Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you on a Wednesday edition of our program and coming up tonight. As usual on Wednesdays, we have our West End Bureau chief, Gary Moore Hill join us in our number two, as
will the unforgettable guard Sean Woods. But we'll talk with Sean about Pete Rose, about UK football, and we'll work in some basketball as well, what with UK's Pro Day coming up next week as well as Madness also coming up at the bottom of the hour, JJ Weaver, who of course is a really talented outside linebacker for the Wildcats, and he and his teammates pulled off that upset of ole mission. If not for the Georgia Alabama game, it would have been the lead story in college football day long.
But they don't care. They got the win down in Oxford, and JJ has been selected to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision All State AFCA Good Works Team, which puts him in the running for the Danny Wirfol Trophy, named of course after the really gifted former Florida Gator quarterback and led Florida to the ninety six nca Championship under Steve Spurrier. So we'll talk with JJ at the bottom of the hour. And I remember I covered the SEC. I think I
mentioned this before. I know I have the SEC Football Championship game for about fifteen years for the SEC Radio network. And of course Florida wins the SEC Championship that season and Danny Warfol came into the hotel bar, not that he's a bar hopper or whatever or whatever, but as he came back from the stadium and the team was staying in the Hyatt and Man, when he walked in
bought the cheers went up. But a friend of mine worked for the Florida equivalent back then of the cat's paws was called Gator Bait, and he told me, I remember that weekend about Danny Wirfole and how Werfel was able to handle Steve Spurrier. If you're a Kentucky football fan, you've been around for a while or maybe you know about the game in nineteen ninety three, that's when Kentucky had Florida down beaten and then lost it at the
last second on Chris Doring's first touchdown catch. And I think Worfol threw it, but it might have been Terry Dean. I can't remember exactly, but I know this that Steve Spurrier shuffled his quarterbacks all night long, back and forth, back and forth, because both of them kept throwing picks one through four the other through three. But Kentucky didn't take advantage, didn't score. And then Doring, who's been on my show many times, and as I've mentioned before, I
have chosen to forgive him for catching that pass. But Worfle went on to become a real solid leader for that team, played briefly in the NFL as a backup practice squad guy. But my friend Mark Bradley, who writes for the Atlanta Journal Constitution so well for many many years, he once told me, because he covered that game for the Harold Leader, he said, I think Spra and Spurrier flip flop quarterbacks all the time, not just in that
game or just for that season. He said, I think Spurrier changes quarterbacks so much because he can't put himself in. And I thought that was a perfect explanation of why he did that. But what my buddy told me about Danny warfol was Worfel was a very strong Christian, divided in his faith and therefore answered as they say to a higher power, and to too many kids, the head
coach is that higher power. But Worfel, my friend said, never worried about Spurrier like that because of his faith and that helped him get through the tough times playing quarterback for Steve Spurrier. But a good man, good player, and has a trophy named after him. And by the way, there is one of those trophies because when you win that, of course the kid gets a trophy. I don't know if the school gets a separate trophy, but I know this.
In the UK trophy case at the Fieldhouse there is a Werfel Trophy thanks to Courtney Love who won it not so long ago. And now it's JJ Weaver who gets the opportunity Courtney Love wanted back in twenty seventeen. How about that. So we'll talk to JJ a little bit later on. Speaking of Alabama Georgia, such a great game and hyped all week as well it should have been, and according to ABC and ESPN their streaming platforms, of course it was on ABC. ESPN streamed it. The Nielsen
ratings were incredible. It averaged twelve million viewers, most watched regular season primetime game since twenty seventeen, that was the Alabama Florida State game on Opening weekend got twelve point three million. Alabama Georgia was ESPN's most streamed regular season game ever. Audience peaked at fourteen point one million from
eleven to fifteen to eleven thirty PM. That's when Alabama was fighting off that rally from Georgia and Ryan Williams caught that seventy five yard touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe with a couple minutes left, and of course, Carson Beck throws a pick in the end zone to end the game and any chance that Georgia had. But the numbers
were phenomenal. And here's what's even more amazing. According to Chris Fowler, who called the game for ABC, those fans, the million who tuned in almost didn't see it because Fowler said, they had a power generator die and so
that could have meant no broadcast. He said at one point he couldn't hear himself or his partners, and the crew of course scrambled to get things back on the air, to get things powered back up, and as he pointed out, when your computer goes down or when you have to restart it, it's got to reboot, right, Well, imagine all those trucks plural, multiple trucks having to reboot, and how much time it would take. So the generator dies and
they had to get a backup really quickly. They died before they went on the air, and they brought in the college game day generator. Of course it's on the other side of campus. Needed a police escort, so they get into the stadium, they hook it all up and whoever was in charge of that and make sure that equipment didn't get fried. I get nervous just thinking about it, and I wasn't even part of the production team. Amazing, just amazing that they were able to survive that. So
if you saw the game, good for you. He enjoyed it. Good for you, but you almost didn't get to see it. About that follow up on Pete Rose, the coroner has issued a report stating that the hit King died of natural causes, meaning it was his failing health basically high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, heart disease caused. Of course, I'm certain by then. I'm no doctor, but I have
diabetes and I'm always warned about these things. I take medication, try to follow the diet, and I'm sure he did too to a point. But at eighty three his body finally succumbed. And that's the insidiousness of diabetes. This disease can really ravage your body at an accelerated rate. Now, Pete was eighty three but always kept himself in pretty good shape. But he finally caught up with him. And
that's the report from the corner in Nevottom. People have weighed in on Pete Rose, and Tony Korneiser had a great point on PTI with Mike Wilbon. Why he and so many reporters loved talking to Pete.
Pete Rose was a sports writer's dream, and I covered him here and there. He would talk to anybody and everybody, and he would talk for hours. He knew all of his numbers, all of his numbers, and he knew all of your numbers. He knew how many career doubles you had, he knew how many sacrifice flies you had. He knew everyone's abilities. I mean it was like he was a human computer, a baseball computer. Remember that firstbee computer, UNIVAC.
Pete Rose was the UNIVAC. He knew everything about baseball, could he be a caveman. Yes, yes, he could be a caveman, Yes he could.
But he'd fill your notebook, he would fill your recorder, he'd fill your camera with everything you needed because he loved talking to reporters, just love talking baseball. We'll talk more with Gary Moore, Western Bureau Chief about Pete Rose coming up an hour number two. Baseball playoffs under way, and of course we're pre recorded, so I'm not going to go with scores or anything. But book Shamby made
a great comment on one of the national broadcasts. This goes back to how different people hate different announcers, And having been in this business for a long time, I've
heard it. I've had stuff directed to me. You know, everybody has about our biases, and you hate this guy, you hate that guy, you hate these fans you don't know, and you always hear it's more about the national guys, especially Joe Buck, who I think does a great job and I don't think he shows any bias toward anybody, but so many people rip him from being biased one way or the other. And Shawby made a great point,
kind of a sarcastic line. He wasn't mean about it, but he shared these thoughts with the national audience yesterday, and he was referring to the fact that all the local broadcasts, the announcers you've heard all year calling games for your team, well they're done for the season and all the games now belong to the national network. So they bring in the national announcers and they're not biased as there shouldn't be, and they really aren't in any way. But here's what Shabi said, as.
I was saying earlier, this is the time of the year the national guys come in. Were force scouting against your favorite team, both teams. That's usually the way people take in giving a shout out to Gary Keathan Ron. Sideline reporters are people to Steve Gelbs love you so via minerd on the Milwaukee side bold do I mean it's too great broadcasting. So I didn't need to you know, I needed to amend that because leaving Gelzzi out, I.
Helpe that hit home with people who are already gearing up complaints for how biased toward the other team. This announcer is One other note before we hit the brake, this is the worst kept secret in the NBA. I don't think it's a secret anymore. But the Knicks and the Timberwolves are swapping Wildcats, among others, Karl Anthony Towns for Julius Randall. I gotta get my New York Bureau
Chief Mike Sephosnik on this story. But now it's a three way deal Nicks, Timberwolves, Hornets, and the Hornets end of it does not include any former Wildcat. But anytime there's a trade in the NBA, now I look closely because the odds are thanks to Caliperi putting all these teams in the league, it just might involve a former Wildcat. And this one is a blockbuster, multiplayer, multi team deal with Karl Anthony Towns going to New York and he's from New Jersey for Julius Randall. So I guess the
Knicks giving up on him. And it's financially driven. I've read up on this. It's what could the Timberwolves afford to keep because it's not just Towns they're dealing with, but other players, So part of it, a big part of it is financially driven, and both the Knicks and the Timberwolves have flirted with success and maybe a new change of venue for both Randall and Towns. Will help them take the next step. So we'll find out more
when we can. Up next, a little Kentucky football history for you want to come here on the Big Boon Sider six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Boon Sider coming up in just a few minutes away from JJ. Weaver, Kentucky senior outside linebacker, selected as one of only eleven members from the NCA Football Bowl Subdivision to the All State AFCA Good Works Team, which puts him into running for the twenty twenty four All State war Full Trophy
name for former Gators quarterback Danny Whirfel. That was something that Courtney Love, a former Kentucky linebacker, won a few years ago. So we'll hear from JJ about that, about his season, but of course about all the good work he has done that put him on the Good Works Team. A little bit later on, as always, on Wednesday, Sean Woods, our unforgettable guard and our West End Bureau chief Gary Moore joins us and programming note tomorrow night, at least,
that's how we've got it scheduled. The chain Gang, the garage guys will be here. They will be in the garage and we'll be talking about all kinds of things, from UK football and basketball to the late great Pete Rose, and of course my man Doug Flynn played with Pete Rose and Keith Madison, UK's baseball coach, knew Pete Rose a little bit from when Keith was in the Reds Chain. And Darren Hedrick, the radio voice of UK Baseball, knows as much baseball as anybody I know, so that should
be interesting. But like I said, we'll run the goale as we always do football, baseball and basketball. I wanted to share with you though a little history and I touched on this this morning when I was sitting in for Tom Leach on the Leech Report. But Mark Stoops has been honored a couple of times this week. He is the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Week, but also the Bear Bryant Coach of the Week, given by different agencies. And what's ironic about that was Bobby Dodd and Bear
Bryant were enemies for the longest time. And I knew about this only because when Bill Curry was hired at Kentucky. You know, you do a little deep dive on the background, and one of the reasons that Bill was not popular at Alabama. The reason number one couldn't beat Auburn. But even if he had beaten Auburn, and he won a ton of games at Alabama, and people say, oh, it's Alabama, anybody, No, go back and look at what happened at Alabama before he got there, and really in and around Curry, he
won a bunch of games. But of course Saban set the new standard for everybody. But there were times that Alabama had flirted with being irrelevant, so it wasn't easy being a head coach there. And then Curry worked against him. He played for Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech. And so now Alabama has hired a Georgia Tech guy. Well why did they do that? Well, Job Thomas was the president, Steve Sloan, who had a great relationship with job Thomas, was the athletics director, and Steve Sloan had a great
relationship with Bill Curry. So now the three of them came in and like I said, they won. But Curry was never popular, never at Georgia Tech. And ironically enough, according to Wikipedia, it was in nineteen seventy five that Bill Curry kind of and I don't know why, it doesn't give any If I ever get a chance to talk to Curry again, I'll have to ask him about this. Bill Curry kind of got the two coaches together, and
this had to have been big. Bill was still playing in the NFL, I think back then, but was also a sportscaster in Atlanta in the offseason. But he got the two guys together and they buried the hatchet somewhat. I don't know how intensely they got along after that, but I just thought it was a fascinating bit of history and quite the coincidence that Mark Stoops is or has been honored by two different groups, one representing Bobby dot In, one representing Bear Bryant. And it goes back
initially to Georgia Tech versus Alabama at Legion Field. After a Tech punt, Alabama fair caught the ball and a guy named Chick Graining was playing coverage relaxed after the signal for the fair catch, and an Alabama player smashed his elbow into Graining's face and caused a severe injury knocked him out concussion. He was never able to play football again. Dodd sent Brian a letter asking him to suspend Holt after the game, said he had done it
on purpose. Brian never did. That infuriated Dodd, and it really kind of lit the fire under Dodd to pull out of the SEC. Georgia Tech lost that game, by the way, ten nothing. Bama goes on to win the AP National Championship. It's first. Now supposedly the reason that Georgia Tech left the ACC. Many of you know Georgia Tech used to be a member of the SEC, But
supposedly Dodd was upset with over recruitment. Back then, you could sign only one hundred and forty football and basketball players total, but those teams were still allowed to sign up to forty five players a year, So if you recruit your full allotment of players each year, you're gonna be well over the one forty max even with normal attrition.
Dodd worked to meet the guidelines. Other schools kept right on piling up people and allotting all of a nominal amount to football, and Dodd was upset about that, couldn't do anything about it, and eventually Georgia Tech left the league. He wanted to have the rule changed and said we're gonna leave unless you change that rule. Bear allegedly had promised Dodd he would get his president to vote for
Dodd's position, which would have changed the rule. But in January of sixty four, Alabama's president voted against Dodd's position. The president split six to six, but Georgia Tech's president immediately in that meeting walked to the podium and announced, we're out. We're pulling out of the sec How about that now. One of the sidebars here was a story in the Saturday Evening Post Kids, that's an old magazine.
Furman Bisher, who's a legendary sports writer, wrote a story that charged Bear Bryant with encouraging his players to engage in brutality once again. This was in nineteen sixty one against Georgia Tech. And that story also six months later there was a story called the Story of a College Football Fix and charged Bryan and Wally Butts, who was the ad at Georgia, was conspiring in sixty to fix
their game, the Georgia Alabama game in Alabama's favor. Both sued Bear Bryant sued Wally Butt sued Bear settles out of court for the publishing house for three hundred thousand dollars but got three point one million landmark case and libel because it established conditions under which a news organization can be held liable for defamation of a quote public figure.
So there's so much history involved with Alabama and Georgia Tech, Bobby Dodd, Bear Bryant, And as I said, it wasn't until I had looked into this and googled Bobby Dodd that Bill Curry's name came up, and he negotiated the peace settlement in nineteen seventy five. And by the way, those teams obviously had stopped playing and they started playing again.
So when you look back at the history of SEC football, there's all kinds of little nuggets like that, just like the nugget that And again Tom had it in his
notes from today's show. It was on this day in nineteen ninety nine that Kentucky upset Arkansas, which was number sixteen at the time in USA today number twenty in the AP and Kentucky was supposed to be it was at the time, I think two and two, and Owen won in the league and Arkansas was supposed to come in and Clapper the Wildcats, but did not mentioned that in the first segment. So I like history. I like when you can look back on days like today, and
I remember that Kentucky team. I don't specifically remember that game. I remember Kentucky won it. But that was a season that was full of surprises, nineteen ninety nine when the defense ruled the day. And as I said earlier, that could the case for this Kentucky team. Up next, JJ Weaver part of that UK defense. Later on, Sean Woods and Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore, You're on the Big bon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Moon Sider joining us. Now we've talked before JJ Weaver and I at practices and after games on the UK Radio network, but we are here to talk to JJ about being part of the All State Good Works Team, one of eleven players in FBS football. Congratulations on that.
Thank you. I'm honored to be on the All State Go Works Team.
What's so cool about that is you get to see that trophy every day, don't you? In the field as because of Courtney Loves doing back in twenty seventeen.
Yeah, you know Cody Love and want to see once I got nominated, once I got honored, You're a first one to shoot me a test like that's what we do at UK congrat good work teams, Let's go. So it was honor just just getting an award, just being just just showing the word that I'm blessed in honor to have of good works.
It seems like now every game that you play in the national announcers bring up the fact that you were doing so much work to help kids who were in your shoes. Everybody knows your story. All the UK fans know about how you lost your dad, you lost your coach, you had a terrible injury. And I don't mean to sound like I'm belittling that by just listing them, but
it's because you've handled it so brilliantly. And now you've got a group that you've put together to try to help kids your age, college age kids deal with stuff like that. Tell me about how that all came around.
It came along because I was hurting myself, you know, once I lost my dad, once I lost my coach and told me I said, I was destroyed inside. I didn't know what else to do. You know, I needed help. At the end of the day, I needed help. I didn't know how to deal with.
With losing.
Both peoples I loved and losing the game I play. So it was hard to cope a lot. So actually I needed help. I figure that I needed help, and once I got help, it was okay. Once I got help, it's time to help others because I knew I was struggling. I knew when somebody lose somebody they loved it hurt and once and once when I was hurting in school, I stopped going to class. You know, I stop, stop stop taking football serious, you know, cause I was hurt. So I don't want nobody else to go through I
went through. I want to help them before they get to that.
You really get blindsided.
I know.
You know your dad was murdered, your coach died suddenly, then ACL injury can happen, as you know, to any athlete on any play. It's so sudden, isn't it, And suddenly you're forced to deal with that. That's just tough, isn't it.
Yeah, most definitely it was. It was hard.
But definitely it was hard for me and my family and the peoples around me because I affect a lot of people are with the energy I I give off man the good the goods I give off to other people.
So and now you've got a group together. Uh, and you're you're I know you're you're working on trying to have a policy put in place at the university because students such as yourself you talked about not going to class, not taking practice. Seriously, You've got all kinds of support
with the football program. It's still difficult. But for your run of the mill, everyday student who's dealing with bereavement, if they're down so far, they could go into class, they could flunk out, you know, which isn't fair, is it? And so now you're trying to help there, aren't you?
Yes, sir, I actually started the last two weeks the palette program. I couldn't been able to because the practice, but I heard it was like nine students end up coming in last yesterday. They have every Monday at for thirty and NA people's game.
So it's it's growing. I'm excited.
I can't wait to come to to actually go to the pallette this year. I haven't been this year because the season and everything. But I'm excited. I'm honored at U can actually started something like this. It's it's I knew a lot of people's on my team just lost a parent and just lost a granny, so it's honored to have a grieving program at you are Chikentidy.
Word of mouth. It's catching on right, Yeah's definitely. You have always though, been summon to give back. Looking at your bio, I mean backpacks for kids and different programs like that, it just seems like that comes to you second nature. Is that? Is that the case?
I'm in love with a person. You know, I'm a heart, I'm once, I love, I love hard, and that's me. I'm a caring person. So I'm gonna open up to you. I'm gonna care for you and make sure you're okay because I didn't have that one and so I'm just making sure you okay.
At the end of the day, if I told somebody about you and what you're doing, I said, oh, by the way, he's a linebacker in the Southeastern Conference. That's quite the balancing act, isn't it. How do you balance that with football and being one of the best linebackers in the conference.
Not that had you just got to be humble with it. You know, I'm a humble guy. So once you humble, everything just it's gonna come to you. So I'm just a very humble guy, you know, keep God first and everything else gonna come to me.
We're talking to JJ Weaver about being a member of the All State Good Works Team, now eligible for the Danny Warfel Trophy. Billy Miller's with us from All State. But what would you like to add here?
No, I just I'm so proud of you know, and I would add that everyone on behalf of All State is so proud of these twenty two students and head coach for making it being elected to the twenty twenty four All State a FCA Good Works Team. Hand these this this selection committee handpicked these students, at student athletes and head coach from a record one hundred and seventy eight nominees representing every corner of the country. So we're so proud of all of them, including JJ Hare.
Jj. You guys are coming off that big win over Old Miss, and I know people look at you as a football player, but I think if they looked at your biography as I did, and I knew this going in, you're a lot more, aren't you. You're a guy who plays football, You're not just a football player. And I think these these programs you're part of that that proves that, doesn't it.
Yeah, most definitely we go yeah, UK, we go thing about four for forty you got four years, forty years off, so.
We take that serious at UK, so we more than a football player.
Most definitely tell me about it as well. The fifteen for Freddie Foundation. You started gosh back in twenty fifteen.
Yeah, fifteen for Freddy my grandfather. He under the cancer. He beat a cancer for four years, then two o fourteen he ended up having a stroke and he passed away from a stroke.
That was one of my first loss I ever felt.
And that was my first foundation I did for him, for people who losing who have cancer, who are suffering a cancer man, my mom, we did like I was a sophomore in high school, junior year in high school, so that's when we started. But it's not called fifteen for thirty. The more called it perfect fit and I'm getting the Nike deal. With Nike they end up giving you know, I have six fingers on my right hand, so as a child, you know, I was getting bully
about it and everything, and nikeing up. I usually picked five or five five fingers. They made me assist phenis glove. I usually picked two pingis in one. So now they gave me Osi fin gloved me and my mom came with the new logo the new foundation called the Perfect Fit.
And you talk to the other kids who have the same situation, don't you.
It's definitely like last year. I went to elementary school Taste Week. Elementary talked to the kids two end up two kids having six fingers and it was amazing.
Wow, what are the odds of that? I wonder?
Definitely gonna Stephanie was it was crazy.
I know you're terribly proud to be a part of the All State Good Works Team, but that's not why you do this. As I said, you've been doing this kind of stuff for a long time. You feel like being a part of the All State Good Works Team can can help encourage other athletes to give back a little bit.
Yeah, most definitely. A lot of my teammates honored and they want to help me. So it's an honor just to be on an All State good Ers team. But the work I've been doing for over the years, you're just the love I have for others. You know, I'm just a caring person, so I'm always working on others, working on making sure everybody else straight around me.
You were like this back at old More High School, weren't you in Louisville.
Yeah, that's what it started from. It started from going to More High School.
You know.
I was the first ever big time athlete to come out of More High School. You know, so there's an anemost definitely just to put on from the kids back at More High School.
Well, growing up in Louisville, as I did, we knew More if it had a good basketball team. But yeah, you didn't think much about football, did you. A lot of pride was that. Well, while I've got you, I got to ask you about what it's been like since you guys, And of course I fly with the team, but I'm in the back of the plane. You know. You guys are are back on campus before I get to my car at the airport. But I'm wondering what has it been like for you coming You've got a
little time off. We talked about that little rest, relaxation, But tell me about what life has been like since pulling off that upset man, Man, wonderful.
You know, we needed that big one. You know, we lost to South Carolina. That hurt us. You know, we was in in dolphire Georgia, you know, and then DOLPHI we old man.
So we got it.
You know, we almost as I keep batting bounding every other week. You know, our next our next opponent's vending Beild and we're not gonna take vending Beild like it's another SEC opponent.
You know, SEC have the.
One of the best conference in the nation, So we gotta look forward to keep fighting chopping chopping wood every year.
You're part of a defense that now really you guys play fairly well against SoC Carolina, great against Georgia, great against Dole Miss. It's becoming I think perhaps the identity of this Kentucky team and people across the country now are seeing just how good your defense is. What is it like to be a part of that?
Man, you know, I mean for six years and I tell the guy, this is one of the best defense I've been in a UK.
You know, the brothers is tight. You know, we battle every day.
You know, we we argue like brothers, you know, so it's once you argue each other.
You know, he got my back off the field. So man, I love it.
Ain't gonna lie love it, you know, I know they got my back, so I can go to war with these with these guys, you know, I know they're gonna stand on all ten for I mean, I'm gonna stay all ten for them.
So it's a I love this team, this defense. I know. I know we got the.
Chance to to upset a lot of teams this year.
I know that when you were going through your toughest times with your family members and your coach and your injury, being a part of the team was your extended family.
Uh.
And I got to think that with this work you're doing now with a bereatman group on campus, you're trying to extend that kind of feeling like that that friendship that you know people can bond over over things like this and and and handle their mourning their grief.
Yeah. Most definitely.
Like I said, I didn't know a lot of my teammates lost a mom or dad, So that made us even more closer.
Yeah, that's a. That's a that's a that's the goal.
I have making more worldwide at university in Kentucky period. You know, I want to have a I want to build me a house fut grieving for all for Yeah, most thefit for the whole state of Kentucky. Anybody ages ages from forty through you through thirteen, you know that's the goal I want to have or even younger.
So that's me.
Well, I lost my dad when I was little, when I was eight, and it just rocks your world. I know that. But I know how important family can be. And and again, as I said, you didn't set out to win any awards, but it's all those fitting that you're part of the Good Works team and then the running for the word For Trophy, And I would think it's gonna be a great help if you end up winning the worf For Trophy. Just getting that message out even more is going to mean a lot to you, isn't it.
Most definitely it's gonna You're gonna even put the ice on the cake for me right there. I mean I can do a lot with that, just show the stale can take you.
That's more than that. So most definitely.
Showed a nation Billy. Is there anything else we need to know?
No, I just tell fans, as you said, JJ's in the running for the All State Warflo Trophy.
So go vote.
You can go vote at ESPN dot com slash all.
State sounds good, JJ and enjoy the time. I know your guys are back at practicing, but you guys got to be walking a little taller I think these days.
Right Yeah, just up and high right now. Most definitely.
That's Kentucky linebacker JJ Weaver, part of the All State Good Works team and now in the running for the Warfle Trophy. And we're back in just a minute here on the Big Mollon Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. Thanks again to JJ Weaver for joining us. Coming up and hour number two. Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard, joins us each and every Wednesday, as well as Weston Bureau Chief Gary Moore. A couple of other notes for you
before we hit the Braak. Diamonds Sports Group, which carries the local broadcasts of the Cincinnati Reds, says we're out on all but one of the twelve Major League teams that now televises. Those other cities will either need to renegotiate new contracts with Diamond or find another option elsewhere. So diamond says we're good with the Braves, but now the Reds, the Tigers, the Royals, the Los Angeles Angels, the Marlins, Myke Cardinals, and the Tampa Bay Rays are
without a broadcast partner. They may end up back with Diamond, but as of right now they're out and the Reds and those other teams likely if they stay with them, we'll have to take less money, and nobody wants that somebody will have them, But now it is up in the air. Kentucky fans who keep track of former Wildcats, you might know that Kevin Knox spent the last season for the most part in the G League with the Rip City Remix and now he has signed with the Warriors.
Got to make the squad, but he averaged last year twenty two and a half points, almost nine rebounds, and almost three assists per game. He's only twenty five years old, still got a lot of good basketball ahead of him, but he has not had the career, of course, that he hoped and that others had predicted for him. And again,
maybe he should have stayed another year. But Kevin Knox, now with a shot at making the Golden State Warriors, saw an interesting note on the interweb about Shannon Sharp, who's now Talking Head, used to be a great receiver in the NFL, and he said when he had just signed with the Ravens. He had some money to play around with, and he told his financial guy, I would like to buy three hundred thousand dollars worth of Google stock. And his financial guy said, Nope, it's overpriced, don't do it.
It's worth more than three trillion now. And Sharp was talking to Mark Cuban about it. He said, I would have been a billionaire with you about that. It wasn't quite the same, but it reminds me of when Adolph Rupp got some advice from Ty Cobb about stock and Rubb was like, no, I don't think so. Turned out to be Coca Cola before we hit the brake. I gotta share this with you. It's the call from the Alabama Georgia game via the Japan Network. They were calling
the game. Don't know if they were there, did it off TV, but here it is. That guy must have had a bet on the game. I remember two is next with Sean Woods and Gary Moore A on six thirty w A p. Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider join us down our celebrity hotline as he does each and every Wednesday. Is the Unforgettable Guard. Sean Woods,
a Jersey hangs in the rafters of rup coach. Before I get to talking about Kentucky basketball and basketball in general, your thoughts, first of all, in the passing of Pete Rose, because you and I have talked baseball before, and you liked playing baseball, and you grew up in Central Indiana, which I don't know if it's still REDG country, but for the longest time, Indianapolis was a Red Triple A affiliate.
Yeah in the UH Indian the Indians too, Yeah, not Indians Montreal, Uh yeah, the Indianapolis Indians was the was the minor league for the UH. I couldn't remember, but I know, uh yes, changed a lot. And then also I grew up in Gary. I was we were my little league team, Brunswick Little League was two games away from making a Little league wor.
Up there though, Yeah, no kidding, Wow.
Yeah, So I've had a you know, major experience in baseball and then you know, watching you know, pros and Major League all my life, and you know, how can you not watch Pete Rose, who was the epitome of what hard work and over achievement was all about. And as a kid, you know, especially you know, there was no social media back then about people's personal lives and things like that. You know, growing up knowing what we knew, he was as pure as ivory Snow, you know what
I'm saying. You know, as far as his work ethic, you know, gave one hundred and ten percent, Charlie Hustle, the whole nine yards. But you know, like everyone else, you know, everybody has a life, and you know, I didn't got to a point in my life where you know, it's not about judging people anymore, you know, and I think that you know, whatever happened, you know with his gambling and betting on baseball, did he make a major mistake? Yeah, but what he did on the baseball field as a
player cannot be denied. And there's no you can't talk about baseball and have a Hall of Fame. I don't care without Pete Rose being in there. You know, you got I wasn't around when Ty Cobb was around, But man, I'm sure Ty Cobb was more of a tyrant thing than Pete Rose was. Looking at a documentaries and things like that, and you know, some people who made more mistakes you look at, you know, these other players with drug problems and domestic violence situations, and they still got in.
You know, he made him at a mistake, but no one proved that he was betting on the Reds when he was the manager. But I don't think that that keeps him from being in the Hall of Fame because the Hall of Fame is not about your personal life. The Hall of Fame is but you can get in that particular sport while you were playing, and that's what you got to be.
You know, uh.
Looked upon as you know, yeah, and he did that. You know, no one hit you know, he's the best hitter in the history of baseball.
The qualities have made him a great player, I mean by sheer force of his will, because when he first came up, he was kind of a pudgy, unathletic guy. Although I don't know how you could describe him as unathletic looking at the achievements that he that he had, but like the hard work, the work ethic, you know. And when they first called him Charlie Hustle, some of the players are kind of making fun of them. They had to swallow their words because Hustle is what made
him one of the greatest ever. And I know, a guy like you, even though you coach a different sport. You got to love that when you see that in an athlete, no matter what the sport.
Oh, he's a winner. You know, who doesn't want to coach that? That's right, you know, he's a winner. You know what you're going to get day in and day out, and you want to be able to count on players, you know, as a coach and every day I know their manager whoever he was at the particular time, could knew when he was going to get out of Pete Rose. Yeah, you know, he was the most consistent baseball player maybe in the history of baseball.
It's been really interesting for me partnering with Doug Flynn on UK baseball games and hearing the Pete stories on and off the field. You know, Pete introduced Doug. Do was to Doug's wife. They've been married for more than
forty years. Pete was the one who broke the news to Doug about Doug being traded to the Mets, you know, and Doug was one of the guys I'm not going to repeat the word that Sparky Anderson used, guys who were not in the starting lineup, but you know the guys who were, they were penciled in every day, and yet the guys on the bench were held at the same standards that Pete Rose held himself to and his
other teammates. So, like I said, and like you said, what coach wouldn't want to coach a guy like that? Let me shift gears over there.
You're talking about Doug Flynn. Now, you know what I'm saying. It doesn't get it any better than him, you know, as far as morals and morality and doing the right thing. And for him to look up to a guy like Pete Rose and not have too many negative things to say, come on, that speaks volumes. You know what I'm saying.
And I think the.
World at Dug Flinn. I have so much respect for Doug Flynn and he if he okays your character, then you're pretty good.
Yeah.
And you know, and Pete Rose, all kudos from Doug Flynn. And from that standpoint behind the world. Can he be out of out of baseball?
You know what I'm saying, Well, Dougs conflicted about that, turno. Doug has conflicted. Dougs conflicted about that too. But I think ultimately what you say is right.
Well, you know, betting on baseball, I get that. Yeah, but you know, time heals all things. Let time he'll you know what I mean, pete rose and I just don't get that they didn't Let time he'll pee rose situation.
Let me shift you over to Kentucky football and I know that again we've talked about how much of a football fan you are. What was it like for you Saturday watching and I hope you listen to the radio as well, watching your beloved Wildcats pull off that upset?
What did I tell you the week before? And he was like, you know, should they pack it in? This?
And that?
So on and so forth. You know, people give in Stuits a hard time. You know, it's move on to the next one, you know. So you had an opportunity to beat the number one team in the conference. You were right there. What is so amazing about Stoops and his staff is these guys believe in them. They no matter what their record is, They're coming to work every single day. They giving it everything they got. And when you can compete like that every single day, it gives
you a chance. And in sports, that's all you want is a chance. And you know I judge coaches on that more so than wins and losses, because you know, you only going to be as good as your players. You can be the best motivator known and man, you can have all the ex'es and oo's, but if your Jim and Joe's don't line up, you have no shot. And He's continued to keep these guys motivated, hungry, they still have a vision. And you lose to Georgia, you know what I'm saying. Had them beat that was the
biggest morale builders that they could have had. And the next opponent that they were playing was in trouble and it showed, you know, you got the number one defense. I think they're the best defense in America myself, you know, because you don't hold these high powered offenses under twenty points or twenty one points under. You know, that's given you a chance. And you know they always say that, you know, offense brings you know, people, puts people in
the stands. The defense wins championships. Well, hey, this defense may carry them all the way to where they're trying to go to a to a bowl. Deal because no one gave after they lost to South Carolina, no one gave them a shot except to beat Vanderbilt. And look at them right now, every team in the SEC is scared to play them because you know, you got to bring your pail head, you know what I'm saying every possession.
I wonder I don't know if you've ever had any interaction with Vince Marrow, but as a professional coach, I'm wondering your thoughts on what Vince said about the fact that after the South Carolina lost Stoops not only had to kind of coach up the players, but he had to coach up the coaches and kind of got the coaches reinvested in and re excited about what was going on. I thought that was really interesting and it and it worked.
Well. You know what, that's your job as a coach. You got to coach everybody, you know, and and if football is a little bit different than basketball, because head coach, don't you know you can't be hands on or both both ends of the I mean both sides of the ball. Yeah, you know, but you can motivate these guys to do
their job and to stay enthusiastic. Stay enthusiastic, because if your coaches are coming out of that meeting room or there, or the players are going into the meeting room and their coaches attitude is, you know, whatever it is, everybody feeds on that, and when you lose, everybody's looking for misery. Everyone they're looking at each other to see how each other is going to respond. And that's how to overcome and for stoops to overcome that, your whole building, not
just your players, but your coaches are down. You know, do you know how quick you can lose your team just because of that? Yeah, he could have lost his team two weeks ago. And the fact that he's got everybody on board. He's probably done the best coaching job in America right now and they're not underseated just because of the circumstances.
Shawn Woods is my guest, the Unforgettable Guard. We'll come back and talk more with Sean on the other side of the break here on six point thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're talking with Unforgettable Guard Shawn Woods. And before I ask about the UK's Pro Day and madness coming up, you said something before the break that I've never heard before, and I'm curious. She said, when things are going bad, everybody looks for people look for misery. What do you mean by that?
Because you're looking for someone that you're looking for here we go. You know what I mean, isn't worth anymore? Yeah, you know in an athlete. Today's athlete are so impressed with social media. They read all that stuff. You can't you can't hide it anymore. So kids see and hear the negativity that goes on with a coach, and sometimes
a kid can lose respect. Your parents get involved. You know, the coach may not have played you as much, so you got that I told you so attitude or waiting for the next guy to fail, you know, and that that that just infest into your camp and it becomes a negative sea that you can't you know, and it's like a fire that you can't stop. And for him to stop that within six days.
It is miraculous interesting.
You know, I was shocked that people were talking down on him early. This is Kentucky. We you know what I'm saying. Whoever decided the ads and the president decided to bring in all these big twelve schools and things like that to the SEC and make it more competitive, you just made it more harder for yourself, so you didn't give your own program a chance, you know what I'm saying. So now this man has showed you that even though we are Kentucky, we still we can still
compete with the best, which they are speaks volumes. You know, sometimes you can't fire a coaches. You can't get down on the coach because of his record. You got to understand the circumstances, and his circumstances are way tougher than Georgia Alabama. You know, Texas, you understand what I'm saying. Yeah, from that dead point, you're playing at a high level, just as high as any team in the league right now,
even though you lost by too. You know, if Alabama and Georgia play tomorrow, somebody's gonna lose, right, But if Georgia beats Alabama twenty one to twenty three, does that make Alabama a subpar SEC school?
No?
And for Kentucky to be in that mix them be able to compete and give give themselves a chance to win every Saturday in the SEC. Oh my gosh, it's not traditionally to a top SEC school.
Come on, well, let me shift over to basketball in the time we have remaining UK Pro Day coming up Monday. Madness is on the way. We all know about the value of madness when it comes to recruiting and being a window into Kentucky basketball. But how do you feel about Pro Day. That's something cali Perry created. For one thing, it kind of gave him more control over the pro scouts, but it was also a way to further celebrate UK basketball.
It was something innovative. Whatever you felt about Cali Perry, he's an innovator and this was just another way to bring the spotlight back to election and didn't have it when you were playing, of course, But what are your thoughts on that today?
I thought, like you said, and Cal was was an innovator. You know a lot of teams, a lot of schools start to do what he was doing, and like, like now it's magnetized even more. Every kid thinks they're pro. Every kid wants to be a pro, so they're gonna go to the spot to where there their chances of becoming a pro are much greater. Just think about it for a minute. Cal's got so many guys in the NBA right now and are playing at a high level. Just think of how many guys didn't even didn't even
average double figures while they're here at Kentucky. You know, that's huge and the only way they could do that is get these pro scouts in here to see the real them because in the game there's only so many shots. You know, that doesn't mean if that kid can't be a pro because he's not. He's on the shoot two
three times a game. So Cal brought, you know, invited the pros into his camp to see the real person, that the real player that he had, because you know, come game time, that's the same kid that everybody's high on.
One.
You know, that may be a late first round pick or he's a second round pick, may only played seven minutes a game or ten minutes a game. So from that standpoint, he was a hit and two. From a recruiting standpoint, doesn't want to practice the front of pro.
Goodness?
You know what I'm saying. Who doesn't want to practice? And I thought last year there was only one guy that had hurt because it just messed him up mentally.
Was justin Newicks, Yeah, no question, justin.
Thatwi was was the deal up until pro up until pro day. Pro Day. I was there. He didn't play well, couldn't make a shot, and and he carried he thought that that was his one chance to play against pro I've been playing in front of the pros, and he thought he messed up, and you know, for him to go through what he went through, and and still, you know, because he was so touted coming out of high school that he was a can't miss that even though he had a subpart year, it still gave him an opportunity
to get drafted because of what he played for cal and he played at Kentucky and the tradition of guys that don't do as well from a percentage standpoint, the odds of them doing well in the NBA are pretty good compared to some other guys.
The Kentucky effect.
The Kentucky effect. If he's anywhere else, I don't think he gets drafted like he did.
He's in a position that it No, you're absolutely right, and for better or worse, it's a Kentucky effect, and oftentimes it is for the better. And like you said, who wouldn't want to play in front of scouts? I mean scouts go everywhere, you know that, but yeah, but to have an army of scouts and to have it nationally.
Yeah, it's like you had basketball camp in high school and you're playing in front of thousands of you know, hundreds of of college scouts and coaches. It's the same situation.
Oh sure, Yeah, those summer events like an AU.
Tournament that's like an AAU basketball camp or whatever, five star BC Nike camp. That's what it feels like. Yeah, when you playing in front of these scouts like that, because it's an evaluation that you're getting that's magnetized. People just dream of that. So why am I not going to a touch Please recruit in Kentucky because I want to play in front of this type of situation. They have the opportunity to uh to to to you know better, my family and for still a dream of playing at the NBA.
Just give me a chance and put me in front of those scouts and I'll show you exactly.
They're not coming to more Head, they ain't coming to this city state. Maybe a few of them, few, you know, the NBA team was represented at cows Hill.
Every NBA team sometimes more than once. Yes, yes, because there are scouts and then there are checkers. The same thing in baseball. I'm scouting a kid, Why don't you go look at him and tell me if what I saw was right. So, yeah, you're going to get a scout, maybe an assistant coach at GM maybe a head coach. So that just swells the ranks, doesn't it.
Yeah, And then you know people knew that I was going to practice. Every day, I would get calls from scout saying, tell me what he's looking like right there? Really tell me this? Yeah?
Interesting.
Well, so you know they do their homework and they'll continue to call and check in. You know that they can't make it in, They're gonna call somebody who they respect, you know, and you know it's it's bigger than what you think.
Well, it happens on Monday the seventh, and I'll actually be on the TV side with Jack Gibbons and hope to see their coach. Thanks as always, all right, Dick, I'll be there.
I'll see you on Monday.
Up next, West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore right here on six thirty Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider. It is Wednesday. That means we look to the west, look to our West n Bureau Chief Gary Moore at the other end of I sixty four. The word sports for a long time for us on the West coast for KAILA West Radio, but now he's back in La Louisville area and often comes to us with so much on his mind.
Two guys and a six pack, you and me and six swigs as we say, And Dick, I just want to preface this by saying that I had a very unforgettable moment with Pete Rose at Dodger Stadium before he was ever banned, although it was that same summer now, And I'll go into that on our last swig here.
Okay, because I think you'll you'll enjoy this.
But our first swig here kick things off. Let me just say, because I haven't had a chance to talk to you about it yet, Mark Stoops has guts. Say it again, Mark Stoops has guts. And because Mark Stoopens has guts, UK football and Big Blue Nation is still reveling in glory. Fourth and seven, we know the whole state. This is like the greatest This is the greatest game of Stoops's career. I think fourth and seven, four minutes, four seconds to play from their own twenty, and they
go for it. Dick, normally, as Dennis Miller once said, you only see balls that big chasing Indiana Jones. Okay, clearly a game plan from Brad and Bush, DC and OC that worked. A surgical perfection and it couldn't happen against a better coach because in La Dick we had to put up with some of Kiffin's crap.
Oh yeah, on a.
Daily basis just a real pain in the rear end. So good for them. Now the Cats get one of well, the first of two bye weeks this season. They return home to Vandy a week from Saturday. So I ask you, between now and then, besides everybody getting arrest from some already intense SEC games, who needs to heal up and what has to happen?
Well, I think they would love to get Chip train them back eventually, you know, the guy with the running back. They brought in to key their offense, at least their ground attack, and yet they've done pretty well without them. All all hail let me sum will karn Bay. But man, a couple of freshmen, especially Willcox, just as Jeff Pacrosse's runs angry. You know he didn't create that, but he applies it to him, And boy, what a job they did. That's to me Gary, And there were so many things
to be impressed about. Is what impressed me the most about Kentucky is the way ground out the offense and forced ole miss to play defense for longer stretches than it has all season, control the pace of the game. And I think when they can get linemen healthy again, they'll be even better at it. And did Maxwell Harriston back right?
And when you can control the game for forty minutes oh man out of sixty?
Yeah, yeah, you got.
A good chance of winning. So our second swig in the six pack Cats have Saturday offense? Do my Hilltoppers who dropped a winnable game at Boston College, Like some of the receivers dropped wide open passes, especially in that fourth quarter when they could have well, it probably cost him the game, to be honest with you. And by the way, I think that's a very underemphasized stat in both college and in the pros dropped passes. You know it being a Packers fan, I think, And well it's
not under emphasized for Saquon Barkley this season. But anyway, we go on number twenty two, Louisville back home after basically beating themselves up at South ben and the Notre Dame loss, they'll face four to one SMU Mustangs. The Mustang's latest to abuse and degrade Florida State forty two to sixteen cards had better play their a game. This could be some sort of a trap game. Their seven point favorite out at the stadium on Saturday. Any other
games looked like fun? Well, we got number nine Missoo at number twenty five Texas A and m Aggie's a two point favorite. Number twelve Old Mess at South Carolina Rebels a nine and a half point favorite.
That one.
Number one Bama at Vandy probably not a trap game. Number twenty three Indiana at Northwestern possibly a trap game, but I think the Hoosiers will win. And dick two ridiculous examples of expanding conferences for the money whores that are running them. For example, UCLA flying four thousand, five hundred miles round trip to get their brewin butts blistered at number seven Penn State a twenty eight point favorite.
But wait, Miami says, hold on to our Gatorade. Number eight Hurricanes flying five thousand, one hundred and seventy six miles from Miami to Berkeley to play cal where you can see the Pacific Ocean from the Berkeley campus while you're playing an Atlantic Coast Conference game? Am I not the only one shaking his head in this.
You know what's gonna happen here, don't you? What's that? This is all going to wear down on these athletes and coaches will begin to complain yep, and administrators will begin to see the fact that, hey, this isn't working very well when dopes like you and I saw it two years ago, what are you thinking? And again, it's not just the football teams only. It's exacerbated by the
size of the travel party. And as you know, I travel with UK and by the way, the team that flies into Penn State, no matter who it is, I'll guarantee you there's a bus ride waiting for him, because what airport near that university is big enough for one of those jumbo jetliners. Yeah, not that it matters. After you've already flown across the country. What's another hour bus ride, you know, with your knees in your chest. So, oh, this is stupid.
Something's going to have to happen. We'll address that, I think a little bit later on. Oh yeah, here our third swig and the six packs. Let's go on to the NFL, both here and in the mother country this weekend Dick Tomorrow Night, Thursday Night Football three and one Tampa Bay at number two at the two and two Atlanta Falcons. That's going to be on Amazon at eight
to fifteen Falcons a point and a half favorite. Early Sunday morning, I know you'll be up at nine thirty with a pine of London Pride from London Town Tottenham's Hot Spurs Stadium. Two and two Jets, who look beyond awful against Denver, face the four and oh Vikings, who looked somewhat decent against your Packers. They're at the Lambo over the weekend. Vikings are only two and a half
point favorite, though in that game. Must see games on Sunday, well, I think the big one up I seventy five Ravens two and a half point favorites at the Bengals.
That's at one o'clock.
You also get at one o'clock in Houston the Bills and the Texans. Your Packers out West my old stomping grounds against the Rams. Packers a three and a half point favorite, and then you got Dallas and Pittsburgh, reminding me of Super Bowls. I always hated Sunday night.
Monday Night.
Only one game that's the Saints and the Chiefs. So I ask you what happens if the Bengals lose to the Ravens on Sunday.
Well, I think they can pack it in because it's hard enough to come back from oh and two then three, they finally get a win, but it's so hard to make the playoffs this year playoffs. But I think it also underscores, you know's what's wrong with the Bengals. You know, they ease their way into a season and make it difficult on themselves and in the pass. Their defense really, despite having Chase and Burrow, has been the calling card
and it's not been up up to par lately. So if the Rams can score on them, they're in trouble the rest of the year.
Fourth Swig and the six Pack last night, two more games in the w NBA Semifinals and two more non sellouts in New York and Minneapolis. Why Well, mainly because the Taylor Swift of basketball Caitland Clark ain't playing. That's one reason. But to be fair, the TV ratings for the first two semis on Sunday afternoon up against the NFL were pretty decent. In fact, they were a massive improvement over the same window from last year by about five times Sunday's New York Vegas Game one had nine
hundred and twenty nine thousand viewers. That's more than all four of last year's Finals games. Maybe that's a combination of the Caitlin effect and the Olympics, but there's plenty of seats still available at both of those arenas. Brooklyn at Barclay Center seats about nineteen thousand. They've had just over fourteen thousand for the two games, even worse at Target Center in Minneapolis, less than eighty eight hundred at
both games for nineteen thousand plus arena. Now, I haven't seen the overnight ratings from Tuesdays games, but after Minnesota and Connecticut opened their Game two missing their combined fourteen first shots, no, Caitlin Clark, I asked, why would you want to see any more of the WNBA, especially those two?
Yeah, Kaitlin Clark. Clearly, it's like Debbie Antonelli calls it clarkonomics. It's so simple to see for people to still dig in, you know, against the notion that this skinny kid from Iowa could have that kind of an effect. But again, between Kaylen Clark Asia Wilson, it's easy to draw that parallel between them and bird Magic, who saved the NBA.
And I'm not saying these people are saving the WNBA, but they're giving it a much needed infusion of interest and excitement and Paul play, which it has to be that way. I mean, you're not gonna do all that with bells and whistles. You've got to be able to play. And both of those kids can play incredibly well, and there's so much fun to watch.
Yeah, I agree, Fit Swig. Let's talk Major League. I love October baseball. I know you do too, even these wild card games like the four we got today in the night. That's the best two out of three. Of course, division series begin on Saturday, best three out of five for that. But the big baseball news for me, along with the games, big middle finger to Nike, not once,
but twice. First, MLB announced that Nike will be going back to the original uniform material before this disastrous sweat inducing vapor premier junk that they're wearing still wearing, and introduce this season and larger letterings so you can actually see the names in the back, plus custom tapered pants that they stop.
Doing this season.
Hey look good, play good, right, and then finally, what you and I have been harping about for years now, those nausea All Star Game costume pajamas that players have had to wear. MLB said, hey, even we can't stomach these things, these rags anymore. So MLB came to their senses, and all the All Stars from here on out, like they used to do proudly from the thirties into twenty nineteen, will wear their primary home uniforms in the Midsummer Classic. Can I get a Hallelujah?
I read some place where it said major League Baseball listen to his fans, and I really wonder was their formal holding. Was there a survey? But my response to that is you didn't even need one. I mean, come on. But what I'm afraid Gary, is that the merch numbers reflected. And I say that because they're making these moves based on merch numbers, there are more stupid moves coming up in the future, you know. And I will tell you this. In my travels this summer, and I flew three or
four places. I saw one kid, one wearing a jersey I think it was at the College World Series wearing one of those stupid All Star Game replica jerseys. Saw a couple of hats, you know, and I got to think those are people. And you're a bit of a collector who thought, oh, I'm going to get one and add that to my collection. But no one's gonna wear that stuff. And I talked about this on the show the other night, how much I love Baseball's All Star Game.
It's the only true competitive all Star game, and I just one of my favorite parts is the player introductions with all the different uniforms represented and things like that. And I might sound like I'm a hundred years old and I almost am, but who cares. It's fun. The other thing, too about baseball playoffs is baseball from ten thousand feet probably has too many teams involved. But like you said, when you're right in the middle of it and all these games mean so much, imagine what the
games today are meaning. And some are already in the books. You know, teams that just clinched a spot the playoffs are celebrating with champagne. That's a good thing. Why would you.
Want to dilute all of these teams that have the legends and the tradition by taking their legendary like the Yankees pin stripes or some of these other uniforms away right exactly. Yeah, Yeah, finally Dick our sixth and final swig. I was leading to. Earlier summer of eighty nine, I had one of those memorable moments with Pete Rose. The Reds were in town playing the Dodgers, and I was down there and I noticed there was a gathering over
in the visitors dugout where Pete was. Pete was holding court. Brent Musburger was there, and a few of us were standing around, and somebody's talking about batting stances, about how you know Pete would crouch and had that batting stance for several years. And he said, you have to be comfortable at the plate. He said, for example, Bobby told. Then he stood up and he goes Bobby told and held the bat way up.
Here over his head. Yeah, and he did. Fine.
You got your guy Kurt Gibson right now. Now he's got the bat way down here and he holds it like this. He said, that's the main thing. You have to be comfortable at the plate. You find a stance and you work with it and you stick with it. And that's like rule one before you even step into the box. And as you know, and I know, Pete
was always great with the media. A lot of people may not have seen these kind of things that happened, but Pete was always ready to talk to you, good mood or bad mood whatever.
I was at four day four day hiatus.
Back in seventy five in that World Series between Games five and six, Pete went over to the media hotel every day to talk to the reporters because they needed stuff. You know, there was like four days in between because of the head He went to them. Yeah, yeah, he went over there to talk to them. And yet there is the whole betting thing. There's the other side that
that's unfortunate. In two thousand and two, as Jason Stark wrote in The Athletic Yesterday, you know, he had that handshake agreement with Bud Selig to fall him the sword to press conference, never go into a casino again and all that stuff. And what does he do after the handshake agreement walks into a casino to a sports book and the whole deal was off. And maybe, you know, with baseball in bed with betting sites now it's not as big a deal. Maybe he felt that, hey, I'd
rather bet than be in the Hall of Fame. It's an addiction. I can't kick whatever. But as we know as a player, clearly a Hall of Famer without a doubt. But you know, if they had a Hall of Fame for being your own worst enemy, I think Pete would Pete would be a charter member.
He would he would have he would have cut the ribbon to let people in. Gary Maher is our Western Bureau chief. We'll come back with some hot reads for Gary in just a minute. Here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLA, Welcome back. We are chatting with our Western Bureau chief, Gary Moore. He is presented with us two guys in the six back. So a couple of hot reads for Gary to go back to the West side of the country where you used to work.
You used to cover the PAC twelve. It is furiously dog paddling, trying to keep his head above water and adding teams. Honestly, it's kind of a joke. On the one hand, I'm in favor of it because it never should have had to dissolve in the first place. But I think this is a big step. Gary Gonzaga non football player, but Gonzaga joining the PAC twelve and twenty twenty six. I think that's good for both because Gonzaga has always been dismissed as a bully and a bad conference.
That might begin to change.
Now.
It's going to take a while, but it might begin to change.
I agree, And alluding to what we talked about earlier. If if you can get Cow and you can get Stanford to come to their senses, come back and somehow leave the ACC get back into the pack with football, and have both these pack egos and the Mountain West egos to merge, which they should have done in the first place. Get the Mountain West and these pack teams
together make one big Power five conference. Even though they wanted to try and get rid of the dead weight, they overleveraged and they thought they had more leverage than they did. It didn't work out for either side. Right, That's what needs to happen. That's the common sense thing. But we know what happens when you're trying to deal with common sense and conference realignments. It doesn't seem to go very far.
In all your time covering the PAC twelve out there, which began as a Pack eight. Of course, I guess it was a PAC ten when you first arrived in California. I'm wondering what was the arrogance there that had those schools blindly following Larry Scott, the horrible commissioner who's the conference died on his watch. He wasn't a commissioner when it formally broke up, but he did the horrible job turned down the ESPN package, and these schools just went, oh, okay,
whatever you say, boss. Was that happening when you were there?
Yeah, And initially he was lauded for some of these great TV deals when he first got in there, and then they started to see what the Big ten was getting. Then the SEC started getting a little bit stronger, and then all of a sudden it wasn't so great, and then the money was being waved in front of the USC president UCLA and then you see where we are now with that.
But yeah, Larry was the guy. And as I've said many times, those schools, UCLA and USC they could not afford to turn it down, you know, they were they were just hemorrhaging money, especially the USC. Yeah, they needed to go. So we'll see. It's going to take a while, but we'll see our second hot read will Levis with yet another bad interception and the Titans actually a win over Miami. But some say the Titans won that game because Levis was injured and it was Mason Rudolph who
led them to the victory. But the Titans say, when he's healthy, when he comes back from the injury, and it may be more serious than they're letting on. Will Levis is still the starter? How much longer do you think the Titans can afford to stick with him? And do you see him coming around?
Well, I hope he does. Yeah, he's certainly got the talent to it. He just looks like he needs to him down.
You know.
Again, this is his first full year of being a starter so far, and he's had nine turnovers in four games. If that keeps up, he'll definitely be sitting down. And well, look at some of the other quarterbacks that are coming around. Finally Sam Darnell comes around. Who would have thought that a few years ago. Maybe it takes some seasoning on some of these young guys, you know. You know, so many young guys were like Donald, They were with bad teams.
Levis is not with a bad team, But there they go in the wrong direction when he throws to the other guys. Right, Yeah, he's got three was it three fumbles and six interceptions, so that's not good. And Rudolph is just calm. You look calmer in the pocket. He just kind of stood there and just kind of waited a couple of minutes, took a couple of hits. So I just think it's seasoning at this point. But again, the turnovers I think will make a difference if he doesn't.
If he keeps the the fumbles interceptions down, he'll probably keep the job. He's got some good receivers.
Yeah he does, and he's got a he's got a big league arm, and he can make be has made big league plays, but he's made boonehead play and it just might cost him a starting job. And once that happens, and you're a draft pick as highly taken as he was, then they move you, they trade you, they release you, and you become a nomad. You become a career backup, and you wear a lot of baseball caps and hold a lot of clipboards. So you hope that's not the case for really anybody. But as you said, some guy's
new life that brings new promise. Larry Mars at Pittsburgh. Oh that's a great point. Yeah yeah, probably Mishandled in Chicago. That might be the best example of all. Gary Moore is our West End bureau chief. Find him on X or Twitter or wherever you want to look at.
And I just hit it at nine to five to five. Gary Off should be around here somewhere, and you're the same place too, I know.
The big bloom cider one. Thank you, sir. I have a great weekend, you too. And that's going to do it. Thanks to my guest, Gary Moore, to Sean Woods and of course the JJ Weaver and congratulations on being named to the All State Good Works Team and being eligible now for the werfol Trophy. And a programming note coming up tomorrow night. It's the Chain Gang, the garage guys.
They'll be right here, Doug Flynn, Keith Madison, Darren Heddrick and we'll talk about anything and everything, including probably some sports mixed in. But it's always fun when the guys from the Chain Gang show up here in the garage. Tune in tomorrow night for all the festivity. That's it. Good night from the Garage in Lexington. What makes you think she's a witch?
Well, She turned into a NEWT.
A
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