at Arkansas back in the early aughts, but it's spent
the last six years in the ACC, the last four
as SMU's head coach, and of course SMU fielded some

(15:12):
criticism during the College Football Playoffs and last ye's fighting back,
primarily against SEC. Fans said the SEC had the same
six schools win the championship since nineteen sixty four. Not
a single one has been different since sixty four. That's
top heavy to me, that's not depth. And of course

(15:33):
this doesn't count Texas and Oklahoma. But yeah, six teams
have split thirty national titles in football, Alabama with fifteen.
And you know, only three other schools have won national
titles in football since the league was founded in nineteen
thirty two, Georgia Tech, which joined up in nineteen eighty three,

(15:56):
Ole Miss and Kentucky. And that was kind of, in hindsight,
being awarded a mythical national championship. So I guess if
you want to buy into this argument, it comes down
to head to head competition, and you can go back
and double check that every year. But SMU's coach Rhet
Lashey taking a shot at the Southeastern Conference.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
There's also another.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
SECACC battle going on between LSU and Clemson over the
nickname Death Valley. Both schools use that nickname as it
pertains to their respective stadiums, and it came up at
an event in Baton Rouge when LSU coach Brian Kelly
referred to Clemson as Death Valley Junior, not.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
The Death Valley, as he said, and.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Clemson players were asked to respond to that during the
ACC kickoff media event in Charlotte yesterday. One of their
players said, they can have their opinion. We're going to
handle all of that on August thirtieth. For the record,
Clemson began using death Valley in nineteen forty eight. LSU
started it in nineteen fifty nine after a win versus Clemson,

(17:14):
Dabosweeney said, we don't have to prove.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
That that's a fact. You can google that.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
And when they play on August thirtieth, that's not going
to decide anything in terms of the nicknames. It'll decide
it maybe.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
For a year.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
What it might decide is a leg up on a
Heisman Trophy paid Klubnik, rated by some Clemson's QB as
the best in the country. And of course LSUS Garrett Nussmeyer,
who by the way, said no comment on this controversy,
playing it politically correct like a good quarterback should one.

(17:48):
Other college football note, best wishes going out to Revelle
the tenth. That is the Collie mascot for Texas A
and M. That's part of the great tradition down there
with the Aggies. He had surgery to remove one of.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
His eyes exactly as she She.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Had her right eye surgically removed. Vets had diagnosed her
with glaucoma, and she's known as the First Lady of
Aggie Land, of course, but I bring it up because
here in the Gabriel household we have two dogs, both rescues.
Both of them are one eyed Doggies. The dog asleep

(18:29):
at my feet right now, who is a mix of
a Great Pyrenees and Golden Retriever.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
She had a cancerous.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Tumor in her eye had to have it removed. We
rescued a rat terrier last year, year before last, and
she had an eye condition that was forcing us to
give her eye drops six times a day and it
was very painful to her, so we had to have

(18:57):
that eye removed. So we have two dogs and two
good eyes between them. And now Revelle the tenth is
recovering some surgery, So get well soon to the First
Lady of Aggie Land. By the way, in case you're
wondering why a Collie is the mascot for Texas. A
and m AT dates back to nineteen thirty one, when

(19:19):
a group of cadets found an injured dog sneaks her
to campus.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
And when the dog would bark when Buglers played Morning Revee.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
That's why they named her Reveale and they began to
take her to ball games and the tradition it just
stuck up. Next, it's our Western Bureau Chief, Gary Moore.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Are on six thirty WLAP.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. He has been
off a few days, but we're gonna scare up. Mister
Gary moris our West n Bureau chief back from the
West Coast. He has got a lot on his mind,
of course.

Speaker 5 (19:53):
Yeah, it was my body clock going to return. That's
right top of the mind right there. For those just
joining us, two guys in a sixth you and me,
and we got six things to talk about. Six swigs,
and before we get into the first twig, ibout that
All Star game we had.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Talked to It's great.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
Loved it, did it right, Great to see the uniforms
on the respective teams.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Now, I'm not a home.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Run derby guy like you, as you know, per se, Yeah,
but I love the way they ended the game with it.

Speaker 4 (20:19):
It was beautiful.

Speaker 5 (20:20):
Okay, our first wig here. As you mentioned this time
last week, I was in La Dodgers losing all three
to the Milwaukee brew Crew, the best record of the
majors with the Brewers, and it went six and zero
against the Dodgers this year. It could be interesting come October.
Maybe my last time and my former home away from
home Dodgers Stadium for a long time, Dick, for a
couple of reasons. The first one is the noise. Probably

(20:43):
didn't expect to hear that from a rock radio DJ.
But let me just clarify this. La Times columnists Bill
Shakan wrote a June nineteenth piece something that a lot
of the guys in the press box has been talking
about for several years. The piece was called why is
Dodger Stadium so loud?

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Parents?

Speaker 5 (21:00):
The art sound system gets aired out every home game,
mostly in ninety to one hundred decibel range that Shaken reported,
and he used a decibel meter throughout the park. He
walked around and taking readings. Two other Southern California ballparks,
Angels Stadium and San Diego's Petco Park, have way more
comfortable readings in the sixty five seventy five dB range, Dick.

(21:21):
The pregame programs are cranked so loud and in between
innings at Dodger Stadium. Every break in the action has
some kind of over amplified contest or promotion assaulting your ears.
And this has been going on for a long time.
And if it sounds like an old guy yelling at
a cloud, like I said, I was on the air
five nights a week on the number one FM rock
station k Los and Los Angeles for twenty two years.

(21:42):
I would play it loud, not all the time like
Dodger Stadium, but yeah, I cranked your food, fighters, your Sabbath,
your Zeppelins and so forth. But now Dodger Stadium is
just too loud. I'm just wondering when you're down at
the field at Kroger Field or in Rupp Arena, what's
the sound like these days at those places?

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Pre game? Too loud in both places. And I don't
understand that.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
I've found something though, that the sound engineers, if they
if they're working with of course good or great equipment,
to them louder the better. You know that that means
quality for some reason. And I do think that in
some of us who have worked in radio have lost
some hearing through the years. I want to some of

(22:25):
those men and women have lost some of the air
and they don't know how loud it is.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
I'm with you on that and a lot of.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
And this goes into our second sweeg here. But the
La Times did get a lot of readers letters agreeing
that Dodger cranksters need to turn it down a little bit, which,
by the way, they're not going to do.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Really you don't think they'll no pun intended to listen
to the fans.

Speaker 5 (22:45):
Players love it. Oh they two They players say that
it's great. Uh, the second Swiger. The other reason I
won't be going back anytime soon. They just this diminishes
the experience again, along with the sound. Is not just
the assault on your ears, but the on your wallet.
Two months before his column on the ear splitting stadium sound,
Shakan also wrote a piece called Dodgers games used to

(23:07):
be affordable family entertainment no more, and I will tell
you there were a lot of empty seats there over
the past homestand with Milwaukee and the Twins, even on
giveaway nights. Shakin reported that the estimated price for a
family of four to go to a Dodgers game sit
in the cheapest seats, get four Dodger dogs, two sodas,

(23:28):
and a couple of beers is a league high three
hundred and ninety nine dollars and sixty eight cents. The
league average is two hundred and eight dollars. And that's
after you pay forty bucks to park over in the
Siberia area. You want to park closer into the stadium,
that's sixty bucks. Sure, I get a media credential free parking.
But let's say this time I didn't want to buy
the press box dinner for fifteen bucks or so, I

(23:50):
want to go to Shake Shack there inside Dodger Stadium,
as a good friend of mine did, and as I
watched him buy cheeseburger, crinkle fries, diet coke, and souvenir cup.
Total price thirty seven dollars and forty three cents. I
also saw a Dodgers fitted cap that I liked to
went for fifty one bucks at the new Era store
on a field level, but up top top of the

(24:11):
park store on the upper deck near the cheap seats,
same hat, sixty four dollars. Oh hard to put a
price on seeing Otani play anywhere. I grant you that,
but just don't make me buy anything. I think I'm
gonna save my dough for a bats game in any
other minor league game.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
But wasn't this predictable given the amount of money that
Dodgers have been spending years and I know they get
a lot of money from their media rights, but it
was inevitable that prices would go up. And it makes
one think about the penuria Cincinnati Reds. Yeah, who have
you know cut corners.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
For so long?

Speaker 2 (24:46):
This goes back to large Marge shot and really prior
of trying to keep ticket prices down in a smaller
Midwestern city like Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
And it's about profit margins.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
I know that the all these teams make money, but
it's just a matter of percentages, you know, And it's
just it's it's out of control now because it was
the spending for players.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
Third Swig addresses that and by the way, more affordable
way if you want to see show Hay and the
World Champs, just up I seventy five. This coming Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday, the Reds will be hosting the Dodgers.
In fact, check out this Monday night's pitching matchup has
Otani starting. He's probably gonna go for at least three innings,
maybe four against the Reds touted rookie and former Louisville
bat Chase Burns. But before that series, they got three

(25:33):
at Fenway with the Socks and the Dodgers. That's going
to be the Fox National Game tomorrow night. Sunday, La
is set to face former teammate and Lexington's Walker Bueller, who,
by the way, is finally going to get his World
Series ring over the weekend. He's I don't want any
big ceremony, just bringing over to the clubhouse. Walker's had
some tough spots this season. If you haven't been keeping up,

(25:54):
he's this first one in Boston. He's of course pitched.
He pitched the final inning of the Dodgers World Championship
last year, Game five. This year, he's six and six,
five point seven to two e RA his last three
though his three July starts one to zero, three point
zero e ER. Your prediction, sir, and his performance on

(26:15):
Sunday when he faces the guys he won a ring
with for the first time.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Well, I think he'll be sharp, and it's a game
the Socks need. There's six and a half out of first.
Everybody's chasing. Suddenly the Blue Jays Socks are is still
a couple of games behind the Yankees, but I do
think he is running, and for last time I watched him,
he looked a lot more like his old self. Will
he ever get back to the Walker Bueller that really

(26:41):
set La on us here?

Speaker 1 (26:42):
I don't know. I hope he.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Does for obvious reasons. Me too, but I'm looking forward
to this fourth swig.

Speaker 5 (26:49):
Speaking of minor league ball, since we last spoke, as well,
John Oliver from last week Tonight on HBO made good
on that promise to attend the first Moon Mammoth Night
in Erie, Pennsylvania this past seven and as we know,
John and his crew gave the Detroit Tigers double a affiliate,
the Eerie Sea Wolves that alternate identity. And to say
it was a huge success is an understatement up there

(27:12):
with saying that that new South Park episode with Trump
and Satan is kind of edgy. The game had been
sold out for weeks, they had a record crowd of
over seven thousand, and they begin lining up more than
five hours before the gates even open. And of course
they spent thousands on New Moon Mammoth merch and I
was thinking, well, why stop there, Let's get more late

(27:33):
night entertainment host thy brand more minor league teams. Why
not imagine, Dick, what the writers and staff for Stephen
Colbert could come up with in the next six months
for a.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Team, well, you know, had a lot of energy to
burn off, right exactly, and burning off before it runs
out of they run out of time. But I'm as
you know, I'm all for that stuff at minor league baseball.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
The crazier the better.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
And I'm a big John Oliver fan me too, So
you know, back to when he was on a community
remember that when he played a college professor. But he
has found his perfect spot right now.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
Fitzwig involves a big, big local story over here in Louisville. First,
I got to mention, ever so briefly, this ridiculous executive
order that Trump coughed up to basically try and limit
college athletes earning rights. Again, that's been already settled by
the Supreme Court. Bunch of college coaches, as we know,
been begging him to do something about these kids making
six and seven figures won't survive in the court. All

(28:30):
it's doing is pissing off all these lawyers who may
have to litigate a.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Lot of this stuff.

Speaker 5 (28:34):
Pissing him off about as bad as Churchill downs. Thats
just pissed off the entire Louisville restaurant industry over here.
Because if you've talked about the second biggest race of
Derby Week going prime time on NBC, the Kentucky Oaks
moving from about a five point fifty one post time
to one somewhere somewhere between eight and nine in the evening,

(28:55):
screwing up people's party plans and without question giving Louisville
restaurants a bit middle finger, and so much of their
previous Derby lucrative business is going to be marginalized severely
in some cases, and it may go away altogether. Whether
the people at jack Fries are absolutely livid over this,
as are a bunch of other restaurant owners. Apparently the
assumption that NBC's huge Derby Day numbers would translate to

(29:18):
the night before as well, and maybe they'll be respectable numbers,
but keep in mind the Derby is the Derby great
storylines of course, the Oaks not so much. This to me,
Dick is a huge mistake and I hope it loses
in the TV ratings. To Gordon Ramsey yelling at a
bunch of scared chefs.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Well not just the restaurants, I mean just the patrons themselves.
The fans themselves show up in six figures plus for
Kentucky Oaks Day.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
That's going to change a lot, and it's not for
the better. And I know everything changes for television, but
they've already changed the post time for TV more than once,
both the Oaks and the Derby. This is where ridiculous.
And you've got to hope that the front side people
are Churchill Downs. Not to mention the horsemen.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
You know this this.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
I know they got night racing at Churchill Downs, but
this is front side of Churchill versus backside of Churchill
and they've been banging heads for a long time. I
hope this is a failure quite frankly, and they go
back to some sanity.

Speaker 5 (30:23):
Well think about the Barnstable Brown Gala and the Unbridled
Eve Derby gaia great point.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
It's going to happen to those. Yeah, that's a great
idn't even thought about that.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
By the way, when it comes to yeah, the executive
order from the White House, I think it seemed like
it was almost inevitable, partly because Charlie Baker who is,
of course now the head of the NCAA and some
other Some of the college commissioners have said they will

(30:52):
need help from Congress, perhaps to provide them with an
anti trust exemption so they can enforce some rules and
someone I would limit athlete earning power.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
No one's opposed to that.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
It's just they need guardrails. But I'm like you, I
don't think the White House needs to be involved.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Not at all.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
We're not the only ones that think that either.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
A sixth and final swig.

Speaker 5 (31:15):
ESPN's Ryan McGee just came out with its College Football
Mascot Power rankings, ranking college mascots and categories such as
the human Mascot Division. That's like Notre Dame's Leprechaun. You
got their live animal division, your War Eagles, your Uggahs.
And then there's the traditional costume division, where we have
a top three rep from down I sixty five in

(31:36):
Mi Alma Mater k used Big Red, placing only behind
and Ohio State's Brutus, and at number one the Duck
from Oregon. Personally, I think McGee favors Big Red because,
as he wrote, Big Red is quote a creature that's
nothing but also everything. I'm not saying wk used Big
Red eyeball helmets of twenty twenty four where the greatest

(31:58):
lids in college football his, but I'm also not saying
that they weren't unquote Dick. I will tell you that initially,
when it first came to WKU in the fall of
seventy nine, when I was a senior, I was not
a fan of Big Red early on, But now with
the big fuzz, lug has grown on me like age spots.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
You remember.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
I'm sure when Big Red was a focal point for
ESPN promos, it was on them.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
All the time. I don't know what happened. Yeah, well,
I mean it ran his course.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
But my favorite one was when somebody looked at him
and just said, what are you? I mean that was perfect. No,
that is one of my faves. Big Red. He is
he she or it.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Is going to be there.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
I'm glad the Stanford Tree isn't involved. I never did
like that one, although it made some headlines a year
or two ago, and whoever that was inside of it
got suspended because they were drunk. I don't think Big
Red ever showed up drunk. He is Gary More is
our West m Buro chief will come back with a
couple of hot reads for Gary in a minute. Here
on a Big loan Sider six thirty WLAP, Welcome back.

(33:05):
We're talking with our Western Bureau Chief, Gary Moore, usually
with us on a Wednesday, but was traveling to the
Left coast, so we have slid him over to Friday,
and we've saved a couple of hot reeds for him.
One of them, well, you talk about raising eyebrows. Jeff Tigue,
the brother of Marcus Tigue, the former Wildcat who won
a national championship.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
Jeff is still in the NBA and he made me
must be.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
But he also on a recent podcast on the Club
five twenty podcasts, they were asking which version of Lebron
was the best, Cleveland Lebron, Miami Lebron, Lakers Lebron. Jeff
said it was Miami Lebron. But he said that's back
when they started testing for HGH and he had to

(33:53):
sit out. They said he was on steroids. He said
his back was hurting. He sat out for three weeks
and then came back said he was on the roys now.
Later he tried to walk it back and said I
was just joking. He was just he was just trying
to say dominant. He was just that dominate, chill y'all.

(34:13):
He wasn't joking.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
No, no, and neither was the lawyer who probably called
him up and said, you need to go on Instagram asap, yeah,
and walk this stuff back.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
You can't say stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
None of this tracked eater because the NBA didn't start
testing for HGH until Lebron was out.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Of Miami, back in Cleveland, right, And while he.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Was in Miami, he never missed more than six games
in one season, so really unfair by tigue. And yeah,
I'm sure it's this cage. You got a little rattled
timeline way off. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 5 (34:48):
Just trying to direct more traffic to his podcast. Let's
just say something crazy, we'll walk it back, just a
listeners clicks.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Well, and once again, you know, there's no one's really
been sued for an appreciable amount money that might put
up some guardrails. Speaking of guardrails or the innerweb, or
for podcasts like that.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
So our second.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Hot rate involves my beloved Green Bay Packers, who, when
it comes time for throwback uniforms, are severely lacking. Now,
part of that is because the history of the team
goes way back to when they were the ACME meat
Packers and their colors were actually navy blue and sort

(35:28):
of a dark dirty gold. I get that, but some
of the configurations, some of the designs of these uniforms
have been terrible. You get that one set of throwbacks
where they got all the vertical stripes going up the
socks and through the jerseys and they look like bees,
like the old bees routine on SNL. Yeah, but now

(35:52):
their helmets are designed to look like those old leather helmets.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
So they're kind of brownish with what looked like straps,
and believe it or not, that's what the Michigan helmets
are supposed to represent. And I've always said Michigan helmets
were goofy. These are just playing awful well.

Speaker 5 (36:10):
And they didn't do them as well as Illinois did them.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Last year.

Speaker 5 (36:13):
It's the same basically kind of leather looking design and
Illinois came out, but that was because of Red Grange
and they had very similar Red Grange esque uniforms with
the stripes that kind of were you know, the vertical
stripes that were going up the front of the of
the uniforms and they got rave reviews. I love those
uniform they looked great on it, and they did that

(36:34):
last weekend. But this was just like kind of a
bad copycat version of it with the Navy uniform. And
I can hear the restraint in your voice as a
packer shareholder. You're holding back on this because I'm sure
when you first saw this there were a few words
we couldn't use here on the radio about that. But
it just seems like the Packers can't get these these

(36:55):
throwbacks right. The one with the green, the solid green
and then the yellow helm has maybe been the best
one for me. Yeah, they still just leave the G there.
It's like, you know, it's almost as iconic as the
Yankees pinstripe the.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Best, meaning this with defensive You're right, you're right.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Although you know, Yankee throwbacks are still classically great, that's
the thing. And there are some really good throwbacks in
the NFL. And you know, we're talking before one on
the air about the Cream Sickles, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
You can't beat those. Yeah, those are outstanding. I love
the Seahawks.

Speaker 5 (37:28):
I love my Seahawks, you know, initial their seventy six
Royal Blue throwbacks. Yes, and I still love Pat Patriot.
I'm not really a Patriots fan, but the Pat Patriot
in side of the helmet, it's still the standard for
me for that team, not the flying Elvis ones that
went all the Super Bowls.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
Yeah, and I love the fact that a lot of
the throwbacks go back to the AFL days, and yet
those are really cool. I mean, the Chiefs and the
Raiders and unis like that. Even some of those Bram
setups look pretty good.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
Oh we got it.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
I got to throw in before you do it.

Speaker 5 (38:05):
The awful these all yellow ones, the Chargers that came
up with are an absolute embarrassment.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yeah, that's true. Terrible, although the Chargers do have some
good throwbacks.

Speaker 5 (38:13):
But now I'm great throwbacks.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
But that's a bad combination. He is Gary Moore. Find
him on Twitter the X at at nine to five
to five. Gary, where you're at.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
We're at Big Blue Insider one. Have a great weekend
and we will see you next week once again on Wednesday.

Speaker 5 (38:28):
Stay cool, brothers, Stay cool.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
And that'll do it for our number one as we
wrap up this week.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Coming up in our number two, Hollie DeVore from WTVQ
Channel thirty six.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
He's been covering, of course, the.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Football and basketball Cats and prepping for high school football
coming up.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
All the local TV stations are also we will relive
the week.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
We talked a lot of football with former Wildcats Derek
Abney and Wesley Woodyard and Jeremy Jarman, so we'll recap
some of those conversations, plus Heroes, Fools and Flakes and six.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Thirty l a p.

Speaker 6 (39:07):
S.

Speaker 7 (39:19):
Take Think Anything.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider, joining us down
our celebrity hotline as someone who has been working hard
leading up to the football season. But Hallie Devora, w
t v Q weekend sports anchor reporter from Channel thirty six,
So that a little bit of time off, Hally, you
told me your college roommate from Northwestern came down to visit.
I'm wondering you, being a Portland, Oregon native, a Northwestern

(41:13):
a lum, what do you tell your friends your family
about lection and what do they ask you about about
covering UK you know in central Kentucky.

Speaker 8 (41:22):
Well, first they always asked me, are the horses in Bourbon?
Is that like a real thing? Until they come out
and visit and you drive through all the horse fields
and see all the distilleries and stuff like that, So
people actually think that this is a really unique place.
And then on top of that, you have this super
cool sports atmosphere, which I thought the same thing when
I moved out here in the rolling Hills of Kentucky,

(41:44):
like does that really fit in? Do people really care?
And I feel like I always just emphasized that this
is like the biggest thing for these people. It's like
an NBA team. Reporna's arguably one of the best environments
I've seen basketball wise, whether that's college or NBA, especially
coming from Northwestern. My friends that have visited visited me

(42:06):
from school. Northwestern's obviously in the Big Ten, but in
comparison to some of those bigger schools like Michigan Ohio State,
it's just like a completely different level of basketball because
Northwestern was a little bit of a smaller school in
the Big Ten, and so even in comparison though to

(42:27):
environments I've seen like Michigan for basketball, this is just
a completely different experience than the fan base is. I
don't even know how to put into words for my
friends because it's just so different and so intense, and
people just care so much.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
Michigan has competed for basketball championships of laide. Ohio State
has really good basketball tradition.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Nobody cares o there.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
It's just about football, and they won the last two
football championships, So I understand definitely. Yeah again Northwestern. You know,
when people have talked through the years about the frustration
with Kentucky football and they compare and contrast, I always
think that one of the schools you can compare it to,
maybe not academically, but in terms of football fortunes is Northwestern.

(43:16):
And Northwestern in the past. I don't know how they
were when you were there, has had some success, has
gone to some bowl games, not as much as, of
course some of the other schools, but they were able
to get it done. Were they any good when you
were in school?

Speaker 8 (43:31):
We had I think it was twenty twenty because I
remember not being able to go. We played Ohio State
and the AY ten Championship we lost. We also played
them right before I went to school. They're in twenty nineteen,
played Ohio State and vay ten championship. We lost. So
I think I kind of agree. They've just been like
hot and cold and kind of like Similarly with Kentucky

(43:53):
over the last couple of years, game by game, you
never really know what you're going to get with Kentucky.
Last year, all of a sudden, you're holding Georgia to
a one score game, and everyone's like, wait, I thought
this is going to be a complete blowout. Kind of
similar with Northwestern a little bit. So yeah, that's actually
a decent compared to those two teams.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Well, speaking of mysteries, this Kentucky team upcoming, you all
have been, of course talking to players and doing advanced
stories on the Wildcats, but you know, even after SEC
media Day, you got to wonder, what are we going
to see? Because you got fifty new faces between the
freshmen and the players coming in, and all anybody can

(44:32):
do is sit back.

Speaker 8 (44:33):
And wait, right, hey, exactly. I feel like a lot
of people are kind of already I don't know what
the right word is, not looking forward to the season maybe,
or just kind of expecting that it's going to be
not the best season. But I mean, I always like
to give people to benefit out like wait and see.
I mean, like you said, there's so many new faces,

(44:54):
we don't exactly know how this team is going to
look yet. You're going to have a kind of another
new quarterback, which another similar trend for Kentucky. But you know,
don't knock until you try it like it could turn
out to be a really good year. They have a
tough schedule, so I think got to give them the
benefit of the doubt. But we brought in a lot
of really decent players, and obviously the defense has been

(45:17):
a strong suit. I think that will continue to be
strong this year. It's more just Kenney offense, you know,
lock in and get some points on the board. But
I think this year the offensive line is going to
be stronger, and if they can give Calzada a little
bit more time, I think they could be decently strong contenders.
But again, obviously don't want to speak too soon. We'll

(45:37):
have to wait and see. And their schedule is definitely
not going to make it easy for them.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Oh man.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
I've been talking with people really all summer about the
fact that, yeah, the schedule is tough. Everybody's SEC schedule
is tough, but it always comes down of late it
seems to the calendar. You know, it used to be
the Kentucky's schedule was the non conference games. The quote
unquote winnable games and then Florida Tennessee or later in

(46:02):
the season. But now it seems like so many of
these tough games pop.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Up right away.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
The good news is you're you're healthier. But I guess
if it's bad news, it's the fact that you know
pressure's on right away. But hey, you may as well
see what you got.

Speaker 8 (46:17):
Right exactly, and you might as well see what you
got when everyone is, you know, fresh and healthy and
the energy is really high. That's kind of my favorite
thing about talking to all these football players, you know,
high school and college right before the season starts, as
the energy is super high, and I think that that
kind of only carries into so many games. So kind

(46:38):
of having that right off the bat with some of
these really challenging opponents, you know, it could be to
their benefit. Also, another thing with their schedule is their
home and away for kind of longer periods of time,
so you know that could be factor to You don't
want to get in these lulls of losing streaks or
winning streaks just because you're on the road or just
because you're at home.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Talking to Devorre from WTVQ Channel thirty six here in
Lexitdon weekend anchor and reporter, covers the football and basketball Cats,
as well as high school teams coming up. We'll get
to that in a minute. I know that Jeff Mcorra
went to SEC Media Days, but you've seen a lot
of the interviews the clips. I thought Mark Stoops did

(47:20):
a good job. You know, he did not carry this
message of you know, we've got all this hanging over
our heads. He was pretty optimistic, I thought, and upbeating.
I ran a clip from him earlier in the show
tonight saying, you know, we needed to make changes. And
he has talked and you might have been there when
he talked about how much he likes this team. So

(47:42):
it didn't sound like a guy with the black clad
over his.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Head, you know.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
No.

Speaker 8 (47:47):
I also thought the same thing. He did seem really optimistic,
But I also kind of liked that he also kept
it real and said, you know, they haven't changed a
million different things. They're still following the same you know,
protocols in the preseason and they're still you know, grinding
out the same things that they were lackies And they
didn't make any drastic changes. He just put the emphasis

(48:08):
on the thing that's different This year is just these guys.
So I feel like that definitely drew more attention to
the actual players rather than the system. Because now you've
got obviously Brad White back for yet another year. He's
got more consistency on the offense.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
So yeah, and they comes up a week from tomorrow,
everybody gets a chance to see, you know, the new faces,
the new quarterback. Uh, you know, it's going to be
a quarterback competition. I'll be surprised if Calzata is not
the starter.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
I'll also be curious, howity, to see how many fans
turn out, you know, because they were too they weren't
happy at the end of last year.

Speaker 8 (48:49):
I will actually be very curious too. I think I
went out last year and it was a decent turnout.
I won't be there this year, unfortunately. I will be
on vacation, but make sure to ask how many people
are going to stop by, because, like you said, I
feel like the energy was really down after last season.
But to be honest, I kind of feel like it's
picking up a little bit again. Maybe it's just because

(49:11):
of kind of the hype around the SEC and again
and then there's all this you know, motivated Mark soup
stuff through social media, which is which is funny, But
I think stuff like that is just getting people excited,
and the unknown is what gets people excited. They don't
know these players, they don't know how well they're going
to gel together, So might as well go out and see,

(49:32):
you know what, tell's Auta's arm. Looks like Cutter will
be out there. He's got some experience, so I think
it'll be cool just to get an early look on
the guys.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
Hallie DeVore, my guest from WTVQ, will come back and
talk more sports when they're on the other side of
the break. Here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're
talking with Hallie DeVore, the weekend anchor reporter from WTVQ
Channel thirty six, works with Jeff Picoro over there on
Winchester Road, and uh, we're gonna get the high school
football in just a minute. But we have been given

(50:02):
access to basketball Wildcats this week. It was the freshman
Mark Pope has been talking to us on a regular basis.
I've been talking hally this week about the fact that
Pope has not shied away from talking about expectations for
his players, in fact, using the word superstar when talking
to Jasper Johnson talking about Malachi Moreno as a guy

(50:26):
who is at time's going to look like he's NBA ready.
This is kind of a break from what most coaches talk.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
About, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
Most guys are like, Yeah, he's a chance to be
good if he keeps working hard, all that coach speak.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
But Mark Pope's anything but isn't he?

Speaker 9 (50:43):
Oh Yeah?

Speaker 8 (50:43):
I mean he's hyping. He's got guys up like right
off the bat, which is super exciting, and I feel
like gets stands really excited. I think the team is
going to be really strong this next year. From the
guys that we've spoken to, whether it's you know, the
new freshman or the transfer portal guys, it sounds like
this team is gelling really well early on. You've got
a bunch of playmakers, and I actually think they're going

(51:06):
to be really good this year. And so I think
Mark Pope is just honestly calling it as as it is.
Like I think he's just letting people know that these
guys are good. They're going to be a really strong
team this year. It's cool to see, like Jasper and Malachi,
some of the local Kentucky guys I love local guys
on the UK team, and so it was fun to
meet them and talk to them about, you know, finally

(51:28):
getting to put on that Kentucky jersey. But yeah, I
think Mark Pope, to be honest, I don't think he's
I know there's coach speak, but I think he's just
calling it as it is. I think this is going
to be a really strong team this year.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
I think they make a deeper run than they made
last year.

Speaker 9 (51:43):
I think so.

Speaker 8 (51:45):
I just think they have so many playmakers, and I
remember Pope saying this the strength of their backcourt and
the ability to pass the ball super well with this team,
So I think with them, you're going to be able
to put the ball into anyone's hands and they can
make a play, which could be argued that they could
do the same thing last year. The difference with this
group is I think the defensive unit is going to
be just a lot stronger. You brought in a lot

(52:07):
of really strong defensive players from the Portal, and you know,
last year we saw all these great playmakers, but then
you know, couldn't get a stop on defense. So I
think that this year the defense overall will be stronger,
and I think the offense will just take over. I mean,
you have so many good guys that they brought in
and players like otego Away coming back. So yeah, Well to.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
That end, though, he has flip flopped the way he's
doing business. You know, last year with the offense being a.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Little complicated comparatively speaking.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
You know, they worked so hard on offense, but you know,
the defense really suffered. But now he talked openly this
week about the fact that now he's basically starting with defense,
which is something most coaches do.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
He said, I'm twisted. I like the offensive end, but
I think Mark Pope learned a good lesson last year.

Speaker 8 (52:55):
You know, I agree, because you know, like I was
just saying, and in not only for the Kentucky team.
In the SEC, you just have people that can score left, right, center,
upside down. So I think he realized that, you know,
that wasn't just unique to his team, that there's a
lot of teams in the SEC and a lot of
players who are really good playmakers. And I'm you know,

(53:18):
he knew this obviously before, but I think the emphasis
was that defense really does win championships, and that that's
where that needs to be locked in in order for
their offense to really shine like they should be able to.
So I think this year, starting with defense, getting that
foundation down off to that will definitely benefit this team.
And you know, Mark Pope knows that, he knows what

(53:40):
he's doing, but I think starting with that, you know,
got to change things up a little bit. So I
think that's a good adjustment. Over the offseason, you men
have slept.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
With Hallie Devor of w TVQ, and like all the
other stations in town, you all have been making trips
out to.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
The high schools. It's so bad.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Yeah, I mean, even in this heat, you know, high
school football is right on top of us.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
Do you have any any idea.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yet, big picture what's going to look like in Central Kentucky.

Speaker 8 (54:08):
Yeah, I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
It's been you know, like you said, it's hot out there.
I'm out there sweating and I'm not the one in
pads and a helmet, so I'm feeling for these kids.
But tell you what, they're out there absolutely grinding in this,
you know, ninety degree heat. So I think it'll be
a lot of fun this season. You've got a lot
to look forward to. I've only been to a couple

(54:29):
of schools so far. We start our official high school
series next week, so I've just front loaded a couple
of the schools I've been Dunbar Lafayette. But then in
the next coming weeks it'll be cool to get out too,
you know. Sayah obviously coming off their program's first state
championship win under Chad Pennington, You've got Boyle County who's

(54:50):
going to be hungry to get back into this winning
column for state championships after and early unexpected exit last year.
Excited to go to Franklin County. They've kind of been
chipping away at a state title. They came close last year,
fell to Paduca Tillman in their first ever state championship appearance.
So I think you've got some local teams that are

(55:12):
you know, could be back in the mix and it'll
be a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
You're out there in the heat and the humidity. You're
an oregon girl.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
You had a chance to adjust a little bit up
there in Evanston, Illinois. But what is it like for
you dealing with this kind of weather here after growing
up in the Pacific Northwest.

Speaker 8 (55:31):
The biggest difference and I got a little bit of
it in Chicago, just being right next to the lake.
The humidity, like this isn't even funny. That's the one
nice thing about not the one nice thing. One of
the nice things about Oregon is you just don't have
You have the heat, but you don't have that added
element of humidity. So I can't say I've enjoyed that

(55:53):
too much. But that's probably been the biggest adjustment with
the summers here and the heat and those cicadas. I
don't know what those things are, but I'm glad they're gone.
We do not have those back in Oregon. So that
was also a really weird thing to experience this summer.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Well, as you know my cousins.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
I have a bunch of cousins in Portland and Seattle,
and I've spent time out there, and really the rain
Moniker the tag, it's really not it's not that bad,
is it. I Mean, you get rain, you have grace, guys,
but it's not always raining all the time, is it.

Speaker 8 (56:31):
Well, like it does unfortunately rain a lot or it's
just like overall gray. But the plus side of that
is you kind of get you know, rained on probably
five out of seven days of the week, so you
have your your moments and then it rains kind of
from the fall through the spring, but late spring in summer,

(56:57):
all that rain and water makes the nature so beautiful
and summer is gorgeous, Like it rains in June a
little bit, but July, August, September, part of October is
absolutely gorgeous. Funny. So if you're ever going to go
visit Oregon, those are the months I would recommend going.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
Yep, rain, but yeah, I.

Speaker 8 (57:21):
Went exactly so you're like, this isn't too bad.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
And my cousin say, you know, yeah, we get rain.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
It's just a little bit all the time. It's done
like monsoons all the time.

Speaker 8 (57:31):
But yeah, just's probably just trying to get you to
come visit.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Oh yeah, definitely, definitely. Thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
We'll be looking for your coverage and try to stay
cool out there.

Speaker 8 (57:42):
I will thank you.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
By the way.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
You can follow Halle on Twitter at Halle de vore
A l I E d E v o r E
and watch for her anchoring the sportscast on the weekends
at w TVQ. Coming up next, we'll take a look
back at what's been a busy week on the Big
Blue Sider with the week that was, and following that Heroes,

(58:05):
Fools and Flakes on the BBI here on six thirty WLAP.

Speaker 10 (58:15):
That was the week waw over let it Go. That
was the week that was. It started way up talk and.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
He's playing there all that was, Yes, it was the
week that was here on the Big Blue and Sider.
Interesting week at that course, they're all interesting right on
the BBI after not I'm not doing my job properly,
But we did have great guests this week. We talked
a lot of football, a little bit of basketball as well,
thanks to the fact that we got to talk to
the Kentucky freshman and we heard from Mark Pope again.

(58:47):
But I did want to start as we look back
on the week with the conversation I had with some
former Wildcats, starting with Wesley Woodyard. He appeared with me
on the Leitch Report and we played part of that
back on the Big Blue Insider, and Wesley talked about
his golf tournament coming up sixteen Ways dot Org if
you're interested. But I also asked him about his relationship

(59:12):
with Rich Brooks, and I always talk with him about
that because that was a pivotal point that era of
Kentucky football the Rich Brooks era, coming out of a
really bad penalty phase from the NCAAA and Rich Brooks
pulled that program back to not just respectability but bull
eligibility and of course is you know the Cats won

(59:35):
three straight bowl games, went to four under Rich Brooks,
and Wesley Woodyard was a pivotal player. He was the
leader on that team. There were several but he really
was the leader.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
On that team.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
And he talked about his relationship with Brooks and just
how vital it is for players to develop relationships like
that with their coaches.

Speaker 6 (59:57):
Uh yeah, man, mean coach Bruce. We have a great
relationship from from day one. Just just a truth shoul
men of a what a what a man should be
as far as somebody that's trying to become a man.
And I'll never forget when I came up there on
my visit, he looked at me and he was like,
you're one of the guys that we need to turn

(01:00:17):
this program around. And I've never really had anybody. You know,
when you go on to recruiting trips you're going to
it's just another it's just another guy.

Speaker 4 (01:00:26):
You know you walk around.

Speaker 6 (01:00:28):
You know there's way bigger players you know guys that
have four or five stars.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:00:34):
But when he what he said, he saw it to
me when on my visit, that just stuck with me, like, man,
I want to come here and I want to help
change the program around.

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
I want to help put.

Speaker 6 (01:00:43):
Kentucky football on the map and make a legacy for
this program. And I was able to do that with
with my my rookie, my freshman class coming in and
some of the guys that was there as well bought
in full speed. But man, from day one, Coach Brooks
had an open door policy, and I that's all you
can respect. As a young man coming into college, you

(01:01:03):
away from your family, You need to find somebody that
you can trust and rely on.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
That's Wesley Woodyard on the Leech Report and again exempted.
That's Wesley Woodyard on the Leach Report, and again they
excerpted on The Big Boom Sider, and I invite you
to go back and listen to our full conversation on
either show. They're both, of course available via the interweb.
But I always love talking with Wesley as coaching young
people now, which is a really good thing. We talked

(01:01:28):
with Derek Abney, another guy who played back in the
Rich Brooks era and also played under a guy Morris
and of course at the time set a record for
kick returns punt and kick returns for touchdowns and just
an incredible performer. And we chat with Derek about once
a year and get to see him when Kentucky plays

(01:01:49):
at South Carolina down.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Where he lives.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
And I talked to Derek about the fact that it
seemed as though, of course, every time somebody was foolish
enough to kick to Derek Abney, you wondered was he
going to run it back? And he talked about the
attitude of the special teams, the kid return unit, because
they believed that they could return any kick at any

(01:02:13):
time for a touchdown.

Speaker 11 (01:02:15):
Well, I think as a unit, we all believe I
mentioned this earlier, We all believed that we could score
a touchdown anytime. And honestly, that's the biggest factor in
football and sports and life is just having the confidence
in the belief that you are going to do what
you're setting out to do. And so that was first

(01:02:37):
we played some coaches like you said that okay, we're
gonna put our best against your best and see what happened,
you know, And Jackie Cheryl was a big one in
Mississippi State. He was sort of a special team's guru
and he did just that. And so I always enjoyed
playing against Missippi State because I knew I'd get some opportunities.

(01:02:59):
And then, you know, at growing up, not getting tackled
and joking everyone was just something that I hung my
hat on, Sicka and there was a little game we
would honestly a gain. I attribute a lot to this
little game we played in elementary school where we loved football.

(01:03:23):
We had one football and a bunch of little boys
running around and whoever had the book football you were
going to tackle. And honestly, I think that was a
big part of my sort of training, just on the
at recess in the yard, running around trying not to
get tackled.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
That is former UK All American. Well, once you're in
All American, you're always in All American. Derek Abney talking
with us on the Big Booing Sider we visited with
my man Jeremy Jarman, former Kentucky defensive lineman and All
Conference performer, an NFL veteran, about this Kentucky team upcoming.
It's a mystery because there are so many new faces

(01:04:01):
and how well this team hinges as much on preseason
workouts as pre portal work done by the people who
evaluate talent. Mark Steps has of course owned up to
the fact that they didn't do a super job over
the last couple of years of bringing in the right people,

(01:04:23):
and as Jeremy pointed out, the potential success this year
goes back to how good of a job that the
UK staff did and evaluating talent.

Speaker 12 (01:04:34):
Yeah, that's what makes the evaluation process so important, and
it's multi fascut you know, I don't think a lot
of people really talk about that. You have your front
office people there, they're you're you know, Chase and his
team that they scout for talent, and then the role
of the assistant coaches and the head coaches and the

(01:04:55):
support people are are to not only support that, but
support that with with other kind of data that you
can get from parents, from the community, from high school coaches,
from teachers, to really be able to assess the characters
and whether the players that you're bringing in here, whether
they're accountable, whether they're dependable, whether uh they view football

(01:05:16):
as a tool or as a game, or as a
future job or combination thereof. But these these these coaches
the job. Their job is to assessed these guys characters,
to know if they truly want to be football players
or or if they're preoccupied with other things in football
is just you know, it's just something else that they

(01:05:38):
do while they're on campus. And that's important. And I
think when you look when you look at the job
that Mark Pope did in year one, I see a
guy that is evaluating the full person and and I
think that that's an aspect that we have to get
back to as understanding the character of the guys we're

(01:06:00):
bringing into the program.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
That is Jeremy Jarman, who appeared with us earlier this
week on The Big Blue Insider.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
One other football note, we chadow with Darryl Byrd.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
Who is the editor of The Catspaws, about the fact
that the yearbook has done, it's on the stands now.
He's happy with the final product. We also talked about
the fact that down in Atlanta, I said, I thought
Mark Stoop's attitude was upbeat. You know, he went at
it head on. He answered tough questions. You know, I

(01:06:31):
wondered would he be a little bit defensive because he's
a little bit on the hot seat but no, I
thought his attitude was really good, and Darryl agreed.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
You've read my column in the yearbook.

Speaker 13 (01:06:43):
This is a crazy mean you and I have been
doing this for a very long time, and maybe I'm
off base by a million miles, but I said the
off season, you know, on social media, as I love
to call it, because people hide behind nicknames and throw
shots at people.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Yep.

Speaker 13 (01:06:58):
But I hadn't seen Mark since really since into football season.
And actually I was headed to the Craft Center for
basketball interviews and I walked in the door and I
see someone come out my only two in this big,
spacious hallway, and I'm like.

Speaker 4 (01:07:13):
That's Mark Stoops doing over here.

Speaker 13 (01:07:15):
He came up with the biggest smile and the was
firm handshake, and I'm like, this is the guy that's supposedly,
you know, on the hot seat at which ends and
his demeanor was just was probably the best in thirteen years.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
And I was like, am I reading this right?

Speaker 13 (01:07:31):
And then I did the Q and A like two
days later, and it was the same thing that you
were picking up down there, is like the attitude was
one hundred percent in the right direction. I didn't see
any fretting and the confidence is up, and I was
very impressed, and take it back a little to be honest,
because this kid, this can be a grind in thish, Yeah,

(01:07:53):
in that profession obviously, especially in the SEC, and his
his attitude was unbelieving.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
As I mentioned, we did talk basketball this week because
TBT the basketball tournament was happening, but it came to
a premature ending on Tuesday when Kentucky lost a heartbreaker
to Eberline Drive. The Wildcats missing opportunities to put the
game away, missing from the free throw line, just blew

(01:08:21):
a chance, blew a late lead, And after the game,
the only person who came out to talk, which was
kind of predictable.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
Was Shawn Woods.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
None of the players came out, but Sean said they
were just devastated. He said they were in the locker
room acting as though they had been eliminated from the
NCAA tournament. That's how badly they wanted it, not just
for the million dollars, but for a chance to keep playing.
Basically as UK players, even the guys who didn't play
here collegiately, you saw themselves now as part of the

(01:08:53):
Big Blue part of the BBN and one of the
Otter points that Shawn made was the fact that not
only did Louisville lose the Louisville and the team comprised
primarily of U of L players, but now minus Lae
for mea the team with the ties to the University
of Kentucky. You talk about losing out when it comes

(01:09:15):
to crowds, when it comes out the media coverage. TBT
also was a bit of a loser when lot for
me it was eliminated.

Speaker 14 (01:09:24):
That's what hurts more than anything. You know, It's not
you know, yeah, we're playing for a million dollars, but
to play in front of these fans and to have
these fans show up like they do, man, it's it's
it's it's a soreal experience, and these guys really appreciate
it and they're they're in there that right now, like

(01:09:44):
they lost a game in the NCAA tournament, you know,
I mean, it hurts them just like they do when
they play. So nothing changes with Kentucky basketball. Nothing changes
with Big Nation. If we were playing Jacks and it's

(01:10:05):
us against somebody else and it's the familiar faces, Big
Blue Nation is gonna show up unlike any other place
in the world. And that's what we're proud of. That's
why we are who we are, and that's why Kentucky
is who Kentucky is because of things like this. I'll
tell you who's hurting even more.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
It's TDT.

Speaker 14 (01:10:26):
Because they're not gonna get any another crowd like this.
They're not gonna get this type of action. They're not
gonna get this type of coverage that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
Is Sean Woods.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
So, of course, the very next day went back to
his day job, which is coaching Scott County High School.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
He's the new head coach over there in the school year, as.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
You know, will begin before long. And by the way,
lets you think that Sean will be outfitting himself in
the color red much of the year.

Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
He reminds me that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Scott County's colors are red, white, and blue, So every
opportunity he gets, he'll be incorporating blue, the color that
of course makes him the most comfortable into his attire
on the sidelines.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
But as a.

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
Tribute to the late gray Billy Hicks, who built that
Scott County program, he will occasionally including opening night where
the bright red blazer.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
In honor of Billy Hicks.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
At those TBT games in Memorial Coliseum were the current
UK players sitting in the front row, and every time
the scoreboard camera would find him, of course, the crowd
would go nuts. We had a chance that I mentioned
earlier to hear from the freshman earlier this week. In fact,
it was yesterday and earlier in the week, Mark Pope
had talked about them as well, and he mentioned that

(01:11:43):
Braden Hawthorne reminded him of Tayshawn Prince, and he had
more good things to say about the locals, Jasper Johnson
and Malachi Moreno.

Speaker 9 (01:11:53):
Jasper Johnson major plus Aura today he finished his conditioning
test on the first, So I'm really proud of him.
I'm very very proud of him. And this Malchi Moreno
is gonna be fun, Like, we're gonna have a lot
of fun with him. He's so young and he's so capable,

(01:12:15):
and so from him, we're gonna we're gonna see moments where,
you know, where it's like he should be in the
NBA right now, and we're gonna see moments where we
feel like, I'm not sure Malachi knows exactly what he's doing,
and we're gonna see both of those, and that's what
growth is. But I'm really encouraged by both the young guys.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
At one of his earlier news conferences, Pope said Jasper
Johnson could be a superstar. Didn't say it will be,
but basically said has the skills the talents to be
a superstar at the University of Kentucky, which is highly unusual,
as you know, for a college coach, generally they downplay
and soft sell their players. Yeah, he's got a chance

(01:12:57):
to be good if he works hard and all this.
But the Pope's not like that, he said. Malachi Marono
at times will look like he's NBA ready, will look
at times like he doesn't know what he's doing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:07):
Budd he said, he will impress.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
But in terms of Jasper Johnson, the fact that he
used that term superstar, Jasper said he's aware of it,
but he kind of took it in stride.

Speaker 15 (01:13:18):
I feel like, really, your whole life, you play a role,
whether you know that or whether you don't. So I
know a lot of my role now is to you know,
people like to say score the ball. But first thing first,
I don't have to defend. No matter where you play,
that's that's going to be your main role is to defend.
Guard the ball, guard your yard, and things like that.

(01:13:38):
So I know that's really what I'm trying to work
on and focus right now, watching film, getting extra reps
will guarding the ball, because I know if I get
acclimated to that, I feel like everything else to take
care of it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
So Jasper finished his high school careers the last couple
of years at a prep school in Missouri, but of
course came from Woodford County High. Malachai from Great Crossing
Over in Georgetown, which he led to a state championship
last year. I talked to Malachi about being a local
in the fact that that adds a little bit of
a unique pressure.

Speaker 16 (01:14:06):
I mean, there's a standard here at Kentucky and that's
to be the best, and that's to want to be
the best. So being a local guy, I feel like
growing up, you know, you kind of understand what the
assignment is. But it's also it's a new territory at
the end of the day. So now we're kind of
we're learning. And as long as we have all we
as long as we all have the same mindset of
winning number nine, I think we're in a really good shape.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
And as Malachi Marino, he was part of an interesting
week here on a Big Blue Insider.

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
That was the week that was. We're gonna come back.

Speaker 2 (01:14:35):
With heroes, fools, in flakes in just a minute on
six thirty WLP.

Speaker 10 (01:14:39):
That was the week.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
Let it go.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider as we wrap
up this week, and we've got heroes, fools and flakes
standing by our hero tonight, We're not going to talk
about college football or basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:14:55):
We're going to talk about Little League baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
Our hero tonight is twelve year old Marco Rocco of
the Head and Field.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
Little League in New Jersey.

Speaker 2 (01:15:06):
He had been suspended after flipping his bat during a.

Speaker 1 (01:15:10):
World Series game.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
He hit a home run, he flipped the bat, and
it was ruled that he would serve a one game suspension,
mean he missed the state final.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
Well, his family did what everybody seemed to do this day.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
They went to court and they got an emergency temporary
restraining order in the Gloucester County Chancery Division on his
behalf to try to reverse the suspension, and just before
the scheduled game, a judge ruled in favor of the
rock O family, allowing this kid to play in Thursday's game,

(01:15:46):
and his father made a great point because he said
the umpire cited the celebration as a safety concert.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
Come on, and it was ruled force play.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
It's a broad rule in their Little League rule book
that says there's no horse play, and they consider bat
flipping force play. This to me smacked of something that
the umpire saw.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
And again I am very sympathetic to umpires. I did it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:13):
My brother's still an umpire, but it offended the umpire.

Speaker 1 (01:16:16):
It's like that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
Referee to kick Minnie Snell out of a game that
hurt his feelings. This offended the umpire bat flipping, which
is probably something he didn't do when an umpire was
a kid. But as the dad pointed out, Little League
International openly promotes bat flipping all over their social media accounts, websites,

(01:16:37):
broadcast on TV. Here, this kid was just emulating what
he had seen through Little League International. And the dad
said he tried to work with Little League International to
resolve the suspension in a friendly matter. They said, no,
we're not doing that. We're not going to compromise. So
they went to court and now this kid at least

(01:16:58):
gets to play our fool tonight is Derek Moore. He
is a defensive end at the University of Michigan.

Speaker 1 (01:17:05):
And keep in mind that heat.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
To the last two college football national titles went not
to the SEC but to the Big Ten. The Wolverines
two years ago into Jim Harball Ohio State last year,
but of course Michigan beat Ohio State. Buckeye fans up
in arms, one of the coach fired. Some said that
even winning a national title would not lead them to

(01:17:27):
forgive the loss to Michigan, and in fact, Derek Moore
claims that it's not quote a real win if y'all
ain't beat us, meaning the national title by Ohio State
means nothing because the Buckeyes didn't beat the Wolverines. This
goes right back to what Cameron Mills has told us
on more than one occasion. In nineteen ninety eight, Kentucky

(01:17:49):
wins the national championship, wins it all. But to this day,
some Louisville fans say, well, but we beat you that year,
and Cameron would laughin say, yeah, but we won a
nation the Tedle.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
Yeah, but we beat you.

Speaker 2 (01:18:02):
You'd rather have that win than a championship. Oh yeah, No,
that's just foolish, our flake tonight. Well, just kind of
a flaky situation. Jermel Jones of Tallahassee. He was working
at Chuck E Cheese as Chuck E Cheese, that's right,
wearing the costume, the big head, the whole nine yards

(01:18:25):
and he was wanted on three felony warrens and somehow
the Tallahassee Police found out that that's where he was
working at Chuck E Cheese. So they go in there
and I really got a lay some blame on the cops.
They could have said, hey, we need to talk to
you and hear in the back and taking him out

(01:18:46):
in cuffs that way. No, no, no, They cuffed him
in full costume, walked him out the front door of
the restaurant as kids and families looked on. They had
to take that head off of him to get him
in the squad car. But yeah, there's a picture online.
You can go it's on axt for Twitter if you will,

(01:19:07):
under Philip Lewis phil Underscore Lewis Underscore, or go to
Tallahassee dot com. There's a story of a cup walking
Chuck E Cheese in cuffs out the door on his.

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
Way to jail.

Speaker 2 (01:19:23):
You wonder is the pizza crust as flaky as this story.
That'll do it Thanks to Hallie Devor, thanks to Garymore.
That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 17 (01:19:34):
Look, you can't be serious, man, You cannot be serious.
Top ball is on the line, shap blew up, here's
clearly it. How can you possibly call that out? How
many you can miss.

Speaker 4 (01:20:00):
Packed tact.

Speaker 7 (01:20:27):
Showing then back to take that stas tips and in

(01:21:17):
the doing too