Everything's Political Season 4 Episode 9 - The Pope and the University of Cal

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Carthago. Delenda asked, hello andwelcome to Everything's Political. I'm your host,
Taya Shoemaker. You can also findus online at Everything's Political dot substack
dot com. Doctor play it isbo up and moving up on the outside
and is now third and moving out. The leaders of Big Bubs that out
of the reps with Beleater. Heleaves the by Alan de Book lads look

(00:23):
bet all the way, Bobbin writing, Juckie Green now blop buck let.
A lot of other pobo are notedon the outright Now I'm in the strep
th reck Wopallia lector play it onthe outside, but they believe damn holding
a second, it's that the playmoving away. Yeah, the fight burn
a hot damn let on the outside. I'll need you at the law Pregnys

(00:44):
Pucker Polia. He is good byetoo. I know the Derby's over,
but we still have what's left,Joe. The Belmont Steaks Freakness is over.
It's Derby season, nonetheless, andduring this season in nineteen seventy three,
Big Red as he was also known, broke the records for all three
of those races, the Derby,the Preakness, the Belmont Steaks and man,

(01:10):
what an impressive run. I believehis jockey all of those races was
Ron Turcott, and we actually visitedhis resting place, Joe at Claiborne Farms
in Paris, Kentucky. Talk abouta beautiful setting, good lord. And
there was this old farm hand there, Clay, and he was just amazing.

(01:30):
He's one of those guys that knowseverything about everything. Well, he
knew everything about every horse that hadever been there. And he took us
to the site where they have agrave for Secretariat, and man, a
tear came to this man's eye.He loved that horse so much. Just
a real neat place, real neatstory. You know. I love all

(01:51):
things Kentucky, but I never gotinto the horse racing. I was never
into dog racing or any kind ofanything like that. So I guess that's
a little inconsistent. But there's justsomething about it that never struck my fancy.
I guess you might say, JoanKentucky, it's a bit of a
cult of personality. Come on,that's funny. Cult of personality, get

(02:39):
it. I can hear you rollingyour eyes at me. Stop it all
right, Well, speaking of cults, of personality or a cult of personality.
I have to say this. Youall flatter me with your text and
your emails about me having anything whatsoeverto do with col leaving Kentucky. Can

(03:00):
I just say that's hysterical? Now? First of all, that Cal listens
to anyone with whom he may disagreeis just not going to happen, all
right, That's just not how herolls. That was actually part of the
problem that became an issue at Kentucky, you know, where he kind of

(03:21):
surrounded himself with himself, even ifhe knew who little old Me was,
He's just not going to listen.And I want to do address just a
couple of points from your texts andemails that I thought were worth going over
and worth retelling some of the circumstancesthat led to his departure. So some

(03:44):
of you are upset that a lotof the players went with Cal to Arkansas,
and I'm not quite sure why,because part of the problem with embracing
the one and done fifteen years ago, and again he found the loophole,
he exploited it. It may haveworked for a few years, but at
the end of the day, itwas always going to end up where it
did. And so what I criticizeis his lack of foresight because when he

(04:11):
embraced the one and done fifteen yearsago, it went from the University of
Kentucky to the University of cal Howelse was it going to go, Hey,
come play for me and in sixmonths, I'll get your top round
draft pick to the NBA. Whatdid you think was going to happen?
They were going to stay in Kentuckythree four years. That wasn't the deal.

(04:33):
The deal was you come play forme for a year and I'll catapult
you to the NBA. It's asocial engineering program. That is his legacy,
and that's what he wants to behis legacy. So of course they're
going to stick with the guy thatpromised to get them millions and millions of
dollars getting Dropkick to the NBA.So don't be upset over that. I'm

(04:55):
not upset at the players. I'mfrankly not upset over cal over that because
that was the Again, I willcriticize his lack of foresight in his complete
disregard for the front of the jersey. So I think it's okay to have
players who are not necessarily looking fora one and done experience. In fact,

(05:15):
I think there's a little wisdom inthat. And as far Cal at
Arkansas, you know, I thinkhe'll do fine. I don't know how
he's going to do any better withthe same players there than he did here,
because that's his situation, but youknow whatever, good luck. I
think his goal of social engineering inArkansas's goal of winning, those two things

(05:46):
will converge for a time, justlike they did at Kentucky. But if
there is a conflict or something elsehappens and those two things separate, what
Arkansas needs to be prepared for foris the fact that Cal will view winning
at home and winning in March asacceptable collateral damage to his legacy, which

(06:10):
is social engineering of putting as manykids as he can to the NBA.
Again, that's going to end upat the same place, So I wish
him well with that. You know, I don't hate Cal. I do
hate what his choices did to theUniversity of Kentucky basketball program. And I'll
tellya one of the serendipitous parts ofthis entire experience is to find out that

(06:35):
I wasn't alone, because man,I could not even bring this up to
my closest friends. You could notcriticize cal He was a second coming of
Jesus Christ because he was the coachof Kentucky, so we were not allowed
to criticize him at all. Justend the discussion. And I'll say this,

(06:57):
If you're someone that can't take criticism, constructive criticism, evidence based criticism,
you know, then just I guessyou're in for a world of hurt
in this life. I don't know, but the criticism doesn't come from hate.
It comes from the love of theprogram and the love of the sport.
Frankly, I mean, we alllove sports. I especially love SEC

(07:21):
sports. Heck, I'll watch awoman's softball game if there are two SEC
teams playing. There's something about theSEC Conference. It's just, in my
opinion, reigns supreme and I don'tcare who it is. I mean,
I'm not a huge baseball fan.I do like softball, but I don't
care what sport it is. Ifthere's if there are two SEC teams playing,

(07:43):
I'll watch it at least for alittle bit. So Mark Pope at
kalat Arkansas, Mark Pope at Kentucky, I genuinely think Mark Pope is going
to attempt to strike a balance betweenthe front and the back of the jersey.
And I don't think that happens undercal In fact, I know it
doesn't happen under Caw. That wasnever going to happen under Caw. A

(08:07):
reassessment, a reevaluation, that wasn'tgoing to happen under Caw. He knew
it, Mitch knew it, alot of the fan base knew it.
But I think Mark is going totry to bring those two factions together and
you know, hopefully rewrite the nameon the front of the jersey, rebuild

(08:28):
the house that Rep built. Isn'tit ironic that a Patino developed player now
coach is in a similar position asPatino was in nineteen eighty nine. Man,
that guy's like a bad Penny.I say that, but it's just
because I hate to love him asa coach, But I really do.

(08:50):
I recorded every Saint John's game thisseason and so enjoyed watching them play and
progress. So that is what itis. Running gun, the motion,
offense, the threes, good Lord, the fundamentals. There's a commercial Joe
about the fundamentals. It's the buffalothat's so me Only I'm just a little

(09:13):
thing. But yeah, I'll talkabout the fundamentals, just like that commercial
and they try to mock it becauseI'm sure someone thought it was funny,
but it's true. Can't go wrongwith the fundamentals. Okay, So I
think we're in a great spot hereand I'm excited about the season. I

(09:35):
can't wait to see the players actuallybeing developed. A lot of people thought
cow was a player developer, andI couldn't disagree more with that at all,
because to me, a player developermeans you will mix up the players
you have on the court at anygiven time. And I'll also run that
in practice. Once you embrace theone and done, everything becomes political who

(10:01):
plays for how long? And thatwas gonna that's gonna be a problem for
him in the with the portal andthe transfers and everything else that's going on
in the NCAA. And I'm notsaying I like everything that's going on.
And I think the nil was justa natural consequence of the one and done.
How else are you going to keepthe kids there? I mean,

(10:24):
you can't have excellence without experience.Can we all agree on that? It's
impossible to have excellence without experience?Look at the teams that are there every
year in March that do well,they have seniors. I think some of
them are senior citizens by now.But I'm kidding, but you know what

(10:45):
I mean. I mean our lastgame against Summer Soccer Goalie Camp University was
I think our leading scorers the werethe seniors. So I think we're going
to be good this year. Ido. And I just hope that everyone
is open minded. And I dothink that the young men that Coach Pope

(11:07):
picks or has picked, I dohope that they are open to his style
and his teaching, and I hopethey recognize that he was developed by one
of, if not the best NCAAbasketball coach that ever step foot on the
court. And I don't think that'sarguable about Patina. You can love him,

(11:28):
you can hate him. I don'tgive a crap. It's true.
He is, without a doubt,in the top elite tier of college basketball
coaches to ever step foot on thecourt. Okay, all good, Let's
get back to the house that Rutbuilt and far far away from that brothel

(11:50):
we became for the NBA. Allright. I want to thank everyone for
listening. I want to think,as always to magic Man Joe Strecker.
Until next time, who will standat either hand and keep the bridge with
me? Have a great day.