2025-09-17 BBI

Mark Stoops on bye weeks; (10:00) a look back at Robert Redford in "The Natural;" (19:00) Keith Farmer of LEX18; (39:00) Unforgettable Guard Sean Woods; (:59:00) West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore and you have to watch out for them foul balls...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, oh, guess what day it is? Guess what day
it is? Huh?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Anybody, It's hump Day. Yes, it is hump Day. Dick
Gabriel with you here on a Wednesday, one day closer
to well, not college football for Kentucky fans, but you
can still watch college football this weekend, but it is
a bye week. They have not been good to Mark Stoops.
We will talk to that point here in a moment

(00:28):
or two. But it being Wednesday, we're gonna chat with
West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore, Sean Woods or unforgettable
guard that comes up in hour number two, bottom of
the Sour, Keith Farmer from BBN Tonight Lax eighteen on
the football Wildcats. And we're also gonna talk a little
bit about Robert Redford, the great actor who died yesterday.

(00:49):
We got word of it, and he was in one
of the all time great baseball movies, The Natural, one
of my favorites. Whenever you talk to anybody about favorite
baseball movies, usually they say Major League, which was hilarious,
and it's one of my favorites, The sand Lock, things
like that, but The Natural, and not just because I
read the book when I was in College. I just

(01:11):
loved the movie, and it's one of those films like
Major League. Whenever it's on Bull Durham, whatever stage in
a movie, it's in, I watch it. So we'll talk
a little bit about that coming up in just a
few minutes. But again, bye week for the Wildcats. That
has not been kind to Mark Stoops as recordably is
five and ten after byes, and I got the wondering

(01:33):
about that, so I went back and started looking. Last
year there were two byes they lost after the first
one that was Van Deid that came as a surprise,
but say Loo to Diego Pavia. And then the other
bye was followed by the Murray State game, and of
course Murray was one of the worst teams in America
last year. But going back through the years, in twenty

(01:55):
three and twenty two, after the bye in both years
they played Tennessee, and you know how much trouble Kentucky,
he said, with Tennessee through the years. In twenty twenty
one they lost at Mississippi State, and that to me
is the most surprising loss after a UK by in
the Mark Troops era, given a fact that that was

(02:18):
a good Kentucky team that was the Will Levis team
that won ten games. Mississippi State was not bad, but
there were seven and six. Kentucky should not have lost
that game, Levis said, a terrible time. He threw three
picks in that game, and they couldn't run the ball
very well against MSU, so that was a real stinker

(02:41):
for the Wildcat They ended up winning ten games, as
I said after the Bowl win should have been eleven.
In twenty twenty, they beat Vandy after a bye. They
had two bys. In twenty nineteen they actually won at
Arkansas after the first by, but after the second, well
here comes Tennessee again. They lost that one. But in

(03:02):
twenty eighteen they beat Vandy after a bye they had
two and twenty seventeen after the first one, and really
they played one game, then had a bye week and
then played Aku. They won that one, but later in
the year after a bye, they lost to Mississippi State
forty five to seven. That was Mike Leach's second year
at MSU and Kentucky they just sliced and diced the

(03:25):
Wildcats with that Mike Leach offense. That team for State
went on to finish nine to four, and then a
year prior Kentucky beat Mississippi State. That was in twenty sixteen,
Austin McGinnis kicking a field goal at the end to
win it. Stephen Johnson threw for two hundred and ninety
two yards and a couple of touchdowns. Benny Snell ran

(03:49):
for one to twenty eight Boom Williams ran for ninety
nine yards, So that was an offensive explosion, but Wildcats
couldn't slow the Bulldogs. Finally, the team with the ball
as wanted that was Kentucky, but that was in twenty sixteen,
and that was after a bye week. I just went
back through the seasons when Stoops's teams began to start winning. So, yeah,

(04:10):
buys have not been good to Mark Stoops and this
one's not going to be easy as well. At South Carolina,
and he talked about how he has tried to talk
to some of his colleagues other coaches across the country
about how they treat bye weeks, because he said he
didn't want to get stagnant.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
I've really tried to talk to quite a few of
my colleagues and talk to friends around the country and
just you know, get different ideas for the bye week.
You know, I've been here thirteen years and just don't
want to stay stagnant, want to try to get better,
and looking at a lot of different options. This is
a bit early for a bye week, so I really

(04:49):
wanted to take the approach that, you know, we obviously
need to work and so really want to put in
a big, you know, good heavy week this week.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
That was on the SEC conference call, and I listened
to Shane Beemer and there was no mention of the
South Carolina quarterback. He may have made an announcement about
that at his local press conference, but he didn't even
bring it up on a conference call. Today. Somebody tried
to ask him about the opening of Virginia Tech and
the guy couldn't even get the question out of his
mouth before Beemer shut it down. So I would imagine

(05:21):
that's going to be the case. And no disrespect to
Virginia Tech. And I know he played there and coached there,
but to me, that is a step backwards. Why would
you go from an SEC school unless you just absolutely
adore that campus and that place. I just can't see
him leaving South Carolina for Virginia Tech, a tough place

(05:44):
to win. Yes, his dad did it. His dad Frank
Beemer at one point the coach in Murray State went
to Virginia Tech and played for a national title because
he had a generational talent and Michael Vick and he
was a great coach. Frank Beemer the man up being
a great coach. But I don't see that happening. Just

(06:04):
one man's opinion. A couple of other football notes for you.
Desmond Ritter from Louisville, Kentucky What the Saint X played
at the University of Cincinnati. He has signed with yet
another NFL team. Quarterbacks are going down and Ritter now
is with the Vikings. JJ McCarthy is injured and so

(06:26):
Ridder joins another undrafted free agent. Well, actually Ritter was
drafted in the third round, but Max Brosmer, also on
the roster, played at the University of Minnesota. I've never
heard of that guy. But now Carson Wentz is the
starter for the Vikings. And I had forgotten this, but
Atlanta drafted Ridder, tried him as a starting QB. Didn't

(06:50):
work out. They traded him to the Cardinals straight up
for wide receiver ron Dale Moore, who has prospered with
the car knows Arizona eventually waived him and he went
to Las Vegas for a while. That didn't work out,
But anyway, a guy with eighteen starts on his resume

(07:13):
is now on the Vikings roster. And by the way,
Desmond Ritter traded for Rondelle Moore. Rondelle Moore from Louisville
played at Trinity High School. So you've got in the NFL,
not just two Kentuckians, not just two Louisvillians, but two
guys who played for rival high schools traded for one another.

(07:37):
How about that? And since we're talking NFL, former Wildcat
Wandale Robinson at a huge game, and if you've got
him on your fantasy team, you already know this. But
in the loss to the Giants, the overtime loss, Robinson,
targeted ten times by Russell Wilson, caught eight balls for
one hundred and forty two yards and a touchdown a

(07:58):
long bomb. Ended up losing, of course, forty thirty seven.
There was a play late in the game where the
Giants had to stop the Cowboys short of a first down,
and they did. There was a swing pass and Drew Phillips,
a former Wildcat, made a tremendous stop for the Giants
all or nought. Cowboys want it, but former Wildcats are

(08:20):
prospering in New York. You know who's not prospering right now?
The Clemson Tigers. They are one and two. This is
a team that made the playoffs last year and was
expected to make a run at a national title this year,
but has lost two out of three and now the
fans are all over Dabbo. Once again, Dabo's swinging the

(08:41):
head coach and he claps back. Yesterday he said, I'd
thrive in the battle. I have my whole life. If
they want me gone, they can send me on my way.
If they're tired of winning, they can send me on
my way. I won't stop. I'm fifty five. I'll go
somewhere else and whin, I ain't going to the beach.

(09:03):
And he went on to say we've won this league
eight of the last ten years. Is that good? Duh said,
I got a long memory in case y'all don't know,
this is a program that's built to last. If you
don't believe in us, after we lost just two games,
you weren't all in anyway. So Dabbo, addressing the haters

(09:26):
after the loss to Georgia Tech earlier, of course, in
the season Clemson lost to LSU and that season opener.
This is the team of return sixteen starters from the
ACC champion team last year, and it may well win
the ACC this year and could somehow get into the playoffs.

(09:48):
But of course, when you've got Kave Klubnik, he is
the starting quarterback who many believe is better than Arch
Manning and should have been ahead of Manning all along
in the Heisman conversation. Well he's out of it now,
the dabbo clapping back at the haters. Coming up next,

(10:09):
we'll talk about Robert Redford, The Natural, one of the
greatest baseball movies ever made, and a really good baseball book.
A little bit later on Keith Farmer of l EX
eighteen and BBN Tonight, Second hour, Gary Moore, he's our
West End bureau chief. And also Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard.
That's all ahead on the Big Blue and Sider here

(10:30):
on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Coming up in just a few minutes, it's going to
be Keith Farmer from LAX eighteen and BBN Tonight, talking
of course about the football Wildcats hour number two. It's Wednesday,
meaning unforgettable Guard Sean Woods. We'll talk about coaching, both
football and basketball. Football coaches being fired right now and

(10:53):
it's a tough time for coaches out there, so Sean
will talk about that, and of course West End Bureau
Chief Gary Moore on us as well with a six
pack of topics. But I did want to mention the
passing of Robert Redford, and that came after the show
was put to bed last night. But I bring it
up because he was one of my all time favorite actors,

(11:14):
probably one of yours as well. One of his movies,
this being a sports show, was The Natural, which was
basically a fairy tale about baseball. I read the book
when I was in college at UK. I took a
literature course called the Literature of Baseball. The book The
Natural was written in nineteen fifty two by Bernard Malamude,

(11:39):
and it's dark. It has a different ending and a
different tone, but it's basically about good and evil. If
you haven't seen it, I commend you to it. If not,
if you haven't seen it by now, you maybe you
don't care about it. But it's on every once in
a while. And it'll be on again pretty soon with
the passing of Redford. But Robert Vall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger,

(12:03):
Wilford Brimley, you know, the guy who sells Quaker oats.
He played the manager of the team that Roy Hobbs,
Robert Redford's character played for the New York Knights. Barbara
Hershey was the mysterious woman in Black. Richard Farnsworth played
a coach on that team. And he's one of these guys.

(12:24):
If you didn't know his name, you'd recognize him. He's
passed since, but he's been on a lot of stuff,
but a likable guy. It was nominated for four Academy Awards,
including Close for Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globe basing her
Best Supporting Actress. And I remember reading about this. They
filmed a lot of it at the Old War Memorial

(12:44):
Stadium in Buffalo, New York, which was a triple A
ball club built in nineteen thirty seven or ball parker
should say, and they tore it down in nineteen eighty eight.
But he gave it a great feel. And if you're
not familiar with the story, Redford plays a guy named
Roy Hobbs in nineteen tens, Nebraska, learns to play baseball

(13:08):
from his dad. After dad suffers an early fatal heart attack,
lightning strikes a tree next to where he died, So
Roy Hobbs makes a baseball bat from that tree splintered
wood and burns a lightning bolt into it and names
it wonder Boy. Right. So now Hobbs heads for Chicago

(13:29):
to try out for the Cubs. But he's trying out
as a pitcher, and he leaves behind his girlfriend Iris.
On the train, he meets this legendary ballplayer who in
the movie was called the Whammer, but he was based
on Babe Ruth and also a sports writer played by
Deval in the movie named Max Mercy, and a woman

(13:52):
named Harriet Bird that's Barbara Hershey's character is following the
Whammer right, kind of a groupie. He stopped the train
at a carnival. At the next stopover, Hobbs wins a
bet he can strike out the Whammer with just three pitches,
and he does it, blows it right by him, and
he's on his way to his great career right in
major League baseball. But later meets up with Harriet in

(14:15):
Chicago and she says, and he boasted this, I want
to be the best there ever was. Is that true?
He says yes, and she shoots him. All right, I'm
gonna leave it from there, just to say that, and
then she kills herself, shoots him in the abdomen. He survives,
of course, but sixteen years later, at the age of

(14:39):
thirty five, signed as a rookie to the New York Knights.
A Scott saw him hitting the ball somewhere. It wasn't
playing in affiliated Baseball, must have been, you know, just
freelance whatever, and the Scott signs him, sends him to
this last place New York Knights team. Pisses off the
manager because he didn't know anything about it, thought he

(15:00):
was too old, thought the team's owner had ultario motives
because she wanted to sell the team, wouldn't let him play,
but later on says, we're gonna send you down. Never
even get a chance to bat in BP batting practice.
So here's the scene where he elects to send Hobbes

(15:20):
down to the miners, and Hobbs pushes back, even though
initially he says okay, he pushes back to his great benefit, Hobbs,
I'm sending you down. Hobbs class p ball tomorrow morning,
you go to the Great Lakes Association. Can you make

(15:41):
the rules? That's right, that's right. And you ain't been
playing by him.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
All these other guys played by him.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
Don't you remember signing a contract.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
I remember signing a contract to play ball, not to
be put to sleep by some two bit CARNEI hypnotist.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
I won't do that. You're going down.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
It took me a long time to get here, Pop.
I won't do it. I can't.

Speaker 5 (16:03):
I came here to play ball.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Hobbs, come back here batting practice tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Be there. I have been every day.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
And when he talked about the two bit Carnie, there's
a scene in a movie where they bring in this
hypnotist and try to help the team. They bring in
a guy to lecture to him losing is a disease,
you know, And it's just then the guys are all
rolling their eyes and walking out. So anyhow, Hobbs gets
his shot at BP. He steps into the cage with

(16:45):
wonder Boy and one of the young star pitchers is
on the mound. But every time Hobbs swings the bat,
it's a home run. That's more impressive than the last. Right,

(17:06):
come here, let me see that back.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Not a bad kid?

Speaker 2 (17:19):
Where'd you get this? I made it myself from a
tree in your home? Wonder boy?

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Put that on there? What does it mean?

Speaker 2 (17:30):
Met it a long time ago when I was a kid.
I wanted it to be a very special battle.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
How about this?

Speaker 2 (17:37):
It's lightning bold The tree that I made it from
was split open by lightning.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
I don't figure this. All those years and you never
played organized baseball, Well, I sort of got sidetracked, all right,
red Way. If it comes up to specially, kid, we'll
let you use it. I'm going on to shacks.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Better late than ever. Put this is practice. Let's see
well see, he says, And what he saw was the
team catch fire. Roy Hobbs becomes a superstar. They moved
from last to first. But in the meanwhile, Kim Basinger's
character is the daughter of the owner, and she is

(18:30):
a temptress. And so Hobbs moves away from goodness, which
is Glenn Close, his old girlfriend who shows up towards
Kim Basinger. Things start to go bad. I mean, it's
it's just a great story. And at one point, the
internal injuries for Roy put they put him in the
hospital and the team starts sagging again, and I'll skip

(18:51):
to toward the end where they end up in a
one game playoff the Nights with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Roy
comes up to pinch him it and this is one
of the most famous scenes in sports movie history when
Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, batting left handed, hits a
home run that smashes into the lights and the power

(19:15):
chords break free. There are sparks everywhere. It is so
beautifully filmed. It's phenomenal. And the music to go along
with it written by none other than Randy Newman. That's right.

Speaker 6 (19:26):
I love l a short people all that he wrote
the music and it's perfect.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Such a great scene visually, I mean, it was like fireworks.
And I remember we're reading an old sports columnist from
way back in the day, Dick Young, who was one
of the real giants in the forties and fifties and sixties,
but kind of got cranky in his old age, don't
we all? But I remember him ripping the movies and

(20:15):
that would never happen, you know, things in the movie
that happened, Oh, that would never happen in a real
baseball game. It was a fairy tale and it was
one of the better performances by Robert Redford. And as
I say, when I think about my favorite baseball movie,
I usually come back to Bull Durham. But The Natural
is right up there. And if you haven't seen it,

(20:37):
I recommend it. And if you like reading baseball books,
check it out. It's different, you'll enjoy it. It's a
little dark, but it's still a great piece of baseball literature.
Up next Keith Farmer from BBN Tonight here on six
thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bullensider, Joined now
by a longtime buddy and a friend of the show,
Keith Farmer of LAA eighteen and coach to BBN Tonight.

(20:59):
Will and you may have seen this post. On Sunday
celebrated its fifth anniversary. It was five years ago Sunday
that the show went on the air. It was a
major undertaking. Came back.

Speaker 7 (21:12):
Congratulations, Thank you so much, appreciate it. When you guys,
you know one of those things where I don't think
about I don't think about it, you know, like I
guess I'm just always forward thinking. And then when I
sat down, I thought about five years ago. We had
a different producer, we had me and Mary Joe doing
the show, we had a different photographer, editor, and I'm

(21:33):
just like, wow, now it does feel like a long time.

Speaker 8 (21:35):
Five years really flew by in a hurry.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Well, as you know, when the contract, the UK contract
was at WKYT, I was a chief producer on a
lot of these projects, so I understand what goes into
these things now. And I had pitched a nightly show
and they just didn't have a time slot because a
Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. When you guys, it was
not a surprise to me when you guys put this
show together, but when you first sat down and I

(22:00):
kind of dug into the format and looked at the challenges.
I mean a nightly show man, you know, thirty minutes
doesn't sound like much, but in TV world on a
daily basis, right, that's a kid you got to feed.
What do you remember about talking about it, thinking about
it and looking at that challenge?

Speaker 8 (22:18):
I remember, first off, like you bring up, thirty minutes
doesn't seem like a lot, but you know, when we
would get to March Madness, or we'd have a bowl
game or something like that, and they'd be like, Oh,
we got a half hour show we're going to do.
We'd be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe we're
doing a half hour show, you know, and now here
we are doing one nightly. Yeah, and you're right, there
is a lot that goes into it. Luckily we have
the staff that was built for it, we're able to

(22:41):
do it. I even remember like Tony Neely, the you know,
sports information director over at UK, going, I don't know
how y'all are going to make this happen, you know,
but but all right, you know, and he was like,
you know, especially in the summer, you know, He's like,
I don't know how you're feeling a half hour on this,
you know, June July. But you know what, we've just

(23:01):
tended to make it happen. You had like the TV
t come in or you know, golf tournaments that include
you know, UK golfers, things like that. So it's just
like you realize how much the University of Kentucky means
to this community and how much everybody thirst for news
from the Wildcats, no matter what the program is. And
I think that's been what's been so fun to be

(23:24):
a part of it. Yes, it's great to talk to
football and basketball and basketball, but at the same time
it's fun to go talk to the golf team, to
the soccer team and all that and just you know,
show everybody about the stunt team and let them learn
about them and things like that. So I think that's
what's been the most enjoyable part.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
I was about to say, you guys, you know, touch
on all sports, and I think Kentucky fields more sports
than any other school in the conference, if I have
that right.

Speaker 8 (23:52):
Yeah, I think you're right. It's not it's it's like
right there at the top. Yeah, no doubt about it.
And you know, and not only that, but we're also
kind of syndicated throughout the state down through Nashville, Cincinnati,
so it's a chance for you know, the University of
Kentucky to have it's brand out there in so many
different markets. So again, just for me, we put down

(24:14):
our top five moment of the last five years, and
it was easy to say the Mark Pope press conference
was one, but really my first one was, you know,
doing that first show with Mary Joe, because I knew
the gravity of what that was having grown up here
watching KYT have its for so long and then to

(24:35):
have it, I just felt that that weight on my shoulder,
that pressure and just knowing, you know, what this could be.
And so that's why it's been so much fun for
the last five years to be involved with it.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
And you know, timing is everything as well in sport,
well in life. But you guys also come along at
a time when the SEC network is in place, including
the streaming channel, so so many sporting events are available
to be recorded. That's the thing people need to understand is, yeah,
you know. The two things people don't understand and how

(25:07):
would they is the amount of time that's taken up
in editing. And I've tried to explain that to people
in my own building when I was in TV. You know,
we'll do this, we'll do that. I'm like, look, it's
gonna take quite a lot to put this stuff together physically,
and they gotta look at you that galays look huh.
You know. But the other thing is go out and
cover events. You're gonna send people to UK football, KA basketball,

(25:31):
women's basketball, oftentimes volleyball. But if you can't get to
an event, as often as not, now you can pull
it off the internet and videos everything is.

Speaker 7 (25:42):
I mean, it's just huge, isn't it, no doubt about it.

Speaker 8 (25:44):
I mean because I think we just had the UK
women's golf team had a really successful tournament down at
Folds of Honor, and the Golf channel was showing that
there you go. And I mean in the past, we
would have just been putting up a full screen leader
board of know, the team scorers and the individual score
which you know, Hayk and then happened to win it
for the University of Kentucky and they had a second

(26:07):
place finisher and Catherine Brown, so you know, because of that,
we were able to show some video and you were
able to see how they did it. So yeah, that's
definitely a big part of it now being able to
find video and on many of the sports, and you know,
most of the soccer games, everything else is on, so
if they're away from Electington, we don't necessarily have to travel, right.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
I remember I was filling in for Neil Price on
baseball and I don't remember where I was, but it was
a road game, important game, and I looked over and
there was a single TV camera somebody from a station,
not not a televised game, but a station and I
made my way. I said, hey, where are you from?
And I think they were from Savannah, which is where
Lindsay Golf worked for a while. And I said, would

(26:50):
you mind sharing this video? And I called k y
D said call the station in Savannah. They can send
you some video. But that's what we used to have
to do, you know. But the the other thing too,
you and we we lean on these folks as well,
and I believe, I'm certain that the department has expanded
and they are incredibly talented as UK sports video and

(27:11):
you know, we were able to use some of our stuff.
I know, you guys Greg gorm and his crew man,
they worked their butts off and most people see a
lot of their work on the internet, the pump up
videos and stuff like that. It's incredible how good those guys.

Speaker 8 (27:25):
Are, you know, in the fact, being you know, tied
in with them, Yes, being tied in with them, we're
able to use a lot of those videos that you're
talking about, the pump up videos, sure, the journey kind
of videos that show how a game turned out, so
you really get that behind the scenes still and you know,
once again that helps us with content. So you know,
we're very appreciative for those guys and gals over at

(27:48):
UK Sports Video for all the work there.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit about the football
team you're covering. They beat They beat Eastern Michigan. The
score might not have been much of a surprise, but
clearly the defensive struggles were. I got to think, I
know you were with family, but you watched the game.
How surprised were you when EMU just kept slicing and

(28:10):
dicing through the air.

Speaker 8 (28:12):
Yeah. I think that one was the surprise to me
because going into that game, I ophen me and Maggie
were on the air talking about it, you know, both
on Friday for BBN Tonight and Saturday for Game Day.
We were just saying, how, you know, I think the
defense is going to do what they're going to do.
We just want to see more out of the offense.
We knew that we were going to see Cutter Bowlly.
We didn't know he was going to start, so we knew,

(28:33):
you know, offensively, hey, it's going to look a little
bit different. But and you wanted to see them build off,
you know, just things that they had been doing defensively.
You're right, I think that's the part that surprised me
the most, just because I didn't expect to see them
allow so many points put on the board and so
many of those you know, quarterback runs. You just expected

(28:55):
to have a spy or something, you know, to prevent
those quarterback runs. So a little bit shocking. But the
good news is they got the break. Now they can
talk about it, go over it, and be ready for
South Carolina.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Oh and Brad White was not a happy camper afterwards,
so no.

Speaker 8 (29:11):
In fact, Ty Bryant on the Mark Stoup Show said that,
you know, they went in on Monday and he showed
them like thirteen plays. It was just like basically unacceptable
and like, we can't let this happen again. So they've
certainly addressed it already and again have a little bit
extra time to get ready for South Carolina.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
I heard him say that, and my reaction was only thirteen.
But yeah, you.

Speaker 8 (29:35):
Knew that must have been glaring the thirteen.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
You're right, And I got to be honest. I going in,
I said, you know, the defense might pitch a shutout today. Whoops.
I mean that didn't happen either.

Speaker 8 (29:47):
I know, that's exactly my thought. I thought, there's a
really good chance of holding it to like no more
than ten. You know, I just thought that, you know,
something could happen and maybe they give up ten. So yeah,
a little bit of a chakra there, but you know,
again learning experience one.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Of the more surprising stats from that defense. And I'm
not laying everything in his feet, and it could be
something that em you did saying, look, we got to
account for this guy. We've got to account for number
three Alex Afari, who'd been a wrecking crew in the
first two games for Kentucky. He only had three tackles,
two solos, and the no TFLs or anything. Plus you've

(30:23):
really got a credit Noah Kim the QB for Eastern Michigan. Man,
that guy is talented and he finally found a place
where he could play at five to eleven or whatever.
But he made plays all day.

Speaker 8 (30:35):
Yeah, I mean former Michigan State guy. So you know
he was worthy of you know, no one. He's going
to be a good yeah, exactly. His potential, his talent
was there, and maybe he just finally found that right
system for him and you know, unfortunately again, you know,
Kentucky just didn't have that by ready for him on

(30:55):
some of those runs, and you know they had I'm
sure some of those plays they were looking at were
those ones where you know, the running backs got wide
open in the first half out out, you know, and
made those those catches wide open, and so that had
to be some of those that they looked at and
the frustrating parts.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
He is Keith Farmer. He is a sports director w
l e X and a co anchor of BBN Tonight,
BBN Game Day. We'll talk more with k Man on
the other side of the break here on six thirty
WLAP Welcome back for chatting with Keith Farmer. He is
a co anchor and co host BBN Tonight and also
a sports director wl e X eighteen and came in again.
You had Saturday off, but you have spoken to Cutter

(31:35):
Bowley more than once. What did you take of his performance?

Speaker 8 (31:41):
I thought more decisive than I've seen him. I love
the fact that when he was taking some of those
shots downfield, he was on target. The ones that you know,
I'm even thinking about the one that Josh tattis that
he tight roped, oh man, you know on the sidelines.
I mean, you know, Cutter was on the move on
that path. Yeah, and he let one fly and it

(32:03):
was not a five yard pass, I mean it was downfield.
So that that was very encouraging to me to see
him relaxed to let it fly. I also had the
laughter on the Mark Stoops Show on Monday because I
guess Tom Leach had a had a you know, group
of textures and somebody said he looked like a surfer dude,

(32:25):
and Josh kinda said, yeah, he is kind of like
surfer dude. And then he also compared him he just
you know, fun loving and caring, and he said he's
kind of like a Golden Retriever and.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
That was perfect. That was hilarious.

Speaker 8 (32:37):
Yeah, and he is, I mean, he really gets out
on the field and he's competitive, but he is kind
of this care free guy, doesn't seem to let a
bad pass bother him and he just moves on to
the next play. Is something that you know, is encouraging
to see. And then also just the way he was
seemed to be on point, whether the ball was caught
or not. He seemed to be you know, pretty right
up spot on with some of those passes he was making.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
First throw at Florida was a pick six. He goes
to Texas, he gets a hammer, just gets leveled, and
then gets up in a few plays later makes an
incredible throw down the field. You know, yeah, did not
play particularly well against Louisville, but never let that bottle room.
But you know, they're like d backs. I guess quarterbacks
have to have that goldfish kind of memory, right every

(33:20):
ten seconds you reset.

Speaker 8 (33:23):
Yeah, exactly. And to me, it sounded like even like
pregame with Eastern Michigan, he just sounded so much more
confident than I've heard him sound in interviews, the way
he was talking about, Hey, we're just gonna go out
there and let it fly. A lot of people were
talking about how he had really taken over the huddle
and how he had been more you know, vocal in

(33:45):
the huddle just leading up to the Eastern Michigan game,
which is great to hear. So it's like he probably
he probably knew it, like we didn't until it was
announced on Saturday, but he probably knew he was getting
the start, and you know, cause of that just made
it a point of taking control of the offense.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
You got to see the team practice, and I don't
know how you watch practice what you look for. I've
said many times I'm not learned enough to watch the
line play and footwork and all that stuff. I can
tell who's catching the ball or dropping it, and who's
throwing the ball accurately, if the receivers run the proper route.

(34:25):
And honestly, I could not differentiate that much between Calzada
and Bowlie in my drimmages, and which is why I
came in. I was so amazed. Kalzatad looked nothing like
he did in practice. Did you see it the same
way I did?

Speaker 8 (34:41):
I really did. I felt like he was having issues
trying to locate that receiver more so than I saw
in practice, and you know, just trying to find I
don't know what confidence, you know that I just I
felt like we saw in practice that we didn't see,
you know, when the these games began. And I don't

(35:02):
know if it just was a comfort kind of thing
or what, but it definitely did seem different to me.
It really did, and I hated to see it. But
you know, hopefully at this point he's healthy or at
least getting healthy and you know, able to chip in
if they need him down the line.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Well, we enjoyed what we saw with Cutter Bowlly, obviously,
and they've got the week off the work. But two things.
Number one, mark steps record coming out of buys not good.
Although on the other hand, generally out of a bye,
they're stepping into a difficult situation at which they are
now going not just South Carolina, but at South Carolina.

(35:41):
Never easy, as you know, So what do you see
coming up in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 8 (35:46):
Look here, I'm excited that they've got the buy because
it gives them not only a chance to get healthy,
which they've got a couple of guys they need to
get back in there, but I think it gives them
a chance to reset and learn from Remember this is
the new transfer portal era, right yep. And so these
guys have played together for three games. That's it, three games,

(36:07):
and I felt like they've built off each one of them.
And now you have a chance to go back and
look at everything that you put down for those three
games and make some adjustments. And you get a lot
of time to do that and to then prepare for
South Carolina. So I think it comes at a great time.
I think it gives them a chance to reflect, to
learn and then take it to the field on the road.

(36:30):
And you know, you don't have to do much skip
fired up for that game because it's going to be
loud enough and you know the fans are going to
be on you. So it's a chance to rally together
and pull off something special down there.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
It's a big stadium, eighty plus. It's got that one
end zone that's five stories tall or however you want
to measure it where. Yeah, every time they go there,
any opposing teams have to go silent, silent, snapcot going in. Yeah,
but ten into that end zone. But we've seen Kentucky
go down there and play well and actually and when

(37:04):
Plus we don't know that we don't know the status
yet of their quarterback at South Carolina. So this is
interesting time leading up, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
You know?

Speaker 8 (37:13):
And to that point, I mean, you think about if
it is going to be cutter again. He's started at Texas,
he started at Loisville, So I'm not sure you know
that there's much that's going to rattle him at this point.
You know, he's going to see some different things because
I don't think he has been to South Carolina yet, no,
but he is going to definitely see some different things.

(37:35):
But but he's had tough environments before. I mean, Texas
was as loud as it'll get, you know, down there.
So he's had a chance to play in both. If
I said he started, that was wrong. I meant to
say he played down at Texas. But but yeah, nonetheless,
he's played on the road in tough atmosphere.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, and every stadium and as you know, and the
SEC is unique and they are their own individal jewel experiences.
But that's what makes it fun.

Speaker 8 (38:02):
You know.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
I enjoy going down there. I don't know about the players,
but I do.

Speaker 8 (38:07):
Yeah. I mean, you know again, it's the SEC. Every
fan they love their team, and like you said, the
environments are all great. You can pick your stadium and
just amazing.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
And it's going to be a night game. And oh,
by the way, the games that follow Georgia and Texas,
So like you said, it's CC welcome to.

Speaker 8 (38:30):
Life, right exactly. Yeah, this is going to be a
big one moving forward obviously because of that reason. You've
got those two big games.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, plus Tennessee right after that. So but you know, again,
that's life in the league. Keith Farmer is the sports
director l e X eighteen and the coast co anchor
of BBN Tonight, BBN Game Day. Thank you came in.
We'll see you down the road, all right, said Tom Up.
Next tour number two with unforgettable Guard Sean Woods and
west End. Here, Chief Gary Moore, you're on a big

(38:59):
Goingsiders six aready, but you are late. Welcome back to

(40:54):
the big win. Saturday is Wednesday, which means we will
visit with our unforgettable guard, Shawn Woods. His jersey hangs
in the rafters of RUP. And before we get started
on basketball coach, earlier in the show, I was talking
about Robert Redford the movie The Natural, which I loved,
and that came out before you were born, but you've
seen it since then. I got to think though that,

(41:19):
and I took a guess before we went on the air.
Your favorite baseball movie probably Major League? Right, Yes, you're
not alone, man, A lot of people love that one.
But you remember watching The Natural, right, Yes, that's a
fairy tale. Of course, a lot of people think Mary
of the Major League was a fairy tale as well.

(41:39):
But to me, Major League is one of those guilty
pleasures where whenever it's on, if I'm spending the dial,
I stop and watch it. Do you do the same thing.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Oh yeah, no doubt about it, no doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
And you can kind of see the ending coming. But
that's okay. Well maybe not when he dropped the bunt down,
but you know they're going to run, right.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Oh, no doubt. What what movie does not win in
the end?

Speaker 2 (42:03):
To a few? Yeah, yeah, very very few. Well, you
know what, you know who doesn't win in the end? Rocky?
The very first Rocky movie, he does not win. And
and I read stallone saying, really he couldn't win, you know,
And then you knew in the sequel he would. Were
you a Rocky fans?

Speaker 1 (42:25):
Him losing made the sequel?

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Well, made thee that's true too, But you know, they
didn't even know they were. I think they probably hoped
they weren't even gonna make a sequel when they ended
the first one when he wrote it. But it just
kind of tied everything up, I thought in a pretty
neat bow when he lost that that that first one.
Were you a big Rocky fan?

Speaker 1 (42:48):
I was? And the biggest thing you get from Rocky
is perseverance, dick, you know, being knocked down and overachieve it.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
I think you know when coach Patino first came took
a tech. You know, he was like that his whole
life with about Boston, d U, Providence, US, you know, Liler.
He always emphasized overachieving, going the extra mile. And Rocky,
that Rocky movie, the Rocky movie series was the epitome
of that. You know, we were that team. We were

(43:18):
the Rocky BA Bowl. It was sitting that we lost
in Philly. Yeah, because we were the Rocky bau Bouls
of college basketball back then. We weren't. We didn't look
the part, we weren't athletic, we weren't as swift as
other teams, but by god, we were just hard nosed.
We weren't gonna go anywhere, and you had to beat
us to win. And that was Rocky. That was Rocky

(43:40):
bout bol especially that first one.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
And when you think about the scene where Apollo Creed
looks across the ring and kind of sees that Rocky's
not quitting any kind of shoulders Segulary, Oh my gosh,
what is it with this guy? I got to think
your Uproon has felt the same way.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
No doubt about it, you know what I mean. I mean,
look at Duke, you know, they came in with with
the with the Apollo Creed mentality and the number one
team in the country. We're now as asthmdic as them.
They even said it. You know, we thought, okay, they
they'll bill roundis for a little bit. Then all of
a sudden, we'll make our run like we always do.
Well they made that run, and they looked and said, whoa,

(44:20):
we are still in a game. Okay, And then when
I hit that shot, look over at their bench like, wow,
you know, is this real? Is this real? I mean
they had that that that that look on their face.
Then finally they were Apollo Creed and they they finally
you know what I'm saying, had the last chance and
had the last punch. But you know that was that

(44:41):
was RMO. That was that was you know what I mean,
we had so many similarities to that movie. Our team
did that. It was almost fitting. And I mean you
can't get any closer than that.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
I remember Patino always talking about the fact that these
games are usually games of runs, and I remember seeing
video of him in huddles. I don't know if it
was your team or another, but saying, okay, they had
their run. You know, there's something you know, he had
had to call time out to stop the other team.
They had their run. Now let's get back to work

(45:13):
or something like that. That was common was that he.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Told us that that was that that was a duke game.
They had their run now because we we zoned. Remember
we zoned most of the game.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
I don't remember that we turned.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
We turned them over early, but we went back to zone.
We pressed his zone, we pressed his zone, and then
that last seven minute mark, we we pressed to man.
We didn't zone anymore. And that's when we that's when
it became a game, because that's when we made that run.
We were down eleven or something like that. Yes, and
that's that's when we called time out and he said,

(45:45):
now it's time for our run. This is where we
turned it on and that's exactly what happened. Darre Feldhouse
got two steals from two out of bound steals that
led to two threes by Jamal Mashburn. Same exact play,
he got a steal, he pass to me. I hit
Jamal Massburn coming as a trailer bing Mike costs time out.

(46:05):
We come back out. The same play. Drefelhouse steals it,
pass it to me Jamal massburn comes down down in
the secondary situation bing. Now now we go from eleven,
okay to five. Yeah, now it's it's now, it's it's
a ballgame.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
You know, Jamal stepping into three was you had to
like his odds?

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Oh no, wide open too?

Speaker 2 (46:31):
And you talk of a turnovers. I think I man
mentioned this to you before, but I remember Patino of
saying early on that the style and pace of play
that you guys played, other players thought that's what they wanted.
They had no idea the work you guys put in
a conditioning so you could run and press and trap
and fast break for forty minutes. But he said it

(46:53):
was seductive, he said, especially the opposing point guard. Every
point guard thinks he can run like you guys, and
some can for a little while, but then it leads
to fatigue, which leads to mistakes. And Bobby Hurley I
went back and looked it up. Sean, you may remember this.
Bobby Hurley had eight turnovers in that game. Yeah, he
hit a big shot on an offensive rebound, but some

(47:16):
of his turnovers kept you guys in the game. I
thought that was fascinating, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
I mean, you know, I denied him. But anytime he
got the ball, he got it on the run. And
we were the best team at backtipp it. And we
backtipped him to no end, you know what I mean.
You know he thought he was fast, but man, he
was playing against another animal. And you know, we slowed
him up. And you know that's what gave us a

(47:41):
chance because we made Christian or Grant Hill have to
bring the basketball up. You know, they took advantage when
they had their chances in transition. They made us pay.
But those weren't as many. It weren't as many as
they were used to. And they were when you got
a team always looking looking backwards, looking back, you know,
behind them, seeing who's coming, you kind of posing your
will on him. And that's how we had Duke thinking.

(48:02):
And then we kind of you know, foul trouble got it.
You know, John got got in foul trouble a little bit.
I got two fouls, so a game's kind of even
out a little bit. But then when we got back going,
you know, they they knew they were in a dogfight
because we were just as good as shot makers as
they were.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Yeah. Well, and I hate to bring up you brought
up the final shot. But uh, I'm wondering, as a coach,
you know, who was coached for a long time, what
do you think of how Shrzewsky handled that situation because
his player said the first thing he did in the
huddle after you hit your shot, I've never asked you.

(48:38):
This was Shazevski said, Okay, we're gonna win. And here's
how Now you hate it as the guy on the
losing end, but as a as a fellow coach, I
gotta think you admire.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
That, no doubt about it. The best thing you could
do as a coach in those situations is stay calm. Yeah,
and he's a pro, you know. That's why he's one
of the best coaches in the country. He stayed calm.
And what gave him even more confidence even though he
was in question, was he had the best player in
the country, you know, and he believed in that kid.

(49:12):
And that's where even though you know, I'm every kid
is different and I don't care how good Christian is.
I know he was a strange sometime for coach k
but that was a trust But in the end, when
the rubber meets the road, there was a trust factor
there between him and Coach K. That gave Coach K

(49:36):
the confidence that came out from his faith, from his
body language and through his voice that kept his team calm,
and he knew where the ball had to go. So
that's why he said that. He asked Grant Hill, can
you make the past? And Grant Hill said, yeah, you know,
and Christian said, you know, if Grant Hill makes the pass,

(49:56):
I'll make the shot. Just get me the ball. Coach Yeah,
And that's exactly what they did. And unfortunately for us,
we didn't tip it. We didn't do any of that,
and we let the best player on the floor, who
had missed a shot all night, get the easiest shot
that he had taken all night. And there was nothing
but butter. It didn't hit the rim, didn't hit nothing,

(50:17):
and that was the basketball game. But that was a
case of trust between one of the best players and
they ever played college basketball and one of the best
coaches they ever coached basketball.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Talking to Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard, we'll come back
and talk a little more basketball and some football in
just a minute here on the Big boone Sider six
thirty WLAP Welcome back for visiting with the Unforgettable guard
Sean Woods the Jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp.
We talked football as well as basketball with Sean. Another
basketball question for it before we get to football, Sean.
Billy Donovan goes into the Basketball Hall of Fame. I

(50:50):
know you have enormous respect for him. He was a
Wildcat for quite a while, cut his teeth under Rick
Patino as a player and an assistant coach. And it
was interesting when he put those back to back teams together,
the Florida Champions. Their chemistry was so great, and he
had the four guys who came back and wanted again.
And I asked Billy a little bit about chemistry and

(51:12):
he said, look, he said, we had no idea. He said,
if we knew how to build that ourselves, we go
out and find it every year. But it's just something
that happens. And I think that's maybe the best example
of that in the history of college basketball.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
You know, that's why we do what we do, Dick.
You know what I mean. We stick to our guns
and we try to get kids to overachieve and overachieve
collectively together. And that was just a team that just
came together and all the you know, all the stars
lined up and it was a well ow machine, you know,
from a mental standpoint, and that started with him, and

(51:50):
then he allowed them to grow into who they became.
They became trustworthy of each other, they became best friends,
they embraced college, and they all could have gone to
the NBA the year prior. And when you got that
type of bond, it's hard to break. And you're talented too,
and you've already had success, so you know that. That's

(52:15):
every team championship, team strikes lightning in a bottle, or
every team will win the national championship every year, will
win championships every year. So each class and each year
brings a different dynamic. But you have to have it
from a chemistry standpoint mentally, not just physically, but you
have to have a chemical bond and a mental bond

(52:36):
collectively more so than a talented bond. And when you
do that, that's when great things happen. And that's exactly
what happened with that team those two years.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
It helped big I think as well. That they roomed together,
or some of them did, and that just a yeah,
that just goes to the chemistry. Let me shift over
to football, but not the access well sort of the
XES and those. But Virginia Tech Sean and you see
l A three games into the season fire their coaches,
which in this day and age of the portal and nil,

(53:07):
seem really reckless because these guys now you know they
can maintain a red shirt year by transferring. And now
you've got Dabo Swiney under fire from fans and Clemson
they're one and two. But getting back to the coaches
who were fired, I just feel like I don't I
didn't know that they were gonna survive this season. Man.

(53:28):
That seemed premature, you know what I mean? And how
do you feel for fellow coaches? What did that look
like to you? From ten thousand feet?

Speaker 1 (53:38):
Coaches are It's not fair anymore. Their their coaches are
held hostage with the way that that the NCAA in
the cottage game has gone. Whether I don't care what sport.
The prisoners run the asylum, and I've never seen a

(53:59):
prison run smoothly. When the prisoners run the asylum. The
prisoners make it. They make the decisions whether they stay
or leave. They demand how much money that it's going
to take for them to come to your school. Now,
let's just think about just those two things right there.
How can a coach be a coach on a consistent
basis when you're dealing with those factors?

Speaker 2 (54:24):
Yeah, I understand, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Okay, Now from a fairweather standpoint, Now our fans are
becoming so fairwether not understanding the dynamics of reason why
teams that were good on a regular basis are struggling
for a year to trying to figure out the transfer
a portal because in il because it's a new deal. So,
you know, you go back to you know, when things

(54:50):
were normal, coaches had controlled kids, stayed in, they got
better from a freshman to a sophomore to a junior
to a senior, and you're building a culture and you're
building a program. Now you're just a CEO of a
corporation that has employees coming in and out and always
demanding for a raise, and when they don't get their raise,

(55:11):
their performance goes down, and with that they try to
leave and go get another job. Now you've got to
go replace them with another person, not knowing if that
person's going to be good or as bad as the
person that left, and with the same type of attitude.
How can you build a consistent program or consistent company
along those guidelines.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
You know what's interesting about this, Virginia Tech many years ago,
about twenty five years ago, played for a national title
under Frank Beemer with Michael Vick at quarterback. I mean,
this is a singular talent. I don't think anybody really
knew who Michael Vick was before he got the VT.
But that was twenty five years ago, and most recently,

(55:53):
I don't know if'star coach of the AD said that
in order for Virginia Tech, which is a small school.
I don't how big the school is, but it's kind
of just, you know, somewhere in the hills of Virginia,
he said, we're going to need an athletic budget of
two hundred million dollars, which is not even UK as
that big a budget. But that's where we are right now,

(56:15):
isn't it, no.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Doubt about it. Look what just happened. We just got
their women's basketball coach. He was building a dynasty there,
but he saw the writing on the wall that he
can't sustain because he's got to go to a place.
In order to him to have sustain that type of success,
you got to go to a place where you could
keep up with the Joneses. In this day and age,
everybody is equal anymore because nobody has continuity, nobody has

(56:38):
experience on their team. Everybody is starting from scratch. We're
coaching AAU teams just within the eight month within an
eight month period more so than we are coaching in
a in a three month period in the summertime. And
you got to put new pieces together. And hopefully most
coaches are not just trying to get transfers that has

(56:59):
talent but also as character, and you're gonna hit it
miss on some. But the ones that establishes that and
can continues to keep their culture intact. Allah Houston, you know,
Allah Duke for the most part. You know, Coach Potino, Kentucky.
You know you you can't you can't go against and
you can't buy into these prima donnas coming in. You

(57:21):
know what I'm saying. That is creating generational wealth before
they leave college. That's hard to do. And the ones
that sustain are the ones that stay successful. The ones
that don't don't stay successful. Okay, Aliah Indiana, Allah, you
know what I'm saying. North Carolina, you know UCLA, you
know those Blue bloods ain't ain't flourishing like that, You

(57:44):
sue because the dynamics of the game has changed, and
you still have some type of old school coaches that
stick to their guns, but the kids aren't buying into
it because it's a different mentality. You gotta be these
kids friends. You gotta negotia. This is not if this
is the worse than the NBA, And how can you
do that? Like, I am not against Mark Stups, I

(58:06):
am against the system. I am not against any coach.
I'm against the system that they're put in right now.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Oh yeah, every coach is. Every coach is against that.
But what are you going to do?

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Nothing?

Speaker 6 (58:15):
But here's the deal.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Here's the deal. These ads and these fans have to
understand how the culture has changed so they can lay
off these coaches heads because the coach can only do
what he can do and what he's been doing. Especially
from a personnel standpoint, this is new to everybody. You know,
coaches were experienced at what their job was until up

(58:38):
until five years ago. Now all these coaches, everybody's new,
These rules have changed. Everybody's trying to gravitate and figure
it out. I went to the Final four and I
never saw so many unhappy coaches in my life, no doubt,
and that's what made me not want to pursue it
as aggressive as I did getting back into the college

(58:59):
games because of that. And you know, when you a kid,
can you can you know, discipline a kid or just
coach a kid to where you're trying to make him
better than what he thinks he can because most kids
don't know, so only the coach knows because he's got
experience motivating others. That kid is more bucking now and
they're getting away with it. And if they leave and
go to another school, they're fine. They leave. The coach

(59:22):
gets in trouble, doesn't have the same type of personnel,
he gets fired, and he's the leader, he's the most
constant piece in that program. And you got kids that
are just coming and going, don't care about the name
on their jersey, just care about what they can get
out of it. How can you mold a good culture
to win championships under those circumstances, It's going to be inconsistent.

(59:44):
I don't care how good of a coach you are.
I don't care how good of a coach you are.
I mean, I think Nick Saban and even to his peers,
is one of the greatest coaches ever lived.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Oh yeah, but he knew when to get was good.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Yeah, right now, coach, what differates him is he's been
in this world before. His experience has allowed him to
deal with this type of situation because he coached overseas,
he coached in the NBA, so he's been a free
agent coach for forever. So that's why he has the
upper hand. You have some of these new kids now,

(01:00:19):
these young guys that are getting these jobs. They are
befriending these kids. But when the rubber.

Speaker 9 (01:00:25):
Meets the road, that kid is as soon as you
put him in an unfamiliar or uncomfortable situation, no matter
what your relationship is, he's gonna blame you and he's
gonna go thinking that the grass is green on the
other side.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Yeah. The great thing with Patino is he has Mike
Ropoli bankroll with his team filthy rich and uh, you know,
if he loses a kid, he can go and get
another one. But that's where we are and that's where
we have to leave it. Always fascinating, coach, Thanks so
much for joining us, and we'll catch up next time
about your Scott County Cardinals and how well are doing?

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Okay, good talking to you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Buddy, Weston Bureau Chief Gary Moore, six thirty WLAP Welcome
back to the Big Blue Insider, as promised our West
End Bureau Chief Gary Moore. Longtime with Coast Bureau Chief
when he worked for KAYLA West Radio in Los Angeles,
covered every sport there was it seemed out there and
checked in with us occasionally. But now at the other

(01:01:18):
end of I sixty four with a lot on his mind.

Speaker 4 (01:01:21):
Two guys, you and me and a six pack of
things and leading things.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
At the top.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
Here our first swig UK Football by week obviously, and Dick,
I think I don't think you can overstate this.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
This may be the most.

Speaker 4 (01:01:34):
Important week of the season. This week and what happens
next week for not just the cast, but for Mark
Stoops as well. Try to get some stuff fixed on
both sides of the ball, especially defense. You know this,
You saw what happened over the weekend. There's no way
gourmet cupcake like Eastern Michigan put up twenty should put
up twenty three points and four hundred and sixty one

(01:01:57):
total yards, only thirty one yards less than the Cats,
and they actually got past UK three hundred and thirty
yards to two hundred and forty. So I want to
ask you what areas does the defense have to work
on before that gauntlet begins at South Carolina a week
from Saturday. I mean, are they letting their feet off
the gas? They got to stop that? Are they playing

(01:02:19):
with not enough urgency? What did you observe throughout the
game last Saturday that allowed such an awful team to
pile up yards and points?

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Well, first and foremost, I noticed a quarterback who was
really good at extending plays. He's a veteran and I'm
not laying all this as an excuse, but I'm giving
this kid credit. He didn't panic. UK put some pressure
on him, got a couple of sacks, but he was
able to throw on the move, and he had receivers
who knew where to go, how and when to sit

(01:02:50):
down and make themselves available. That said, what happened never
should have happened. And Brad White apparently met his team
his defensive charges on Monday with a laundry list of
plays at least thirteen plays that could have made a
huge difference. And here's the good news. There's two two

(01:03:14):
bits of good news. Number one, they may have figured
out the quarterback deal, although again he m you as
you said, Gorna make Cupcake not an SEC team, but
cutter Bowley look good. But number two, Brad White has
been one of the more consistent elements of the Mark
Stoops era. The way he puts defenses together, the way

(01:03:36):
he calls plays, figures things out. So yeah, they're going
to South Carolina. Won't be easy, but I think they'll improve.

Speaker 4 (01:03:45):
Second swig over here, U of L returns from their
bye week with not much of a test again when
they host Bowling Green University out of the Mac Cards
are twenty five and a half point favorites that'll be
on the ACC Network high noon on Saturday when it
will be about ninety degrees over here. And speaking of
Bowling Greens, Western also returns from their bye week, hopefully
with an improved defense as well after that forty five

(01:04:07):
to twenty one blowout loss at Toledo, and for reasons
that escape me, they're hosting Nevada out of the Mountain
West on Saturday night seven o'clock ESPN plus Toppers a
ten and a half point favorite over the one and
two Wolf pack. But I will tell you the biggest
game around here, just two hours to the north of
US in Bloomington, when number nine Illinois visits number nineteen

(01:04:28):
Indiana Hoosiers are a four and a half point favorite.
Last check Saturday night, seven thirty, national television on NBC.
So many whiners bitched and moaned about Indiana's schedule last
year that was already set up a few years before that.
So okay, here's a top ten team in Week four.
If IU wins this, will it shut up some of

(01:04:48):
those Caarns th Purp Street. Will it shut them up
by any chance?

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Uh? No, because really the complaining was more about non
conference schedule. But it's good for the Big Ten. Of course,
at Illinois has shown signs of life. There's so much
good high school football in that state. If Illinois can
throw a harness around some of those kids, keep them
from going out of state, and the Big Ten's only
going to get bigger and better. But no, that's gonna

(01:05:17):
be relentless as long as they change or get out
of contracts with non conference team. Those are the marquee matchups,
you know that. But this would be big if Indiana
can pull this off. Third swick.

Speaker 4 (01:05:30):
By the way, Indiana third best in rushing three hundred
and seven yards on the ground, Illinois thirteen best at
stopping the run, so they only allow seventy four yards
a game. Something will have to give. I understand since
my bride is an eyeu grad, that will be on here.
And as for other games of note on Saturday with
ranked relevance, you got number seventeen Texas Tech at number

(01:05:51):
sixteen Utah at high noon. Then at three point thirty,
check this number twenty two Auburn at number eleven Oklahoma.
Then you got unread and three and zero and dangerous
to lane at number thirteen Old miss at three thirty.
Newly unranked South Carolina UK's next appointment will be at
number twenty three Missoo at seven o'clock and even later
than that. How about this Michigan State at number twenty

(01:06:14):
five USC eleven PM Eastern kickoff that won't get done
till probably after two o'clock and maybe one to watch
Belichick's unranked tar Heels at unranked Central Florida at three
thirty on Saturday. UCF is a six and a half
point favorite. Which games will you use to avoid household chores?

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
All be above for me. Well, thankfully, early in the
day I'm working Kentucky volleyball. But when I come home,
unless I've got a honey due list, I'll put the
feed up. I'll check out South Carolina at MISSOO. Obviously,
with Kentucky going to South Carolina, you got to wonder
will the Nora Sellers be the quarterback that day? Either way,
I've got Missouri winning that game. Under drink. Missouri has

(01:06:57):
really come to life in a place that would be
surprising if you saw the facilities. You know, there's not
much recruiting background, but they've really done a nice job
over there becoming more and more relevant. I used to
grow up rooting for USC. I don't know how long
I'll be up watching that game, But I tell you
the other one you Tulaane at Ole Miss That is

(01:07:19):
really intriguing with John Simros's team against what I think
is a really good old miss team. We saw that
here and put up forty one on Arkansas after only
managing thirty against Kentucky. But Texas Tech with us huge
deep pockets, man, they're dangerous now. And Auburn on the
Kentucky schedule, what's that team going to look like at Oklahoma.

Speaker 4 (01:07:42):
Our fourth swig? Here, are you ready for the official
change of seasons? Not talking about the last weekend of
summer to the first day of fall on Monday, I
mean changing from the season of, Hey, coach, it's going
to be a great year, to the season of, boy,
were we wrong?

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
You're fired?

Speaker 4 (01:07:59):
And already I've got two head coaches who were apparently
so prolifically awful at their jobs. The schools are paying
them millions not to do it anymore. Here take the cash,
just go talking about and after his three games talking
about Deshaun fostered Ucla and Brent Pry at VA Tech. Well,
more money than ever's being pumped into college football, so

(01:08:19):
more pressure than ever to just win.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
Damn it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:22):
What a great headline. If you saw this was in
the Knoxville News Sentinel. The headline was UCLA quarterback Nico
can't enter transfer portal fast enough. They're having quite the
laugh down I seventy five and catch fans don't even
entertain the thought of bringing that guy back to the SEC,
not with that karma going on. But one thing is
for sure, these two coaches ain't the last to test

(01:08:46):
out a school severance package before the end of the season.
Now that three games is the new standard. Who have
you heard might be next? I'm hearing the gentleman down
in Florida. It might be on shaky ground.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
He was on shake key ground last year and going
into this year. I don't know. Scott Strickland is the
ad A former Kentucky assistant a d. I don't know
that Scott pulls the trigger before the season is over.
But the excuse now is, and well it has been,
We're gonna make a move to show potential recruits that
we're serious about getting things turned around. And now with

(01:09:19):
the portal in play and the red shirt rule in play,
we may see more of this Gary, because everybody at
v Tech and UCLA now you're looking at a potential
red shirt year if they want to leave and try
the portal elsewhere. And isn't it interesting that the catter
transferred from Tennessee to UCLA caused all that consternation. Is

(01:09:45):
clearly a system quarterback, at least that's what it looks
like now. Terrific in Knoxville with that offense. I don't
know if you've seen UCLA play this year, Terry, Now,
I mean it's hard to watch.

Speaker 4 (01:09:56):
Why I sent you that picture of just a few
minutes before a game Times that they tweeted out and
it didn't looked like there was I don't know, fifteen
thousand people there at the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
Yeah you did, Fitzwig.

Speaker 4 (01:10:07):
Okay, let's check out the other pro football league, the NFL.
Just about twenty four hours, we'll be seeing Miami going
probably three and oh at Buffalo. Bill's our twelve point
favorite Tomorrow night. Sunday early games that I like, You're
two and o Packers at the oh and two Browns.
I think the pack will go up by three and
oh at that point, go back, go uh yeah, two

(01:10:27):
and oh burrowless Bengals at one in one Minnesota. The
Vikings are three point favorites.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
So far.

Speaker 4 (01:10:32):
You got the two and o Rams at two and
o Eagles. That looks like a good when the Eiggs
are three and a half point favorites. In the late
games one in one Broncos at two and oh Chargers
LA two and a half point favorites, and the one
and one Cowboys at the oh and two Bears. But
get this, the Bears are point and a half favorite.
Right now, go Bears a really crummy Sunday night game
oh and two Chiefs at the oh and two Giants.

(01:10:54):
Kansas City's up by six and a half at this point,
but Monday Night best for last one in one Detroit
at one in one Baltimore Ravens five and a half
point favorites. If one of those oh and two teams
goes oh and three, we see some head coach heads rolling.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
I gotta think Miami's coach is really feeling it and
he's not gonna win this week. And we keep hearing yeah,
they've they've got so many good pieces in there on
the Vergin. No, No, it's just not right. The other
thing is the teams with the losing records, the susceptible records,
or I should say suspect records. Their coaches are fairly new,

(01:11:33):
so they're still in a bit of a grace period.
But not the Dolphins. And I've got to think with
all the money they've spent, and they've got a marquee
quarterback if you if you like him, I'm not a
huge fan. He's good, not great, not elite, but I
do think that guy has got one eye on the door.

Speaker 4 (01:11:52):
Sixth and final Swig Dick if I had to give
him my top five baseball movies of all time and
no particular order, Talking Bull, Durham, Eight Men, out Field
of Dreams, Moneyball, and the movie starring the guy who
We lost Yesterday, The Natural Robert Redford director Barry Levinson,
I think got one of the greatest scenes ever in
any movie when Redford's Roy Hobbs hits that game and

(01:12:15):
pennant winning home run off the stadium lights. At the end,
the sparks cascade down in slow motion as he rounds
the basis. Well, I've really liked every movie that Robert
Redford has made since early grade school, and more than others.
I mean, the Sting is in my top five of
all time. To me, he was the coolest looking all
American guy with the coolest job. And if I Dick,

(01:12:37):
if I could have only gotten my hair to look
like his, which was perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
I could have been a high school contender with the girls.
I could have been somebody. Now.

Speaker 4 (01:12:45):
I bring this up because ABC TV is running a
special twenty twenty Robert Redford, The Life and Legacy of
an American Icon that's going to be on Tomorrow night
at ten o'clock on ABC. Robert Redford is not just
an outstanding actor obviously, was an Oscar winning director, not
just the guy who started Sundance Film Festival. Redford cared

(01:13:06):
about our planet through the Natural Resources Defense Counsel and
his own Redford Center. He also leveraged his power to
protect Native American rights and raise awareness for organ transplant,
among many other altruistic causes.

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
He was great.

Speaker 4 (01:13:19):
Yeah, it's the Sundance Kid and Roy Hobbs and Jeremiah
Johnson and every other character, but to me, the best
role he ever played, just himself.

Speaker 2 (01:13:27):
Every day human being talked about The Natural. Had a
segment on the show earlier, and people ask you, what's
your favorite baseball movie? And with me, it's probably Bull Durham.
But if I've seen The Natural recently, I say it
might be The Natural. I just loved it, loved the book.
Although the book, as I mentioned earlier, is way different,
much darker than the movie. But yeah, that was just

(01:13:50):
so much fun to watch when it came out. When
I was sitting in the theater, I couldn't believe how
good it was. And that's the mark of a great film.
And I'm wine with you anything he's in I'll watch
him read the book. Jeremiah Johnson, Oh my gosh, great movie.
Nobody talks about that. He went, oh, go back and
look at that one. Yeah, and it's amazing. Butch Cassidy

(01:14:11):
and the Sundance Kid when they remade when they made
the sting, they kind of remade the chemistry and those
guys jumped in and sight and seen, you know, when
they knew that they were going to be working together.
So I'm with you on that. We'll come back and
talk more with Gary. We've got some hot reads for
him on the other side of the break here on
six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider
were chatting with Gary Moore, our West End bureau chief,

(01:14:34):
and Gary a couple of hot reads for you. You
talked about just a great human being and Robert Redford.
This is one of those great human being stories. Cordell Tinch,
who most of us haven't heard of. He is your
reigning now World champion and the one ten hurdles he
won at the Olympics rather the World Championships in Tokyo.

(01:14:55):
Recently missed the Olympic team last year by one spot,
but he won this time he had left the sport.
He left school University of Minnesota and then in Kansas,
and during the pandemic he tweeted, I lost a part
of me a year ago, still searching to put it
back in place. He went back and worked several jobs,

(01:15:17):
including selling telephones, went back to college at D two
Pittsburgh State in Kansas, and worked his way back through
track and fields. At the World Championships, how great is
this story.

Speaker 4 (01:15:31):
I love this story. I'm so glad you tipped me
off on this. I did go back and I watched
that race. This is a guy who went from from
operating machinery that made toilet paper yes, to being a
world champion. And this hits home for me because at
Murray High School my senior year, I ran the one
ten hurdles and if anything like track and golf and
a few of these other sports where it's just you

(01:15:52):
the individual outside of you know, relay team or the
Olympics or something, it teaches you to be the individual.
And we were taught, look, when you're running a race,
no matter what happens, finish the race. I was running
against the guy in the hurdles from Drake County. I
tripped and fell and people were yelling get up, get up,
and get up. I said, okay, I'm getting up. I
finished the race. Turns out the guy thought that the
race was over when I fell down, walked off before

(01:16:15):
finishing the race, and I won. Oh My track teaches
you so many great things like that. And I love
this story about this guy. What just kind of personal,
you know, that motivation that has inside it never died
in this guy.

Speaker 2 (01:16:28):
It's a beautiful story. Amazing. Our second HT read, Taylor Townshend,
who is ranked world number one in doubles, has said
to walk back and apologize for comments she made in
China about Chinese food. This came before the US played
Katski stand at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen, China.

(01:16:48):
But she made comments about the food, kind of joking
around about the fact that on the menu were turtles
and snakes, and she said something about needing to reach
out to HR about this, trying to be funny, and
she wasn't. Uh, you know, it wasn't heinous. But I
think it's just another example of times when you know,

(01:17:09):
in this day and age, it's just better to keep
your mouth shut when you're talking about culture and you're
a guest in their country. How stupid was this?

Speaker 4 (01:17:18):
Extremely? First of all, she's a woman of the world,
going all around the world. You should know better just
by going through your travels. And number two, she's twenty nine. Okay,
maybe if you're fifteen or sixteen you let something like
this go, but you should know better at that age.
Read the room, read the country that you're in. Uh, yeah,
there's some weird stuff over there. But do you have

(01:17:39):
to comment about everything?

Speaker 2 (01:17:40):
You know?

Speaker 4 (01:17:41):
You see that on It's like, I don't there's so
many Just because you've got a thing in front of
you with a keyboard and with a keypat on, it
doesn't mean you got to just comment on everything.

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
Just let Yeah it's weird, but let it go. Who
cares local dishes, including bullfrogs and turtles. By the way,
I've had turtle soup very good. I've had frog legs
very good. That's not that weird. Where has she been?

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
Where has she been all this time? Gary Moore has
been at the other end of I sixty four for
a while and joins us every week, and he's also
on Twitter or exat at nine.

Speaker 4 (01:18:10):
To five to five, Gary, where I believe I've found
you there before too at.

Speaker 2 (01:18:15):
Big Blue Insider. One thank you service you next week,
you got it, and that'll do it for now. A
programming note Tomorrow night, no Big Blue Insider because we
will be preempted by Kentucky Volleyball. The Wildcats are in Louisville,
going to take on the Cards, who have been a
top five team all year long. This could be again
another NC tournament preview. This could be a Final four

(01:18:37):
preview for crying out loud, So we'll have it for
you right here. It's also going to be on ESPN,
so Craig Skinner's team making national headlines. Just knocked off
over the weekend, knocked off a good SMU team. So again,
no Big Blue Insider tomorrow night. But we will have
Kentucky volleyball and it is a bye week on Saturday,
and I will, again, as I told Gary, be busy

(01:18:59):
withvolleyball once again. Wild Cats playing host to Washington the Huskies.
They've got a good program. Back in the day, the
Pac ten then now became the Pac twelve. Now it's
the Pack nothing, but was a real powerhouse in volleyball.
Still some good teams on the West coast. But now
it's the Big ten, the Big twelve and the SEC.

(01:19:22):
So there you have it. Volleyball tomorrow night right here
on the radio and on ESPN, and on Saturday we'll
have it for you on SEC Plus as the Cats
take on the Huskies, Cats versus Dogs. How about that?
Thanks again to Gary, to Shawn Woods, the Keith Farmer.
That's a good night from the garage and Lexington.

Speaker 4 (01:19:41):
Now the three to two swing on a pop foul
it's back here.

Speaker 2 (01:19:46):
How it really hit me? I didn't know it was
coming back that.

Speaker 5 (01:19:52):
Far, such sect, such such taut taking anything anything, do

(01:20:47):
anything on such canaut such I think the think tenn

(01:21:31):
don don don don do