2025-09-09 BBI

Mark Stoops talks QBs; (15:00) Lane Kiffin knew what that late field goal meant to bettors; (20:00) Jon Hale of the HL on discussions about a new UK athletics facility, as well as UK football; (39:00) Lex Legends founder Alan Stein is now a Legend himself; (53:00) Peyton Mannng reaches out to the Pope; (57:00) the daughter of former UK coach Blanton Collier on an upcoming event bearing his name; (1:12:00) how Yogi Berra once was in danger of being sidelined by... Yoo Hoo.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with
you on a Tuesday edition of our program. Coming up
this Saturday. Of course it's Kentucky and Eastern Michigan will
have it for you right here on six thirty WLAP.
Let's face it, Eastern Michigan is not very good. It's
a MAC team, but it's not one of the good
MAC teams. Right now, the Eagles are struggling. They're only two.

(00:22):
They have given up what eighty points already, fifty two
to twenty seven. They lose at Texas State and then
at home they lose to Long Island University twenty eight
twenty three. LIU is a one double A team, an
FCS team coached by Ron Cooper. I think I talked
about this a week or two ago when LU played Florida.

(00:45):
Ron Cooper, the former University Louisville coach, has bounced around
football his entire career, mostly as an assistant coach. This
is his third head coaching job, and LU actually got
a win on the road against a Vision one team.
Eastern Michigan, Yes, is D one. After losing at Florida

(01:06):
fifty five nothing, they bounce back and beat Eastern Michigan.
So the Eagles rarely struggling this year, and the Wildcats
have a chance to get well and feel good about
themselves and work on some stuff this week. They've got
to work, of course, on their passing game, and it
might be Cutter Bowley doing the majority of the work,
if not all of it. As you know, at Calzada

(01:29):
hurt himself somehow. I didn't see him take a hit
or a fall, and some of the TV eyelights just
showed him wincing after a pass. It could have just
been a result of an awkward throw or something. But
I watched him on the sidelines when he emerged from
the UK Healthcare Big Blue tent there, and he was
trying to throw and see if he could get back

(01:50):
in the game, and he was in serious pain, to
the point where a couple of times it almost brought
into his knees. It hurts so much. That's why Bowley
went in and Stoops of course, talked about it on
his radio show, talked about it in his news conference yesterday,
and it's just a wait and see kind of situations.
So until he is capable of resuming as the starter,

(02:14):
if indeed he holds on to the job. Uh, Calzada
will not get the reps with the ones, It'll be Cutter,
Bolli and Bullie may start. They will definitely play two quarterbacks.
But it's interesting how this is unfolding already. But I've
got questions about Calzada and it's not all about him,

(02:34):
and I've said this on the air a couple of times.
I don't understand some of the choices that are made
in terms of the routes his receivers are running and
may and I'm you know, from all accounts they're not
doing great, because Mark Stoop's talked about that as well,
our Jeff Pacorro has talked about that. But I also

(02:55):
don't see a lot of plays called that could allow
Calzada to make throws that would just help him get
his feet under him and you know, relax and all that.
But then Stoops talked about it yesterday about the fact
that some of those plays have been there. This clears
something up for me. According to Stoops, those plays have

(03:15):
been there at times, and Calzada, for whatever reason, just
hasn't pulled the trigger.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
You know, I was frustrated it many things, But watching
it again, there were plays there, and I did say
that afterwards that I felt like walking off it, that
the quarterback has to pull the trigger and make some throws,
you know, for instance, and not throwing anybody under the bus.
It's just true, you know, but Zach knows this. I mean,
when we get it. I think we talked about the

(03:43):
possession on the second interception, why not just run it,
run and run it. Well, we call quick game on
first down, and it's there. It's there. So instead of
second and four, two guys wide over maybe three, but
two for six yards, you know, one for and instead
of second and four, it's second in forever and you

(04:05):
kicked field ball.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
I mean, you can't make those mistakes.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Against the team that's you know, running for the playoffs
and a very good SEC team.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
He can't make those mistakes.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
I actually felt a little bit better when I heard that,
because I was wondering, are they doing him any favors
with their play calling. Well, it turns out they're trying to,
and he is just not pulling the trigger when he
has to. And I am very puzzled by this because
here's a guy who, as you know, played at a
him for a couple of years and played fairly well.

(04:35):
I mean he did quarterback the Aggies to that upset
win over Alabama, and then you know, he got hurd
at Auburn goes through Carnate Ward and played extremely well there.
Two time first team All Conference Quarterback Newcomer of the
Year is first year Player of the Year his second year.
He has thrown for more than eight thousand yards in

(04:56):
his career, with obviously a bunch of touchdowns. Has not looked.
Doesn't even look like the guy I've seen in practice.
I don't know why, and I'm not trying to bash
the kid, but I'm just echoing what Mark Stoops has said.
So now it will be cutter bully at some point,
either at the beginning of the game or at some
point during the game. They can't let this season get away.

(05:20):
It's a tough schedule. I know that, but this could
be a pivotal year for Mark Stoops. I don't believe
he's on the hot seat. I really don't. For one thing,
the buyout's too big. For another, I think he's earned
the right, after all those winning seasons to survive last year,
the one bad year that they had. He's earned the
right to clean up his mess, but it's got to

(05:42):
happen this year. At least they've got to show signs
of it against a brutally tough schedule. So let's put
Cutter Bullye in there if they have to. And I
got to tell you, and again, I did not play
or coach college football yet I might be invited to someday.
But in my untrained eye watching both quarterbacks in the

(06:02):
practices I was allowed to see, and I couldn't tell
much difference, quite frankly, And I'm sure there are differences,
you know, any football professional could see them. Arman Pacoro,
I'm sure could see them. But I was just wondering,
how do you make a choice between these two. Well,
they brought in Calzata for a reason. They paid him

(06:23):
a lot of money, and so now you've got to
give that every opportunity to work. But you got to
have an eye on the future, and that is Cutter Bowley.
So we will see him. And Mark Troops talked about
him on the show again at length at his news conference,
and he wanted to make sure people understood he was
not overjoyed at the thought of no more Zach and

(06:44):
let's move and Cutter. He is reacting to Cutter Bowley's
opportunity to play the way he does. Anytime a backup
gets a chance to perform.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
I know this.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
I'm excited to see Cutter, and you know I say
that about every position when somebody gets hurt on I
never want to see a player get hurt, but when
that happens. About every time I've been up here, I said,
I can't wait to see so and so play, right
in fairness, so don't overboil that for a quarterback like
everybody does. I'm always excited for the next man up,
and I'm excited to see Cutter.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
And Cutter will absolutely play.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
And I will say, and I'm not trying to carry
the guy's water, but he is right. He has said
that every time somebody has gotten hurt and a backup
has the opportunity to perform, he has said that I
can't wait to see what this guy does. And that's
the proper attitude if you ask me. So, we'll see
what Cutter bowl he can do, given the reps, given

(07:40):
the reps, with the ones in practice, given the opportunity,
assuming he'll be the starter, given the opportunity to sit
at the front of the classroom and carry the load.
But even if he isn't the starter, evidently he will
play significant downs against Eastern Michigan. But let's face it,
this is a team Kentucky should handle. This is a

(08:02):
team that should give Kentucky the opportunity to play a
lot of guys. And people complain about games like this
at times. Let them complain. Teams like Kentucky need this.
Your Georgia's, your Ohio States they're good enough and deep
enough to play a wicket schedule every week and go
out and remain undefeated or close to it. But your Kentucky's,

(08:26):
you know, your mid tier teams, they need games like
this to figure out who's doing what and what do
they do with their depth chart. So if Kentucky struggles
in this game, that could be a signal that it's
going to be a long year because again, brutal schedule.
Speaking of which, did anybody notice what Toledo did last
week at home with Western Kentucky hammered the Hilltoppers forty

(08:51):
five twenty one chip train them one hundred and sixty
three yards rushing. That's right, the guy Kentucky brought in
paid a lot of nim money last year, never got
a chance to really use him because of that broken hand,
and by the way Kentucky held him to what forty
one yards rushing week before last ran for one sixty

(09:13):
three against Western Kentucky, and remember Western Kentucky's d one Now,
so this Kentucky defense has the makings of a really
good defense. Last year's defense was good but kind of
collapsed at the end of the year. You had some injuries,
you had some guys I think they just lost interest.
But I think this defense under brad Way can keep

(09:35):
Kentucky in games and give the offense the opportunity to win.
So we'll see coming up seven thirty start, five thirty
airtime on six thirty Wlap Volleyball Wildcats will play this weekend.
It's a big weekend for Kentucky, another big weekend, and
going into the big weekend, the Wildcats have another s

(10:00):
he sees setter of the Week. Kentucky just cleans up
in these awards every year, it seems, and now it's
Cassie O'Brien. She's a freshman and earned her first weekly
honor in her career for the job she did last
weekend against both Penn State and New Hampshire. She averaged
eleven and a half assists per set. Against Penn State,

(10:23):
Wildcats wiped out Penn State, swept on the road. Penn
State was ranked fifth, and Cassie O'Brien got a chance
to play made the most of it, and against New
Hampshire she helped Kentucky hit five eighty one thirty one
assists in a sweep. And again the hitting percentages like

(10:44):
batting average, if you can get anywhere at her above
three hundred, that's great. Hitting five eighty one is crazy,
But Kentucky so much better than unh and now the
Wildcats are ranked third in the coaches poll. Tomorrow night,
the wild Cats play pitt in the first acc SEC
Showdown at the Net. The Showdown at the Net presented

(11:07):
by Shriners Children's Hospital. This is going to be down
in Fort Worth, Texas, so you can see it on ESPN.
That's another great test for Craig Skinner's team. Pittsburgh rank
number seven, was a Final four team last year. And then,
of course the Wildcats finally get to come home this weekend.

(11:28):
They opened up in Nashville, of course, and then State
College now Fort Worth. But they've got a round robin
event this weekend. Houston plays Purdue at noon on Saturday,
then the Wildcats play SMU at three o'clock. SMU's ranked
tenth in the country, beat Kentucky last year. Then on Sunday,

(11:49):
Purdue plays SMU and the Wildcats play Houston at two
o'clock in historic Memorial Coliseum. And then the Cats follow
that up next week Thursday, a week against Louisville over
at the Youm Center. So the schedule gets no easier
for Craig Skinner's team, but a chance to show what
they've got. And while we're looking at schedules, UK men's

(12:12):
soccer plays tonight against Detroit Mercy wildcattured two to zero
to one. They're in the middle of a five match
home stand. Kickoff for tonight's match at the Bell seven
thirty Faculty staff appreciation night. Admission is free and it's
always fun at the Bell for UK soccer. By the way,
Detroit Mercy is where Dick fi Tau was coaching before

(12:37):
he was actually hired by the Detroit Pistons and then
fired and then he went into broadcasting, So a little
bit of history for you there. Back when he was there,
it was called the University of Detroit, and he took
the Titans to the NCAA Tournament back when it was
only thirty two teams. This was in nineteen seventy seven.
And guess where they played in the NCAA tournament. That's right,

(12:59):
lex in Kentucky, Rupperina. It was the first year Rapperina
hosted the NCAA tournament. It was first year four Rapperina
and the University of Detroit with Dick Vital came in
and of course was beaten because the team that came
out of the Mid East Regional and election in that
year was UNC Charlotte coached by Lee Rose assistant coach

(13:22):
Mike Pratt, the same UNC Charlotte team essentially that Kentucky
had beaten the year before in the NIT championship game.
But after he left the University of Detroit now Detroit Mercy,
he was hired by the Pistons or a salary of
one hundred thousand bucks and a new Cadillac. Things did
not go well there and eventually he was fired in

(13:45):
November of nineteen seventy nine. I don't know that I
ever knew this as well, but one of the reasons
for Vital's downfall in Detroit was a trade they made
with the Celtics. By Taw was in charge of player personnel.
He wanted Bob McAdoo, He really really wanted him, even
though McAdoo had been banged up with the Celtics and

(14:06):
the Celtics had been trying to get rid of them.
So they're like, sure, great, they send McAdoo. In exchange,
they get mL Carr, who became a key player in
Boston's nineteen eighty success, plus two first round draft picks.
They eventually traded those picks the Celtics to the Warriors

(14:28):
in exchange for Robert Parrish and the number three pick
in the draft that turned out to be Kevin McHale.
So indirectly, Dick fi Tal had a huge hand in
helping the Celtics build that team. And of course the
Celts had drafted Larry Bird that team that went on
to win multiple NBA titles. But it had a happy

(14:51):
ending because Dick fi Tal, after he got fired, as
you know, wound up in broadcasting. We'll take a break
back with more in just a minute. Coming up. John Hayes,
the Harold Leader, to talk some football on six point
thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming
up in just a couple of minutes. John Hale of
The Harold Leader. Of course, he covers football for and

(15:11):
basketball for The Hero Leader, mostly football, but also he
was at the Champions Blue meeting earlier today, so we'll
find out what's in store from Champions Blue. And of
course we'll talk about the upcoming Kentucky Eastern Michigan game
seven thirty kickoff. We'll have it for you at five thirty.
Christy and Logan Stenberg, Ricky Lumpkin with the pregame coverage,

(15:33):
and then Tom Leach, Jeff Picol and yours. Truly, it'll
be on ESPN. You I know not all of you
get ESPNU anymore, though I got to think that in
this day and age practically everybody does. But we're always
there for you on radio side. And Clay Matt Vic
and Chase Daniel, the former quarterback, we'll call the action

(15:53):
from Kroger Field. Last week for the Ole Miss game,
it was Greg McElroy and Sean McDonough and they were critical,
of course of Kentucky and the mess at the end
of the first half, which I thought that they were
fair in their comments, and look, Mark Stoops talked about
a lot of the same stuff about how there was confusion,

(16:14):
it can't happen again, and he basically cleaned it up
at halftime. But in case you were wondering why they
had so much trouble, there were personnel issues, you know,
communications issues. But I asked Mark Stoops about it as
he was coming off the field. Coach, you had the
pace of the game the way you wanted it early.
How do you get back to that?

Speaker 4 (16:33):
Yeah, you know that they're going to get going, you know.
And what I don't like is they're hard enough to defend,
let alone when we give them some layups, some mistackles
and just let them get off and running and get
that moment im and get the speed of the game going.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
You had to burn your time outs earlier than you like.
Some confusion on the air line.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
Yeah, not very placed with Bats. We have had some communication.
There's are some technical difficulties with our communication, but it's
still not but it's not okay. You know, we have
signals as well, but it does kind of throw us
out of the rhythm.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Look, coach, thank you, And that answered the question. Somewhat
technical issues on the sidelines with comms. I don't know
if it was, you know, the green dot helmet speaker
kind of thing or their headsets. But as Stoop said,
that was no excuse, and he wasn't making excuses. He said,
we have signals. It shouldn't have mattered. So once they

(17:25):
got that cleaned up. And here's the other thing too,
we have never seen that kind of chaos. We've seen
some burn time outs occasionally in some clock mismanagement. You
know you're going to see that in the thirteen years
that Stoops has been here twelve plus, but not like
it was in that first half against Ole Miss And
he chewed some tail at halftime his offensive staff and

(17:48):
said this stuff has got to stop, and it did
in the second half. Now they lost because they made
other mistakes, but I thought that was interesting that he
talked about that coming off the field. So Kentucky ends
up losing only seven. And there was that late field
goal which put Kentucky in a position if it can
field it on sidekick to come down and score a

(18:08):
game time or win. He touchdown. But in this day
and age, you don't tiptoe. You kind of still do,
but you don't really have to tiptoe around gambling anymore
because now the gambling outfits are sponsors. But you know,
back in the day, we couldn't even think about making
reference to gambling. And in fact, Jeff Pikoro kind of

(18:31):
with a wink with a wink, mentioned how important a
particular field goal was and that's because it would cover
the spread and I didn't know this, but it also
bumped it from the under to the over. You know,
you can bet on how many points are scored. If
you don't think they're going to score a lot, you
bet the under. If you do, you bet the over.

(18:53):
And this field goal changed everything, and Lane Kiffin made
reference to it when he was talking to Molly McGrath
at the end of the game after the game was overday,
that's a really hard team.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
It plays really close game.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
So proud of our guys. Sorry to at the gamblers there. Dan,
so clearly he knew obviously by then what was going
on with the spread with the over and under, and
McElroy McDonald followed up with it right after Kiffen's remarks.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
Delane hit the nail on the head gambling as a
part of it now, so LASLOL acknowledged the field goal
changed the spread. Old Mis went off as a seven
and a half playing favorite, and it also took it
from the under to the over.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Over under was.

Speaker 5 (19:37):
Fifty one and a half. The game ends at fifty
three with the field goal fatal score Old Miss thirty
Kentucky twenty three. Why do you torture yourself wager on
these things in the first place?

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Oh, how times have changed? Welcome back with John Halo,
the Hair Leader next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back
to the Big moon sider joining us now John Hale,
who covers Kentucky football for The Herald Leader. But as
I said, more than just UK football in fact on
the job. Earlier today, John, you covered a Champion's Blue meeting.
Get everybody caught up again on what does Champions Blue

(20:14):
do and what did they meet about.

Speaker 6 (20:17):
Yeah, it's always confusing because there's like three different board
meetings this week, so you got to figure out which
is the right one. So Champions Blue is the new
LLC nonprofit that they created to house the athletic department.
So the idea is basically it'll have some regulatory independence
for university, maybe be able to move a little free
more freely but this year it's still a transitioning processes.

(20:39):
They're moving everything over. So today is the champions Blue
meeting they're doing that, and the Board of Governors, which
is Jacob Tammy's on at chan Arvin from Keengland, and
then the UKA people are meeting monthly. But also this
week is the normal Board of Trustees Athletics Committee meeting
that's on Thursday, so there's more agenda items. So what
they approved this morning is to start the redesigned phase

(21:02):
for what they're calling a multi use facility, but the
headline of what they want for it to be is
a new basketball practice facility that will also probably they're
using the model. EMMRI University has an arrangement with the
Atlanta Hawks. The Cleveland Clinic has an arrangement with the
Cleveland Claviate Cavaliers where their practice facilities are actually housed

(21:25):
within a larger complex. It is like a sports medicine
complex where are like athletes from all over the region
come and like see their sports medicine doctors, but the
basketball practice facility in that. So the idea would be
this multi use facility where the basketball pract facility is there,
but also U K healthcare has like sports medicine, ambulatory care, clinics,
and all of that all together one big complex.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Any idea where that's going to be in theory, because
that's a lot of blocked university.

Speaker 6 (21:53):
Man, Yeah, it's a big question. So they're saying that
they're there. This request for proposals for the pre design
phase is going to determine a lot of that in
the next four to six months. But the idea is
the best case scenarios, it would be connected to this
fan entertainment district that we've heard so much about that

(22:13):
they're going to try and build around proper fields down
they're somewhere, but they're not locking themselves into that. It's
possible that it doesn't fit with the rest of the
fan entertainment district. It's possible that they want to do
it somewhere closer to the healthcare campus. I asked yesterday
on some background doing some research on this, like are
they committed to having it on campus or would they

(22:34):
even consider it like an off campus because obviously the
pen's basketball team plays off campus anyway, and for now
it's definitely looking at on campus. But as they build
all of this stuff, I'm sure people in the campus
can be. They are going to say where's it going?
And then you think, well, there's some nice parking lots
which would be the area to build it. But it's
not like parking is abundantly available now, So that's something

(22:55):
they're going to have to figure out logistically with all
of this stuff.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Parking is just as we speak. I mean, that's why
I asked, you know, and it's not going to get
any better unless they start buying up houses around campus
and tearing them down, which I don't see him doing,
but what do I know. Go ahead.

Speaker 6 (23:14):
As part of the meeting this morning, one of the
presenters from the university side, who handles all the construction
masterplan stuff, did multiple times mentioned it's part of this
entertainment district around around the football stadium. They have requested
the proposals for that currently. I think the deadline's actually Thursday,
and they're going to start looking at those. I think
parking is going to have to be all as part

(23:35):
of all of those. Like you saw the same thing
with the city with the lot across from a arena,
Like all of those proposals had to have a parking
piece to it, and so I assume that's going to
be part of this too, where they're going to end
u building a bunch of parking structures down there so
you can go up as opposed to out. But certainly
it's not going to get easier by and he means
to park on campus, No, and it's.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
More expensive to go up than out. We're talking to
John tail of the Herald Leader. He covered the champions
Blue meeting today, and I thought of a facility being
attached to the Kroger Field area you're talking and I
assume it's for women's basketball as well, basketball being on
the south side of campus for the first time in history,

(24:17):
you know, it's always been the north side.

Speaker 6 (24:20):
Right, and that the women's basketball part of it is
something that they're they're going to explore in this design process.
I think the most likely scenario actually is that it
does just end up being the men's basketball team, and
then the men moving out of the current Craft Center
then freeze up a lot of space there to where
they can have kind of this like Women's Sports Complex
with the women's basketball team who had their practice gym

(24:43):
and locker rooms renovated last year as part of the
Memorial Coliseum renovation, but then also volleyball would get their
own like area that you know the men's basketball is
currently using gymnastics, some of those other teams would get
at And so it not only moving men out gets
in this state of the art facility, which I'm sure
they'll use it, reading, all these other things, but it
would also help those other programs because they would get

(25:03):
like much better facilities than what they have right now.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Sure, and gymnastics practices on the South side as you know,
in the Fieldhouse, but performs competes in Memorial Coliseum, and
you know if that one year in rapp Arena. This
is really interesting. You're talking about a lot of money, though, John,
aren't you.

Speaker 6 (25:24):
Yeah, that's the big question. And we talked to Mitch
Maarnhart after the meeting's day and he was pretty upfront
about like, this is just an idea right now, and
the big you know, if they come back from these
proposals and the number for the cost is prohibitive, they're
going to have to reconsider and think of other things
because obviously, in the current college sports landscape, nobody has money.
But the reason that they are not just building like

(25:46):
a brand new men's basketball practice facility and not anything else,
and they're connecting into this healthcare stuff. Is because every
dollar they spend right now is basically trying to create
revenue down the line. That's why the first round of
projects the summer, we're all about football suites and stuff,
because they're going to try and make money off of those,
and in this part they would make money from the
healthcare side of it. So that is going to be

(26:08):
really interesting because otherwise, if it's just an astronomical amount
of money that they can't afford, then they're just had
to figure something else out. So it's not a definite,
it's not for sure. You know, they will hopefully find
some private financee for it. I assume healthcare would split
the bill with the athletic department if they're both using
the facility, but the funding part of it, Hey, how

(26:29):
much is going to cost? And that be where that
money is going to come from. That's a big question
that nobody had to answered it right now.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah, and you can only go two donors so often
with your hat in your hand. And you know what
I also I find fascinating John about this, and I'm
sure across your mind is that when John Caliperi left.
He and Barnard were not on the best of terms.
Everybody knew that, but supposedly one of the biggest sticking
points was the fact that Cali Perry wanted a new

(26:55):
practice facility, even though Joe Craft Center seemed plenty good,
but apparently they were hearing from recruits that other places
had nicer practice facilities. And we all know that when
recruits talk, people listen, and so now if they end
up building a new one, I gotta wonder what's gonna
go through Cali Perry's mind, you know what I mean.

Speaker 6 (27:16):
Yeah, that's that's the guy I want to hear from
most this week, for sure. I can't imagine how he
felt when that came out last night, when the news
first broke. I mean, if you remember that, this is
what started the epic John Caliperry, Mark Stoops few at
the at the that preseason Bahama Stour was doing interviews

(27:36):
down there and when on one of the soapboxes and
basically was like, you know, football's had their turn. They're
doing the Memorial Coliseum, you know, the softball and baseball
stills like, and he said, like, this is a basketball school,
it should be our turn now. And that's what started
that whole feud was him publicly campaigned for a new
practice facility. That's what he wanted at the time. His
idea was, let's put a museum in it and make

(27:58):
it like a whole I can't imagine John cal Perry
was ever going to welcome you know, random people and
do it practice facility at all hours of the day.
But like that's what he was saying at the time,
and so like that's how that whole thing started. So
I'm sure now that it, you know, it's moving at
least a little closer to completion. He probably have some opinions.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
And meanwhile, he was a victim of his own success
saying we need a new facility so we can recruit better,
and he just lands the number one class in the
country that year, you know, just a happy coincidence. So,
oh man, the drama it never ends. We're talking to
John Hale or the Hero Leader. We'll come back and
talk about Wildcat football in just a minute. Hair on

(28:39):
the Big Woon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to
the Big Woon Sider. We're talking with John Hale on
our celebrity hotline he of course covers UK football among
other things. For the lexingon Hero Leader John You were
there yesterday when Mark Stoops talked to the media, why
don't we go ahead and just start with quarterbacks straight up?
Because he is clearly committed now evidently to whether Zach

(29:01):
Calzada plays or not. And of course you got Eastern
Michigan coming in, which is one of the this year,
no disrespect, one of the real have nots in college football.
We will see Cutter bowlie one way or the other, won't.

Speaker 6 (29:13):
We Yeah, And I'd be frankly surprised if he doesn't
start at this point, Like it just seems like the
week to do that. I keep thinking of that week
in twenty twenty when Terry Wilson had played really poorly
and Mark came out after the game. I was like,
we got to consider our options, and then we went
on Monday and it was like, oh, Terry's hart, He's
not available this week. He Joe gave would start against

(29:34):
Georgia maybe and they got destroyed and then Terry got
the job back. But it just feels like it's not
worked so far. He's been really frankly blunt about some
of the shortcomings Calzada has had the last two weeks
talking about like there have been plays there we just
got to convert that we're not converting right now, and
so it feels like a soft landing spot, Like if

(29:55):
you're going to try and find that spark, you might
as well throw Cutter out there this week and see
how it goes, see if he can build some confidence
against Eastern Michigan, and then you know, you have the
bye week to kind of regroup in front of what's
going to be maybe the biggest game of the season
in that South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah. Yeah, And you know it's it's puzzling because and
I've mentioned this more than once this week, that we're
allowed to go to only so many practices and I'm
not an expert when it comes to watching a quarterback
in practice and deciding who's doing what and who's doing
it well. But I don't know about you, but kill
Zada to me, is not looked like the guy we

(30:33):
saw in practice.

Speaker 6 (30:33):
What do you say, No, I don't think so either.
I mean, like it was, especially in the spring, it
was clear he was just way better than the Utter
and then even the fall, like Cutter did look demonstra
letter in the practices we saw, but like Zach still
took almost every first team rat throughout camp and in
both images, and so he looked like a guy I
kept making the comparison all summer, like if he can

(30:54):
be Stephen Johnson, you take that or whatever. Yeah, he
is just malwacomfortable. And that's the biggest concerned for me,
is the reason you sign a seventh year college quarterback
is to be sure that he can make the right decisions.
He's not going to force thing, that he can be
the game manager that you can trust to do the
right thing. And that's just not been him. I mean
that first game he threw a bad interception, he didn't

(31:16):
hand off when he was supposed to in the end
zone and took a safety. You know, he was obviously
like his footwork, he'd just keeps doing that thing where
he's drifting back the entire time, So he's making throws
off of one foot, which is not good mechanically, right,
you know, he missed open receivers, So like, he just
does not look like this kind of savvy veteran thought
you were getting. I think he's better than what he's
been the last two weeks and I don't think we've

(31:36):
seen the last of them, even if Cutter does start Saturday.
I would guess there's a point at some point the
season where Calzada is playing important snaps with him again.
But at this point it looked so bad and like,
you really need to win that game at South Carolina
to keep people engaged because of what's coming after that.
They got to figure out a way to get something
jump started. And if that Cutter, if he looks more talented,

(32:00):
also made some bad decisions in the two drives that
he was out there, But the arm talent is so
much better that you maybe just at this point say like,
if the veterans you can't trust him to make the
right decision, let's just throw the guy out there with
higher sea when and see what happens.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah. See, to me, the arm talent was indistinguishable and
the practices I saw, But you haven't seen that in
the games from Calzada. You have seen it in a
limited way from Cutter Bowlie. But I was almost relieved
John to hear Stoops yesterday saying there have been plays available,

(32:34):
he just hasn't thrown the ball, because I kept wondering,
you know, where are the plays designed to allow him
to succeed. And from where I stand on the field,
you've got a much better look at it than I
do upstairs. But apparently they've been there. He hasn't pulled
a trigger. That to me is the most surprising thing
of all, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (32:53):
Yeah, And I do wonder, like I hadn't really thought
about it until just now because we heard so much
about his sec experience. But it's who's played two years
at the FCS level, right, Like, you can you can
wait for guys to get open at that level and
then throw it to him. You can't do that. You
can't sit there and wait until the guy's wide open
to throw it to him. Like it's too late at
that point. And so like you got to be able
to trust your your reads and trust your windows and

(33:15):
throw it right away. And that he just doesn't seem
to be doing that right now. Maybe that's an adjustment
thing coming back from that level. Maybe it's not. I mean,
the injury was so weird on Saturday because like he
didn't get hit on that last throw. He just winzes
after he kind of chucks it down the field, like
if one throw was going to do that. Maybe he
was there was something physically going on, because even the
one beat ball they did compete complete in the two

(33:37):
first two games that won to Jimorry Macklin down the
sideline Saturday, like it was still under thrown. I mean,
because Jamoury had two yards of the guy and if
you lead him correctly, he can go all the way
to the end zone. But he had to slow down
to catch the ball and he gets tackled. So it
certainly has not looked like the guy that was advertised,
and certainly the guy we saw early in camp of
those handful of practices.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
You know, I hadn't thought about that, but I do
remember that play because yeah, if he hits him in
stride and leads him just a little more, that's a touchdown.
And I don't know how much you could see of
Calzada when he was trying to work things out when
he was heard, but he was in serious pain. And
I didn't see him take a hit, did.

Speaker 6 (34:17):
You, No, I see, I just assumed at first he
took a hit, But then I went back and watched
the replay. In that last drive, there's nobody close to him.
He just realenses as soon as he throws it like
you can tell immediately like something pulled or popped or
whatever in the shoulder, and it was from there. It
was interesting hearing Mark tacklindyar Al's postgame show on Saturday,
like it didn't sound like they even waited long enough

(34:39):
to figure out if he was going to be able
to play. The trainer was like, well, we're going to
try and loosen him up on the sideline, and Bark
was like, oh, we're just going cutter now if he's
if he's you know, limited, which makes a little sense
given what we've seen so far. But and then they
send back out for interviews, which I can't remember them
ever doing with an injured player before. So it was
a weird situation all around. All we know is he
wasn't going to practice on Monday, but it feels like

(35:01):
a week. To give him a week to heal up
and see what you have the cutter bawling.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah, yeah, I agree. A few minutes up with John Halo,
the herold Leader covers of football Wildcats. People scoff at
games like this, But as I also mentioned earlier in
the show, this is the kind of game that a
Kentucky needs Ohio State, Georgia, Texas. They can survive without him,
But in terms of where this hits on the schedule

(35:24):
and what's happening with the program right now, this this
could be a get back, feel good game, and boy
they need that, don't they.

Speaker 6 (35:32):
Yeah, absolutely it was. It was interesting talking to Mitch
Barnhardt at the champions Bleue meeting this morning a little
bit about the nine game SEC schedule, and he made
that point basically, like they they're they're a program that
you know, you be playing one more SEC game that's
such a physical toll on their bodies. Because he talks
to players and like some of those big guys, it's
like after an SEC game, it's you know, it's Tuesday
or Wednesday before you fill one hundred percent walking just

(35:55):
walking around, and after some of these other games it's
like some day Monday, and so like, physically, they need
some of those breaks breeds along the way they need
to be able to build momentum. The problem is, way
too often in the last five or six years, we've
seen these games that they should blow out early in
the season get much closer than they need to be.
So this is a week where, especially from the fans

(36:15):
support side of things, like they need to take care
of this one early because if it's ugly at halftime,
even if they end up winning by two or three scorers, like,
it's going to be tents in that stadium.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Well, I expect them to win fairly easily, John if
for no other reason but the defense, I think, and
this has apparently to me the makings of one of
Brad White's better defensive units. You know, they've built that depth.
Afari's having an incredible year. We saw what ty Bryant
could do, and you know, again the d line has

(36:48):
been impressive. And if they can't get it done against
Eastern Michigan again, you got much tougher games coming up.

Speaker 6 (36:56):
Yeah, it's going to be I think this is a
week for the defense that we need to see some
of those younger guys because that depth is gonna be huge,
because I mean, they started they started pretty well last year.
I mean the way they played against Georgia and Ole
Miss in that first month of the season on defense,
you thought, oh wow, this defense really good.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (37:10):
But then when the injuries piled up, they just could
not withstand it. And so they need to get some
of those young backups some reps early in the season
because they are going to be key players get banged
up at some point this year on defense, especially where
they're going to miss a game or two, and they
need to be able to withstand some of that in
the way they couldn't do last year. And so that's
another reason that playing a game like this early in
the season can be really important for you.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Yeah, well, before I let you go, what was it
like among you guys the Bank of Writers where you
guys did when those timeouts were burning up in that
first quarter? Because during the commercial breaks, Tom and Jeff
and I were like, what's going on?

Speaker 6 (37:45):
Yeah, it was it was something else. I mean, those
of us who have watched Kentucky football for twenty five
thirty years, like we've seen those things happen a lot.
The one, the fourth down one was annoying in its
own way because like, if you're gonna end up that,
just take the penalty anyway, So that's a bad decision.
But the one that I think was the second one

(38:06):
where there was the first play out of a dry
like coming out of a TV time out, where they
couldn't get the right personnel on the field it's just like,
what is going on here? It's completely thanks to use.
But I wrote a story this morning, uh well, tugue
in cheek in the beginning where I went and found
this quote from Liam Cohen two years ago, the same week,
week three of the season, We're talking to Liam Cohen
about they're so slow because they're subbing every play in

(38:28):
the twin and they're running guys on and off and
they need to stop doing that so they can play faster.
And at that point it wasn't they weren't burning timeouts
or looking quite as an organized. They were just you know,
really really slow. But here three years later, we're having
the exact same conversation, so like it's just deja vu
all over again.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
He is John Hale. Follow him on Twitter at John
Hale Underscore HL and of course in the pages of
the Air Leader Kentucky dot com. Thank you, sir, thanks
for having me up next hour and i'mber two including
will we be seeing the Pope anytime soon? On ESPN
Stay with us here at six thirty w l a
f Welcome back to the Big Moon Saturay. Joining us

(40:55):
now is a longtime friend at a former colleague we
worked in radio to get a many many more ago.
And now I can say he's a legend because alan
Stein who not single handedly but played a huge role
in bringing the legends to Lection and has been honored
on Founder's Day. In fact, the mayor recently proclaimed Day

(41:15):
alan Stein Day, highlighting his lasting impact on the city
the community. Buddy, you and I have talked many times
about bringing baseball to Lection and and how much you
have just enjoyed watching the games. But this kind of thing,
I mean, there were you know, people lined up for
your autograph. That had to be a real kick.

Speaker 7 (41:36):
Yeah, it really was, Jay Bye. The first thing I
always say, because it's absolutely one hundred percent, unequivocally true,
that I didn't do all this stuff by myself, right,
you know, I had a lot of supporters, people who
were cheering me on. I had twenty two original investors

(41:59):
in my group when we ultimately got the project up
and running. We had great employees who really kind of
bought into the dream with me and gave up parts
of their laves too to be a part of what
we were able to accomplish. And now, in retrospect twenty

(42:24):
five years later, it seems almost surreal that we were successful,
and it has continued to be successful, you know, in retrospect.
You know, I've done a lot of history over the
years and research talking about professional sports in Central Kentucky,

(42:50):
going all the way back to the early nineteen hundreds
and all of the Class D teams that we had
and the elements of the different teams and all the
way through. You know, now one hundred and twenty five
years later. We've had professional sports here for a long time,

(43:11):
whether it be minor league baseball or football, or arena
football or hockey and now packer, all of those things.
And yet the one thing that is constant throughout all
of that is that they never lasted. They you know,
they were two years here, three years, five years, and

(43:35):
the Legends have been around, going strong for twenty five years.
And we're just kind of hitting a stride now with
projects and real estate projects around the ballparks, building a
village and all of the things that are on the
drawing board for us. This is gonna way outlive me,

(43:59):
and that part of the legacy is really kind of
fun for me.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
I was fearful when the Legends were one of many
minor league teams that were shortsightedly dropped from affiliated baseball.
I hated that for every time, because, as you know,
I did minor league games on TV for a couple
of summers. And yet again, like you say, still.

Speaker 7 (44:23):
Kicking right, yeah, you know, we I retired after the
two thousand and eleventh season, and then helped a little
bit in transition in twenty and twelve, and of course,
you know, I had interest in other ball plates around
the country, and I stayed involved with those for another

(44:45):
four or five years. I think I finally sold my
last interest in our trip a club in Omaha in
twenty sixteen or seventeen seventeen, I guess, yeah, So I
was tangentially in adjacent to what was going on. But
the philosophy of the folks to whom we sold the
club was a little bit different than the philosophy that

(45:08):
we had, being fan centric and doing whatever it took
to entertain our fans first and then worry about the
baseball after that. And the folks who succeeded us looked
at it differently, and for better or worse, they fell
on some harder times, and you know they were they

(45:30):
were about to close shop, and a gentleman in Nashville
came up a good guy, really good guy, former Ole
miss baseball players ut as a Major League Baseball player,
and he wanted to get into the game. And he
was just under capitalized and didn't have any working knowledge
of how not in League baseball works. And by that point,

(45:54):
you're right, major League Baseball had contracted and unfortunately the
elect things and for a myriad of reasons, none the
least of which were just political. It didn't really have
anything to do with the baseball or the stadium or
the you know, the fan support or anything like that.

(46:14):
There were just some you know, you've been around the
game long enough you recognize that professional baseball particularly as
a good old boy kind of network, and the guys
that were then owned and operated the club just kind
of fell on the wrong side of the good old boys,
and so they lost their affiliation. The guy comes in
from Nashville, he tries to save it, and he was

(46:38):
underwater from the very beginning. So I recognized, along with
some other folks who were interested in buying the team
and bringing it back to its former glory, we were
able to work together. I put together a local investors
group and we own a you know, it's evident, but

(47:00):
smaller portion of ownership of the of the Lectington Legends.
We changed the name back from the Faithful counter Clocks. Yeah,
and now we're near the end of our second year
in this reincarnation and it's going great and I'm really
proud and happy about that. And We've got a lot

(47:21):
of things as we grow that we want to do.
You know, it's it's been a bit of a roller coaster,
but we've always been there. It's twenty five years, wow.
And you know, we we dumped another five million bucks
into the end of the stadium when we bought it
back a couple of years ago. And it's you know,

(47:42):
close to like newt And and so that stadium was
well built in the beginning and it's going to be
there for a long time.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Yeah. That's that was one of the things Allen. When
it first opened, I was so happy and impressed, and
you know, especially with the stam But as the years
went on and I know, bills pile up and things
like that, you were out of it. At that point.
It just got kind of seed and run down. The
field of the actual playing surface wasn't much and you know,

(48:15):
I think it just kind of spilled over. But now
it's back to being a first class operation, you know.
And I know you've got a lot of people around you.
You you're you're kind of the the face of the
franchise for better or worse.

Speaker 7 (48:29):
But yeah, no good.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
But now you've got Alan Stein way out in front
of the ballpark and yeah, but man, I just remember
when that plays opened. I remember when Roger Clemens pitched there.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
There have been a lot of great memories that, haven't there.

Speaker 7 (48:45):
They sure have. Next year next year is the twentieth
anniversary of Lynn Roger came out of retirement, no kidding
and did his first rehabit time in here and I
think did it. And there was a Herald Leader. You know,
you've been doing all these really great retrospectives on basketball
and now this has been football week and making these

(49:07):
great lifts. Well, the Herald Leader in two thousand and something,
fourteen thirteen, I can't remember what it was, listed the
twenty five and I can't remember who did it, but
listed the top twenty five sporting events in the history
of Lexington. And you know, we've got a lot of

(49:28):
that great national championships in basketball and h and university
does so many great things, and we've had great football
teams and track stars and you know, and then you
throw in the eq line part of it. For the
Legends were number five on the list on June sixth,

(49:49):
two thousand and six, when Roger Clemens came to town.
So I've always been kind of proud of that. We
have a tired little niche, even in all of this
wonderful sport. Uh. You know, opportunities that happened here.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
In last that night, that night that Clemens pitched, and
of course, you know, you have a nice but a
modest press box, and there were so many media people
there and we were all the local TV stations feeding
the respective networks because that was a big story obviously,
so we gave that.

Speaker 7 (50:22):
Two hundred two hundred press credentials.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Wow that night, I believe it.

Speaker 6 (50:27):
I believe it.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
And so you had us standing. We were standing in
that concourse, so we weren't blocking other people, but you know,
we basically had to stand behind on plate. And a
buddy of mine is a baseball fan in La in
Los Angeles, was watching on Fox West and yeah, I

(50:48):
was wearing a k y T Polo shirt, which at
the time we had these maroon for whatever reason, and
he calls me on my cell phone. He goes, are
you at the at the Clemens game? I said, yeah,
are you standing behind home plate? And at the time
I set out my beer, so I said yeah. He says,
I thought that was you. So I just started waving

(51:08):
at him. And then I was standing next to I
was flanked by two female journalists who are fairly attractive,
and and he was teasing me about that. So I said,
watch this, and so I just started talking one of
them up, you know, while I'm on the phone, and

(51:30):
I was like, hey, you're being watched by a guy
in California, you know, I kind of stuff.

Speaker 7 (51:35):
Let me let me add to the broadcast, uh story
for that night. Jeff Bradley was working three SPAN at
the time, Okay, Cowboy, and he was assigned to call
They broadcast that game as you just described the first
three innings of that game, right, that's right. And and

(51:56):
Jeff was doing the game and he wanted to do
it from the stands. So he was in my seat
in section two oh seven, right above the Maker's Mart clubs,
but in my seats behind the rail, and it was
so loud it was so crazy that they after the
tip of the first inning. Uh, they went into my

(52:18):
office to broadcasting. I mean he was watching it on
TV and calling it from there from my office. And uh,
you know you mentioned all the reporters there. We had
print people from all over the world. And somebody set
me an article on the front page of the Tokyo

(52:39):
Times or whatever it was. There's a picture of me
and Roger talking in Tokyo in the Tokyo It was
a crazy, crazy night, but it was fantastic. You know,
you'll you'll recall the uh, the weather, it's spectacular. And

(53:00):
Roger himself had been there all week, working out and
doing charity fund and all the things that he did.
And the funniesthantic note that I've told about a thousand
pounds was he was he was only going to go
three innings. And so he's in the third inning. He's
got two acts, nobody on, and he's had an O

(53:21):
two count on the kid whoever he's pitching to, and
the fans all stood up and just went crazy. We're
cheering unbelievably, and Roger called time out and he looked
over to third base where his son Kobe was that
third basement. He called Kobe over and he said, do

(53:42):
they always get this crazy ear when you get ready
for a strike app And Kobe said, no, Dad, you
don't understand. If you strike this guy out, everybody here
gets free Windship white for fluid.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Pizza, not ice cream. I forgot about that. That is
a classic minor league baseball story, Absolutely classic. I remember
now I'm flashing. I worked, but I had just gotten
from Dallas to k y k. They had me go

(54:20):
out to Kansas with Rob Brownley. We were televising the
game and we were it's a long story. We were
using audio equipment that they didn't know how to use,
but I had used in Dallas. So they sent me
to engineer the audio and do the color. And Kansas
kicked the crap out of Kentucky. But all of a sudden,
the crack Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, what it wasn't

(54:41):
that game, No it was. It was an Eddie Sutton
game when Kenny Walker was playing. But at a certain point,
like ninety two points, the crowd which had been whole
home because it was a butt kick and suddenly went nuts.
And Rob was like, oh, they love their basketball here.
And Lawrence cassaid Rob they left pizza. They left pizza
because the next basket everybody gets free pizza. So you know, yeah,

(55:03):
I love stuff like that. Well, we could talk like
this all night, and we have in the past, but
I've only got so much time. But Alan, congratulations again,
uh for being recognized by the legends. You are a legend,
Alan stein Way, and we celebrated Allan stein Day the
other day. Brother, Thank you so much. Looking forward to
seeing you again soon.

Speaker 7 (55:23):
Thank you, Gabe, I'll see you too.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
Up next we will learn more about Blanton Caryer. I
guarantee Alan stein it was about Blant Caryer six point
thirty WAP Welcome back quick segment here, and then we
will talk about Blanton Caller, who was probably the most
underappreciated UK football coach in the history of a college
football and the history of UK football that is. But
I did want to mention something that was kind of
funny last night off the Manning Cast. I don't know

(55:49):
if you watch it, you should. If you watch at
least drop in on the Omaha Productions presentation of Eli
and Peyton. They always have great guests. The last night,
of course, they had Chicago native Bill Murray, but evidently
Peyton Manning tried to book and has been trying to
book a great guest, and Eli brought it up during

(56:12):
the broadcast of the Bears Vikings game last night.

Speaker 8 (56:15):
Hey, he's ton of great guests tonight obviously, and Bill Murray, Sakwan.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Randy Moss come in.

Speaker 8 (56:21):
But I think we should let the people know that
you tried the book a big time fourth guest. Is
it true that you've failed the book? Chicago native Pope
Leo the fourteenth?

Speaker 9 (56:33):
Yeah, kind of like I failed to recruit Randy Moss
to Tennessee. I couldn't close the Pope, but.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
I made the effort.

Speaker 5 (56:39):
He live.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
That's the kind of effort we make.

Speaker 9 (56:40):
Here to the ESPN two, I tried my hardest. Can
we show the letter? Look at these two handwritten letters
I wrote. I wrote his Holiness himself and I wrote
his executive assistant handwritten. I made the effort. Look these
are handwritten letters. And if you're watching Your Holiness, this
is an open invitation come on the show any time.

(57:00):
It's you, it's Tiger Woods, it's Bradley Cooper, it's President Bush,
it's Larry David. Y'all are our most wanted on that
list for the man in cast. Come anytime, We'd love
to have you, your holiness.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
That is fantastic. And I have only one question, and
that is did the letter address specifically to the Pope
get to the Pope. I'm really curious. I'd love to
know first of all, if and when they get a response.
I guarantee you they will, because, of course, Pope Leo
was raised in the Chicago area, longtime fan of the Bears,

(57:37):
the Bears, and the White Sox, not the Cubs, but
the White Sox. He attended a Socks game back in
twenty oh five, of course before he was the Pope.
It was during the World Series, and the team honored
him with a graphic on the concourse wall near the
section where he sat. And he has been spotted at
the Vatican sporting a White Sox cap along with his

(58:00):
white papal cassock. That's the road they wear back in June.
So I guarantee you I would be shocked if they
don't at least acknowledge getting the letter from Peyton Manning
because this guy is a sports fan. Guarantee you he
knows who Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. He knows who

(58:20):
those guys are and obviously a Bears fan. The Vice
president when he visited, gave him a Bears jersey. So
tip of the BBI cap to the Mannings for inviting
the pope, and please keep us up to date. All right,
up next way from the daughter of Blanton Callier on
six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bloomsider coming

(58:43):
up Friday night as a high school football game. But
there's more to it than that. It is the Blanton
Caller Classic, and it's Paris High School hosting Somerset, and
it's named for a guy. You need to know about it.
If you're a Kentucky football fan and you don't know
much about Blanton Callier, you really need to because he

(59:05):
might be the most underappreciated coach in the history of
Kentucky football. In fact, was successful, and UK still fired him,
and from that point on really really began to struggle.
Blanton Callier actually coached the Cleveland Browns to a championship.
That's right, that's how good he was. Prior to that.

(59:26):
He coached at UK between nineteen fifty four and nineteen
sixty one. He succeeded Bear. Bryant Callyer grew up in Paris, Kentucky.
That's why this game is named for him. Attended Paris
High School, went to Georgetown College, and then went back
to Paris High to teach and coach. Joined the Navy

(59:47):
during World War Two and that's where he met Paul
Brown in fact, who was coaching a service football team
there and they developed a relationship. Brown hired Caller as
an assistant coach for the Browns back then they were
in the All America Football Conference. He was a top
assistant for Brown, who was a tremendous coach in the NFL,

(01:00:10):
and over that span when he was with the Browns,
Cleveland won five league championships. From that point on, he
basically came home, took a job with UK, took the
head coaching job. He went forty one, thirty six and
three over eight seasons, but they fired him after the
sixty one season, and Brown brought him back in as

(01:00:33):
an assistant and then Art Modell, the same guy who
moved to Browns out of Cleveland to Baltimore. Eventually he
fired Paul Brown in sixty three. They couldn't get along,
and then promoted Collier to head coach and they made
the NFL Championship Game four times. They won it in
nineteen sixty four and eight years as a pro football

(01:00:56):
coach with the Browns, they never had a losing season
under Caller. He won sixty nine percent of his games,
one of the highest winning percentages in the NFL. I
had a chance to talk with his daughter, Ka Collier McLaughlin,
who's quite active with the Kentucky NFL Pro Football Hall
of Fame, and we had a long chat about our pops.

(01:01:17):
Thanks for joining us. Tell me about the event coming
up on the twelfth. And it's got a lot of
great historic significance, doesn't it.

Speaker 10 (01:01:27):
Yes, it does. And the person who has been the
moving sports behind it, doctor C. Parker, was at Paris
High School graduate as well as former professor and dean
at UK and a football player at UK. And he

(01:01:49):
was very touched by knowing my dad when my father
was still alive and had really felt that this was
an important thing to do to connect his history with
Paris High School and that's how it got started.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
Paris High School has some great football tradition, doesn't it.

Speaker 10 (01:02:13):
Yes, it does. And you know it's not a large
school and I'm very proud of it. Got a wonderful
superintendent and just a great faculty and there it's just
a very vibrant school.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Your dad has such a great resume. And it started
as a coach at Paris High School, didn't it.

Speaker 10 (01:02:37):
Yes, it did. He was a teacher of higher maths
and coached all fourts, went on.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
To Great Lakes Navy and then the Cleveland Browns. He
was a UK head coach for a while there. I
thought underappreciated when he was at UK very much.

Speaker 10 (01:02:57):
I of course sound like a proud daughter, which I am,
but I think that history will show how underappreciated he was.
Really not only at UK, but you know, there's been
a strong movement of former players and other coaches thinking
that he should be in the NFL Hall of Fame.

(01:03:19):
And one of the very interesting things that I think
people should know is that without his work when he
was with the brown starting in forty six, his first
assignment after that first season was to him for him

(01:03:39):
to grade films, and he was sent home with sixteen
Millinger films and two forms of apparatus. One was a
hand crank viewer, little viewer that sat on his desk
and he could turn it back and forth as slowly
as he wanted to. And I can remember as a

(01:04:01):
kid going in his study and watching him do that,
and he might say to me, because he would see
it up on the big screen as well as on
the viewer, can you see And he you know, he
was encouraging me to observe. Really, yes, you know what
what was that player doing with his hand or his ed?

(01:04:23):
And he created the first film studies that became the
model for the entire NFL to use.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (01:04:31):
And about that study, what we know as analytics today
would not exist.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Wow. I have never heard that story. I know that
he was, excuse me, a successful coach at Kentucky and
was part of several championship teams with the Cleveland Browns
as an assistant and a head coach, but I never
knew that about him. That might be his greatest contribution
to the history of football.

Speaker 10 (01:04:56):
I really think it is. And I mean, you know,
of course, he was such a teacher, and so many
people point to what he taught them that allowed them
to succeed, like John Hule and Bill Arnstbarger and so
many others. But this is not a well known story
and I actually have a copy of the story. You know,

(01:05:20):
when Art Modell hired Paul Brown and hired my dad
as head coach. You're not going to believe this, but
the newspaper was on strike in Cleveland. Can you imagine
a worse time for the media. And so a group
of them got together and they published a little monograph

(01:05:43):
and titles of the play He Didn't Call, And there
are just a few copies of it in existence anywhere,
and it tells the story of this assignment and quotes
Paul Brown in what he said about it. And you know,

(01:06:04):
it's a shame that that story isn't better known.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
That's true, and there are so many great stories like
that that need to be told in and around pro football.
And I really wonder with all the trials and tribulations
of the Cleveland Browns franchise and the long suffering Browns fans,
you know, if they really knew just how important your

(01:06:30):
dad was to their history. I mean, he was part
of what four or five championships as an assistant and
as the head coach, took the Browns to four championship games,
and it was under Black Collier the Browns won their
last Championship, right, you.

Speaker 10 (01:06:45):
Are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, and you know, I will always
be a Brown fan, but I think that this particular
routine is more interested and what they are bringing to
the franchise rather than the history. I think they really

(01:07:12):
want it to be about them. And I remember asking
Tim Brown one day. We were in a van of
a whole bunch of us after some sort of celebration,
and I asked him because he was around a lot,
and I said, Jamie, I've listened to you, And he said,

(01:07:34):
what are you saying? And I said, I want to
know if you've got a voice in this or do
they just you know, they're proud of you. Of course,
we're all proud of you. And of course nobody really
answered you know it, But I just I know that
the alums are not as welcome as they once were.

(01:07:57):
Then bring them out to kind of pray him around.
But you know, it's sort of like wanting to believe
that the history of the Cleveland Browns started with this
this administration.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
Yeah, what what was Jim Brown like back in the day.

Speaker 10 (01:08:21):
You know, he was an amazing young man and there's
a we have a framed telegram that and he think
how young he was when he won that World championship,
and when we got home that night, Uh, the telegram
was still rivered to mother and Daddy's house in Aurora
from Jim, thanking mother for allowing them to have so

(01:08:48):
much of my dad and just saying, without his knowledge
and dedication to us, this would not have been possible.
And I want to thank for it. And so, you know,
that's the kind of side to Jim as a young
man that you know he was so you know, he

(01:09:08):
was a handsome, talented guy, and he was besieged by people.
I can picture him after practices at training camp and
after games. I mean, people just desperate to get to him.
And then later in life, you know, I think who

(01:09:30):
he really is came out with his work on American
and all the work he did, you know, trying to
help people that might not have ever had a chance.
And he was very clear that he loved football, he
enjoyed it, but that was not all he was and

(01:09:54):
he did not want it to be remembered solely for
being uh.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
And I remember as a kid when he gave up
because to me, he still is the best running back
in the history of the NFL and of course gave
it up early, you know, it got he was making
movies and making the Dirty Dozen, and uh made a
choice and walked away from the game while he could
still walk, you know, because the guys when they walk away,

(01:10:21):
they can barely walk. And uh and and went to
a different career. Of course that was back before players
were paid generational kinds of money. But exactly he he
he did things his way, didn't he He really did.

Speaker 10 (01:10:35):
And I stayed in touched with him all the years,
and he and his wife were here when he received
the Blatant Collier Award for intery on and off the field.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
I remember that.

Speaker 10 (01:10:51):
He actually Uh I did a chapter on him and
my book on Talking Together, and so we stayed in
touch through all the years, and I considered him a
really special friend.

Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
Well, I got a chance to when he was in town.
I got a chance to meet him and interview him,
and he was at a school for kids who needed
some help, and we had an interesting conversation. And he
is he was a bit of an intimidating guy. I
can tell you that. Getting back though to the event,
the Blent and Call Your Football event that's coming up

(01:11:27):
on September, the twelfth over in Paris, Paris versus Somerset, Right,
that's correct, Yeah, that's a that's going to be a
lot of fun. The blant and call your Football Classic.
And is there going to be anything else around that,

(01:11:47):
any kind of events.

Speaker 10 (01:11:49):
Well, there'll be a reception beforehand, and there have been
invitations that have gone you know, the not only is
that award given, you know, to an NFL person, Frank
Minifield will be one of the people. They're representing people
who have received that award. And unfortunately, you know, some
of the awards that the Black Kayer Group gives, those

(01:12:15):
recipients can't really come on Friday night because most of
them arecill coaching, you know, that kind of thing. But
we're building toward hoping that as years go by, we
can bring more and more people, like we had hoped
to bring Ernie Green this year, and he had complications,

(01:12:36):
but he's a person that has stayed very close touch
with us, and I think we will get him here
another year. But one of the things that they always
do is along with the most Valuable Player award, there
will be an award given to the outstanding math student.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
Oh wow, no kidding.

Speaker 10 (01:12:55):
Yeah, And recognition of daddy as a teacher.

Speaker 1 (01:12:59):
That's excellent. Well congratulations on what I know will be
a great event, and I appreciate chatting with you. I
get to see you when you're on stage at the
NFL Hall of Fame dinner. But I've always really I
never got a chance, of course to meet your dad,
but just in reading about him covering UK sports for
so long and being an NFL fan, I always knew

(01:13:20):
of his history. Now you filled me in on even more.
Maybe the most underappreciated head coach in UK football history.
But I'm glad there's an event bearing his name coming
up in just a few days.

Speaker 10 (01:13:34):
Well thanks for that so much, Dix. Always good to
chat with you.

Speaker 1 (01:13:38):
That's k Callier Sloan, the daughter of the late great
Blanton car who, by the way, was five two and
one against Tennessee and still UK got rid of him.
So the Blanton call your class. He comes up Friday,
Paris High School against Somerset on that orange field over
there in Paris, So check it out if you can.

(01:13:58):
We're back to wrap up this edition of The Big
Bluonsider in just a minute here on six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back to the Big Bluinsider final little segment of
our program. Thanks again to Kke Collier McLaughlin. It's always
fun to talk to somebody about the old days of
Kentucky football. But I learned things about Blanton Callier, and
I had read up about him, but I didn't even know,

(01:14:19):
for instance, the fact that he was born in Millersburg, Kentucky,
which is a tiny town over in Bourbon County. You
might know it because there used to be Millersburg Military Institute.
There doesn't exist anymore Millersburg right now, at least I
will say the census of ten or fifteen years ago
had the population that's seven hundred and ninety two. But

(01:14:40):
that's where Blanton Caller was born before sinking his roots
in Paris, Kentucky. Historical notes like that always interests me,
including one that I saw once again on Twitter today.
And I see this guy stuff every day. I don't
know who he is, except I believe he's a doctor
who is a huge baseball fan. His name is Jim Koenigsberger,

(01:15:03):
and he posts his Twitter handle is Jim from Baseball
every day. He has great stuff about old time baseball information,
and earlier today he posted an image of an ad
for you Who, the chocolate flavored soft drink, and it's

(01:15:24):
from back in the fifties sixties, the old New York
Yankees holding up bottles of you Who. And really you
could tell they're just headshots with somebody else's hand holding
up a bottle. It's the same hand in every ad
Yogi Bear, Mickey Mantle, Moose Scouring, Elston Howard, Joe Peppatone,

(01:15:44):
Tom Tresh, Bobby Richardson, and Whitey Ford, You Who the
drink of Champions. And he's published a quote from Phil Rizzuto,
the former Yankee shortstop term broadcaster, and this is from
the fifties, Rizio saying man could yogi guzzle it down.
He'd gulped down a quart before a game and sometimes

(01:16:07):
one right after, maybe more. I don't know how much
he drank of it at home. But in nineteen fifty three,
Bara complained of being quote pepless. I guess that means
sh sluggish and being itchy like a hound dog. So
the general manager of the Yankees at the time, George Weiss,
called in a special nutritionist. This was in nineteen fifty three,

(01:16:31):
called in a special nutritionist to get to the bottom
of Yogi's mysterious what they called virus back then, and
they deduced that the reason Yogi was drinking too much
chocolate milk. This came from a book called Yogi Bearra,
The Eternal Yankee, written by Alan Bara Brr. Obviously close

(01:16:54):
to the spelling of Bera, but not related. This guy
an author who also wrote about Wyatt Earp, but did
write about Yogi Berra and apparently Yogi's love for you
Who was just a little overwhelming. And again this all
came up in nineteen fifty three, he was already six
or seven years into his career. He retired as a

(01:17:16):
player and well from the Yankees in sixty three, didn't
play in sixty four. He actually managed the Yankees that
year and then came back for one year as a
player with the Mets in sixty five. Yogi Bera eighteen times,
an All Star, thirteen times, a World Series Champion, three

(01:17:39):
times the American League MVP, not in fifty three when
he was drinking too much you Who, but again in
fifty four. And by the way, he served in the
US Navy from nineteen forty three to forty five, and
he was on the beaches during D Day he was
a machine gunner, earned a Purple Heart, a Distinguished Units Take,

(01:18:00):
the World War Two Victory Medal, and others. But when
you look at his accomplishments, he is one of, if
not the greatest, of all time when it comes to
the All Star Nods, the World Series and things like that.
And you know what's interesting. He comes from the same
Saint Louis neighborhood as Joe Garziola. They grew up on

(01:18:22):
the hill, and the Cardinals overlooked Yogi and signed Joe
Gergiola out of high school to a free agent contract.
Although there is a story that branch Ricky, who at
the time was with the Cardinals, liked Bara more than
he liked Garziola. But Ricky already knew he was going

(01:18:42):
to leave Saint Louis and take over the Brooklyn Dodgers,
so he acted as though he liked Garziola more, intent
on signing Yogi for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the Yankee
stepped in signed Bearra for the same five hundred dollars
Bone to switch today would be ninety six hundred dollars
that the Cardinals had offered Garaziola. Before branch Rickey could

(01:19:06):
sign the bear sign Bearra to the Dodgers. That's why
Yogi became a Yankee and not a Brooklyn Dodger. But
he said all kinds of batting records in the World
Series and believe it or not, hit the first pinch
hit home run in World Series history in nineteen forty
seven off Ralph Branca. Coincidentally enough, of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

(01:19:29):
He's the same guy who gave up Bobby Thompson's famous
shot her around the world. So Yogi Barra at one point,
powered by you, who you know wasn't good for him.
That's going to do it. Thanks so much to all
my guests. That's a good night from the garage and Lexington.

Speaker 11 (01:20:01):
Statting can anything the.

Speaker 12 (01:20:52):
Back past.

Speaker 11 (01:21:09):
To Tenson, it don't don't Tos