2025-09-24 BBI

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Day. Gabrielle with
you on a Wednesday edition of our program, which means
the Wildcats, of course, one day closer to hitting the
trail heading down to South Carolina. Cats will practice tomorrow
light workout, and then get on the plane Friday afternoon
head for Columbia. It's a night game, so they're going
to have to sit around the hotel for a while

(00:21):
before they go over to Williams. Brice Stadium and take
on South Carolina. A team is going to be hungry
for a win after getting spanked over at Missouri by
a good Missouri team, one that held South Carolina in
check on the ground and ground and pounded through the
run game to the victory for the Tigers. But still
Honoris Sellers, the big quarterback, kept South Carolina in that

(00:44):
game almost single handily. The Wildcats will be looking at
a guy who can extend plays, run the ball, and
throw the ball. So it's going to be a challenge.
It's going to be a big crowd, going to be loud.
Kentucky almost a touchdown underdog, but as I said before,
Kentucky has gone down there before and won over South Carolina.

(01:04):
I've covered two or three wins by the Wildcats in
South Carolina, And of course I go back to the
Lynn Bowden year, which is when he first started playing
quarterback for Kentucky, when the Cats just couldn't get anything
going against South Carolina and they put in Lynn Bowden.
They had been working with him a little bit. He

(01:25):
ran over and through South Carolina and it was too
late in the game. I remember I mentioned this before.
I remember seeing Mark Stoops talking about it later in
the year, kind of wistfully saying, maybe if we had
played Lynz sooner against South Carolina, and his voice trailed off.
So it's been a great series, it really has been.
In South Carolina now one of Kentucky's permanent opponents on scheduling,

(01:49):
and speaking of which, the schedule has come out for
the future Kentucky games and next year brutal, but every
year brutal. But again, I always talk about the calendar,
not so much the schedule. That's the way it's gonna
be from now on, not just who do you play
when do you play them? Now? Vandy of late is

(02:12):
beating people, Mississippi State is dangerous, Ole miss is dangerous.
Those are the games that in the past Kentucky fans,
when they marked off wins and losses, they'd immediately put
a W next to those games, assuming they're run the schedule.
Not the case anymore. Next year Kentucky opens up no

(02:33):
dates yet with Florida. This year was all miss Next
year it's Florida, then road games to South Carolina and Tennessee,
then three straight home games, including back to back Alabama
and LSU, and then Vandy. And you got to wonder
where the bye week's going to be. Maybe it's between

(02:55):
Tennessee and Alabama, or between Alabama LSU, or maybe after
that stretch going into Vandy when everybody's beaten up. But
here's where the calendar gets brutal. The last three games
for the Wildcats, not counting non conference at Missouri, at
Texas A, and m at Oklahoma. So now the people

(03:15):
who make the schedules in conjunction with the SEC, the
schedule makers at UK trying to sign non conference opponents,
they got to get creative. Where do we play East
whatever state? How can we wedge it into the schedule,
And we're assuming Kentucky will play Louisville again, makes that

(03:36):
and keep playing Louisville makes that schedule that much tougher, obviously,
but that's not something you have to worry about right now.
You just have to worry about South Carolina going into
that game with a freshman quarterback. Bush Ham Dan talk
with us about what they expect and how they're trying
to prepare Cutter Bully.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
I think Cutters, you know, he's experienced that, which has
been good from the standpoint of already having a couple
starts under his belt. Again, we're just focused on one
play at a time, trying to make him as prepared
as can be.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Certainly the bye week has helped from from knowing the
playing standpoint, but uh, you know, he's gonna have to
go in there and just just play like he plays.
He's played a lot of football and going there confidently.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
He certainly played with a lot of confidence against Eastern Michigan.
Really all year long, he has, and I think he
played with confidence last year, especially down in Texas when
he got his clock clean and stood up and made
a big throw. He did struggle against Louisville, but Louisville
had time to study video in Kentucky edits by then.
I think a lot of guys for the Wildcats had
checked out, but Cutter Bowley was not one of them,

(04:43):
and so I think he'll play well, at least he'll
give it his best down in South Carolina. He's got
kind of a what me worry persona and and that's
a dated reference to Mad magazine, but he seems like
a laid back guy. And one of his teammates, who
is his roommate, Josh Katis, one of the UK tight ends.

(05:04):
He lives with Willie Rodriguez as well. Katus the other
day on the Mark Stupes radio show said he reminds
him of a golden retriever, just because he's always up
and happy and he does have the golden hair. And
we asked Josh at practice this week, what was Cutter's reaction?

Speaker 4 (05:24):
He loves it.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
He loves it.

Speaker 5 (05:26):
We've always call him that. We just think he has that.
He probably admitted himself. He I don't think he takes
any offense to it, but I think he's coming over
here after he's done throwing. So you guys got to ask.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Him, you know, how do you feel about him getting
the start, going into a tough place to play, As
you know.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
Now I'm very excited about him. I think he's had
a great first two days of practice. He's embracing it.
We had the crowd noise out there today, so we
kind of got to get ready for the sandstorm and
it's it's gonna be a lot of fun. I've talked
to him a lot, obviously, since he's my roommate. I
know he's he's ready enough for the challenge.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
So naturally, when Cutter came to talk to the assembled media,
they had the poet do there and he talked to
all of us at once. The first question was what
about your roommate saying you remind him of a Golden Retriever.

Speaker 6 (06:07):
I saw that. That was funny, but I mean the
hair kinda kinda. I think the hair kind of pushes
it to that too. It's just like hair Golden Retriever too.
I need to get a cut. If anybody knows a
good barber around here.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
What sort of challenges does the South Carolina defense just
present on tape?

Speaker 6 (06:29):
Yeah, they've got a lot of good dudes all over
the field, you know. I mean, they got a lot
of athletes, but those two age defenders are really good players.
They got a lot of good dudes in the back
end too, But you know what I mean. Overall, they're
a really good squad. But I think our plans were
putting together a really good plan.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Is there something to being able to feel that rush
and kind of know where there guys are without putting
your head down and looking right at them.

Speaker 6 (06:53):
Yeah, for sure, there's definitely something to keeping your eyes
downfield while also being the maneuver the pocket and feel things.
I think that just comes with reps, you know what
I mean, Just feeling certain guys coming off the edge
where I got pressure from and if I'm able to
step up or not make a throw. But yeah, I
try to keep my eyes downfield and always step up
and make plays. I think I'm gonna have a lot
of opportunities to do that this week.

Speaker 7 (07:12):
I'm sure you'd like to go downfield. That's probably more
fun for a quarterback, But how much do you try
to rely on your run game and try to build
the clock a little bit games like?

Speaker 6 (07:19):
Yeah, absolutely, of course every quarterback left on a downfield.
But what's gonna be big for us in this game
is just getting completions and moving the ball, standing in
a flow, getting in a rhythm. You know, But like
I said, I think we're the fast two weeks. I
think we've gotten really comfortable with our plan and we've
started this week out really well.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
We've talked to you more about the experience and the
value that you got going on the road and playing
at Texas and making plays.

Speaker 8 (07:45):
But this is.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Different, isn't it going in as your start or how
do I know you prepared like a starter? Ye last year?
But how different is it knowing you're gonna be the starter.

Speaker 8 (07:53):
On that road?

Speaker 6 (07:55):
I wouldn't say much different, you know. I mean I
try to keep everything the same. I try to keep
the game playing the same. My focus is on the
same things, you know what I mean. We're gonna have
to have a little adjustment with the crowd noise piece
of it, but I think we're simulating that well. All
the guys are communicating well. But you know, just preparing
like I do every week.

Speaker 8 (08:13):
We've talk so much about those tight ends when they've done,
what's your theory is to why? And they've been so involved.

Speaker 9 (08:17):
It's we're help for such.

Speaker 6 (08:19):
I think there's just been a lot of good coach
and who has done a really good job getting them involved.
And I think the balls just kind of found him
this year so far, and it's just kind of came
their way. They've been the read on a lot of
plays and we're gonna continue to do so. We're gonna
continue to find the tight ends and use them a lot.
That's something. We got a lot of good tight ends
in that room. They're able to do a lot of

(08:40):
things and some pretty athletic Guys's some really good hands.

Speaker 8 (08:43):
So yeah, one.

Speaker 6 (08:44):
Position where there's a lot of continuity from last year year. Yeah,
for sure, Bush.

Speaker 8 (08:48):
How much does that help?

Speaker 6 (08:49):
I think a ton because we talk about Josh all
the time being that extra leader, extra cap on the field.
He always knows what's going on, he's getting other people
set up, he's helping around with everything. So just able
to like you said, him being in the second year
with the offense, will he be in the second year
with the offense. You know, there's just a rhythm to
that and there's them getting lined up, being smooth and
kind of being captains out there on the field. But yeah,

(09:10):
there's a lot of flow and a lot of continuity
between me and the tight ends.

Speaker 8 (09:14):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
I'd say, well he's looking for but I mean, has
it just been a coincidence.

Speaker 6 (09:21):
It has just been a coincidence. Like I've said all year,
I mean, we got dudes all over the field. When
I line up, I ain't worried about who's out there,
who we got out there, because I know everybody can
make a play. Everybody's got their strengths and weaknesses, but
all across the field we got dudes that can make plays.
And like I said, the fault balls just kind of
found the tight ends naturally.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
But God, you have to be conscious of how long
you have your eyes downfield against the defense like this,
or do you just.

Speaker 8 (09:45):
Say this is how I play?

Speaker 6 (09:47):
I mean kind of an all football, you know. I
mean there's a shot clock. You can't stand back there
and wait forever to throw something downfield and for something
if it's not there. Those just kind of in that
internal shot clock I have, you know, I mean my
feet tars talked to me. Or you just kind of
feel pressure too, But that's just kind of a feel thing.
Just moving around the pocket and finding guys and no
one when to hit the checkdowns and when not to.

Speaker 7 (10:07):
What have the last couple of weeks been like for you?
You get a start, you go out, you throw a
couple of touchdowns. People are very excited about having a
Kentucky guy playing at quarterback. Just I'm sure your social
media is blowing.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
Up all that good stuff.

Speaker 6 (10:19):
No, it's been exciting, you know. This has kind of
been something I've been waiting for my whole life, and
I just got to do the best job I can
to take this opportunity and run with it. But yeah,
just trying to do the most of the opportunities I
get and do the best I can with coach Handon's
playing offense.

Speaker 7 (10:37):
Were there any particular things that you noticed from the
O line during that Eastern Michigan game that gives you
confidence stepping into this real game.

Speaker 6 (10:45):
Yeah, they give me a ton of confidence. I tell
those guys none stops. Keep talking to you, you know,
just keep talking to me. Whatever it is, whatever you think,
whatever you feel out there, I don't care if it's
a little saying in the world, come to me and
talk to me about it, you know what I mean.
I'm just trying to get on the same page. All
that chemistry together. I think that's that's been a big
thing for us on our offense overall, is just talking,
you know, communicating everything what are you feeling, what are
you seeing, how you feel about this, how you feel

(11:06):
about that, just everything, how it's looking when it's out there.
But I think we've done a really good job communicating
within the offensive unit and just on everything.

Speaker 8 (11:15):
Really. Now.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
We'll hear more from Cutter and Bush, ham Dan and
some of the other Wildcats as the week goes on,
including guys from the defensive side of the ball, and
Brad White will hear from them tomorrow night. A couple
of other football notes. Quarterback John Mattier, who might have
been the best quarterback left standing in the SEC at
the time from Oklahoma. He's going to be out. He

(11:38):
is considered the early Heisman Trophy front runner, at least
he was before he broke a bone in his throwing hand,
his right hand and Saturday's win over Auburn. He will
need surgery. They're not disclosing a timeline, but they believe
it will be at least a month. It came in
the first quarter of the win twenty four to seventeen wins,

(12:00):
and he stayed in the game, actually played well. But
he had surgery earlier today in Los Angeles, and we'll
be out for about a month. A huge blow to
the Sooners. They're off to a four and oh start.
He's the guy who transferred in from Washington State, so
but Tier it seemed, had kind of moved ahead of

(12:23):
the other guy. Although Garrey Nusmeyer is still big at LSU,
but Arch Manning has kind of disappeared. When it comes
to Heisman talk. You know who else is in that discussion.
Fernando Mendoza of Indiana. He may be the new favorite
now with Matier out injured. So Michael Hawkins Junior is

(12:43):
the new starting quarterback for Oklahoma, fortunately for him and
the Sooners and their fans. They've got Kent State coming
up next to get a bye, and then they got
ken State coming up next. And this kid played a
little bit last year and played well, but tough to
lose a QB like John Mattia coming up on the
show tonight. It is Wednesday meeting. We will meet with

(13:05):
our Western Bureau chief, Gary Moore. Also the unforgettable guard
Sean Woods will join us. We've got some basketball to
talk about with Madness coming up, and we're here from
Mike to Corsi. A conversation I had with Mike earlier
today when I guest hosted on The Leach Report. We'll
talk basketball and football with Mike. That's all the head
right here on The Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP.

(13:27):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider. Coming up in
just a few minutes. Excerpts from my conversation with Mike
de Corsi of The Sporting News. I talked to Mike
on The Leach Report earlier today, sitting in for Tom,
so we talked about madness, not midnight madness anymore, but
big Blue madness. But you know what it means to
the Big Blue Nation. Mike has been to the event before,

(13:48):
and he of course covers college basketball for the Sporting News,
so he has seen madness events around the country and
it's still a big deal. It's still a hot ticket,
especially at Kentucky. We'll talk with Mike about that and
a little bit later on our West End Bureau chief
Gary Moore, as well as the unforgettable guard Sean Woods.

(14:08):
We'll talk with Sean about the shot clock that's coming
to Kentucky high school basketball. But we will also talk
to Sean with the football Cats moving into a huge
road game, about what it's like going on the road
and silencing the crowd. And not all of Sean's teams
that he played for at Kentucky were able to do that,

(14:28):
but they did it several times, especially under Rick Pattino.
So we'll talk with him about that. So that comes
up in our number two. I wanted to mention a
couple of things here, one of them being, and this
is just bizarre. There was a tweet, social media post,
whatever you want to call it, about the fact and

(14:51):
that's an air quote that the Green Bay Packers, my
Packers are being investigated by the NFL and the FED
for fixing the game after losing to the Cleveland Browns.
That was a really painful loss for those of us
who are Packers fans and for betters, because the Packers

(15:16):
sputtered down the stretch and failed to cover the seven
and a half point spread. Even if they had scored
a touchdown that put them ahead to win the game,
they weren't going to cover. But there was a weird
play at the end of the game. I'm not even
getting get into that. But according to NFC North News,

(15:38):
which is a website on x with twenty nine point
four thousand followers, these clowns behind this website and I'm
again air Quotes reported that the league and federal investigators
were looking into the potential that the sportsbooks the Packers

(16:01):
colluded to fix this game and ensure that they didn't
have to pay out on any Packers bets. And according
to this story, a total of one point one billion
was on the Packers money line, a record amount for

(16:21):
the NFL for the NFL, and they followed up with yikes,
it's bogus. It's bogus, there's nothing to it. But because
it popped up on that website and then was retweeted
and retweeted, and even if it wasn't confirmed by whoever

(16:42):
was retweeting, when it's on your computer screen, it has
the effect of the old school feeling you'd get when
you held a newspaper in your hand, presuming you read
the newspaper and you saw something in print, and you
and I know anybody can print, quote unquote post anything

(17:04):
on the Internet with very little fear of repercussion. And
what's gonna happen now, nothing with this, because it's getting
out now that that's bogus, But so many people have
retweeted it, and of course there was a story out
there about how the NFL fixed the Cowboy game with

(17:24):
Ceedee Lamb, and this was new on me. But Lamb
hurts his ankle very early in the first quarter. Nasty
turned it. Somebody fell on him, and I didn't know
this because I don't have betting accounts. If you have
money on a prop bet on an NFL game, apparently,
if the player is injured and doesn't come back after

(17:48):
the first quarter, the bets are off. You don't make
any money, you don't lose any money. But evidently I
didn't watch the game and its entirety. The Cowboys put
him back in in the second quarter to play in
a bum ankle, and he ended up limping down the field,
and that meant the bets were back on. And so

(18:09):
somebody posted that he believed that the league and the
Cowboys colluded so people would lose their money, which I
doubt seriously too easy to prove, but it underscores the
fact that people now with more and more money being
bet and there was billions bet anyway, but now it's

(18:31):
upfront and legit believing that games are fixed. And look,
we know because Tim Donaghe, an NBA referee, was caught
helping to fix games or determine outcomes in the NBA,
and I could see that happening anywhere in any sport
through officials, because they have direct access to what happens.

(18:56):
And if you pick your spots easier to do in
the NBA, of course, what if you're in debt secretly
as an NFL referee, and a well placed flag can
affect the outcome of a game and help you make
some money or help somebody else make money that they've
ordered you to do. But this kind of stuff is

(19:18):
just bogus, and it's amazing how many people bought into it.
But again, it just looks legit because it's on the interweb.
Something else I saw on the interweb which never really
occurred to me. And if you are a fan of
the Jets or the Patriots, you know this. But it
was twenty one years ago yesterday that a guy named

(19:42):
Moe Lewis, a linebacker for the Jets, who otherwise you know,
wasn't a high profile player, changed the course of history
in the National Football League. This is the guy who
knocked Drew Bledsoe out of a game back in the day,
and Bledsoe was seriously injured, and that meant the backup

(20:06):
quarterback Tom Brady had to come on for the Patriots,
and you know what happened after that. Now, people weighed
in on this and said people who followed both of
those teams and said, I still think Belichick would have
replaced Bledsoe with Brady at some point in that season,
maybe too late to make the playoffs. But all we

(20:29):
know is Brady came on and changed Belichick's lives, changed
the lives of the Patriots, changed the lives of everybody
literally in the National Football League for more than two decades.
Somebody else pointed out that prior to Brady coming in
after Bloodsoe went down, Belichick was five and thirteen with

(20:54):
the Patriots and of course had a terrible run in Cleveland.
It all came together with Belichick and Brady. But we're
learning right now Belichick does not, at least for now,
have the magic touch. Coming up next, Mike Decorsia, the
Sporting News talks Madness, that is more of the Big
Blue Siders six thirty Wlap Welcome back to the Big

(21:17):
Blue Insider. As we mentioned, of course, and you know
by now if you're a Kentucky fan, madness is coming
up on October eleventh. Tickets available via Ticketmaster. Coming up
on Friday, and earlier today on The Leech Report. Sitting
in for The Voice, I had a chance to chat
with Mike Decorsi, the great basketball writer from the Sporting News.
He writes about everything, but basketball is his specialty, and

(21:38):
we talked about the fact that madness is still around
after all these years and it's still fun.

Speaker 10 (21:45):
Oh, I think it is.

Speaker 11 (21:47):
I do think that the rules that made it so
that midnight madness became a thing were antiquated, and ultimately
the midnight madnesses became really they were really sort of
perfunctory in most places because it was so late. They
wanted to get their guys to bed. So we're gonna

(22:11):
hoop this year, see you later. So I think the
evolution of the rules that led to what we now
call Big Blue Madness and some other sorts of celebrations
similar to that in other places.

Speaker 10 (22:24):
But there's nothing quite like.

Speaker 11 (22:26):
Big Blue Madness anywhere else. But there are similar celebrations,
and they usually hold them. They try to find a
hole in the football schedule and a hole in the
NFL schedule and to try to get people to come
out and support their team. But I do like the
fact that Kentucky fans are still excited and honestly, maybe

(22:46):
this year more than in a long time, even more
so than last year, because last year was you knew
everything was going to be new, But now you know
you're new, but you don't know exactly where you're.

Speaker 10 (22:57):
Going, I mean everything.

Speaker 11 (22:58):
You've got this great group of young players and you're
familiar with some of them, but how.

Speaker 10 (23:02):
Exactly are they going to do it? And I think
that's really fascinating.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Oh, I agree, so many new faces. You do have
some who are holdover from last year, but yeah, I mean,
who are these guys? That's what's great about it.

Speaker 10 (23:18):
Yeah, I think that they've got a lot to learn.

Speaker 11 (23:20):
Kentucky fans who are who are obviously so into their team,
they've got a lot to learn about who they are,
what they can do. And they'll get a glimpse of
that on the night of the of the celebration, and.

Speaker 10 (23:36):
It's it's exciting.

Speaker 11 (23:38):
And I think that the fact that this team has
so many different ways it can go, For one, it
leads to a lot of difficulty for the opposition, but
it also when things are struggling, if indeed they are
ever struggling, then it leads to, well, we could have

(23:59):
done that, And of course the Big Blue Nation knows
how to they know the game and so they know
how to sort of pick through what could have been.

Speaker 10 (24:09):
Or what might have been.

Speaker 11 (24:10):
So it does sort of increase the pressure for everybody
to get it right the first time around.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
And to that end, I think the most intriguing part
of this team. I can't say it's going to be
lost on anybody, but it kind of reverberates in my
ears is when Mark Pope talked about how he's kind
of flip flopping his preparation with this team, and he's
starting with defense. You remember how dreadful Kentucky was on
defense at times last year, especially in a loss ed

(24:37):
Ole Miss And he said the very literally next day,
they doubled down on working on defense, and really there
was a transformation toward the end of the year when
it came to defense for kentuy Y. It was almost
too little, too late. But now and he said, I'm
kind of a warped coach. He said, I really like
the offense, and Mike, You've heard thousands of coaches talk
about it's all about defense, and he now says he

(24:59):
started with defense. I think maybe last year you started
with offense because it was a little bit intricate. But
I think that's where I'm really curious to see how
this team comes out at the beginning of the year
defensively versus offensively, you know what I mean.

Speaker 11 (25:14):
Well, I think I think first of all, he has
he has components for an extraordinary defense. Yeah, and and
I think that's one of the reasons why he might
be going in that direction, because you have multiple shot blockers,
you have disruptive wings, and that allows you to play
defense differently. I mean, if you look at Duke over

(25:34):
the years, and I know Kentucky.

Speaker 10 (25:35):
Fenns sometimes don't want to look at Duke, but.

Speaker 11 (25:38):
Mike Krzyzewsky morphed defensively because his early teams, the successful
teams that of the late eighties and the early nineties,
prototypically with with Thomas Hill and uh and and on
one wing and Grant Hill on an other wing, uh
Antonio de excuse MEA Davis on on one of the wings.

(26:00):
Those they were able to extend and make it hard
for you to get into your offense.

Speaker 10 (26:04):
And that was a way to play.

Speaker 11 (26:06):
And then Ultimately, they didn't have a lot of those guys,
so then they.

Speaker 10 (26:09):
Withdrew and they and they tried to make it.

Speaker 11 (26:11):
More difficult for you to run your stuff toward where
you wanted to go. And and so that's so are
there are multiple approaches that you can take with a
team that's as versatile as this, And so that's so,
you know, I'd be fascinated to see what he imagines,
what Mark imagines with this group. I mean, you go
back to the ninety six Kentucky team, and they were

(26:33):
they were known publicly somewhat for the fact that they
were really good at.

Speaker 10 (26:39):
Pressuring the ball and taking it away from you.

Speaker 11 (26:42):
And sort of ricking you before you even basically got
it into your offense.

Speaker 10 (26:46):
Like I said, Mike wanted to get it, get you.

Speaker 11 (26:48):
When you got tried to make the first pass. But
Rick at that time didn't even want you to get
to the first pass. But Rick also understood you can't
do that against the best teams. I mean, like at
home yet, but like when you get into neutral court
games against the best teams, you're not gonna win doing that.
You're not gonna because those guys have great guards and

(27:10):
great guards aren't going to be daunted by a pressure defense.
So while everybody was fascinated with the press, he cooked
up this uh post double team thing that literally made
Tim Duncan disappear. I mean, I've never seen anything as
ferocious in terms of the double teams as were applied
by antline Walker and Walter McCarty and that group. And

(27:33):
so there are different ways that you can even coach
a defense within a season, and so Mark has a
lot at his disposal with the way they've recruited and
the way they've gathered this team. And I think that
starting with defense and becoming great at defense is a
really smart approach for this team, because when you've got

(27:54):
a creative point guard like Jalen Lowe and you've got
a multiple scoring win and then you've got interior guys
that can get offensive rebounds, I think offense will come
more easily to this team than defense will initially.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Interesting and by the way that ninety sixteen people like
to talk and remember about the full court pressure with
Patinos teams, going back to his very first one, that
ninety six team may have pressed less than any of
his other teams because it didn't have to. Because that
half court defense. Now you've cut the floor in half.
With all those talented players, he didn't have to press

(28:30):
as much, but it was the threat that lived in
his opponent's head. They had to prepare for it. And
so that's why one reason a half court defense was incredible.
Mike headlines throughout college basketball. I don't know if this
was a shock to you, but Bruce Pearl steps down
after eleven years at Auburn, And as a Tennessee website

(28:51):
pointed out, Auburn basketball hires former vall as head coach
after Ruth turns tiers. Of course, his son Steven. But
how much of a shock was that to you?

Speaker 11 (29:02):
Honestly, not at all. We've been talking about this for
a while. He had, or was reported to have believed
to have political aspirations to go into to perhaps running
for the Senate seat that I have never followed this
exactly whether Tommy Tallarville has declared that he's going to

(29:24):
run for governor or.

Speaker 10 (29:25):
Is about to declare.

Speaker 11 (29:26):
There's always that machination in politics that I try not
to pay too much attention to. But and that Senate
seat will be vacant, and there was a belief and
that he would be interested in that, so.

Speaker 10 (29:38):
I wasn't surprised. I was surprised by.

Speaker 11 (29:40):
The timing, by the fact that he said multiple times
recently that he didn't intend to do this at this
point and then reversed course and went ahead.

Speaker 10 (29:52):
And did it.

Speaker 11 (29:53):
So it does give Steven the opportunity to become the
head coach. I think that was pretty much in place anyway,
and unlike what we anticipated on the at the very
point of the announcement, Auburn immediately back to Steven with
a five year commitment. Now, the exact nature of that commitment,

(30:14):
whether it's, uh, we'll pay you for the first two
years and then after that you're going to have to
do something those first two years, or else we're clear
something like that. I mean, I don't know that's that
that is a possibility, or it could be a full commitment.
But either way, it appears to the public, and that's
important because you want the players that you're trying to

(30:34):
recruit to know that that's that he's got a chance
to be your coach. That you're not going to all
of a sudden wake up two years from now having
enrolled at Auburn and oh, by the way, we decided
that Steve is not getting it done or whatever, so that's.

Speaker 10 (30:51):
Important for them.

Speaker 11 (30:52):
And and so I think the way they handled this
was pretty smart.

Speaker 10 (30:59):
I don't know.

Speaker 11 (31:00):
I've talked to Stephen. I talked to him at last
year's Final four. I was very impressed with him. I
thought that he handled us and the discussion very well,
was very open and honest and interesting. And where he
you know, whether or not he's got his father's fastball.

(31:21):
You know, we haven't seen a ton of instances of that,
but hey, there have been instances like Shanahan the coach,
Kyle Shanahan the coach out the forty nine ers. She's
I mean, honestly, he's better than his dad. That was
pretty good, but he's better. So sometimes that pops.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Up my conversation from earlier today with Mike the course
here the Sporting News and if you like to hear
the entire show of the Leads Report if you missed
it earlier this morning, of course, just go to Apple
Podcasts or simpler, just go to Tom leach Ky dot
com where you can find Leitch Report podcast. And we're
back in just a minute here on the Big Moone
Sider six thirty Wlap. Welcome back to the Big Moonsider.

(31:58):
Coming up in our number two. You are unforgettable guard
Sean Woods now the head coach at Scott County High
School and it is overlap period, so we'll talk some basketball.
We'll talk some football as well with the coach. But
the shot clock is on its way to Kentucky high
school basketball. It's been a topic of discussion for years
now and Kentucky is one of the few states that

(32:20):
had not yet adopted it, but that is changing, not
this season, but probably starting next year. So we'll find
out what Sean has to say about that. But as
a guy who played up Temple as coached up Temple,
I mean we have talked about it before. Theoretically I
have a feeling I know what he's gonna say. So
we'll hear from him on that, and of course it
being Wednesday, we'll visit with our West End Bureau chief

(32:42):
Gary Moore. We'll get a heavy dose of football, NFL
and college from him coming up. But I do need
to talk some baseball. And if you're not a fan,
maybe rolling your eyes or groaning or whatever, but it's
a good time of year because if you don't like baseball.
You probably used to like it, and you don't like
what it's been. It's too slow, it's whatever. But this

(33:02):
is the time of year when the playoffs are in
play and the Pennant races are happening, you know, and
teams are blowing leads. That's the story right now. Because
early in the year looked like the Yankees were going
to run off and hide, and they made the postseason
and celebrated, but just barely. I mean, the Blue Jays
took over in the AL East. But the biggest story

(33:23):
right now is the collapse of the Detroit Tigers. It's
incredible that they've given up this huge lead in the
AL Central to the Cleveland Guardians formerly the Indians, and
I do like the nickname Guardians. But anyway, here's a
great example. Last night in a crucial head to head matchup,

(33:43):
Detroit was leading to nothing going into the bottom of
the sixth, had their ace on the mound, end up
losing five to two. And this is a team managed
by aj Hinch. He was a guy who managed the
Astros to the teen died World Series win, still considered
one of the best managers in all of baseball. But
there's not a lot you can do when your players

(34:06):
are playing so poorly as the Tigers did they have
been and did last night. For instance, the Guardians bunned
three times in the six and baseball people love to
debate the value of the bunt these days. We do
it all the time our chain gang talking about UK baseball.
But you don't see it as much in the BIGS

(34:27):
because generally it's an automatic out and outs are so
crucial and precious when it comes to baseball naturally, and
in the BIGS, these guys make plays on the bunts
ninety five percent of the time, but not this one.
Tarik school Ball fielded a bunnt ball try to flip

(34:49):
it through his legs with his back to first base.
We've seen this before, I don't know who. We've ever
seen a guy do it with a game on the
line like this, or the season hanging in the balance
at least a playoff spot, and it of course sailed
over the head of the first basement that men runners
on second and third. It was the second of two

(35:09):
consecutive bunts by the Guardians, who came into the game
trailing by just one game. They had been down by
as many as ten and a half on September the first.
Then another bunt went awry because one of school Ball's pitches,
a ninety nine mile an hour fastball, hit the batter
in the face, David Fry. He had to be carried off,

(35:33):
but school Ball threw a wild pitch then balked. Both
of those led to runs and that was that. The
Guardians were on their way, and Schooball later said, there's
some frustration. Losing isn't fun, and we've been losing a
lot now. Hinch tried to take up for school Ball
to flip through the legs that he chose to do

(35:54):
the emergency flip, which is not easy to do and
didn't produce a good play. He called it an uncharacteristic mistake,
piling up on us at the worst time. Yeah, so
it is bizarre watching watching from afar this team fold up.
On the other hand, if you're a Reds fan, you're

(36:16):
loving it watching the Mets back up a little bit
and the Reds doing just enough to stay alive, although
they lost last night four to two to the Pirates,
not a great team. All the scoring happened in the
second inning. Pittsburgh put up four runs. Reds put up
two and it stayed that way for the rest of

(36:37):
the evening. So now the Reds one game back, trying
to earn that last wildcard spot. They play the Pirates
again tonight, and you can't ask for a better matchup
in terms of drama because Paul Skeens is on the
bump for Pittsburgh, Hunter Green for the Reds, So basically

(36:58):
Ace versus Ace on a Wednesday night, the game's already
underway up in Cincinnati. So if you're a Reds fan
and my little brother is, and I root for the
Reds when I'm not rooting for the Cardinals, but they're
hanging in there, man, They're trying to get you there.
But it's gonna be tough tonight. Schemes, of course, is

(37:20):
the former Lsuace led the Tigers to the College World
Series beat Kentucky on the way. He's not been super
sharp of late, is Era in the last week seven
point three six, But I read someplace where if the
Pirates had only averaged like two runs a game in
his thirty one starts, he would have an insane one

(37:43):
lost record. But he's of course playing for the Pirates,
who haven't put a whole lot around him. His last
two starts, the Pirates lost to the Cubs four to one,
lost to the Orioles in ten innings two to one,
so again no run support. He only went seven inning.
I'm sorry I went three to He only went three

(38:06):
and two thirds against the cub They knocked him out
seven hits, three earned runs, walked three, but against the
Orioles five innings, two hits, didn't give up a run,
struck out eight. Not sure why they pulled him. The
three games prior to that the Pirates won his starts.
He went six scoreless against the Dodgers in a five

(38:28):
to three win, eight strikeouts, beat the Red Sox, gave
a one urned run and six innings, beat the hapless
Rockies and went seven innings, three hits, struck out seven.
So he was looking like himself. Last couple of starts
not so much so. Maybe the Reds can get to
him tonight, but they are alive in the playoffs. Run

(38:49):
all right, I re number two is coming up. Stay
with us here on the Big Moon Siders. Six thirty wla.

Speaker 9 (38:55):
Fo suact out such shot stat stage anything doing sat

(39:58):
out such.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider. Joining us as
he does each and every Wednesday, is the unforgettable guard.
Sean Woods. His jersey hangs in the rafters of rough.
He is currently the head coach at Scott County High
School after a long career of both playing and coaching
college basketball and coach. We always work in a little
football chatter. We may do that later on, but I
got to start with basketball at your level. Now, at

(41:07):
the high school level. The shot clock is coming to
high school basketball. Uh. We have chatted about this before,
but tell everybody where you are on this subject.

Speaker 8 (41:18):
It's a great then high school basketball, espescially in the
state of Kentuck. You know, Uh, it's it's it's long
overdue and a lot of reasons because it doesn't relate
to anything once you move up outside of high school,
and and it makes kids have to think and play faster.
And also it'll be fun to watch. You know, you

(41:40):
can go to some high school games, be like watching
paint dry. Yeah, you know. And now you know, the
teams that want to hold the ball, hold the ball,
hold the ball can't anymore. Now you got to rely
on you know, quick hitters and playing faster. And also
you know, now you've got the development and players. They
got to go make plays. And you're going to see
now now in high school basketball like a lot in

(42:02):
college and pro. You're going to see more pick and
roll actions, more ball screen actions. Okay, okay, So you
know it's going to change the game a little bit,
which which is for the better, because it's going to
prepare kids even more to play at the next level
when they move up.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
You are dragging me, You are dragging me across the
street because I have been opposed to this move simply
because and you know a hell of a lot more
about basketball than I do. But I do wonder about
the fact that this kind of forces high school kids
to maybe take more bad shots or whatever. But you're
telling me, and I can't say I disagree that it's

(42:38):
something then to learn how to play better. So it
does kind of expedite their development, doesn't it.

Speaker 8 (42:44):
Yes, it does, you know. And now you've got to
go make plays, and yeah, you know, and and game
you know, games won't be you know, boring to watch,
and you know, holding the ball for two three minutes
so on and so forth. No, now you you know,
it's become real basketball now, you know, and it's going
to be more entertaining too.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
I worked at Sweet sixteen, as you know, you were
there about the boys and the girls, and we talked
some time after about the fact that even the best
teams in the state, and we saw this in both
the boys and the girls tournaments, could not freeze the
ball when they were trying to run clock. You know,
at these most important of games, and even the best teams,

(43:25):
at some point someone would make a mistake, either in
judgment or a physical error. So now they're going to
have to learn how to do a better job really
throughout every.

Speaker 8 (43:36):
Part of the game, aren't they, no doubt, And it's
going to be more possessions that Like you said, okay,
but every time, when I told you this, every time
a team tries to stall, they turn the ball over
every single time.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Yep.

Speaker 8 (43:49):
So now you take that out out of the picture,
and guy's got to play and you know it's mano mano.
Now you know it's you know, talent's going to prevail.
I think a little bit more. Uh. You know, if
if you're a team that likes to run a ton
of sets, well that's thrown out the window. You know
you're gonna have a chance to want you know, run
one set, they have a counter to it, and that's

(44:12):
about it. Now the shot has to go up. And
I you know, I never was going to play no
other way. You know, if my teams were calling the
ball more than thirty five seconds, then I'm I'm I'm
going to the locker room. So uh, it's right up
my alley, and I'll tell you what. It's gonna enhance
the game tremendously. It's going to be more fun to watch.

(44:34):
And now kids got to be better players, and it's
going to develop them even more to be ready for
the next level because now you've got to you know,
you got to really execute faster, and you know, and
more so than you ever did. You can run and
play over and over again as long as you keep
the ball, and nobody wants to watch that, and pretty
much nobody wants to play that way. So now you know,

(44:57):
the temple's going to be faster. You're gonna see more
entertaining basketball. You're going to see more teams getting after it,
and it's going to be different some of these coaches,
high school coaches going to have to make some adjustments,
but oh yeah, I think it's all for the better.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
Dick, I really do well, and you took my next
question right out of my head. Yeah, you were never
going to have an issue with this because you've played
up Temple, you've coached up Temple throughout your career at
the college level, and now you're going to do it
at the high school level. But some of your colleagues,
your coaching colleagues, are going to have to adjust guys
who like to squeeze the air out of the ball

(45:31):
with their teams. What kind of challenge will that be?
I got to think some kids will adjust to it
better than maybe some coaches, you know what I mean.
Guys who have coached got slow down all their lives, no.

Speaker 8 (45:42):
Doubt, because most high school coaches want to be controlled.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Fore that's right.

Speaker 8 (45:45):
They want to show the world how many plays they got. Yeah,
well you better have one or two, you know what
I'm saying. You're only gonna have time to run one. Yeah,
and you better have a counter. And you better teach
kids how to play off the pick and roll action
because with that shot, class going down and you're trying
to get a good when that's you know, just like
college and pros, that's what it's going to and everybody's
going to have to adjust to it because that's what's

(46:06):
that's what it is. Now. I'm all for it. I'm
happy it's out of out doors and it's going to
be great for high school basketball in state of Kentucky.
Now we're keeping up with.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
The Jones exactly, you're keeping up with all the other states.
My final thought on this is the concern. Clearly, schools
have to come up with the money to pay for
this technology, and that's not something that you necessarily need
to worry about as a coach. But it's got to
be in place for your team and your program to
run properly. But the other thing, Sean I wonder about

(46:35):
is who runs that shot clock. I'm sure it's Scott
County High. You'll feel find someone competent and willing to
do it on a nightly basis, whether they're paid or not.
I worry about some of the smaller schools because you
cannot grab somebody and say, hey, could you run the
shot clock tonight? For us, we don't have anybody else.
It's too important, you know what I mean, no doubt

(46:55):
about it.

Speaker 8 (46:56):
But at least the state has given us a year,
year and a half that's right, get this done. But
I have a suggestion, and I hope cadj just say
is listening, is that these preseason tournaments and these jamborees
we need to start implementing now getting used to it. Okay,
you know, so if you got a Christmas tournament that

(47:17):
you're putting on, so on and so forth, I would
start working on it then, just to get used to
it and getting my people used to it. But again, too,
it's gonna cost money. You know, it costs money to
get the shot clock. Fortunate for a Scott Catty, we
do have a shot clock already. I think we do
already have the packs for the for the referees to
come in.

Speaker 6 (47:35):
And do that.

Speaker 8 (47:36):
But it's it's gonna cost a little bit, but I'll
tell you what, it's gonna be working in the long run.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, you're you're convincing me moment by moment.
And it's not just because I'm a traditionalist. But I
did have some concerns about it. But if you're happy,
I'm happy.

Speaker 8 (47:50):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
And I bring up the people sitting at the scores
table because when I would cover high school basketball in
college basketball as well, I would always think about the
pace of the game versus perhaps the pro game, and
one of the few changes I would have made, I
thought would be the mechanics of the officials in the

(48:13):
pro game. You know as well as I. If there's
a foul under the basket in the pro game, the
officials turn immediately and signal to the scorers table and
we play on. Or if it's at the other end
of the court, quick signal in bounds pass, we play on.
And I came to that conclusion when I was living
in Dallas, going to Mavericks games every night or whenever

(48:33):
I could, and I say, wow, the pace is so quick,
and the officials don't slow the game down by running
the mid court, standing, posing, signaling and all that stuff. Well,
my little brother, my younger brother, is a high school official,
and I ran out by him. I said, why not
use those mechanics? He said, because of a lot of schools,
you have no idea who's sitting at the scorers table.

(48:54):
Is it a student, is it a someone a part timer,
or is it someone who's a veteran and could handle
that kind of stuff. And I think that's where the
shot clock runs into it as well. You're you're kind
of at the mercy of whoever volunteers or is paid
a couple of bucks to work the scorers table. Do
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 8 (49:12):
Yeah, I mean that's something to think about. You know
what I'm saying. Not only is that hat, you know,
these can't say referees has never repped a shot clock
that game before. They got to make some adjustments too,
So it's gonna be you know, hopefully. You know, by
the time it's official, everybody involved, from everybody at each

(49:34):
scores table to the referees, have this thing down packed.
It's not like it's starting this season, so we all
do have time. But the quicker we, you know, put
these things in effect and start working on them now,
the better off we are when the time comes when
it becomes official.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
He is Sean Woods, the unforgettable Guard. We'll come back
and talk about madness. It's right on top of us
here on a big Blue Insider six thirty wlap. Welcome back.
We were chatting with the unforgettable Guard. Sean was. We
talk to him each and every Wednesday. He of course
played at Kentucky first un already Sutton and Rick Bettino
and you were a part of Madness on several occasions.

(50:12):
Did you enjoy that as a player?

Speaker 8 (50:15):
The best part of the best part of the season.
You know, I got in trouble my senior year and
you all know about that, you know, in the Cliffe
Rozier situation, things like that. And coach Patino, you know,
the one thing I you know, learned about him is
don't lie, you know, just tell the truth to your coach.
And you know, I panicked. I didn't tell him the truth,

(50:36):
and finally I came out with it and he, you know,
he taught me a lesson. But the one thing that
was you know, was evident was going to be one
of my punishments was not being able to participate in
Midnight Madness. That is tradition at the University of Kentucky.
You know, every player at the Universe of Kentucky remembers
Midnight Madness. And it's the start of the year. It's

(50:58):
the start. It's the first time that the fans get
to see the you know that that year's new team.
You know it when when back in our time, it
was really really entertaining. I mean, you know, uh, you know,
I forget who was the sid back then, but man,
it was he was so creative and so innovative, him

(51:18):
and Coach Patino that you know, even Coach Sutton, even
Coach Hall. I mean, you know, this is the mecca
of college basketball. And you know were the ones who
first started putting it on national television and making it
a big hits. And now everybody in the country's doing it.
And you know, it used to be October fifteenth, you know,
now it's getting becoming early in earlier. But it starts

(51:40):
off college basketball, especially at Kentucky, especially for Big Blue Nation, uh,
to see the new recruit so on and so forth.
It's just a holiday to start off the new season
for Kentucky basketball in college basketball across the country.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Sean was referring to and this is so just a
minor thing now, but you he took Clifford Rosier to
a derby party when he was being recruited, he was transferring,
and it broke a minor insa rule. But Rick Patino
ended up dropping his recruitment and Roseeri ends up at
Louisville where he where he had a great career. So
I kind of forgotten about that. But but yeah, and

(52:15):
you know what, as somebody I mentioned this earlier, somebody
who was involved with producing the telecast for Manness. When
Rick Pattino grabbed that microphone, as I said, to talk
to the crowd, man, he turned into Frank Sinatra, didn't he?

Speaker 8 (52:29):
Yes, he did. I mean it was electrifying. And one
thing about him, he can he knows how to entertain.
Oh yeah, and he's one of the best public speakers
out there. So you know he he hit every He
hit every nail on the head when it came to
promoting his teams and what he was trying to do.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Yeah, he really did. But the crowd still loves it though,
don't they. And it's as much about it's more about
just greeting the players for the first time when they're introduced,
as opposed to watching them scrimmage or throw down dunks
and things like that. Uh, what was it like when
you would come out and be introduced at that event

(53:11):
and just feel all that euphoria washing over you.

Speaker 8 (53:15):
Man, you get childs, you know, and then when you
get out there and getting the layup line, you jump
and hide and you read it before And I'm talking
about what when we had midnight man As, we would
have practice or workouts that morning. Oh wow, so coach didn't, didn't,
didn't didn't. You know, that was just par for the course.
But you know, that was just a show. But even
in that show, you know, we did drills and we

(53:36):
really scrimmaged and did somethings. So you know, it was
it was entertaining, but it was it was practice. And
then also we did have to come back at six
seven o'clock that next morning, so it wasn't just you know,
your parents come in and you think you're gonna hang
out with them all night after midnight, man is no,
you better get to you know, get to sleep at
one o'clock and one or two o'clock, whatever time you're going,

(53:56):
Because there was time to really get going that next morning.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
You got to wonder how much did Patino sleep? Not
a lot, I'm guessing no.

Speaker 8 (54:04):
He probably steal about four hours of sleep.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
Probably hung upside down from summer. You know, although I
will tell you this, we did we did a documentary
where we followed him around. I can't remember what year
it was. I think you were gone by then, but
we called it a day with Rick Patino and it
started off at five am with one of his famous
basketball games right that he played with his staff. But
you know what, somebody pulled us aside and said, man,

(54:28):
we haven't done this in a long time. So that
was basically they they they brought it back to life
just for our cameras.

Speaker 8 (54:36):
When I played, he played every morning, all those guys
they played five on five And then yeah, when he
stopped doing that, he started doing the StairMaster.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Oh okay, well he he reinvented or or brought it
back to life just for our cameras. It was great video,
but it was funny. Somebody whispered, Dan, we haven't done
this and just since last year or something like that.
But it was still fun. It really was. Sean Woods
is the unforgettable guard who was coaching at the Scott
County High School now and if you missed it earlier,

(55:05):
we talked about the shot clock coming up. But you
guys have been working out for a while. Colleges are
working out now. This is valuable classroom time for coaches
all over the country, isn't it.

Speaker 8 (55:17):
Oh, no doubt about it. Breaking down things, putting your
schemes in, just developing the mindset and setting the tone
for the season. That's what this part of the season
is all about.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah, but one of your coaching peers has stepped away.
Bruce Pearl is becoming an assistent ad of some sort
at Auburn because he is considering a run. He will,
he'll get into politics. He's sixty five, which is a
youngster in my book. I know that's old to you.
But what was your reaction and how do you think

(55:51):
Auburn's going to respond to this?

Speaker 8 (55:54):
Another great coach who has met his match with this
transfer portal in N I L situation? You know that
that that that's what it tells me, you know, for
guys that love the game as much as he did
and Mishrzyzewski and others, you know, to to walk away

(56:14):
at the peak of their career and just coming off
a final four a deal. I mean you just you
know that that that's a telltale and it's hard, I
mean coaching young men now in today's society, the way
things are, you know, with so much money and they
have so much freedom to leave whenever they want. There's
no loyalty, uh, and nobody really cares about what's on

(56:35):
their chest. They're really worried about what's on their back.
It's it's it's changing and it's changing guys who are
purists and and and he's a purist as far as
college basketball coaches is concerned. And for him to walk away,
you know, like I told you we talked before, he's
you know, this is going to be a trend. You know,
it's it's it's frustrating. It's frustrating to be a college

(56:56):
basketball coach right now because of all the trials and tribulations,
and you still have athletic directors who are looking at
the bottom line but not really understanding, you know, I
mean the dynamics and the trials and tribulations that coaches
have to go through getting kids and then maintaining kids,
and then coming up with the salaries to sustain. So

(57:17):
it's a new day, and you know, it's you're gonna
see a lot more, you know. And and the only
person that I just don't see leaving because of it
is Rick Patino. But everybody else, you know, you know,
a human and uh and have feelings too, And it's
it's tough, you know, it's tough.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Just a minute or two left with Sean Woods, let
me throw a football question at you. Well, we can
make it relate to basketball as well. Kentucky, the football
Cats go to South Carolina, which is known for a
noisy crowd, a huge stadium, tough road trip, and you
and I have talked before though about how much fun
was was it for you as a player to go
on the road. You hear everything screamed at you, and

(57:58):
even even during shoot around, and yet more often than that,
you guys would shut the opposing crowd down. You know,
they were quite they were leieving before the game was over.
How much fun is that to go into an imposing
arena and bring the silence to the opposing crowd.

Speaker 8 (58:14):
That's what athletics is all about, you know, that's the challenge,
and to quiet another stadium down. You know, one of
the toughest places in my career I never won was
a l s U and that was one of the
toughest places. And we would come out of our locker
room and they would have the tiger standing right there
in a cage eating a big old piece of meat
like it was bedrock on Fred Frinstone and man, that

(58:39):
was intimidating like crazy. And then their fans were so
obnoxious to where they used to get under coach Patino's
skin all the time. But I remember Coach Patino walked
out one time. There was a fat guy who was
really yelling at Coach Patino one time after the game,
and Coach Patino looked back and look up at him
and ask me and asked him, said, have you ever
heard of slim fast?

Speaker 3 (59:01):
We just got by Shaquille o'deal to Chris Jackson and
that just broke the ice. Man were walking off the
court discussed it, and Coach Matino looked up as the
guy say, have you ever heard a slim fat?

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Oh man? I love that. I've never heard that story.
And by the way, you all got the revenge on
that team because you upset him here very next year.
Sure that's right, Sean, thank you so much, and we
will talk against sumer friend.

Speaker 8 (59:25):
Okay, Dick, take care, buddy.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore is next on six thirty
WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider. It's Wednesday,
which means we cast our eyes to the west and
we look to the west end of I sixty four
where we find look at there. Gary Moore, longtime West
Coast Bureau chief when he worked with KAYLA West Radio
in Los Angeles. Now he's back in LA, the Louisville area,

(59:49):
and so he's our west end bureau chief at the
other end of sixty four with a mindful of mush no,
just kidding, a mindful of topics.

Speaker 10 (59:57):
I think you're right.

Speaker 12 (59:58):
The first time we have a little segment we do
called two guys in a six pack, you and me
and six things to talk about in our first swig.
As you know, and as you've talked about, time to
pack your bags. That hit the road. Cats, yep, and
cards and toppers first time the season in UK and
U of L leave their friendly home field confines for
decidedly hostile homies. South Carolina, of course, will be one

(01:00:21):
of the first ones there. Actually that's Saturday night. As
you've talked about last look, six and a half point
favorites over the wild Cats. Last week though at missou
saw this, Carolina ran for minus nine yards and had
fourteen penalties for ninety eight yards. If the Cats can
get that kind of repeat performance, I like their chances.

(01:00:42):
Louisville four and a half point favorite at Pit high
noon ESPN two on Saturday, But since joining the ACC
and twenty fourteen, the cards are zero and three at
Pitt and he lost five of the last six there
in Steel City. I don't know what it is, the water.
I don't know what the deal is. They just go
there and they kind of stink. Western is going to

(01:01:02):
be traveling to Missouri State to play one of the
conference USA's newest members, Delaware would be the other one.
Toppers are four and a half point favorites at seven
o'clock ESPN plus. Hopefully this road trip will go better
than the unmitigated disaster three weeks ago at Toledo. I
like the Toppers to pass this road test. And if
Louisville's defense stays dominant like last Saturday, and if they're
both running backs are available, I think they'll win. And

(01:01:25):
if the Cats can dominate both lines of scrimmage in
front of seventy seven thousand plus, I like the Cats
as chances.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Well, that's a lot of points six and a half
if you're looking at that way. But going back, I
watched a lot of that Missouri game. I got home
after volleyball last Saturday and got a chance to spend
the dial. Then I settled because I wanted to watch
South Carolina man. Missouri's defense, as you said, was just
stout South Carolina is missing guys to injury, especially on
the old line, but Missouri is a really good physical team,

(01:01:58):
and Missouri controlled the clock with a running game. I'm
on Hardy had a great game, breaking tackles everywhere he went.
Kentucky has the capability of doing that, of controlling the
run game. I don't know if if McGowan's as good
as Hardy will find out. Yeah, if they can somehow
coerce the game. Cocks into a slew of penalties like that,

(01:02:18):
and that could have been because of the personnel shifting
in the South Carolina lineup, but of course they've had
an extra week to work on it. Beemer knows what
he's doing. It's gonna be tough, but we have seen.
I've covered Kentucky wins in Columbia, sure, especially a year
few years ago when Deebo Samuel scored on the opening
series with an explosive run and Kentucky came back and

(01:02:39):
won the game. So not impossible. Louisville kept running into
pit teams that were pretty good. That's the thing, you know.
I don't know that these pit teams are as good
as those, but I do like Louisville's chances. The cards
have look good. Here's a little bit of news for
you on the Missouri State used to be Southwest Missouri
State Springfield, Missouri. Turned down a job working there right

(01:02:59):
out of college. I could have been working in Springfield, Missouri.
But Kyle Motes, who was fired by Mitch Barnard and
an assistant ad here landed at U of L right
worked for Tom George took the job as the AD
at Missouri State for several years and now's the AD
at EKU. So there's a connective tissue. And their longtime

(01:03:21):
play by play guy forty six years who's retiring. Great guy,
Great boys. Guy named Art Haynes worked with me at
the Southwest Conference in Dallas.

Speaker 10 (01:03:31):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
So you know, there's there's just all kinds of connective
tissue to college sports, as you know. And I like
them chances.

Speaker 8 (01:03:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:03:39):
And by the way, speaking of that, your boy ex
cat Lavelle Wright was huge for the Toppers.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:03:44):
They had two touchdowns and including pretty much the game
winner with about one forty nine left and put the
game out of reach against Nevada on Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
I really liked him when he was here. He just
didn't get much of a chance.

Speaker 12 (01:03:54):
Good dude, Okay, our second swig asked for the other
big Saturday games. Can't blow the lead here, Number six
Oregon at number three Penn State, seven thirty. National Television
NBC Nitney lyons so far a three and a half
point favorite, but go Ducks before that Friday night nine
o'clock on Fox, This is like a pretty good game,
Number twenty four TCU at Arizona State. So we go

(01:04:15):
back now to Saturday, number twenty one USC at lucky
to even still be ranked number twenty three Illinois. The
Ilini have scheduled the Trojans for their homecoming game noon
on Fox. Good job, We got some three thirty games
here to watch out for a number four LSU at
number thirteen Old miss and number eleven Indiana at unranked

(01:04:36):
Iowa at three o'clock. They're going to dump that on
a peacock. Let's see here. At three point thirty on ESPN,
you got Auburn at number nine, Texas A and M
four point fifteen upset alert number fifteen volunteers at Mississippi State.
And then rounding out the circular firing squad that is
the SEC number seventeen Bama at number five Georgia seven

(01:04:59):
thirty Nation Television on ABC. Do you smell any upsets
in that bunch.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Well, that's a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
I think Oregon beats Penn State. Oregon, the Ducks getting
three and a half Penn State. James Franklin has trouble
with the big Games. If Oregon wins this game, I
think you'll annoint the Ducks as the potential national So
you can already do that, but I think that puts
them front in the center. I don't like Old miss
against LSU for some reason, but I could see the

(01:05:27):
Rebels pulling that one off. I could see Iowa beating Indiana.
Not a knock on IU. I was tough at home. Hey, Illinois.
Got to hope the USC's kids aren't awake yet, right.

Speaker 10 (01:05:37):
That's right to west coast.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
I would love it if Mississippi State be Tennessee. Don't
know if that happens, but our buddy Neil Price is
the radio voice of the Bulldogs down there. And uh,
you know, remember last year Bama Georgia. Bama snapped Georgia's
long winning streak that moved the Kentucky Ole miss upset
off the top of the list, off the front page,

(01:06:01):
if you will. It was the biggest upset of the day,
but it wasn't the headline maker. It was Bama George's,
so maybe that happens again this year.

Speaker 12 (01:06:10):
Third swig, You know, I like listening these every week
to help you know, dudes like us have valid, very
valid reasons for weaseling out of household chores. That's right,
and I have more for Sunday, But first, Tomorrow night's
Thursday NFL matchup looks pretty good. My Seahawks at Let's see,
they're two and a half or actually a point and
a half favorite at Arizona. I think they should cover that.

(01:06:31):
Sunday's best games, glad you asked. Early games include the
Vikings at the Steelers, Browns fresh off an inexplicable win
over your pack at the Buyons, Eagles at the Bucks
looks really good, the three and oh, three and oh Colts.
We're gonna be let's see at the two and one Rams,
who should have been three and oh when they go
into this game, but they're gonna saw what happened at

(01:06:52):
the end of that one. You also got the Ravens
of the Chiefs Sunday Nights game. Your Packers seven and
a half point favorites up at the Cowboys. They're not
lose two in a row now Monday night, you got
two clunkers. I'll be watching anyway, because well it's football, right,
Do you need another reason? First game oh and three
Jets at the three Dolphins, and the second one. At

(01:07:13):
least some of these guys have won some games two
and one but fading fast Bungles at the one and
two Broncos. If the Giants, Dolphins and Texans all go
oh to four of the weekend, which coach which coach
will get gundied? Shall we say by the end of
the week.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
I'm guessing Giants, but it could be Miami. We had
the same conversation last week and the Dolphins played their
butts off. Yeah, they're still playing hard for him. By
the way, in all of this, the greatest nickname has emerged,
kind of an easy one. Why didn't I see it coming?

Speaker 12 (01:07:47):
Daniel Jones Indiana Jones?

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
Isn't that great? Perfect? And then East thumbing his nose
at the Giants and see, you see what I could
have done if you put anything around me. But yeah,
my Packers, we got to bounce back against the Cowboys
got to fourth swig.

Speaker 12 (01:08:06):
Before last Sunday's game, CBS did a throwback version of
the NFL The Day. Yeah, of course that show revolutionized
pregame shows began fifty years ago Last Sunday. That's why
they did that, had Brent Musburger, of course Phyllis George
IRV Cross. Phyllis sadly passed away in twenty twenty, ear
of a year later, but there was there was Brent
and amongst the other coasts who were who were in wigs,

(01:08:30):
seventies hair do wigs and some garish costuming there. That show,
of course was must see TV back then. Some of
us of a certain age remember when Jack Whittager and
Pat summer Al hosted the CBS pregame show before seventy five.
And I could even remember Frank Gifford in the control room, yes,
previewing the day's games before Jack and Pat evens. CBS

(01:08:52):
brought back original graphics and the theme music, and of
course he opened with Brent's famous you are looking live.

Speaker 1 (01:08:58):
All made me.

Speaker 12 (01:08:59):
Wish from more of that retro stuff from the vaults.
I can't be the only one who thinks this stuff. Now,
I know YouTube has got a full network game from
the sixties and seventies. They got all starts of those
games that are on YouTube. How about the NFL network
more often, you know, less talking heads talking about well, gee,
here's what I thought about the weekend. Who cares more throwbacks?
And by the way, let me ask you this, because

(01:09:20):
you've been in TV. Where the hell's ESPN classic? I
used to watch that religiously.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
That's a great question. I did too. It was amazing
the stuff, and I got to think that, you know,
rights became too expensive and stuff like that. But you know,
in watching and I'm with you and all the throwback stuff,
Frank Giffer saying, as the NFL today continues, there was
something soothing about that. Although continues now has become the
most overused word and broadcasting. But that's a rant for

(01:09:46):
another day. But the thing it's made me realize watching
classic games, I missed the score bug. You know, when
I first put it on the screen, I thought, oh man,
that's a distraction. Now, can't live without it. Sometimes it's
too big, but you gotta have it. Now, gotta have it.

Speaker 10 (01:10:03):
What's the score?

Speaker 12 (01:10:04):
How much time left?

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
It's eeter exactly.

Speaker 12 (01:10:06):
Fitzwig two good chunks of news for Major League Baseball fans.
Number one, we got to some pennant races, and the
Reds are in one of them, thanks to well, thanks
to number one first of all, Terry Francona for coming back,
and he's the main reason they're in this. But also
a weekend sweep of the Cubs helped the Mets faltering.
But as of tonight, the Mets jumped ahead of the
Reds for the last wild card spot. Then the other

(01:10:28):
bit of great news in terms of Pennant races, Detroit's
epic collapse. Well, it's not good news of your Tigers fan.
Fifteen and a half game lead a month ago, and
now Cleveland has caught them. In fact, they're tied at
the top, but not really because Cleveland owns the tiebreaker
in that. As for the other good news, it's now official.
MLB will finally be using the Automated Ball Strike or
ABS challenge system in every game starting next season. And

(01:10:51):
I've talked about this a lot. There will be a
minimum of two player challenges per game, which in spring
training this year took an average of about thirteen point
eight seconds to confirm or overturn the umps call, I
don't care if the players hate it. I could care
less if the hump, if the Umps despise it, their fault. Anyway,
they brought it on.

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
Yep.

Speaker 12 (01:11:09):
Maybe now more strike zones, we'll get more, honest now,
As for the Reds, two more at the Pirates than
three at Milwaukee. Maybe Milwaukee rests their best pitchers.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (01:11:17):
Do you like.

Speaker 12 (01:11:18):
Cincy's chances now that they lost to Pittsburgh last night?

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
No, I do not, because they did lose that game,
and as we speak, they're playing against Paul Schemes, you know,
and they got their ace on the bump. I mentioned
it earlier, Hunter Green, but they really needed last night's
game and a brutal schedule down the stretch, as you
said with Milwaukee. But yeah, maybe Milwaukee does rest some people.
But now that's why they hired Tito Francona, you know,

(01:11:41):
because he knows how to manage and win tight games.
And coincidentally, his former team, the Guardians, making that run,
which has been a great story but a disaster for
the Tigers. And I'm again we talked about it with you,
having been an umpire, my brother is an umpire. I
can't defend him. They it's not it's like they're not
even trying to get better. They're arrogant about calling pitches

(01:12:02):
six and eight inches outside the strike zone.

Speaker 12 (01:12:04):
So yeah, bring it on, horrible strike zone last night
if you're watching the Reds game, our sixth and final
swig last week. In his eighteenth year with the Dodgers,
not only one of their all time great pitchers were
the all time great National League pitchers or in any
league period. Clayton Kershaw said this one this year is
his last, let me tell you. Since his first season
in LA that was two thousand and eight, Kershaw has

(01:12:26):
won three Cy Youngs, one MVP. He is an eleven
eleven time All Star. He's got a career record to
date of two hundred and twenty two and ninety six
ten and two. So far this year, he's got a
career regular season ERA of two point five four. He's
pitched two eight hundred and forty nine innings. He's the
latest member of the three thousand strikeout club with three

(01:12:46):
thousand and forty five so far. Of course, he's also
been part of two World Championship teams.

Speaker 8 (01:12:53):
Is that all you got? Pal?

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
What a quitter?

Speaker 12 (01:12:56):
You know I had the pleasure of covering Clayton for
most of those years out in LA. He's a stand
up guy with the press, has an incredible work ethic.
Cody Bellinger, before his MVP season, said that I would
just sit there and watch him. He said, this is
how it's supposed to be, this is how you're supposed
to this is how it's supposed to look like when
he would watch Clayton preparing himself. He's an outstanding work

(01:13:16):
ethic and outstanding family man and teammate. Postseason stats not
that great, and I think because of what happened the
last time he started in the postseason two years ago
against the Diamondbacks, where he gave up six runs didn't
get out of the first inning, he's going to want
to kind of correct that. So watch out for if

(01:13:36):
you're not a Dodgers fan, enjoy him whiley last, because
I don't know we'll see his kind again. Eighteen years
with the same team, three thousand plus strikeouts, well.

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
The stats aside eighteen years with the same team, we
will never see that, I don't believe, and I don't
think we'll see pictures last that long because they're throwing
our arms out yep, you know, and he's had injuries himself,
but I do agree, and it's easy to see one
of the top five four or five lefties of all time,
you know, and of course one of the all time

(01:14:05):
Gray Sandy Kofax wore a Dodger uniforms. So if you're
not a Dodger fan, at least you can be a
Kershaw fan. We'll come back and throw some hot reeds
at Gary Moore in just a moment here on the
Big Moon Sider six thirty wlap Welcome back to the
Big Moon Sider. We're chatting with our West End Bureau chief,
Gary Moore. He has graced us with two guys in

(01:14:25):
a six pack and now a couple of hot reds. Gary.
Recently Joey Galloway, ESPN football analyst. I kind of like him,
but I was at to scratch my head when you
talked about Trinidad Shambless. He is the backup quarterback who
came in for Austin Simmons, who was actually injured against
Kentucky chamberss it looks like might be stealing his starting job.

Speaker 10 (01:14:47):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Chamberers transferred in from division to Farris State and look
transfers are all over college football, but Galloway bloviating how
did he end up at Farris State? He's the deal.
Rather off his stats, Galloway played the game at the
highest level and you know, much less college football. He

(01:15:08):
has got to know, doesn't he that guys either are
overlooked in the recruiting wars or developed late. How do
you say something silly? And by the way, the Farris
State ad clapped back at him on Twitter, which I
really enjoyed.

Speaker 12 (01:15:21):
It's a lot of Division two guys that are in
the NFL. You have an even Tyreek Hill is in
the NFL feeling receiver. Yeah, from a Division two and plus,
you know, And it's very tempting to say, oh, yeah,
Joey's you know, he's a jock. He's an ex jock.
He didn't do his homework whatever. He's been at ESPN
since twenty twelve. He's been on these games before. He

(01:15:43):
knows about doing research, He knows about what he should
be talking about. And he should have known that Farris
State has won three out of the last four Division
two championship, including with Trinidad last year. Right, So it's
not like this, It's like some kind of intramural, you know,

(01:16:04):
kind of of a program. You know, they've got some legitimacy.
And none of these.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Guys is surprised when somebody from the Dakota's plays well
and moves on to the NFL because they have been
playing at A one, double A or D two level.
Great football up there. But you know why because Galloway,
I don't think, you know, I think it caught him
off guard. I'm not trying to make excuses for him.
It was a silly thing to say, but yeah, do
your homework. Our second hot read for mister Moore is

(01:16:32):
about which quarterback, now, in the eyes of NFL executives
and scouts, should be the favorite when it comes to
where they go in the draft. Right now. Of late,
Leonora Sellers has moved up, even though the South Carolina
quarterback has been playing with some injuries. It was in
concussion protocol. Garret Nusmeyer a close second for LSU, then

(01:16:55):
Carson Beck, John Mattier who's now gonna miss weeks and
weeks with thumbs, Andrew Aller from Penn State. But haven't
we learned our lesson? Gary arch Manning's nowhere to be
found in this in this conversation. Aren't these all super premature?

Speaker 8 (01:17:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (01:17:13):
And I think, as I believe one of the guys
pointed out that mister Ward, who was the first round,
who was the first pick in the draft last year,
got one vote last year. Yeah, and in the same
kind of a poll. So what is this Plus it's
too if the draft were tomorrow, Yeah, this might have
some legitimacy, but it's way way way too early. What

(01:17:33):
if Arch and they've got the tough, toughest part of
the schedule coming up. What if he has a great
last eight weeks, then does he move up? And what
about this kid from Indiana who seemed to have a
pretty decent game against the number nine team in the
country for Nana Mendoza. So I think it's way way
too early for stuff like but I understand. You know,
they got to they gotta fill time. You gotta put

(01:17:55):
this together. We got to do something. Let's rate quarterbacks
that'll take up twenty minutes or fifteen or whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
It's time. The Internet as a bottomless pit and we
have to fill it, right, And you know, this arch
Manning stuff was so premature it never started a game
and was annointed as the Heisman favorite and the future
number one pick for twenty twenty six. Now they're saying, well,
probably for twenty twenty seven, and that'll change at some point.

Speaker 12 (01:18:20):
Well, I think he's I think the pressure is getting
to him, don't you. I mean somebody said, I think
he's got the yips because of all the pressure that's
that's going on him. He's doing commercials over the summer
and he's got all this stuff behind him, and he got, oh,
wait a minute, you still got to go out and perform.
Oh that part.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
And he also said at some point, remember, hey, you know,
I really haven't done anything yet. So it's in his
head and now maybe looms even larger. Gary Moore looms
large at the other end of I sixty four. He
joins us every week as our West End bureau chief.
But you can get a sneak preview of what he's
thinking and talking just by dialing him up on Twitter at.

Speaker 12 (01:18:55):
At nine to five to five. Gary, we I dial
you up at.

Speaker 1 (01:18:58):
At Big Blue and Cider one and thank you brother,
have a great weekend. You do the same, long lived
bark Star and that I'll do it for now, Thanks
so much, as always to my Wednesday guests Gary Moro,
Weston Bureau Chief, Sean Woods, The Unforgettable Guard. Coming up
tomorrow night, we'll talk football with Anthony White from Sunday
Morning Sports Talk. As Kentucky goes in to a key

(01:19:19):
game down at South Carolina game, you were here right
here on six thirty wlap, so you're not gonna want
to miss that. And b has always got something to say.
That's a good night. From the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 13 (01:19:31):
He runs with the fifty, he runs with the forty.
The guy is drunk, but there he goes there twenty.
They're chasing them. They're not gonna get him. Leaving his
arms here, trusted. Somebody's top the.

Speaker 9 (01:20:01):
Tap anything doing dothing, anything anattain.

Speaker 8 (01:20:48):
Don't have to back

Speaker 9 (01:20:57):
From taunting unto

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