2025-11-13 BBI

UK players say they back their coach 100%; (11:00) Mark Pope and volleyball coach Craig Skinner on Friday night matchups; (19:00) Unforgettable guard Sean Woods; (39:00) EKU looks ahead to Senior Day; (44:00) Billy Rutledge makes his weekly NFL picks; (59:00) West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue and Side on a Thursday evening.
Dick Gabroe with you. Glad to have you a board.
Tomorrow night it's Kentucky basketball. So this is our last
show of the week. Quite frankly, we've been bumped quite
a bit for basketball, including last night whether the UK
women just absolutely annihilated USC Upstate. Not a good team,
but Kentucky is and did what it has to do.

(00:21):
We're gonna talk more basketball coming up in our next segment.
Mark pok talked today earlier about the upcoming game for
the Wildcats and of course look back at the Louisville game,
but of course, also tomorrow night, Craig Skinner's volleyball Wildcats
will be back at it taking on Oklahoma. This is
a team that has won three straight but prior to

(00:41):
that was on a losing skid. Still a dangerous Oklahoma team,
and Kentucky naturally wants to finish up undefeated in the
SEC and win a ninth consecutive Southeastern Conference championship. So
we'll hear from Craig coming up in our next segment
as well. But Saturday, at one point thirty, it's Kentucky football.
Tennessee Tech dangerous for two reasons. It's a trap game,

(01:05):
There's no two ways about it. You could be looking
ahead to the next SEC game, which is a trip
to Vandy, or you can look at the team right
in front of you, which is undefeated in the FCS,
looking at a conference championship of its own. But it
is not going to overlook Kentucky obviously, and it's a
team that scores about forty five points a game. So

(01:28):
it's a dangerous contest, dangerous situation. Kentucky missing two, maybe
more starters on its defense, two for certain that are
after the rest of the year, and we don't know
yet about it's Alex Safari. By the time you hear this,
they may know about it, but they haven't announced it
as of right now. So yeah, it's a big one

(01:49):
for the Wildcats. Make it three straight win for the seniors.
It's senior Day. Send your fans home with a good
taste in their mouth and an opportunity to get back
to a bowl game. If Kentucky wins out, it goes
to a bowl game. In fact, if it just wins
two more, it goes to a bowl game. So that's
what the win over Florida did. Now, what did it

(02:11):
do to the Gators? Well, it devastated Florida fans everywhere
who are already are in a bad way. I mean,
their season's gone, their coach is gone. They're excited about
the prospects of a new head coach, but doesn't mean
they rebuild or jump right back in it. I want
to share with you a clip from a podcast done

(02:31):
by a guy named Josh Pate. He does a college
football show on the Internet, and this was pretty clever.
He recounted the ways that the Florida Kentucky game was
devastating for the Gators, how they lost it to Kentucky.
And you can hear in the background the music from

(02:53):
one of the late night PSAs you might see with
Sarah McLaughlin singing in the background, trying to make his
field guilty. And I do because I love dogs. But
you know it's the commercial where the dogs are the
PSA where they show the dogs that are in such
bad way and they're asking for financial help. Right It
just it just makes you feel melancholy. And that's where

(03:16):
the Florida Gators are right now. That's where their fans
are right now. And Josh Pate combined the two the
information on the Kentucky Florida game, and the music to
put this together.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
What I'm about to say could actually be the title
of a Sarah MacLaughlin song. It could be called Kentucky
didn't punt cause Kentucky didn't punt. DJ Lagway got benched
in the game.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
After three more.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Interceptions, no Florida wide receiver went over thirty yards. I
have here The shocking Florida drive chart goes a little
something like this.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
These are the lyrics.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Interception, punt, touchdown of thirteen yards.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
That's how long the drive was.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
This is when it really gets bad. Fumble, three and out, interception, interception,
halftime punt, turnover on downs, turnover on downs.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
That's the end of the game.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Mark Stoops owns Florida. He doesn't need to take the job.
He already owns Florida. He is four and one in
his last five and stat of the evening earmuffs in Gainesville.
This was Kentucky's biggest margin of victory over the Gators
since the nineteen fifties. They watched the game in black

(04:26):
and white. Florida heads back to Gainesville black and blue.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
They are the Ceramon Black one.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Special for week eleven, and that is understandable. And as
he pointed out off the top, Kentucky didn't punt. I
think Jeff Bcorrel pointed that out to us on the
era off because I know at one point late in
the game, he said, as Kentucky even punted, and Tom
Lee said, nope, those guys will call the game. As

(04:52):
the Wildcats take on Tennessee Tech coming up on Saturday,
important game, and people hate these that pop up in
the middle of the conference play. A lot of people
hate them, but we all know why they play him.
You know, it's a scheduling break, plus its money for
the other team. But it is dangerous for the Wildcats,

(05:13):
who now have raised awareness in the SEC. If you
listen to podcasts or radio shows or watch TV, people
are saying, following up on the Auburn win, the impressive
win over Florida, look at Kentucky. Now. Has that gotten
Mark Stoops off the hot seat? Who knows? I have

(05:35):
not talked a lot about that for a couple of reasons.
Number one, you know, I'm on the UK Football Network,
so anything I say people are going to say, well,
that's what he's supposed to say, or he doesn't want
to put himself in any kind of jeopardy or anything
like that. That's all well and good. I don't talk
a lot about this coach ought to be fired or
that coach ought to be fired when it comes to

(05:56):
the way their teams are performing. If it's off the
field stuff like the Joe Paterno situation, yeah I will
weigh in. But I'm also really conservative on this kind
of stuff because I've just been around for a long
time and I'm more of an Jimmy's and Joe's rather

(06:16):
than Exes and O's kind of guy. So many college
fans just deify coaches, turn him into gods because they're
my head coach. He's the smartest, he's the best. Our
players should be the best. Doesn't work that way. Are
good coaches everywhere now. Mark Stoops has done things here
at Kentucky that nobody saw coming. Maybe he did. But

(06:40):
I will say this, and I never thought I would
hear myself say this. The Kentucky football coach is a
victim of his own success. That's right, the Kentucky football coach.
I have said before, and I didn't make this up.
You didn't just raise the ceiling. He raised the floor.
People like me who say, man, they want seven games

(07:00):
each of the last two years prior to the losing
year last season, and that would be cause for great
celebration back in the day. And people, I'll give you
Billy Rutledigs for example, who's kind of new to Kentucky football,
but he's been here for a while. But he's in
his twenties and he said to me, so what. And
he's right, because now they've raised the floor. I can't

(07:24):
say they're going to win ten games every year, but
Kentucky fans have become accustomed to and have the right
to expect more, even though the SEC is brutally hard now.
And I can tell you from covering this conference since
the seventies, it's never been tougher. It's never had more teams.

(07:44):
When you had Texas, you had Oklahoma, it gets a
lot tougher. But now nil the portal, you know all this,
it's incredibly difficult. And yet you've got traditional powers like
Georgia and Alabama that are still good, still dangerous. But
you got a team like oh Miss, the coach like
Lane Kiffin who knows how to put a scheme together,

(08:07):
but also is recruited well and done well in the portal.
And Vanderbilt maybe the best example. You know, they went
out and got a new coach, new oc brought in
a new quarterback. But they've also got a good defense,
good lineman on both sides of the ball. So it
can't happen now. People were down on stoops of course

(08:29):
early in the year, which was almost predictable. The whole season,
for the most part, has been predictable, and as I
said back in August, it's about the calendar. When do
they play these teams. They had a shot against teams
that they could have beaten, maybe should have beaten South
Carolina and Columbia. You make three mistakes, give them three touchdowns,

(08:50):
You're not going to win that game, especially on the road.
Although I think Kentucky today will give South Carolina a
hell of a game, maybe beat them ole Miss. Kentucky's
played ole Miss as tough as any team that Ole
Miss has beaten. Ole Miss isn't undefeated, but look at
the teams that ole Miss has beaten. Kentucky has played
ole Miss as tough as anybody, but made a couple

(09:12):
of mistakes and lost the game. We know what happened
against Texas. Should have won that game and if they did,
none of this Mark Steuss should be fired stuff. He
would have even come up. Now, why is it happening now? Well,
Cutter Bowley has been big bush hamm down, tweaking the scheme,
going for the quick release stuff instead of drop back,
drop back, try to throw deep, get sacked, that kind

(09:34):
of stuff. But the defense has settled in, hasn't it,
with the transfers, with the portal guys, and is the
strength of is Kentucky team? And inside linebacker Grant Godfrey,
who's getting more playing time thanks to injuries. He's a
sophomore now a red shirt sophomore, talked the other day

(09:55):
about why it's happening now, or at least for the defense.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
Just the film preparation, play every play like it's a
game at practice, just running around hussins to the ball.
I would say the first few weeks we weren't doing that.
But when all that stuff getting mentioned of maybe coach
Stud's leaving or getting fired, is it, I feel like
can motivate us more to play harder and make that

(10:22):
ball game.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
And you know we love.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
Coach stops so we want to stay so just playing harder.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
I feel like, yeah, you can listen to that and
hear him talk about Mark Stoops. But to me, one
of the more interesting things was when he said early
in the comment that what is successful for them now
the way they approach practice and the games. They weren't
doing it earlier in the year. And you can blame
coaching for that, you can blame players, combination of both.

(10:49):
I think it's some of the young guys like him
who don't realize how tough it is, how hard you
have to work and then carry it from the practice
field to the ball game in order to be successful,
especially in the Southeastern Conference. They're figuring that out now
along with Cutter Bowley doing good things, and people still ask,

(11:12):
you know, why in the world did it take him
this lot? Well, I'll tell you why, because preseason, Zak
Calzada and cut Her Bully were neck and neck, and
I went to practice and it was hard to tell.

Speaker 5 (11:25):
Now.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
I did not go to the last scrimmage, and I
was told by a couple of people who were there
that Bully out played Calzada, which may be the case
when you pay a million plus for a guy who
has a good track record, not great, but good in
college football. More than six thousand yards at his last stop. Yeah,

(11:45):
I one double A, so what they still played good
football there success relatively speaking at Texas A and M.
And I read just the other day how he failed
at Auburn. Well he got hurt, never played so anyhow
for whatever reason then it turned out to be injury.

(12:06):
Bowley takes over for Calzada and makes the job his,
and that is one of the biggest reasons the Wildcats
have been successful. But as Gottfried pointed out, they are
playing as hard and working as hard in practice as
they need to in the game. And that is something

(12:27):
that has dawned on a young player like him. And
I'm sure a few others you'll hear Kentucky, Tennessee Tech
one thirty kickoffs Saturday eleven thirty AM, Kegs and Eggs
for pregame, Christy and Logan and Ricky and then Tom
and Jeff and I have the Call of the Wildcats
and the Golden Eagles coming up on a Saturday afternoon.

(12:47):
Coming up next, we'll talk basketball and volleyball on six
thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bluemin Satder coming
up at the bottom of the Arashan Woods, the unforgettable
guard will join us and now re number two, Billy
rut Ledge will make his pick, and our West End
bureau chief Gary Moore will check in. Everything is happening
in a different time. Usually we talked to Gary and

(13:07):
Sean on Wednesdays, but we were preempted and then we're
gonna be preempted tomorrow night. So that's why Billy is
making his NFL picks. Going to be preempted tomorrow night
by UK Eastern Illinois basketball. As a Wildcats look to
bounce back after that loss to the Louisville Cardinals, Mark
Pope talked to the media today and one of the
things he was asked about was the response by the players,

(13:31):
the mood they're in, and he spoke at length about
trying to coach them through a tough situation like this
by basically saying, you know, don't dwell on a bad loss,
but that's easy to say, but he was trying to
help them get through it with some specific advice.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
You know, when you have setbacks, setback is it's either
going to be a setback forever or are you going
to turn it into the pivotal moment and your growth,
and really you get to write that story and that
never changes. It doesn't change inside sports, it doesn't change
outside of sports. In your life. It's exactly the same

(14:11):
way as it is in sports. Is we have all
these experiences. Some can be devastating, some can be really tough,
but they're either going to be devastating and tough for
the rest of your life or you're gonna make them
into something that was like a pivotal life changing moment.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
It is Kentucky and the Panthers of Eastern Illinois, which
is the alma mater of Tony Romo. Tomorrow night, Guess
our Boys started four to thirty. Network pregame at five
thirty and Tom and Jack have the Call of the
Cats in Eastern Illinois. That's tomorrow night with tip off
at seven o'clock. Volleyball coach Craig Skinner talked to the

(14:47):
media today His team is two wins away from another
outright SEC championship. It would be the ninth consecutive year
Kentucky either wins or shares the SEC title. Oklahoma comes
to ten tomorrow night. Somebody asked in her about the
work ethic of his team, and he said it's basically
the fact that his players are never satisfied.

Speaker 7 (15:08):
You know, they're not satisfied with yesterday, so they're coming
in today to try and improve.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
And so that's a big piece of it. You know.

Speaker 7 (15:15):
The other piece of it is, you know, some teams
rely on their offense, and we've talked about this, some
teams rely on big block and defense. Some teams rely
on their serve. We've had to be able to win
in multiple different ways. And you know, our defense, you
know how many blocks we had against Tennessee was a
huge part of that win. Our serving has taken people
out of their offense at times.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
So I think that if.

Speaker 7 (15:39):
We only relied on one of those things, we probably
wouldn't be here at this point. And who knows what
Oklahoma will bring us. I know that they'll bring a
speed that we haven't seen yet, so you know, we'll
have to be able to make some adaptions on the fly.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Now, when he talked to the media, he spoke at
the press room over in the coliseum. Last time it
was at the UK Football Stadium, just ahead of Mark Stoops.
Then you may know by now that in order to
drum up attention and support for his team going into
that Tennessee match. Craig Skinner jumped up on the desk said,

(16:15):
I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. Then they
shouted it from the rafters of rup and he got
a crowd, got the crowd he needed and wanted. It
was packed, it was full, and it was a crowd
that helped his team beat Tennessee. It's going to be
He's not going to replicate that tomorrow night because there's
a men's basketball game. We know this, but he is
happy with the fact that the Wildcats almost certainly won

(16:36):
some new fans during the Tennessee match.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
I am excited that.

Speaker 7 (16:40):
You know, I've heard from a lot of people that
have never come to volleyball that did come, that want
to come back, and ultimately that's what we want to see.
And you know, I think they saw a style of
play in a Kentucky uniform that they can relate to.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
It is a seven o'clock start, same as the basketball game.
You know, you can't be in two places at once,
but if you're home, you can listen to the basketball game,
have it up on one of the TVs as well.
And you can watch volleyball because yours truly will have
it along with Leah Edmond on SEC Plus. So it's
Kentucky Oklahoma, seven o'clock tomorrow night. Now, if you want

(17:17):
to go to a match, you got one more shot
in the regular season you got or the NCA tournament
coming up after the SEC tournament. But the last home
official Kentucky match is Sunday at one o'clock against Arkansas.
If you haven't had a chance to check it out,
now's your opportunity. You will get at least one more
shot in the postseason, probably two. Kentucky will be hosting

(17:39):
a subregional. But don't wait. Just come on out tomorrow night,
or at least come on out on Sunday. A couple
of weather notes before we hit the break, one of
them coming from Canada, and this evolves Micah Johnson, the
former Kentucky Wildcat who had a cup of coffee with
the NFL with the Chiefs I believe might have been
our practice squad. It winds up in Canada with first

(18:02):
Calgary and then Saskatchewan. He's thirty seven years old. He
is saying he probably wants to play one more year.
I didn't realize. I knew he was up there, didn't
realize he was having a kind of career that he
is having. He's been All CFL a couple of times
and has really found a home in Saskatchewan apparently. But

(18:23):
they're talking about him like he's future Canadian Football Hall
of Fame material. Three hundred and nine defensive tackles, seventy
one sacks, six forced fumbles, couple of interceptions and like
I said, all kinds of all star mentioned so Micah Johnson,
who of course played under Rich Brooks, but has found
a home in Canada, much like James Raimie. James played

(18:47):
for the Hamilton Tiger Cats. He was a de tackle
under Frank Kersey I think, played up there for fourteen years.
But Mikah Johnson evidently is having himself quite a time
up in Canada. I also wanted to point now this
is a great story. There's a horse named Awesome Hawaiian.
They won a race at Churchill Down's the sixth race yesterday.

(19:09):
It was a claimer, but this is a gelding that
is a son of Awesome Bat and things were not
going well and he wound up with a bunch of
other horses, and what they called a feed pen is
basically a kill pen. These horses were going to be

(19:30):
slaughtered and then I guess turned into pet food or
something like that. Anyhow, the daughter of John Stewart, who
has resolute racing, heard about these horses, and she and
her mother ended up buying three of them. Rescuing these horses.

(19:50):
Two of them are fine, they're out turned out in
the field, living their full lives. But one of them
they named Awesome Hawaiian sent him to the race track
and you want to race the other day. It's a
story that might not mean much to people if you're
not a racing fan, but that is resonating in the

(20:10):
world of thoroughbred racing. And the horse is trained by
Will Walden, the son of Elliot Walden. This is just
one of the great stories. It's not a horse that
was expensive to begin with. He went for a thousand
dollars in the sales ring and nothing ever really happened
with him. But he was looking at doom and instead

(20:32):
now he's a hero. A rod Ortiz Junior rode into
victory at Churchill Downs and it's just a great story
if you like this kind of thing, even if you're
not a racing fan, it's still a great story, all right.
When we come back Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard, we'll
talk Kentucky basketball here on six point thirty WLAP. Welcome

(20:53):
back to the Big Blue Cider. We are moving our
Wednesday lineup to Thursday as we were preempted on Wednesday,
which means that the unforgettable word. Shawn Woods joined us
on our celebrity hotline. His jersey hangs in the rafters
of rup. He, of course, is also the head coach
at Scott County High School season opener on the Way, Coach,
I know you're a hating life watching the Cats in

(21:14):
the cards Tuesday night, weren't you?

Speaker 8 (21:17):
Yes, I was just it was like we were in
quick saying and they were just running past us. You know,
they were more juicier than we were, and we got
to find our way offensive we have been. You know,
I'm hoping that Lowe continues to get better than because
he's been out for three weeks or so. But you know,

(21:38):
you saw what he's capable of doing when he came
in and gave us a boost. But can he sustain
I just hope he can sustain. He looked. What worries
me is if you can see him, he was grimacing
the whole time and moving that shoulder around. I just
hope it's not a lingering thing, because if it is,
you know, it's it's not gonna be good for us,
you know. And you saw where you know, the kid

(21:58):
from Florida, he's much better that are at the two.
You know, he's a score, he's not a point. I
remember I was telling you, you know about being serviceable.
He's serviceable, but that's not what he does. And you
can see how good he is when he's at his
natural position and everybody else win. The point guard is
that you know on the floor.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
I felt like, oh, take away is not one hundred
percent yet, And I thought U of l took it defensively,
took it right to him, and he was not nearly
as effective as he might have been. I'm not trying
to blame him, but that's just one of the first
observations I had. What did you see?

Speaker 8 (22:31):
Well, I'm I'm I'm been looking on the way a
lot here and he's not. I just think he's not
the same as he was. He's not as hungry as
he was last year. You know, having something to prove.
I think, you know, now he's kind of, you know,
not acted high on the hall because he's preseason Player
of the Year, but he's not playing with that sense
of urgency, you know, on both ends of the court

(22:54):
like he played with last year. And I don't know
if that's because of his injury. I don't know, because
he's trying to to the scouts so he can shoot
the you know that he's shooting the basketball more because
I know that's what they want him to do more.
But he's got to stay within himself in order for
Kentucky to be as good as they can be from
a hungry standpoint, making the plays on the defensive end

(23:14):
and taking the shots that he can make instead of
taking step back threes. He's never done that before, and
now you're he's trying to do things that he's never done.
And is he good at it just yet? I don't know.
But it doesn't seem like he's playing with the same
pop and the same urgency as he did last year.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
I do wonder, yeah, I do wonder if it was
the injury, him coming in slowly, they're trying to work
him back in and all that. But because of the
schedule they're playing. You know, we'll have a chance to
see if that's true. We'll see how he responds. I
also thought Brandon Garrison just kind of drifted in that
game a little bit, you know, and he he usually

(23:55):
plays with a lot more fire.

Speaker 8 (23:56):
What did you see, I'm telling you, I mean to him,
I don't see the same energy. I don't see the
same urgency from them. I mean, we're much better when
Malachi is on the floor. We get more defense. I
think we're longer. I think we were better offensively. You know,
I think our guards really love playing with Malachi because
he really knows how to present himself to a place

(24:19):
where you can make a play for him. He's greater
to pick and roll, throwing over the top for alley ups.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
You know.

Speaker 8 (24:24):
He reminds me of Melvin Turpin and not I mean,
I'm just he moves like Turp, has a demeanor like Turp.
I don't know how good he shoots it, you know,
like Turp did you know from fifteen and then, But
he has that type of presence that Turp had, And
they're almost the same size when Turp first guy here.
So you know, I just hope and pray that you know, Garrison,

(24:48):
you know, shakes out of it.

Speaker 9 (24:50):
We got it.

Speaker 8 (24:50):
We need more from all way because if he's not
playing like the player of the year or one of
the best determined basketball players in college basketball, and we're
not going to get the same energy and effort and
production and productivity from him. And that's what we need
because I thought he was the most important piece coming
back and we're not getting that just yet. And you know,

(25:15):
you got to go to your nucleus who knows it.
And we're not getting it from our guys that played
last year like we should, and we're depending on all
these new guys, and you know, just like anybody else,
you know, it takes a while to jail. But the
other teams that were playing are the same way. I
just don't like the fact that we didn't play with
a great sense of urgency against the world. But I

(25:35):
thought they pushed us in the mouth. I that they
played with more enthusiasm and energy and they were having
more fun. They were beating us to balls that were
making shots because they were playing with such confidence. And
you know, like I told you before, we got to
come up with some more schemes offensively and get more

(25:55):
transition buckets off of our defense because our offense, high
court offense is so predictable and guys are switching it.
So we got to come up with some ways to
score the basketball because we're having a hard time scoring.
And you know, these other teams are pretty good too.
Now they can't score. And that was one thing we
were doing last year. We were making more shots.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
They were outscoring people.

Speaker 8 (26:16):
Yes, we weren't the thing. We were outscoring people. Now
we're not outscoring people, and we're not that good defensively,
just yet to really dominate like a rip between those
teams or Houston, who are not explosive offensively, but they
just locked you down on the front of the defensive standpoint.
We got to find our identity. I just don't think
we have one right now.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
There's a lot of want to unpack your First of all,
I couldn't have smiled more broadly when you mentioned Melvin
Turpin because sitting at the game the other night, I'm
watching Malachi post up and made himself big, as you said,
really made himself a target. And I'll never forget this.
Joe Hall saw a photograph once of Melvin with that

(26:58):
big rear end. And this is before Melvin and put
on all the way. But Melvin, you know, grew at
Kentucky and got stronger. And there was a shot of
him in the low post. You may have seen his
picture sometimes Sean of him all spread out and his
arms up in the air. It's almost with his face
pleading for the basketball. And Joe b asked somebody, hey,

(27:18):
can we get this blown up to life size proportions
because he said he wanted to put it up in
the locker room and show people this is the way
you post up and present for the ball, you know.
And that's not lost on coaches, is it.

Speaker 8 (27:33):
No, it's not. You know, you still want to play
inside to out. Most of these coaches now want to
play outside the end. You know. Their first option is
to create a play for three. Yeah, you know, so
you're taking a chance on a thirty seven percent shot
more so than a fifty percent shot or a sixty
five percent shot. You know. That's that's how much basketball
has changed in today's deal. And we can't play that

(27:56):
way right now because we don't shoot the ball as great.
I think we can, you know, I think we got
Diamante and Malakai. I think we can play more high
low type of situations with two double post, which you
know youman take a step out to shoot the three.
But we got to get more more paint touches, and
that puts more pressure on the defense and it creates

(28:18):
better percentage shots. And then we got to, you know,
continue to tighten up our defense so we can push
it more and get more opportunities in transition so we
don't have to set up as much in the half court.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah, and you mentioned defense earlier in transition, and people,
I think by now probably realize I would hope they
do after watching and the Rick Patino teams here, and
really a lot of the best teams in Kentucky, best
teams anywhere, transition comes from your defense and rebounding. You know,
you don't just suddenly say, okay, let's fast break. And
I just felt like Kentucky's defense early in the game

(28:53):
wasn't there. Now it started to pick up a little
bit later, but he was really looking for combinations, wasn't he.

Speaker 8 (29:00):
Well, I'm gonna be honest with it. I hate to
be this, but they made their run when their little
guard got hurt, got cramped. If you go back. Yeah,
we started cramping up things like that, you know what
I'm saying. But they had no answer for him. When
he went out, they kind of they kind of mad
went on a run, and then when he came back
it kind of got back solidified. But you know, we

(29:21):
got to find a way, Dick, and we need some
we're not we're finding out right now when we play
the really good teams now, the man major teams that
we're playing, and everybody's looking good. We got to be
able to take people's blows and would stand them and
then give them a blow. And you know, we're not
as deep as we thought we would be. You know,
some of these guys just not ready to play at

(29:42):
this level right now, this high level. And you know
it was it was evident, you know when we played Georgetown,
and it was evident when we played Global the other day.
Now we got who, we got Michigan State coming up,
we got Saint John coming up, we got North Carolina
coming up. So you know, we got to find a
way to win some of these high level games that

(30:03):
were just not we'd be getting We're getting embarrassed, we're
getting out physical. You know, we're getting punked. And you know,
we got to find a way to withstand these things
and find a way to win these games, because right now,
I don't think we're tough enough. I don't think we
know what we're doing that there were certain times where
we didn't. Our offense was so stagnant. I've never seen

(30:24):
a Mark Pop team like that, you know what I'm saying.
With all the stuff that he runs that people are
just standing around now, you know, so we we got
to tighten some things up, you know what I'm saying.
In these next coming weeks.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
He is Sewn Woods, the Unforgettable Guard. We'll come back
and talk more with Sean on the other side of
the break here on six thirty w LAP. Welcome back
to the Big Blues Sider. We're chatting as we do
every week with the Unforgettable Guard, Shawn Woods, and Uh
we text stuff back and forth, Coach, and you shot
me a clip from a podcast almost as by way

(30:54):
of saying, you see what I mean. Uh is nil
money ruining locker rooms? And I think we'd be naive
to think that. You know that it's not in some
places some places, yes, some places. Know, question is how
many what does this do to coaches. Man, I mean,
you know how if you're a d one or you know,

(31:15):
anywhere where there's nil money in play, you talk about
an additional burden, right.

Speaker 8 (31:21):
It isn't. It's an added burden that you're already dealing with,
you know what I'm saying, with competitive guys and guys
fighting for minutes and playing minutes and things like that.
And now you throw money into the situation. And you know,
money is the root of all evil. That's the first
thing that starts confrontation. And shoot, we can go all
the way back to you got two freshmen right now, Okay,

(31:42):
one coming off the bench is probably making more money
than anybody on the team, and he couldn't play that
much the other day. You know, Mallechi is the only
freshman that's really giving you something, you know what I'm saying.
But you're paying guys one point four million dollars and
they can't even play more than ten minutes. And then
you got these transfers coming in that you get for
less money and they're the ones who's playing. How do
you think that's going to look and feel?

Speaker 1 (32:05):
What do you think though about you? Because you also
sent this to me Comments made by your old coach,
Rick Patino. He was on a radio show in Louisville
a little while back, and he's his team has a
payroll of more than ten million, but Patino is saying
the money doesn't mean anything at all to his players
or to a majority of basketball players. He said, that's

(32:27):
the greatest misconception. He said, I don't think it's any
difference than twenty years ago. Pay means nothing at all,
So they give the money to their families, he said,
So it's really not the compensation. If you watch this practice,
you wouldn't think it was any different than twenty five
years ago, which, on the one hand I kind of liked.
But on the other hand, he's Rick Pattino, you know,

(32:48):
and guys either respond to him or get out. You know,
what was your reaction to that?

Speaker 8 (32:53):
He's Rick Patino. He can get away with that, but
a lot of these young coaches can't, Yeah, because they're
still trying to be friends with these guys. Where he
trying to be friends. He's coached, and he's going to
continue to coach the way he always coached, and you know,
you either take it or leave it, and he's going
to demand what he needs to get out of you,
and he's going to get it. Whether you're making to
me or making fifty thousand, that's just him. But everybody

(33:16):
doesn't have that, and that's not everybody's locker room. And
that's the reason why you know, when he negotiates, he's
hitting you in the mouth early and letting you know
how that's going to be no matter what the money
situation is. Where these other coaches, that's how they're bribing
you is from a money standpoint to get you. And
then now they got to coach you. And you know
when you were begging and pleading and throwing money at him,

(33:38):
And I'm saying that's one thing. Now you're trying to
demand them to do things that you need him to
do to help you win games. That's another.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
You can talk to them in the process as well.
I know about how you're going to coach them. It's
going to be hard and all that. But you have
to wonder, I think it's fair to wonder, are they
really hearing what you're saying? Are they just seeing the
dollar signs?

Speaker 8 (33:59):
You know, you come in baby faced kids, you know,
new coach or you know thirty year thirty year old
coach and things like that, and you feel a man
these kids, and shoot, you know, you're not Calvin Sampson,
You're not Rick Patino, You're not Bill Seth. You know,
guys that can demand, you know, respect even from your parents,
you know what I'm saying. So you know, it's it's

(34:19):
a different locker room in those those older guys as
locker rooms, those veterans compared to these younger guys. And
you know that's why these older guys are still standing
because they demand order and within their program and these
other young guys they're you know what I'm saying, they're
just hoping and wishing. You want to be friend these kids,
and that's a difference.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah, And he also talked about the guys like, for instance,
Walter Clayton who started off at Iona it's in the
league now, but won a title with Florida. But that
is that does have an impact on those mid major schools.
You know, if the NIL had been around, Clayton wouldn't
have been there, maybe not at all. So you knew
that was coming.

Speaker 8 (35:00):
Right exactly exactly. It's just a new day and it's
you know, navigating through all this stuff. The transfer portal,
you know, in il money. You know, when is it
going to end? When? Don When would coaches start to
get control of this because they don't have control of it.
They don't know and in order to get a player,

(35:21):
you know, is coming down to the almighty dollar.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
But you know what, not to interrupt you, but to me,
what what kind of exacerbated the situation? Of course, the
Edobandon case touched all of this off when you know,
he sued about not getting anything for his image being
in a video game, which which was ridiculous. I'm I'm
sure Sean, your your image was in a video game.
It's Soto gazillion dollars with the product, and you didn't

(35:45):
get any for it. But you know, now you've got
that the the what is it, the elite maybe one
or two percent of coaches who make this, you know,
Caliperi kind of money, you know, Rick Patino kind of money.
And when those figures hit the internet of the newspaper
or whatever, people see it now, it really underscores the

(36:07):
fact that the coaches were way up here and the
players were getting next to nothing. A scholarship is not
nothing that offends me when people say that, but just
in terms of the dollars being thrown around. You see
what I'm saying that that you know, it's tough to
tell kids keep your mouth shut and sit over here. Meanwhile,
your coach is getting seven million dollars a year.

Speaker 8 (36:27):
Right, and that's true. And nowadays, you know, we're recruiting
players and players now that don't even know nothing about
this anymore.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah. Yeah, so it's just.

Speaker 8 (36:37):
Like the cell phone. You know, we you know, we
know what it's like to not have a cell phone.
With these kids nowadays don't know what it's like to
not have a cell phone, just like these kids coming
up now don't know what it's like not to have
in our own opportunities.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (36:49):
So they're not even thinking the way it used to be.
They're thinking about now. And you know, we have to
change as coaches and older people in the business because
you know, these kids don't think the same. Parents don't
even think the same even though they were around when
there was no ni La. It's about money now, you
know what I'm saying. And the parents are just as
worse as the kid as far as money is concerned.

(37:11):
And now you know, not only are you coaching the kid,
but you got to try to win the dinner table
even more because of you know, these people are so entitled.
When you throw millions of dollars on top of it,
that enhances it.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
They see the dollar signed down the road. Maybe not
here in high school, but if if you're not playing
little Johnny, you're preventing in from getting to that next level, right.

Speaker 8 (37:32):
No doubt about it. That's why you've got to have
para meetings at the beginning, especially when you're in high school,
and you tell those parents right away that you don't
talk about plan time. You could talk about social grades,
you know, emotional things like that, but plan time is
off limits and you have to limit. You have to
do that right away. But then parents get mad because
they don't they can't talk to the coach.

Speaker 9 (37:52):
And what do they do?

Speaker 8 (37:53):
They go to social media. Now you're out your dirty
laundry because you're mad that Johnny's not good enough. Because
I don't know one coach that will cut his nose
off by his face, you know, And these parents are
so unrealistic right now. But you just have to stick
to your guns. I know, I am. You know there's
no one parent that's going to rum my program. If
you've got to start answering the parents and that that

(38:13):
takes away from coaching, and now you know what are
you doing this for?

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah, it's a different age, isn't it. You know you
make it feel old. It does a little bit.

Speaker 8 (38:24):
But I'm fun coaching these youngsters, you know what I'm saying,
Because there's more teaching now than just major expectations. You
know what I'm saying. You kind of go through the
expectations with them through their development. So that's where I
am right now.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it and I can't wait
to see your team coaches. Always interesting stuff. Thanks so much.
We'll see it down the road.

Speaker 8 (38:43):
All right, get talking to you, but I'll talk to
you next week.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
And up next number two, Billy Rutledge makes his NFL
picks a day early because you don't have a show
on Friday thanks to UK basketball and our West ENDUA
chief Gary Moore on six thirty wlap.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
Everything then at such.

Speaker 10 (39:21):
Tact taking the.

Speaker 11 (39:54):
Showing welcome back to the Big Blue Sider.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
I re number two of our program. Coming up. Billy
Rutledge makes his NFL picks for the weekend and Gary
Moore or West End Bureau chief usually with us on Wednesday.
We were bumped last night, so he's with us tonight,
makes his picks and observations for the upcoming weekend, which
includes Senior Night at e KU. Not just at Kentucky,
but the seniors will say goodbye to the fans at

(41:22):
Roy Kidds Stadium, and the Colonels are coming off a setback.
They need a win to send their seniors out right.
Colonel's play host to Abilene Christian. It's actually at three
o'clock start and you can see it on ESPN Plus.
But the Colonels have had trouble of late hanging on

(41:42):
the leads. That's what has really cost them in some
of their losses. You know, they've been in games with
everybody for the most part at halftime, but the second
half it gets away from them. And this is an
Abilene Christian team that's coming in her six and four,
five and one in conference play. This is a UAC

(42:03):
conference game. This team is ranked either eighteenth or twentyth
So the colonel has got to be on top of
their game. But they've got to be sharp throughout the
entire game. They're not scoring a lot of points, only
nineteen points a game, giving up only twenty seven points
a game, but so many of their troubles have come
in the second half when things get away. So I

(42:23):
had a chance to chat with a couple of players.
Tight End Zach Russell talked about what they've got to
do and why things happen in the second half of
what they got to do.

Speaker 12 (42:32):
To clean that up probably well, I mean, dude, it's
our am and penalties, those are those are the culprits
of you know how we're not sustaining droughts. I don't
think there's anything physical, you know, you look at we
have our GPS. You know, it's our strain, our efforts there,
it's just our execution's got to pick up.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
That is ZKU tight end Zach Russell, and we talked
to him via zoom. And by the way, he has
a mustache that is absolutely glorious. It's a handlebar must
and as I told him, it would be the pride
of any bartender or firefighter. But somebody else asked him
about using wax on it. You know, because when you
think about a handlebar and sports, you think about Roley Fingers,

(43:11):
the Great relief pitcher, and his was big and just
you know, glorious, as I said, but he's the wax
really well on it. And Zach said he never really
has mastered the mustache whax, so right now he just
kind of pulls on it and tries to form it
and shape it. The way that he's got it looks
pretty good. I will say that one of his teammates

(43:32):
is defensive lineman Bradley Gurley, and he talked about trying
to clean things up in the second half.

Speaker 13 (43:39):
You know, we just got to do a little bit
better communication sometimes, you know, we're not communicating all the time. Yeah,
we'll communicate, but we need to over communicate and then
just cut the little stuff out because the little stuff
is gonna lose his games. And as we've seen last weekend,
it lost his games because of the little.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Things, and the little things can become big things, and
obviously they don't want that to happen. On this the
final home game of the year at Roy Kids Stadium.
They had their winning streak snapped there earlier this season,
but still they want to turn things around. And Gurlies
an underclass but he wants to win this for the seniors.
This means a lot.

Speaker 13 (44:09):
I want to see our seniors out the right way.

Speaker 6 (44:11):
You know.

Speaker 13 (44:11):
It's just they mean a lot to me and I
don't want them to go out a world kid would
have lost.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Colonels are four and six on the air, only two
and four in conference play. Look like they were positioning
themselves for a run at conference plate, but they have
stumbled of late, losing to Southern Utah last week. So
trying to turn things around against Abilene Christian. This is
the fourth time EKU has faced a ranked opponent this year.
The Colonel's one and two so far against ranked opponents,

(44:38):
and it's an Eastern team that has created seventeen turnovers
this year. That's twelfth the most in FCS football. They've
helped them produce the twenty fifth best turnover margin in
the country. So it's EKU and Abilene Christian coming up,
and you can see it on ESPN Plus and you
can hear it on the EKU Sports Network with West

(45:00):
Chandler calling the action on the radio and audio, and
then the ESPN Plus coverage is our man, Greg Stottlemeyerho's
been at this for almost He's in his fifth decade
I think now at EKU and Jim Tyreeer old Buddy
is the color analyst as well. Want to come. I'm
six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider.

(45:22):
No show tomorrow night because of the UK basketball, but
we must have the NFL picks once again from Billy Rutledge,
who joined us on our celebrity hotline. Billy, we were
prempted last week as well, but we still made picks,
and neither one of us did very well. You went
two and four, I went one and five. We both
lost on Atlanta at Indy with the Falcons covering. We

(45:45):
lost Buffalo and Miami, with of course Miami covering. We
lost on the Ravens in Minnesota with a Raven surprisingly
winning big. We won on the Lions at the Commanders.
We both like the Lions, even though they were given
eight and a half on the road Eagles at My Packers.
You went with your head and took the Eagles. I

(46:06):
went with my heart took my Packers, and Packers lost
by three. The line was two and a half. How
about that?

Speaker 9 (46:15):
That was an ugly game. I hope I never have
to watch that or think about that game again. But
you know, we didn't have a chance to talk it
out Dick, So that's I'm shocking.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Well, and we both went with your beloved Buccaneers who
were laying two and a half to the Patriots in Tampa,
and the Patriots romped. So yeah, we need to rally.

Speaker 9 (46:35):
Yeah, And Drake Mays looks good this year. I mean
it was raining in Tampa. It didn't look like he
could hold the ball or throw a good path, and
then he just turned it on. They are going to
be a problem in the playoffs this year.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
They really are. All right, Well, let's try to get
backs as most people do, and then we're playing this
for fun, not money, but you know a lot again,
I'm going to get it all back on my next bed.
Here we go. That's right, important divisional game, Bears at
the Vikings in Minnesota. They're getting the Bears are getting
three and a half. And in this series, Chicago's won

(47:07):
six of seven, five and two against the spread. But
the Bikes with that hook at home look dangerous.

Speaker 9 (47:13):
What do you say that's surprising for you to say?
The Bears have won six of the last seven in
this series, and the Minnesota has had some success over
the past previous years, but it seems like Chicago's owned
them in this series. I'm going to go with the
team that's trending upward here in Chicago. I mean, Caylen
Williams looks good in that win versus the Giants last week.
Ben Johnson seems to be bringing his culture over to Chicago,

(47:36):
and not only his culture but his offense, and that
seems to be working well. DeAndre swift manung guy, the
backup running back that's taken over. Meanwhile, Minnesota that's got
some JJ McCarthy blues. You know, I think he plays
well at times and then others it seems like he's
trying to force some places. Justin Jefferson hasn't really been
producing at the same level as people expect. This one's

(47:59):
in Minnesota. They hung with the Ravens, but Baltimore does
have Lamar Jackson, and I think that eventually took over.
But I'm taking the Bears here, Dick, what about you.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
I'm gonna do the same more for anything in history.
You know, the Bears five and two against the spread
against the Vikes, and maybe it's the hook that makes
the difference on the three and a half. So I'm
gonna go with you and take the Bears over the
Vikings Bengals in Pittsburgh. This division is nuts. Pittsburgh is
a five and a half point favorite eight and four

(48:29):
against the spread in games dating back to the last year,
and the Bengals have the worst defense in the league
in terms of points per game giving up yards per
game given up. Does Aaron Rodgers get well against the Bengals?

Speaker 9 (48:44):
You know, a lot of people can get well against
the Bengals, So like, I get it that you can
maybe look at like a John new Smith, who maybe
has been sporadic at times in Cincinnati's just so bad
versus tight ends that maybe Aaron can find that. No
means do I think Cincinnati is going to win this game.
But seven and a half is way too much. That's

(49:04):
why I'm taking it. Or it's five and a half. Okay,
five and a half, See that changes things because that's
there's no hook there. I mean, So I think I'm
gonna take Pittsburgh, Dick. I think I'm changing my mind
off of the two point difference here. I think since
he can score points, but they cannot stop anybody. And
even though Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf that was maybe

(49:28):
the worst game of the probably was the worst game
of the Aaron Rodgers era in Pittsburgh last week against
the Chargers, so I think naturally they'll bounce back a
little bit from that. Revert to the mean. Well, I meanwhile,
Cincinnati defense is going to be Cincinnati defense. So switching
my pick here, I'm going Pittsburgh.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
I'm gonna go Pittsburgh. But like you, I am worried
about the Pittsburgh defense because it's not a Mike Tomlin
looking defense. It's just not very good. And as you say,
the Bengals can score some points. This could be a
really entertaining game, and I think Rogers will for himself
to bounce back. So that's a lot. Five and a
half's a lot in Pittsburgh. I'll take it. Rams are

(50:06):
at home with Seattle, which is a team that has
confounded some folks. The Rams are a three and a
half point favorite, but Seattle is four and oh straight
up and as a road dog, so that's that makes
it tough.

Speaker 9 (50:23):
How great is this matchup? I mean, these are two
of the best teams in the NFC right now. Matthew
Stafford defying father time. I mean we were talking about
his bad back and if he was even going to
play this year, and I think he's thrown for four
touchdown passes and three games in a row, first person
to ever do that since the merger stick. So, I mean,
Matthew Stafford playing at an MVP type level it. Meanwhile,
Seattle might be maybe the best team in the NFC

(50:45):
right now with the resurgence of Sam Darnold, Jackson Smith
and Jibbah leading the NFL. I mean that game versus
Arizona last week looked like they were playing a JAA team.
I mean, it was like twenty eight to thirty five
to zero after the first quarter. So I'm really looking
forward this matchup LA minus three and a half at home.
You know, I think this is going to be tough

(51:06):
for Seattle to travel, you know, even though historically they're
better on the road than they are in Seattle over
the last few years. I really like what Seattle's doing,
but I think a lot of it's can maybe depend
on Devonte Adams and the health that he has. He
said that he is going to give it a go.
Him and Kouka and Nakua have just been phenomenal for
Matthew Stafford here. I like the weapons that the Rams

(51:26):
have they also got a pretty good run defense. I'm
gonna go La minus three and a half.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
I'll go against you'll push back and take Seattle. Not
just because the play by play guy. I went to
high school with him, played little league football with him.
But he was a star. I was terrible. But I
do like Seattle the fact that they're used to playing
on the road. They're Seattle, you know, so when they travel,
they travel. But I do think that that they are

(51:51):
on a bit of a role. But this could be
one of the best games of the day. Steelers Pittsburgh
might be entertaining, but this in a way that team
the game has played. For these two teams, this could
be the game of the day. The next one, Billy
puzzles me. Denver at home against Kansas City and the
Chiefs are giving three and a half. Denver is a

(52:12):
dog at home. For a while, their folks thought Denver
might be the best team in the league. Not anymore
but still successful.

Speaker 9 (52:19):
What do you say, Well, people say that, and I
think they have the best record in the league at
eight and two, So I mean Sean Payton has been
able to get it done. I think we just saw
how bad bo Nix was last week. It's becoming a
reoccurring theme that roster is actually pretty good. But bo
Nicks it seems like it takes some three quarters to
get going, and he's relying a lot on the first read.

(52:41):
They only beat the Raiders ten to seven on Thursday
at football last week, so I can understand why people
are getting on the Chiefs span wagon. Mahomes has looked better.
I think they're coming off a bye last week, so
they've had a little bit of time to prepare for
this one. But I've got I gotta go with Denver here,
which as I don't like bo Nicks the home dog.

(53:03):
You're telling me the eight and two team in the
NFL is a home dog, and it's minus three and
a half or plus three and a half for Denver.
I just simply put, as like picking spreads here, it
would be sacrilegious for me to pick Casey here. So
I'm going Denver.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
Yeah, I'm with you. And again, this is a game
that Denver could win, or that the Kansas City could win,
but not cover you know, three and a half. It
seems to be well, it is a lot when you're
talking about Denver at home. The one thing we know
is weather should not be an issue no matter what
it is, because Kansas City knows how to play in
bad weather. And for years the Chiefs have gone to

(53:38):
Denver and played in the thin air and all that.
So yeah, I just think three and a half too
much or a team like Denver that brings us to
a prime time game the Lions in Philly. Philly is
a two and a half point favorite. Detroit is thirteen
and two straight up when it comes to prime time games. Billy,
I think that's an interesting stat.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
That is.

Speaker 9 (54:02):
And the perception has shifted on the lines over the
last twenty years, huh. I mean dani Orlovski's now one
of the best NFL evaluators on TV.

Speaker 8 (54:10):
Before he was just.

Speaker 9 (54:11):
Running out of the back of end zones. I mean,
it is just completely flipped. With this franchise known for
losing Dan Campbell taking over the play calling duties was
I think a big, big factor, maybe overlooked by some.
Last week, the line put up forty four on the Commanders,
but Gibbs gets back into the really the offense, I
think there were some struggles there, so they're riding that

(54:31):
high of really some changes on the offensive end Meanwhile,
Philly minus two and a half here only scored ten
points against the good Green Bay Packers defense on the road.
I just don't know what to think about this team.
I really don't think, you know, Philly, just I think
about I think differently about them every single week, and
as the you know, a team that is expected to

(54:51):
be in the playoffs or the super Bowl. Again, I
just don't see them as that dominant of a team
this year, despite their overall pretty good record. I think
they're seven and now in the year. Yeah, so I
think they're susceptible to losing, especially at home. So I
think I'm going Detroit as a dog.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
I'm gonna go against I'll push back. And it's not
just because the Eagles beat my beloved Packers. But I
just think two and a half is manageable. I think
they could win it with a field goal at the
buzzer quite frankly. But for Philly, as you point out,
to go into Green Bay not the easiest of places
to play right now, and the strength of the green

(55:28):
Bay team is defense, and yeah, held Philly to just
ten points. But I think that Philly is a team
that can just figure things out, know how, to win.
I'm with you on Campbell calling the play. I think
that's big, and I think the Lions looks so good
last week, but it was against the Washington team that's

(55:48):
been maybe the biggest disappointment in the NFL this year.
You know a lot of people.

Speaker 9 (55:54):
Yeah, yeah, sorry, Dick, I was going to say Philly
just you know, sometimes they remember that they have receivers
and sometimes like when AJ Brown and DeVante Smith and
Jalen Hurts is throwing that deep ball, they are really good. Yeah,
but you know AJ Brown over the weekend saying that
the little trouble in Paradise on his stream and whatever.
So I mean, it's not all rainbows and sunshine over there,

(56:14):
but that should be another good game.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
That's way. Yeah, I agree, So we split on that game. Now,
you're beloved Buccaneers on the road. They play in Buffalo,
so they go from the sunny South to the frigid North,
much the way you did when you move from Tampa
to Kentucky. But we know Buffalo is either better or
worse depending on how you look at it. Buffalo's a
five and a half point favored Billy, but the Bills

(56:37):
give up five and a half yards per rush. Can
Tampa run the ball well enough to control tempo and
pull that upset or at least cover.

Speaker 5 (56:48):
Well.

Speaker 9 (56:48):
You know, here's the thing, Dick, Bucky Irving was seen
at practice this week and Chris Godwin, so there is
some optimism around one Buck place, But I don't know
if they're going to be game ready for one of
the better teams in the AFC. Buffalo losing to Miami
was just such a head scratching result that I'm almost
afraid that Buffalo is just going to be really angry.
It's really angry to play this game, Tampa losing that

(57:11):
close one to New England. Baker Mayfield really hasn't looked
the same over the last few weeks. He may be
dealing with a groin injury and just his running numbers
has dropped a little bit. I'm going to be at
this game, Dick, and planning to wear a Tom Brady
Bucks jersey to the Bills Mafia tailgate. Wow, and then
I'm going to throw the jersey in a backpack. I
have a credential. We're going to be going up for

(57:33):
the press box and watching the game. Really looking forward
to seeing my Bucks play a perennial AFC favorite. But
my track record at Bucks games is not great, so
I think this is working against me. Five and a
half is a lot, But Buffalo just may take out
their anger on Tampa with little of me in the stands.
Give me Buffalo betting against my heart here.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
Yeah, I will go with you on that. I hate
to hear that you're gonna have to take off the
Brady jersey, but you have to go in the press box.
That's the proper thing to do. But there are the
Kentucky connection up there that the former Wildcats on that team.
Although Maxwell Harriston, who had his first pick two weeks ago,
got burned for a touchdown into Miami game. So but

(58:14):
that's the life of a cornerback, right Yeah.

Speaker 9 (58:17):
I gotta have that short memory.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Yeah, yeah, So yeah, it's gonna be five and a
half's a lot. But Buffalo at this time of year,
that's a lot as well. So I trust you'll take
a lot of pictures and video and you'll throw yourself
on a table in the parking lot in Buffalo. Am
I right?

Speaker 13 (58:34):
You know what?

Speaker 9 (58:35):
And I'm changing my pictic give me the Bucks.

Speaker 8 (58:37):
I cannot go to.

Speaker 9 (58:38):
I cannot go to Buffalo and travel nine hours to
get there and then pick the damn bill smffy, I
can't do it. Give me Tampa Bay that we're going
to be singing Yoho yoho in the press box and
then they'll have to kick me out.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
So we split on two teams on two games, rather
Lions than Phil Philly and Tampa Bay at Buffalo. Should
be a lot of fun. Billy, thank you so much.
Looking forward to your coverage as always, and you can
hear Billy every morning on this very radio station, Billy
and the Dude at nine am following the Leach Report
right here.

Speaker 9 (59:08):
Thank you, sir, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Dick back in a minute here on six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back. It is Thursday, but that means we didn't
have a show last night, or a quick one because
of basketball. So we slide our guests to the following evening.
That would be mister Gary Moris, our West End bureau chief.
He slides as well as anybody, hey, and he's got
a mind full of mush.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
No one of my first always leg first slides. Got
to protect the hands.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Ye, that's true, that's true. He's got a lot on
his mind.

Speaker 5 (59:37):
Always well you and me have been meeting up here
for a while with two guys in a six pack.
Got six things to talk about, and I'll jump into
still the lead story this week. That little basketball game
that I believe you saw over here.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Yep in town, Yep.

Speaker 5 (59:53):
Great basketball game, real ball burner on Tuesday night. And Dick,
that's our first wig unless UK and U of L
meet in March, those Bluegrass bragging rights. I'm going to
stay over here in the five h two for the
next twelve months, maybe thirteen if the Ads get this
game back to December where it belongs. Obviously, good win

(01:00:14):
for Louisville for more reasons than just one. Obviously, you
want to beat your rival. Cards of course hadn't beaten
the Cats in five long years, and it's great to
start the season with a huge signature win like that.
But you, being a Louisville native, you know how this city,
which is kind of like a big small town to
a lot of folks, this city needed a jolt of

(01:00:34):
good vibes after last week's plane crash disaster over here.
You also had the sports wise disaster last Saturday's inexplicable
loss to cal That's pretty much knocked ufl out of
the a SEC title. Hopes not to mention postseason playoffs.
We got Clemson in town coming in on Friday, Louisville

(01:00:54):
winning by eight on Tuesday, and of course everybody knows
it could have been double digits if they'd hit some
of those last eight free throws more than just one
of them. It's more than a win. It's a pride
and fusion that was desperately needed around here, at least
from my perception. But I will say this, Kentucky also
is loaded, and if Kentucky scores eighty eight most nights,

(01:01:16):
I think they're gonna win most of, not all of
those games. Cat's got a lot of talent on that team. Obviously,
Mark's gonna sort it all out. I know he's already
doing that, and I believe they will be ready come March,
which is exactly the point. It's like the Dodgers getting
ready for October. I think a lot of Dodger fans
will not really go back and think about those terrible

(01:01:37):
days after July, after the All Star Break when they
kind of blew it. They'll remember the good stuff, and
I think the Cats will be there in March.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
I agree and as I said right after the game,
this could be an nca tournament matchup. You could conceivably
see these teams doing well enough to play in a
regional close to home, which could pit them against each other.
UK won't be the same, but neither will U of L.
UK will be better defensively, you would think would not

(01:02:06):
allow as many wide open looks, and we'll get more
out of its transition from defense to offense. But yeah,
but Lowell's gonna get better as well. But yeah, and
I think everybody agrees. Everybody who loves college basketball agrees
when the blue bloods are that they're bluest, no pun intended.
The sport is better, you know. And that arena I've

(01:02:29):
been to several games there, Gary, that might be the
best environment I've encountered. And you know what, there were
a lot of Kentucky fans there, no surprise, but U
of L fans had to work to drown out to
go big blue. So yeah, I mean, in terms of
the way the game was executed, really entertaining. Probably not
the prettiest, but so what, it was a good night

(01:02:51):
for basketball, good night for college basketball.

Speaker 6 (01:02:53):
It was.

Speaker 5 (01:02:54):
It was fun to watch second Swig by the way,
speaking of in state rivals, it kind of was under
the radar since the Cards and Cat were the next
night in the big story this week. But my Toppers
beat longtime OVC rival EKU on Monday eighty seven to
seventy nine there and Richmond. The game was back and
forth until the last three minutes. That was a good
ballgame too. Toppers, by the way, get Tennessee State in
bowling Green on Sunday. Eastern is at ken State on Tuesday,

(01:03:16):
still looking their wounds after getting blown out in Nashville
by Vandy by thirty last night. UK of course back
at RUP tomorrow night Eastern Illinois seven o'clock on the
SEC Plus network, and of course right here in WLAP
U of L Saturday high noon the Young Center versus Ohio,
and that's going to be on the CW network. But
before those tonight, check this out. If you dare number

(01:03:39):
two perdue, number eight Bama on ESPN two. What Purdue's
got guts to boiler down there in Dixie, don't they?
How about Saturday night hoops? Well we got number seven
BYU at number three UCN seven o'clock on Fox. Or
on Sunday you got number one, Houston, number twenty two
Auburn three o'clock on ESPN. Dick I have to admit,

(01:04:00):
if it's between college and or pro football and college
hoops with ranked teams at the same time, unless it's
UKU of L or Western, I'm still watching football most Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Yeah, but you know, we take shots at the TV,
and it's the hand that feeds me one of them,
so I shouldn't be biting at it. But let us
also congratulate TV when congratulations are in order. They're not
playing these games if not for big time television. You've
got to think when teams travel like this and how often,
not nearly enough do you hear it in football? And

(01:04:33):
maybe we'll hear it more and more now with a
playoff situation shaking out. But yeah, you know they're gonna
have a hard time competing. But that's why God invented
recording devices, right, you record one game and watch another.

Speaker 5 (01:04:46):
Yeah, they're gonna say, look, we're gonna put you boiler
Makers and tied up against Thursday night football.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
Okay, go for it.

Speaker 9 (01:04:53):
I like that.

Speaker 5 (01:04:55):
Speaking of UK and U of L. As we were
to paraphrase Dickens badly, it was the best of nights
for football. It was the worst of nights for football.
First of all, the best night in a long night
for the Cats. I can't say this enough, Dick, because
we hadn't really talked about this since last week, but

(01:05:16):
it was when UK was making stylish yet comfortable Gator
skin footwear a Kroger Field last Saturday night. I enjoyed
every second of that. What a beautiful gutting of those
gay Gainesville goofs down there. If you're a Gator hater
UK football fan like me, you recall only too well,
and you were there for these the running up of

(01:05:36):
points by the old ball coach against the Cats, seventy
three to seven, sixty five to nothing, fifty nine thirty
one with scoring that touchdown what with the last minute
to go or something. By the way, Spurryer only won
one national championship. That's one more than only one more
than you and I have ever won, and we're not
even coaching. So that was a fitting run up, I thought.

(01:05:58):
On UK's part, Mark doesn't want to be bought out.
You know it's fine by me, So now you know
what's coming up. You talked about this FCS school in
town on Saturday a ten and oh sixth ranked or
I used to call it one double a school Tennessee Tech,
the number one scoring offense in fcskats are twenty one

(01:06:19):
and a half point favorites, which asked me to It
makes me want to ask you, Dick, what concerns you have,
if there are any, about this game Saturday afternoon, one
thirty right here on WLAP.

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
Well, I think you have to be concerned that it's
a trap game. You know, Kentucky coming off as you
said that big win, and I shared with you the
commentary that a gentleman had on this podcast describing how
badly Florida played to the tune of the Sarah McLaughlin
song that you see at two in the morning for
begging you to save the dogs. But yeah, you know

(01:06:52):
you had speaking of traps, you had to worry about
that game if you were a Florida fan for a
lot of reasons, chief among them, you just lost to
Georgia and the images of your players in tears on
the sideline burn into your head. Plus knowing that Marx
Tups has done incredibly well all things considered against Florida
through the years. You know, one of the saddest, more

(01:07:14):
satisfying elements of the March Troops era at Kentucky. Fans
wish they would be similar with Tennessee, but you know
that could come. But yeah, that you have to wonder now,
is Tennessee Tech a trap game? There's no way these kids,
being human can be quote unquote up for these guys
the way they've been up for conference games. But all

(01:07:36):
you got to do is look at the video and
watch this team score points. But fortunately for the Wildcats,
the strength of our team right now is defense, so
it could be really entertaining. Fourth swig.

Speaker 5 (01:07:50):
Of course, we have to mention the worst of Knights
with the capital worst, because you know what, it was
all lining up perfectly for then number fifteen Louisville. It's
still a big story over here. They were in the
running for the top spot in the ACC. To begin
the night, you had crummy col Berkeley flying over two thousand,
well about two thousand, three hundred miles to Louisville. The

(01:08:10):
cards were eighteen and a half point favorites, not eight,
not ten, eighteen and a half. And then during that game,
Number fourteen Virginia's upset by wake Forest. Like I said,
it's too perfect. Cards couldn't handle it. They were watched
every minute of that game. They were dominated on both
lines of scrimmage. They looked sluggish. They look like, well,
we have seen Dick, you and I games where a

(01:08:31):
heavily favored team seems almost collectively not to take their
underdog opponents seriously until it's well, it's too late. And
with Clemson in on Friday, then they got to go
to SMU got two good throwing quarterbacks there, as Jeff
Brohms pointed out, and then of course home with Kentucky.
Did you have all blow their playoff chances here on Saturday?

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
May well have? Yeah? Uh blue their shot of getting
to Charlotte. And just like the SEC, it may be
tougher to win a Compen title than it is to
get to the playoffs. But I mean, so I got
a chance, win out, get some help. You've got an opportunity.
But I watched the fourth quarter. I recorded it and
watched the fourth quarter of that Cow game, and I

(01:09:13):
was dumbfounded. But you got to credit Col's quarterback man.
That kid is exciting, and I think you'll hear a
lot more about him, especially early next year. But you
have L's got more players, You've e's got more talent,
should have won that game, and especially that great Atlantic
Coast Conference game being played involving a team from the

(01:09:34):
Pacific Coast. But it reminded me in terms of the
enormity of the upset. Twenty sixteen, biggest upset of the
year that season in all of college football was Kentucky
beating Lamar Jackson in Louisville, which was a four touchdown favorite.
But the Cats won that one, so U of L.
They got to look back at history and wonder, how

(01:09:56):
do we get here?

Speaker 5 (01:09:57):
At cal quarterback, by the way, a freshman throwing two
a oh five foot seven, A five foot seven receiver, Yeah,
senior receiver who had sixteen receptions, including the last one
with man coverage. Gee, do you think you might want
to put two on him after the You've given him
fifteen receptions before that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
And over time? Exactly what I was thinking, How do
you let that guy go on accounted for on that play?
And it was just a simple little outpattern.

Speaker 5 (01:10:22):
Yeah, Brohm was not happy about that particular element at all.
Fitzwig besides Louisville and Clemson on Friday, UK and T
Tech and Western and Middle Tennessee on Saturday. I got
five Saturday games that I'm following. I'm very interested in
high noon in Bloomington, Number two IU against the three
and six Wisconsin Badgers. Will the Hoosiers have a letdown

(01:10:43):
after the greatest catch ever save their season? Will they
take the Badgers for granted? Like U of L did
with cows Worth watching them the Big Ten Net at noon?
Also at high noon, number nine Notre Dame at number
twenty two pit that looks really saucy ABC. Notre Dame's
a twelve and half point favorite. In that three thirty,
Number twenty one Iowa a number seventeen the Southern cal
Trojans by six and a half on the Big Ten

(01:11:05):
that then, also at three thirty on ABC, Alabama six
point favorite at home against number eleven Oklahoma. And at
seven thirty after the Oklahoma Obama game, number ten Texas
at number five. Jojia the Dogs at this point six
point favorites, and Dick, I'm taking all the homies IU.
Actually I'm gonna take the Irish. I take that back.

(01:11:26):
I'm gonna take IU the Irish. Then the Trojans tied
and the Dogs.

Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
Yeah, I'm with you on all of that. You got
to wonder where is IU's head gonna be after that
game last week with Penn State just phenomenal, But I
got to think maybe that's a wake up call because
they may have rolled in there thinking, Okay, we got
this and it very nearly got away from them. Notre
Dame needs a win to solidify well, they all do,

(01:11:53):
just solidified playoff birth. But uh, Texas, more than anybody.
Texas is still being considered despite its struggles, nearly losing
to Kentucky, losing at Florida which now looks even more suspect,
but a win over the dogs between the hedges. I
think with cement Texas into the playoffs, I don't see

(01:12:16):
it happening. I'm like you. I think Georgia wins it.
But it's interesting how the playoffs now loom large for
a lot of these teams.

Speaker 5 (01:12:24):
And back to that Wisconsin game. They beat a pretty
decent Washington team after really stinking it up at home
before those games. Sixth and final swig finally a big
pro football swig. A lot of big games coming up,
excluding the one at the end of this hour. The
Jets twelve and a half point underdogs at the Patriots.
But check these on Sunday if you dare, I know

(01:12:46):
you'll be checking out your Packers seven point favorites. They
will rebound at the Giants, who are now under new management.
Then you got Buffalo five and a half point favorites
at home against Tampa. Game is that you got Allen
versus Mayfield. Then, in contrast to those punks, you got
Geezer Bowl two point zero Flaco versus Rogers, Cincinnati at Pittsburgh.

(01:13:10):
That's usually fun anyway, Steelers five a half point favorites
at home, My Seahawks at the Rams. At this point,
the Rams are three point favorites. Chiefs at the Broncos,
Chiefs five and four Denver eight and two. But the
Chiefs are three and a half point favorites Sunday night.
What a Sunday night game. Lions at the Eagles Philly
two and a half point favorites. I like the Bills,

(01:13:32):
I like pitt I like the Hawks Broncos, and I
will take the Lions to win at Philly and forget
about Monday Night Raiders and Cowboys who care?

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
Maybe the thank you? Maybe the biggest mystery team right
now is Buffalo losing to Miami favorite against Tampa Bay,
which it should be. I don't know about five and
a half now Tampa Bay is playing well, but does
have to go north.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
We know this.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
Yeah, the Geezer Bowl could be interesting, but that division
is still wide open, it seems like. And I'm amazed
the Chiefs are favored in Denver. Denver didn't score a
lot of points last week, but still the Chiefs. Even
Patrick Mahomes said, you know, we got to fix this.
Something's wrong, and yet they're favorite to win at Mile High.

(01:14:18):
So who knows, you know? Should be fun? He is
Gary Murray is our Western Bureau chief. He is always fun.
We'll talk about a couple of hot reeds on the
other side of the break here on six point thirty WLAP,
Welcome back. We are talking with our Western Bureau chief,
Gary Moore. We've heard from two guys in a six pack.
Time for a couple of hot reeds. Gary, you're a
baseball nut. Cy Young Awards now are on the shelves,

(01:14:41):
respectively of Tarik school Ball and Paul Skeens school Ball
had one Division one SKAALI offer out of High School Seattle,
which boasts, of course it's I would think it's still
the number one alum, but this guy's coming up fast.
Elgin Baylor, which lost to Kentucky in the fifty eight
state championship game. Seattle, Paul Skeen signed with Air Force,

(01:15:04):
one of two D one scholars before he transferred to LSU.
I ask you when it comes to evaluating talent, like this,
is baseball the hardest sport for kids coming out of
high school?

Speaker 5 (01:15:16):
Or is it football?

Speaker 1 (01:15:18):
Because their bodies are not anywhere near how big they'll
be in the next four to eight years.

Speaker 5 (01:15:23):
Boy, those are great questions. I think you're right on
about the high school thing because there have been a
lot of notable busts that a lot of money has
been paid for, and even when they get into college,
there's no guarantees. You know, over here, for example, in Louisville.
I'm thinking about a good guy like Henry Davis that's
having problems. He was a number one pick overall.

Speaker 1 (01:15:42):
Yeah, you matter, Brendon.

Speaker 5 (01:15:45):
Remember Brendan McKay. Yep, Brendan McKay was doing the Otawani
thing for a while. The Tampa had saw him being
a first basement and a pitcher, and then he threw
out his arm, and well he had shoulder surgery then
his arms. But you're right, I think it is tougher.
I think baseball could be very much the tougher thing.
But sometimes you can just judge on size anyway, and
you know, well, he's gonna get bigger, or this guy

(01:16:06):
is gonna you know, we can work with him as
a receiver, but baseball's tough.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
Speaking of high school athletes, coming out of high school
in New Jersey at Union Catholic High Sidney McLaughlin now
Sydney McLaughlin lvarne was a star. She was on the
cover of Sports Illustrated, signed with Kentucky, ran here for
just a year before going on to become one of
the greatest athletes in the history of Olympic sports. As

(01:16:36):
the four hundred meter hurdler, wanted a new challenge, so
she began to run the four hundred flat as they say,
and won the gold in Tokyo at the World Championships
back in September with just the second fastest time ever
in an American record. Now here come the Olympics. This
is a great opportunity for the folks who run the

(01:16:58):
Olympics to showcase an incredible talent like this with McLaughlin
Laron eyeing double gold. But no, they create a schedule
that makes it impossible for her to compete in both sports.
I ask you, who's running this mess? And should they

(01:17:19):
do it with this kind of thing in mind? Maybe
they're thinking, wow, that's just one person. We can't change
things for Yes, you can. You can do whatever you want.
Am I right?

Speaker 5 (01:17:29):
You're exactly right. They have changed this before. They flipped
the nineteen ninety six schedule to help Michael Johnson do
a double after he requested. So they're saying that if
she requests this, they can probably change this. Given the
whole situation, I don't think they were really thinking about it.
I think they were just looking at what was going
to be convenient and what might work in LA. But

(01:17:50):
I don't know if they really took her. I don't
know if she had a good PR campaign, even though
she won the gold last year in Paris, if she
had a good enough of a PR campaign to say, hey,
look here's somebody that can win goal twice for the
United States.

Speaker 1 (01:18:02):
Spread it out. Yeah. The story that we both read said, yeah,
she could petition the IOC, but it's not likely. But
to your point, there is precedent, and this is a
sport or collection of sports, an event that is competing
for eyeballs, for viewers, for scholarship money. You see sid

(01:18:23):
you know. And I've actually interviewed her once, you know,
in the New Balance commercials with all the other athletes,
including Otani, you know. But that's not enough. I mean,
you've got to be able to showcase them and highlight
them in their respective sports. And watching her run, Gary,
not just because she ran here, it's one of the
most exciting things. And I asked her this question when

(01:18:43):
I had a chance, how do you make it look
so easy? But she really does.

Speaker 5 (01:18:49):
I know, I ran the one ten high hurdles of
very high. It ain't easy, no, and to do it,
first of all, it's not easy to begin with. Second
of all, to do it fast and in record time, doubly.

Speaker 1 (01:19:00):
And she just glides. She does, and was doing the
same in the flats. So let's hope they get this
straightened down.

Speaker 8 (01:19:06):
I hope he is.

Speaker 1 (01:19:07):
Gary moriy Is our West End bureau chief. Find him
if you will on Twitter at.

Speaker 5 (01:19:12):
At nine five five, Gary, same joint you're at.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
I'm at Big Blueingsider one. Thank you for having good weekend.

Speaker 5 (01:19:18):
Same to you, and that'll do it.

Speaker 1 (01:19:19):
Thanks to my guest Gary Moore, Billy Rutledge, Shawn Woods.
That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 14 (01:19:25):
Hey, somebody is running out on the field. Some goofball
in a hat and a red shirt. Now he takes
off the shirt. He's running down the middle by the fifty.
He's at the thirty. He's bear chested and banging his chest.
Now he runs the opposite way. He runs with the fifty,
he runs with the forty. The guy is drunk, but
there he goes the twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
They're chasing him.

Speaker 14 (01:19:44):
They're not gonna get him. Waving his arms, bear chested.
Somebody stopped down comes the blue coat.

Speaker 1 (01:19:50):
They got him here coming.

Speaker 14 (01:19:52):
Oh would they tackling at the forty yard line. I
hope it was worth it, my friend, because you got
a knife in the clink coming out.

Speaker 10 (01:20:00):
Don't set tact, don't do anything to think, only slack seat.

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
To lack the dips.

Speaker 10 (01:21:35):
From taping, doing the