Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabriel with you Friday edition of our program as we wrap up the week heading into another football weekend. It is overlap time, so we've got a lot going on tonight, football and
basketball specifically, we'll talk about, of course, Kentucky Auburn. That game comes up tomorrow night seven forty five kickoff, five point thirty pre game with Christy and Jeremy and Logan and then Tom Leech, Chef Pcory and yours truly with the action as the Cats take on the Tigers, Kentucky looking for its first win over Auburn in fifteen years.
Although you don't play all the time, but you got to go back to the big night on the planes and nine, and we're gonna talk a lot about that with both Morgan Newton and Will Fiddler, two former Kentucky quarterbacks, and they along with Randall Cobb, each scored a touchdown in the twenty one to fourteen win over the Tigers.
And what kind of gets lost a little bit in that story was the fact that Auburn led it fourteen to six at the half, Kentucky's defense shut out the Tigers in the second half and that was rich Brooks's final season as the Kentucky head coach, so a huge win for the Cats. They needed it badly. Then they need to win badly. Now we're gonna find out more about Auburn from John Longshore from WAKATV as well as
a podcast you can watch on YouTube. We'll get a scouting report on the Tigers who have been struggling with turnovers this year. And I don't know if it's a quarterback controversy, but I know fans in media aren't happy right now with quarterback play there. So we'll learn more about those guys coming up in our number two. But coming up at our next segment, we're gonna hear from
Morgan Newton. As you may know if you've been following along with our radio broadcast, we have been employing former Wildcats, well once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat to open our broadcasts. Rich Brooks did one week, Bernie Scruggs, Kenneth Horsey, and this week it is Morgan Newton to open our broadcast little monologue and it opens our play by play segment as well. And I had a chance to chat with Morgan after we were done recording what we needed for
that monologue. So we'll get Morgan's thoughts on that game back in on nine and then Will Fiddler joined Jeff Icorol and me for The Wildcat Whip. That's our podcast that appears via the UK Sports Network Twitter handle as well as my Facebook page. Tom and Jeff share it
on Twitter and Facebook. So if you want to get a deeper dive on what we think about the game coming up, because they only get about two and a half minutes prior to the playbook play segment and the Mark Stoops interview beginning on the pregame show, so we go a little deeper and we recorded it South of Wrigley, which is a great sandwich Shopsigo style sandwiches on Southland Dry. We have a lot of fun doing that. Tom was on assignment this week, so filling in for Tom was
Will Fiddler. Now he couldn't come to South the Wrigley, of course because he lives in Charlotte now, but Jeff and I prepped him. It was like, when you come to town, you got to check this place out. So that's coming up a little bit of our conversation with Will comes up as well. A little bit later on. Plus, we'll talk basketball with Ben Roberts of the herold Leader. Of course, the Wildcats coming off that blowout went over Kentucky Wesleyan, which was totally overpowered and out manned, but
still the way Kentucky did it is worth discussing. So we will do just that with Ben coming up at the bottom of the hour. Mark Troops talked to the media yesterday. Of course, he lost his mom this week and as he pointed out, though his mother would want him to basically keep his head down and keep working and get this football team better. She was a coach's wife.
You all know this by now. Mark Stoops a dad, was a very well known football coach up in Youngstown, and of course his sons became really good football coaches as well. Mark trying to help his team turn things around against Auburn, which as we said, is struggling. You know this, and Auburn's one of those teams like Kentucky that if it doesn't take care of the little things, that's how things get away from it, that's when games
fall apart. And Stoops talked about that there. This team is Kentucky team, like a lot of teams, is so close to being where it wants to be and needs to be. But taking care of the little things like not turning it over, not penaly not being called for penalties, that's what gets you in trouble. That's what you got to take care of.
There's a lot of talented teams. There's a lot of good teams in the league, and you know, a lot of games you know there's it's a possession here or there. Know what plays they are and how important they are. But you know, we got to do all of the things right, you know, and put ourselves in a position, you know, to make plays in the fourth quarter to get a victory.
And that's the key, isn't it. You just get the game into the fourth quarter where you can exert your will, where you've got a chance to make more plays than the other guy and pull away. Sounds simple, but it's not. We've seen stoops as teams do it, you know, We've seen them control the middle eight, the last four of the first half, first four to the second half and put itself in a position to be on top going into the fourth quarter and then lean on your defense,
lean on your ground game. But again, got to take care of the little things including don't turn the ball over and when you can make the other guy turn it over, and Auburn's been doing that a lot this season, but Stoops basically said, you can't count on that. You just got to count on what you can do and take advantage when the other guys make a mistake.
It's very important, but we can't always control what they're going to do, right, you know. And it's like, you know, I mean, obviously if you could talk about defenses and trying to create turnovers, but obviously they're coaching over there as well, so I think their records would be a whole lot different if their turnover.
Ratio is better.
And you know, in our games, you know, certain games, you know, the turnovers were a huge difference. So it's it's always a factor, and for a team like us that's going to be in tight games, it's it's super important.
It has not been a banner year for turnovers for the Kentucky defense so far. The Cats have picked off only six passes and they've recovered just the two fumbles they have forced a total of ten. But as you know, for a while there, they just could not seem to fall on the football, so If they can improve those numbers this week, that would be really helpful. Defense has played well this year except for the Florida game, and I'm throwing a South Carolina game in there as well.
Kentucky's defense, I thought, held on for as long as it could against South Carolina, but without really much support at all from the offense, things finally got away from the Wildcats in that game. Offense is better since then, but not exactly where the Wildcats needed on either side of the football. This would be a good week to straighten that out. Auburn quarterback Peyton Thorn has six interceptions, four of those came in one game, but there isn't
a whole lot behind them. They got a freshman named Hank Brown who is the backup and he hasn't played much, so they are obviously committed to playing Peyton Thorn, and according to some of the people who cover the team, that's one of the problems. But they've got a running back named Jaquest Hunter who was really really talented as a senior from Philadelphia, Mississippi, and averages five yards per carry.
So if Kentucky can keep him from getting off and getting loose, then the Wildcats have a chance to dominate when it comes to time of possession, and that's something Kentucky has been good at most of the season, and in fact didn't do a bad job in that department against Florida, but kept trying to come from behind against the Gators, and again at one point twenty seven to twenty and one more stopped by the defense, one more good possession by the offense, at least from where I
was standing on the sideline, and it looked like Kentucky could have begun to slowly turn that thing around. But the crowd, which Kentucky had eliminated on a couple of occasions down in the swamp, really into it. From the opening drive. Florida drove the ball down the field. Wildcats fought them off and forced a field goal, but still the crowd was engaged and stayed that way all night. It was a big party in the swamp, and the Wildcats missed their opportunity to shut things down. So they
need a party Saturday night. They need the crowd to show out the way it did at the last home game. I have a feeling at will, so we'll have it for you. And coming up next well here from Morgan Newton, who helped quarterback the Wildcats to that upset win over the Auburn Tigers back in twenty nine. Bottom of the hour, Ben Roberts will talk Kentucky basketball here on the Big Blewin Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Bluin Sider. Coming up tomorrow night Kentucky Auburn football, and the first voice you hear on our broadcast will be that of Morgan Newton, former Kentucky quarterback, one of in fact three at Kentucky qbs who scored against the Tigers the last time Kentucky beat Auburn, which was back in twenty nine. Morgan, Will Fiddler and Randall copy here from Will a little bit later on the show. But as you know now, we use former wild catch to open
our broadcast and Morgan gets the nod this week. And after we got done working on that project, I had a chance to fire some more questions at him. What was your like going down there and knowing you all needed a win and anytime you're on the road, but that's a tough place to play, tough place to win. Seemed like everything was against you, guys. What do you remember about that?
Yeah?
So for me, it was the memories were.
Sort of fuzzy because at that particular point in the year, I was heading towards the red shirt and heartline was the quarterback that had recently gotten injured, and I thought there was as good a.
Chance Will Fiddler was going to play as I was.
But that week in preparation, Coach Brooks and team and staff told me that I was going to be a one of the guys playing a lot in that game and alongside with Randall. And so, you know, I always say ignorance is bliss because I probably didn't think much of the moment or the environment, and I was young enough that I.
Was just eager to get out, to get on the field and contribute.
How is it to prepare knowing that that Randa was gonna play and then Will did play, You guys kind of shared the position.
Yeah, So you know it was when you when you're in that preparation for that week, you know, Coach Sanders, Coach Joker, you know, they're trying to put together a game plan where we could be successful, and we knew Randall was gonna be a big component of that. With a wildcat, I mean, he'd been doing wildcat you know,
really his entire career at Kentucky at that point. And so my job was really more or less to make some plays if things kind of broke down, tried to run, you know, run a few in certain scenarios, be mobile and uh, and really just distribute the ball. I think at that time primarily to Randall, to Chris and to Derek Lock.
Chris had a big game and then do you remember that.
Yeah, I mean Chris is Chris was a stud. I mean, and Chris and I came in the same year. He came from Juco, I came from high school.
And I always say, if Chris was a guy that had four years at Kentucky, he'd have been, you know, an All American type player.
We nearly won the Super Bowl MVP when he was in the pros.
Yeah, I mean tons that he had a ton, tons and tons of talent and ability. And then you know when you couple Chris with with eighteen and then with Lrod, I mean, that was a formidable bunch. And I only mentioned at that time we had John Connor and the Turtle and.
Uh, you know d Locke in the backfields. So some really really good football players.
A lot of talent, and you all signed on when Kentucky was finding it success under Richard Brooks. You know, the guys you signed on early, they were they were coming out of probation. But so the expectations were kind of high for you guys, weren't they.
Sure, Yeah, they were high. I think, you know, and I've talked to several people about this. I think those that seven year was truly in catalyst to getting a lot of good players both. I mean, it's proven on the football side, but then also I've heard John Wall and some other guys talk about it in their interviews that that was that was a time where they could really get a sense of the culture and what and what was kind of building at Kentucky and maybe even DeMarcus Cousins and those.
Guys in two thousand and seven. So if you think about two thousand and seven, Randall.
And a lot of that class were seniors in high school and they were probably either committed or close to being committed, and then put edge. Yeah, I think it kind of put them over head with a lot of people, right, and so you know, that was a critical critical year in recruiting.
It's certainly a catalyst.
But the perspective that a lot of us had is we wanted to be a part of a program that was ascending, and it felt like under coach Brooks the program was ascending at that time.
Yeah, and then you got to a bowl game. You didn't win, but you maintained that streak, didn't you.
Yeah, you know, that was really cool to do. I mean stinks that we didn't win it.
It was kind of shockingly cold that night and that and so I don't know that we really expected that per se, but it's kind of amazing that when.
You look back on it. I mean, that was fifteen years ago.
Maybe it's been a little bit about probably about fifteen years ago, we played in that Bowl with Clemson, and so you get to see kind of how their program developed. I think that might have even been davos first year and then sort of where we were at that time.
So the programs were similar.
I guess you could say we probably had a similar on a similar playing field.
You at l c A worked with Cutter Bowley, right.
Yeah, cut yeap. Cutters A worked a lot within the last two years. He's got great, great, great, great family and they love Kentucky and so you know, Cutter's got a very bright future.
You and I last spoke the day that that he committed to UK been the day that he's literally signed.
Yeah, and then to what.
He he had, he came in in a tough spot man in Florida, you know that. Yeah, But as Mark Stuke's pointed out, that's not going to phase his kid at all.
Is it.
No, he's a really resilient, really resilient guy, tough, he's kind of he's a really mentally tough player.
He'll be okay. I mean, it's it's really good to get that exposure and that experience.
You know, I always said what we have in common is I had the ability early on to watch Mike Heartline in some of those early years and although it was unfortunately got injured. You know, Mike was my roommate on the road, so we got to spend a lot of time together. I got to see how he prepared and how he how he got ready for a lot of the games, and he's a great mentor that way.
But as you know, you know, being able.
To go to Florida and that momentum starts to happen and it just kind of they were rolling downhill and so he'll learn from that. I think the speed of the game will slow down for him over time and he'll really get a chance to prepare to play in the future.
Yeah, they have yet tried to develop. I mean, the plan with Drew Barker was to to develop him and then recruit and keep on developing, and injuries kind of short circuit of that, and they've led to the to the steady parade of transfer quarterbacks. But that seems to be the plan with Cutter now, and he seems to be a guy worth investing in. I'm sure you're a little biased, but he should be kind of that that bedrock kind of player that they could use.
Yeah, you know, he's I think it really helps to be an in state player. I think in this current landscape of n I L. You know, he certainly has.
Support from you know, n I L.
Contributors in this state. I mean, I think that's certainly something that can help, you know, keep him home.
Right.
But yeah, I mean I think this staff, I mean, it's it's no secret the staff has hasn't really produced and recruited a quarterback and then kind of, you know, turn those guys that person into a you know, starter over over the course of their career, and so I think Cutters as good a chance to to see that happens as any of the ones we've had.
To this point. So he's a great kid. He's going he's going to work really, really hard.
Yeah, and I think that he's probably the best candidate we've seen since Barker or maybe before that. I mean everything, right, yeah.
I mean, you know, I've learned not to get too caught up in the stars and the rankings. I mean a lot of times the stars and rankings are determined based on tangibles and the quarterback position and kind of you know, understanding if somebody's gonna be good at it or not as far more than just the tangibles. But you know, Cutter has had a He's every school on this, you know, in the country seemed like was in to see him at l c A. When when we had
him there in the last couple of years. I mean, there were people flying in from everywhere, and it's it's the who's who of that came to see him. So he's a highly sought after player. They're not all wrong, right, So you know, I I I expect Cutter to be a good player in the future. He's, like I said, he's got all the tools.
Great family.
Jeans, elite jeans, he's got an elite gene pool. They're just the bullies are great, great people that care a lot about this state.
I tell you what, though, It's just like any of you quarterbacks, man, you're only as good as your O line. They got to keep building that O line.
Yeah, they used to have.
Yeah, you know, it's since since Schlarman, since Coach Schlarmon, you know, the rest of soul.
It's kind of been a little bit of it. It's been a little bit of a challenge.
These the last few years up front the blue wall, and and I know that Coach Bush and company are trying to do some things to protect Brock. You can tell from watching the tape that they're really trying to help out those tackles and and really protect the quarterbacks.
So you know that's a work in progress.
But you know, hopefully cutters talking to and spending time with every offensive line recruit that comes in there.
I'm your best friend, right.
That's exactly right, exactly right, Well, Morgan.
I do appreciate the time and looking forward to hearing you, hearing you open our broadcast on Saturday night. Yeah.
Likewise, I'm excited about that game.
It's I think we've beat him since since two thousand and nine, so that's we got to break that streak, right right.
That's Morgan Newton, one of three Wildcat quarterbacks to score against Auburn last time. Kentucky beat the Tigers, and you will hear Morgan. Open our broadcast tomorrow night at five point thirty, and you'll hear it again. The opening segment, just before play by play begins is Kentucky takes on Auburn, and you'll hear it right here. Up next, Ben Roberts, a The Harold Leader talk Kentucky basketball. You're on six
point thirty w Welcome back to the Big Moon. Cider joining us now is a long time friend of the show, the excellent beat writer for The Hero Leader covers Kentucky basketball and more. Ben Roberts and Ben, I guess we're all tired of saying, well, it was just Kentucky Wesleyan, and really, I think another mitigating factor there was the Wesleyan coach after the game saying he apologized to Mark
Pope for not giving him more of an effort. But still, you put up numbers like that in the school yard, you've accomplished something, haven't you.
Yeah, I mean yeah, it wasn't just you know, the seventy one point aspect of it was something, But you know the way it happened. Yeah, the stats, you know, throughout the box score and especially that it's just the turnover ratio. I mean, you can do that against anybody, that's pretty amazing. And you know with the three pointers, they're you know, they worked to get open shots. They took forty two and made twenty one, and there really weren't many, hardly any forced ones, but they worked to
get those shots. You know, I didn't think it was a lack of effort or anything on the Westlands end. I just think it was it was a really well run game on the UK's end. Yeah, I mean the way the ball moved was you know, we heard about it all off season. We heard I connected with these guys were all off season. But to actually see it against outside competition, even if that competition was a D two team, it was pretty impressive.
I got to go to practice a couple times. Involving the Pro day broadcast, we did but you know, to me, it all kind of runs together. I mean, if I were a basketball professional, a coach, or a scout, I know I would see more. But what I saw on that game sure looked a lot like what they work on in practice. And again to your point, not a lot of dribbling, a lot of passing. And you know that one more pass thing pays off, doesn't it?
It does, And it keeps you know, talking to the guys, you know, really throughout the throughout the offseason and preseason, but especially after Wednesday Night's game. It it keeps everybody kind of on their toes, and it it lets everybody know that that that last pass could come to them, and you know, it's it's really, you know, it's unique that this team has already kind of found this uh shared you know, togetherness with the ball and there's a
lot of unselfishness out there. And I think that's you know, I you know, you ask around, and I think a big part of that is just the guys that Pope and his staff brought in back in April, and may I mean you look at their track records, you talk to their former teammates and former coaches, and they were already those type of players, and then they come in and hope and and these guys are are teaching that kind of philosophy. You know, I think it only strengthens
it across the board. And yeah, but but but still to see it and to see that it's working in October with twelve new guys again again, it's just very impressive.
Yeah, before we start talking about individuals, let's talk about somebody who did not get to play, and that's kerk crisa sideline with a minor injury. And I keep trying to imagine how he's gonna fit into this mixed scene this game the other night. And he's a guy who plays with a little bit of an edge. I think it's going to be really fascinating when he's in the mix.
Yeah, we actually have a story up on Kentucky dot com this morning. I sat down with Kerr I think Tuesday afternoon, and I said, down with Mark Pope here recently to talk about Kerr in their pursuit of him. And it's really it's really an interesting dynamic those guys have had. You know, they've been Mark Pope and Cody Figer going back to b YU, their first summer at b YU over five years ago. That's when they started
recruiting kerk Crisa. Kurt told me, if it weren't for Cody Figer being so persistent, he probably wouldn't even come to the United States. They college, and of course, of course he didn't. Yeah, and of course he didn't play for BYU. He turned him down when he went there, and then he turned him down last summer when he went to West Virginia and he kind of you know, opened up about why he did turn them down and then and then why he said yes a third time
when they ended up in Kentucky. So those guys, there's a lot of obviously a lot of respect on on Curzon toward the two coaches. And those are two coaches who just feel like this kid going back years would be perfect and the kind of offense they want to run, and they they have, I mean literally for five years they have been wanting to coach coach them, and now they get they get one season to do it, and everybody involved just super excited about that part of it.
And then Carr also took me this week, which is in the story that you know, the hamstring deal that's keeping them out right now. It's it's all pretty much precautionary setting out these exhibitions and watch.
Scrimpish and everything.
And he said he for sure we'll be playing against Wright State on November fourth. I mean, obviously, you know stuff like that, you never know until you get there. But I was a up really early Wednesday night, and he was actually already on the court when I got there two and a half hours for the game, putting up shots and going through some pretty extensive defensive when I will.
Interesting, well, I can't wait to see him, Like I said, come into this mix. But the guys out front the other night, including let's start with Lamont Butler. I mean, I don't know that you can call anybody on this roster elite when you look ahead to the NBA Draft, and we're conditioned to look to do that, aren't we here in Lexon over the last fifteen years. But oftentimes that's a decent way to get a beat on things.
And I think Lamont Butler can be an NBA player, but in terms of what you need in college, and he brings it all. That stat line was pretty phenomenal, wasn't it It was?
And that line still didn't even really tell the story of just how effective he is. And I think, I mean, obviously, when when you talk about Lemon, you always start with defense. And people who weren't super familiar with his game didn't watch a lot of San Diego State but were able to tune in Wednesday night, so you know they saw that right off the bat. I mean, this guy just
absolutely smothers opponents defensively. And it's not just guards, like he'll get up you know, he'll get up in the in the face of six ten guys and he'll he'll pester them. And I know we ripped the ball away from Brandon Garrison the Blue White game Friday night, and just just an absolutely relentless defender. And and that's where
I think. You know, everybody talks about the offense and the threes and the pace and how fun that's going to be to watch, But on the other end of it, when you got somebody like Lamont Butler, that's the point of that defense out on the perimeter. I was talking to take Away about this after winter Stay's game. He said that just that just makes everybody better. It makes everybody want to want to work harder defensively. And it's not just Lamont. I mean, got O, Tega, Gotta, Marii Williams,
Andrew Carr is an underrated defender. So when you have that type of talent on the other end of the court, it's going to lead to baskets, as we saw Wednesday night,
you know, in transition. And and that's I think, you know, we've we've talked about it some, but I think that uh and I'm going to be an underrated aspect at least in the early going of this team is just how well they can play defensively, and all of that starts with Lamont, but then offensively, Yeah, I mean he you know, he was in that system in San Diego State, which is one of the slowest paced teams in the country. I mean absolutely, you know, won a ton of games.
It's a style that works that that's not a knock at all, but but the tempo is just very, very slow. And he came here wanting to prove that. Okay, everybody knows I'm great defender, but obviously he's a six to two point guard. He's not the biggest guy. He wants to play in the NBA. He wants to prove that you know I can get to the basket advantage, I can facilitate the guy, and he showed some of that Wednesday night, and I think that's something you're going to see more up too.
One for four from the Ark. But I remember the one shot he hit. It was so smooth. It looked like he'd been doing that all his life. So I don't think that's going to be an issue. But you know, to your point about San Diego State, two things I remember about that team as a Final four team. I remember seeing Lamont Butler and seeing him go after you know, opposing guards, thinking oh my god, here he comes again.
And the other thing was that deliberate pace they play, forcing teams to really play with discipline physically and mentally, and when they're not used to that, that's when the mistakes come. It's like when you play against the team it's likes to play deliberate and you speed them up and mistakes come. So the fact that he can do both, I think is really really impressive. I don't know why I was surprised that otaga Away was in the starting lineup, because when you look at the rest of it, I
was Cresa being sidelined. It makes a lot of sense, but he brings a lot, doesn't he He does.
I mean I kind of thought early on in the summer that Otaga would be in that starting lineup, But then the more I talk to people, you know, I thought it would be Otaga, Kerr or Kobe Brea. And I kind of started out thinking it would be Otaga just because he does bring so much on both there. But then the more I talk to people, I was hearing, you know, I don't know how much Kerr Lamont are really going to play together. So that kind of led me to believe that that Kerr would kind of be
that spark plug off the bench at the point. And then as Kobe got back into the fold because he obviously missed some time and I'm very very her every summer, I just was hearing so much about how he was just lights out three and just it'd be hard to keep him off the court. Just I mean, we know he's a great shoot fifty percent last season, but but he was really settling into this offense really really well, so I assumed it would be him, But then yeah,
it was obviously Otega. And and who was the I mean, who was the spark right off the bat. They kind of started about up on that run. It was Otaka. Yeah, and you know, he's the guy who if there's anybody on this team, and Lamart can do something too, but if there's anybody on the team who can just put the ball on the floor and go get a bucket, it's going to be him. And he's not there yet. It's something he's still got to work on. But he's got the strength, he's got the physicality, he's not afraid
of contact. He can finish at the basket. He's just kind of kind of get it all together and especially get more efficient when he when he does finish at the basket. But you know, if he can do that, there's there's a number of guys that you could say maybe have the highest ceiling when it comes to being
an NBA pick. And I think he's in that conversation just because we know he can play defense, and we know he's willing to play defense, and man, it's such a physical defender and it can guard so many positions on a perimeter. But if he can if he can drive like that, and if he can shoot threes, obviously that opens up the driving lanes for him. I think he could. He's definitely in the conversation, I think he
could definitely do that guy. But yeah, that that's you know, they don't need a ton of that the way the way they're going to run this offense, because there's going to be so much cutting and passing and uh, you know, dribble handoffs and but when you're in a late shot clock situation, maybe even a late game situation, and you need somebody to go do that, I think he might be best suited for them.
And Roberts to the Harrow Leader, my guess we'll come back and talk more Kentucky basketball, talk about the freshman when we come back on the other side of the break here on six thirty three, Welcome back. We're talking with Ben Roberts of the Harrow Leader, and we have gone through a little bit of the Kentucky roster relating to the win over Wesleyan. But as I said prior to the break, I want to add set about the true freshman. But let's start with a guy who's not
from Kentucky. And we had heard so many good things about Colin Chandler, but wondered about rust and he was over four from the outside, but just watching his overall game, man, you can tell you can understand why they wanted.
Him, right, Yeah, I mean he I mean he's a basketball player. I mean you just watch him, and you know, you just watch the way, even if the shots don't go down or he has a turnover or whatever, you just watch the way he moves, the way he carries himself, and you know he's going to be a really really good player. I actually got to watch him some in high school. I'd kind of forgotten until he until he flipped his commitment back in the April from BYU to Kentucky.
But I saw him play against Reed Shepherd several years ago, really the big events, and yeah, and he I mean he was good. I mean he was really really tough, tough to the fen just and everybody that knew him then that knows him now. You talk to Mark Pope, talk to whoever. Just talked about his level of competitiveness, and I think that that's been and just his drive in general, and I think that's been a big factor and the reason he has come so far so quickly
in that ramp up process. I talked to Jackson Robinson, talked to seek Here, talked to talk to Mark Pope over the last few months about how exactly that works and how you know, some guys take them a little a little bit longer to get there, and and Jackson especially, who I mean thought that plenty of guys over two years at b YU, I said, Colin has just has taken to it much quicker than anybody who's ever seen.
And and one is the skill level. I mean, he was going to be one of BYU's top recruits ever.
Oh yeah.
And then two, it's just that just that absolute drive. Pope told me before Colin even got to campus that he thought he might have to like get him a special key card so he could not get into the Craft Center, just to keep him off the court, because because he already knew just from you know, recruiting him for so long that he was that type of kids. But yeah, it's you know, he's he's he's somebody who was kind of mature beyond his years when he was
eighteen and a high school recruit. And obviously, you know, we're two years removed from that down he's gone through kind of a life changing mission trip over these last couple of years. And so I mean, he carries himself like like a you know, a thirty thirty five year old and then he's a college freshman and his teammates
are you know, just been super impressed. And I you know, he didn't have the greatest game Wednesday night, but he was one of the standouts for sure of that Blue White game Friday night Memorial Coliseum, and and that game really showed a lot of what he could do, from from the threes to he's another one who I think can go get a bucket if they need one. Yeah, and just I mean he he he just has that
drive on both ends of the floor. I mean, he's not a Lamont Butler defender, but he's going to give a Lamont Butler a type of effort on that side.
Travis Perry of course got a nice ovation when he was introduced and when he entered the game, but an interesting stat line only two for six, one for four from the from the arc. We all know he can shoot it, but five rebounds in fifteen minutes and four assists. And it was interesting when when Pope said after the game, it's it's hard to play point guard for me, and was talking about Travis being a point guard, and you know, he was an all do it all facilitator in high school.
But when you assign him, you know, a position within this offense. Yeah, point guard is it? That's going to be interesting watching him develop, isn't it?
It is?
And yeah, I mean with Kerrout, that's obviously where he was going to play, you know, those major minutes, you know, for the time being. And and it's really I'm really interested looking long term how how Pope he uses him because obviously he's not the biggest guy, he's not the fastest guy, but he but he's one of the best
shooters anybody's ever seen. If you talk to any of these guys on the team, anybody on the coaching staff, and the way that they moved that offense, there's going to be a lot of ways to get him open. So I'm really interested to see, like how much he plays with other point guards, not just this season with
Lamont Kurve, but but moving forward. But yeah, you know, the thing about him, I remember going back to in March April when Cayle was still here and asking around because if people remember that roster, it looked like it was going to be another complete overhaul. I mean, maybe they would have gotten DJ and See and maybe a
dude back here. But it was going to be a lot of new faces, and I was kind of asking around for people I really trust in the national recruiting community who would be ready, Who who among those those cow recruits would be ready to step up? And there
was a lot of questions about that. I mean, all those guys were highly rated, but I remember one guy told me specifically that he wasn't sure how college ready any of them were going to be, to be like kind of that star level people around here were used to. But he added, but Travis Perry will absolutely work his tail off, and and and there's a yeah, and there's a chance that that that if he's given the opportunity, that that he could break through early, even even on
a team like that. You know he is and I mean he's been there everybody knows that varsity since he was seventh grade. He's a coach's son. He has the instinct. He's another one who you talk to him and he's just so mature beyond what you know a usual college freshman is. And that's because he's I mean, he's the all the time, he's scoring. So he's been in the spotlight for for so many years, and he's gotten that attention for so long, but he hadn't obviously let it
go to his head. And then he's come in and just he's one of those guys that I'm guessing will not play a ton, but Pope and that coaching staff will be will maybe feel bad about that, just because of how hard he works, and they'll be looking for opportunities to reward that with some playing time.
Well, and I was so fortunate to have seen him throughout the Sweet sixteen this year and to see how he's, like I said, a facilitator. He can distribute the ball almost as well as he shoots it, so that just makes him even more intriguing. We could talk about these guys all night, Ben, but we're about out of time. We'll pick it up next time. You and I will be chatting throughout the season. You chat with everybody, though, which is what we appreciate. I will see you, I
guess that Rupparna next week. I appreciate your time.
Yep, Tuesday night.
I remember two is up next and we'll talk to John Longshore from down in Montgomery, Alabama. He's a sportscaster down there. He will give us a scouting report on those Auburn Tigers. Well here from Will Fiddler along with Oregon Newton scored a touchdown and the upsot went over Auburn back in twenty oh nine. Plus Heroes, fools and flakes. That's all ahead on six thirty WAK Welcome back to the Big bluin sder joining us now as a guy I've talked to on the radio and on his podcast.
Going in the other direction down to Montgomery, Alabama, Greater Alabama. That is John Longshore, sports analyst for w a K eight Channel eight in Montgomery, and John has been around Alabama sports for the longest time. John, you're still a youngster, though, but sports Keith she young doesn't it.
It certainly does. Dick. You have been around, Wow, just turned sixty not too long ago. I've seen a few things things.
Well, what have you seen in these Auburn Tigers and what will Kentucky fans see? Do you think when they when they come to town?
Yeah, you know, I agree with with Hugh Freeze, Dick. I mean, I think they've been very close, uh to winning games. I mean that record, I'm not sure is really indicative of how what this team's really like, Uh, they've got some problems, don't get me wrong, but I think they've shot themselves in the foot, particularly in the fourth quarter. Turnovers have killed this team.
Uh.
I think there's been some play calls that probably would have been different. Tell the Auburn fans they've got to be patient. I mean, Brian Harson left Hugh Freeze absolutely nothing. And so it's a huge rebuilding effort going on there. They got a lot of young talent, Dick, but I'm not I'm not seeing as much as I thought I would from some of the preseason expectations.
There.
Again, they're just not very deep. They're missing some talent. But I think they've had a chance to be in just about every game that they've lost.
Right they was kind of surprised to see him lose a cow by a touchdown at home, but four straight loss isn't really based on the score, John, other than Georgia and what a tough row of games Arkansas, Oklahoma, Georgia and Missouri. They're in every game, right they are.
They've They've been in every game that they've played, and I think, to be quite honest, I think if they had better quarterback play, they would have won the majority of those games. I just don't think the Peyton Thorn experiment has worked out. I've said this multiple times on our podcast. I don't think there's a team in the SEC DIG that Peyton Thorn could start for other than Mississippi State.
No kidding, but do they have nothing behind him? I mean, is nobody pushing him for the job?
Well, they had a little experiment several weeks ago where they've been stored for a game and the results weren't any better. Actually they were worse. So yeah, I mean, it's just turnovers, inexperience. And there again, I mean the offensive line you know, has had its issues as well. That's that was a problem with the latter part of Gus mileson going into Brian Harson. Uh So that's an area that they're still working on a lot to try
to get better. And one of the mysteries to me, Dick is I've heard a lot of regional national analysts say that Auburn's running back jark West Hunter might be the best running back in the league. And when I first when I first heard that, I went wow, really uh, And then the more I've looked at it, yeah, probably is. They don't seem to be giving him the ball enough. They've they've kind of gotten into that. The last game
they gave you more carries. But there again, if the offensive line is not opening up holes for you, it may it is extremely difficult. But I would say this, Dick, I do think in the game tomorrow they're in Lexington, I think you're gonna see a pretty good dose of Jarquez.
Oh yeah, yeah, I would imagine. Well, you know, I'm reading the stats at least six yards of carry. That's not bad. In rush for nine hundred yards last year, and he's well on his way this season. But but he's not saying it enough, is what you're telling me.
Yes, I mean they were throwing the ball so much early in the season. You know, they had a really good haul in the in the in the recruiting cycle with wide receivers, they're young. Don't get me wrong. Cam Coleman might be one of the best in the league as a young receiver, but he's been hurt. But we do understand he'll be one hundred percent of the game. They're in Lexington, so look for him to be more of a factor in the game. But I think they
just have not leaned on that running game enough. I mean, you think, well, wow, look what Kentucky did to Georgia.
I mean you would think they could certain to do.
That to Auburn in terms of the running game. But I think they've got deliver or die by that. They've really got to go with it. Don't bail on it as soon as I think they have in previous games.
Talking to John Longshore, he's been covering sports in Alabama for a couple of decades now, including the Auburn Tigers, who come to town tomorrow to take on the Wildcats. You know, we've talked a lot up here about that terrible streak against Tennessee and a worst streak against Florida, but Kentucky's not have much success with Auburn as well. Are they confident down there? Can they be confident on a four game losing skid?
You know, Dick I said, you know, if you look at Auburn schedule, it is really wacky. I mean, their first five games were at home. They will not play a game in Auburn the entire month of October. This is their last road trip that they have an off week in October. But this is the second of two road games, and I've said several weeks ago they've got to at least split with Missouri or Kentucky. If they win both, great, but they cannot lose both of them.
And I fear that if they lose tomorrow night in Lexington, you might have some locker room dissension. Some of the older guys might think, you know, we're done, you know this season's over. Gonna have to really rely on the younger guys. And I've wondered why they continue to play. You play Peyton Thorne, you know there's not really anybody better behind him, But do you get those guys ready for next year? And I think if they lose Tomorrow
night you could start seeing those type things. But this is an extremely important game for Auburn for several reasons, and I would say probably for Kentucky as well.
Oh, no question, because they want to keep alive that streak of postseason play that Kentucky has under Mark Stoops. What do you guys know about the Wildcats?
Well, it's interesting because going into the season really kind of think, can you know, watch out for Kentucky. Stoops as the dean of the SEC coaches he's you know, got a foundation there. He's built a good program in Lexington. But it's been similar to Auburn to me, Dick, it's been kind of a yo yo and they played good one week and then the next week they're not. It's
really kind of hard to figure. I mean, that game it gets Florida, I think really surprised a lot of people here in the state of Alabama and people that follow Auburn because they're thinking, whoa, No, that's not the Kentucky we were expecting to be to see right before they played us. And then there you a reference to Georgia game how they were so close almost knocking off the Bulldogs there. It's kind of a Jeculine High team with Kentucky. That's what people down here seem.
To think, Well, you nailed it, because not only do they push Georgia as hard as they did, but they go down on the upset Old Miss and played I was a perfect game, but but as close to perfect as it took to be an all Miss and then laid eggs against Vanderbilt and obviously Florida. So yeah, this this this game, that's what's going to be interesting about this game. John is both teams needed so badly, and it might be ugly, but I think they're gonna play hard, don't you Well?
I do, I think so. And I'm curious, Dick. You know what about night games in Lexington? You know what the environment there? I mean, I've been to Elected several times, but never been there at night. I remember Auburn playing in Lexington. I believe it was at night when Cam Newton was Auburn and Kentucky took him to the to the final whistle. Alburt was fortunate to win that game.
Yep.
Uh.
And in fact, I just posted something on Facebook that I wrote a few years ago. How on that last drive you may recall this, Uh, Auburn fumbled the kickoff. Kentucky had just tied the game behind Randall Cobb recovered the fumble, and then a player two later tried a reverse. UH fumbled the handoff which Kentucky were covered at the twenty seven yard line, but on review and it was right the guy I recovered it was out of bounds. Newton drives him down the field for that field goal.
But I wrote, imagine if Kentucky wins that game, does Auburn even get a shot at the national title. Do they take TCU and does Cam Newton win the Heisman or was he the guy that couldn't beat Kentucky. You know, ultimately I think he would have. He was I think the best player of that year. Oh sure, although Andrew Luke was coming out of Stanford with big numbers. But that's how close Kentucky came to changing college football that night. It's interesting remember that game.
Remember that game vividly, and Auburn was very fortunate to win that game. As a matter of fact, you look back and you know, Dick, you've been around a long time. You've seen a lot of football. To win a national title, you got to have some good breaks. That ball's got to bounce your way. You've got to avoid injuries and things of that nature. Alburn had several scares that year. They went to start ball in Mississippi State gave them
all they wanted that year as well. So yeah, it was very kind of everything lined up perfectly for Auburn, but no doubt they had the best player in college football that year by far.
Yep Uh kicked the field goal, as you said, at the final whistle to win it and essentially did the same thing against Oregon in the championship game. So that was a magic year down at Auburn. We've got a few minutes left for John Longshore. He works down in Montgomery primarily for w AKA but a podcast, a radio show, and he's he's a guy who knows Auburn football. But
you attended Alabama. What's it like for an Alabama guy to I know, you do what the job calls for, but now you know all the ins and outs of Auburn sports.
Well, you gotta know both. That's the great thing about it, Dick. Here in this part of the world, there are two teams with two uh just livid fan bases there there very emotional and very tired of their programs. So to be in this business here, you got to know something about both programs. You got to be you know, you got to have the intel for both of them. So it's what makes it fun. And of course the fans
and their reaction and their love for their programs. We just we just love bringing the info to them.
Yeah, it's like my buddies who work in Louisville, you know, they they've got to know both UK and u L and put any allegiances aside. But how many people know this? But I have a good friend who's the playboy play man for University of Louisville. He went to uk UH. So yeah, you go, you go where the job takes you. And one of my favorite you I'm sure you know this, Pat guy who was Auburn football went to Georgia. Vince
Dooley who was Georgia football, went to Auburn. So you got you go where the job takes you.
Right, that is correct, You're exactly right. Auburn's current athletic director grew up in Tuscaloosa coach baseball at Mississippi State. John Cohen.
I know John Well. I used to produce an anchor is Baseball as a Baseball Coaches Coaches show here in Lexingon. So no, I know John Well.
Yeah, grew up in Tuscaloosa.
Yes, dad taught there and then he played Insissippi State. Like you said, how did the fans feel about John right now? Because, as you well know, the athletics director is joined at the hip with a football coach in the Southeastern Conference.
They like him a lot because he's very proactive. Let's face it, Alan Green, the previous athletic director was not very well, but not welcomed obviously. When he hired Brian Harson, that was the beginning of the end. They like the fact that they've got an athletic director with sec ties and he knows what this league's about. And I say the same thing about you, Free. I mean, I know he's struggled in his first year and a half at Auburn, but he's coached in this league. He knows what it's
like to recruit in this league. He knows what Auburn people want. They've just got to be patient and I've stretched that for the last year and a half to two years. It's a huge rebuilding job and bring just put together a great recruiting class if he can get them signed, and all indications are that he will. He is rebuilding this program back to where Auburn people want it. But certainly they don't like the record right now. But
as I said earlier, Dick, he was left. Nothing he covered was extremely bare when Brian Harson was fired.
Well, Kentucky fans are hoping that Coupboard yields a win for the Wildcats tomorrow night, and John Longshore will be keeping an eye on it for a number of media outlets. He co hosts a radio show with Barry McKnight and tell everybody where they can find you online.
That's very easy. I just go to YouTube and search Longshore and McKnight Longshore and McKnight. Just search, it will pop up. We're live every morning from seven to nine on you Tube, also on Spotify, Apple play all those kind of things, and then we'd loop it and replay it all day, so you can watch it at you're convenience or listen at your convenience wherever you listen to podcast, and of course watching it on YouTube.
Good way to get a scouting report on the tigers. John, thank you so much and I hope to talk to you again sometime anytime.
Dick, thank you.
Up. Next more were the football Cats. When we return here on the Big Boon Sider six thirty w LAP, we'come back to the Big Blue Insider. As we mentioned earlier, you heard from Morgan Newton, one of three qbs to score against Darburn last time the Wildcats beat the Tigers. We also had a chance to talk to Will Fiddler, who got a touchdown in that game, played a lot of the second half and played well. Will was part
of the Wildcat whip this week. Jeff Picoor and I spoke to him about what it was going to take going into that game because things were not going well for the Wildcats at that point.
I remember there being a.
Tremendous amount of drama leading up to the game. You did we need a win? We had not been successful and I think at that point in time, we had a losing record where maybe we were just south of five hundred going into that game, and really there were a lot of question marks about, you know, the rest of the season. Mike Hartline had sustained an injury there. They were pretty hush hush about who was going to
start a quarterback for that Auburn game. There was there was a little bit of up people in the locker room surrounding that. But you know, I think before that game we just decided we weren't going to let any of that get to us. And at a certain point everybody locked arms and we were gonna win that game, and.
They unleashed Fiedler on them. You know what was cool about that win is Kentucky played three different quarterbacks that night, counting Randall Cobb in the Wildcat and well All three of you guys scored touchdowns. That was amazing to me. You remember that, I I do.
I mean it was.
It was a lot of fun, and you know, we just got back to the basics of football. And I think what a lot of teams do when they have an injury at the starting quarterback position. As you simplify the offense a little bit, you have less at the line of scrimmage, audibles going on, and things of that nature. You try to get everybody comfortable. And that really worked
for us that game. We ran the ball when we needed to run the ball, we threw the ball when we needed to throw the ball, and we got a lot of different people.
In the end zone.
Well can you believe, he asked, if you remembered a touchdown? Man, I remember the touchdowns I scored in pee wee football coming all.
The way up.
Of course, you remember the touchdowns you score, especially when it's against the team like Alvern.
Yeah.
But let me let me ask you this, well, because it's almost the same. It's eerily similar, isn't it. The situation that this year's team is as to year team. It's not an injury to a quarterback, but you've had a lot of injuries on this team. Uh you know, as we as we sit here now, the the participation report has come out. I call it the injury report. But Mitzi will not play this week. And that's that's your right tackle. So they've had some problems in the
offensive line. I just want to ask you this from a quarterback standpoint, how tough is it when you have questions in your own mind as a quarterback about the five guys in front of you.
I think it adds a lot of complexity to an already extremely complex position. And you've got a lot going on pre snap and then during the play and whenever you have the added element of you know, wondering if you're going to get enough time to go through your progressions and you know, see the play through. It definitely creates challenges and makes it hard to play the position for sure.
Well, you also talked about what you guys did going into the game simplify things a little bit. Now you can't go back all the way to the simple basics. But I like that attitude going in. But you guys had a wrinkle that this team really doesn't use. It's not really in that offense, but it's that wildcat and that just gives you that extra blocker on the edge, takes a lot of a lot of pressure off of you being the quarterback and running the ball as well when you go to that wildcat.
Correct, Yeah, it does. You know, I couldn't figure out why every time we ran wildcat they lined me up at a wide receiver position and then ran the opposite direction. Okay, I like when I was in you know, I mean not just the wildcat at you know, added wrinkle, but a guy by the name of Randall Cobb, who you know at that time was a future pro bowler, and he was a tremendous player and athlete. You know, he obviously took control when he was in the wildcat position and made a lot happen.
With his feet.
We're talking with Will Fiddler here on the wildcat whip. Will former Kentucky quarterback and was part of the Kentucky upset win at Auburn back in twenty oh nine, the last time the Cats played against Auburn. And as Jeff said, similar situation or trying to snap a losing skid. Auburn's got problems of its own, but well, it was interesting you mentioned pulling together in the locker room. And I got to think that was a player generated kind of
emotional moment. That's something that you know, coaches can't make you do that. It has to be genuine, has to be organic, if you will, what do you recall about that? And then you know who pulled things together and what that was like you guys as a team getting together and saying enough is enough, We're tired of this losing.
Yeah, I mean it's it's you know, somebody has to emerge in the locker room as a leader in times like that. And you know that beforehand there was a lot of turmoil that the fan base may not have been aware of due to the call to start Morgan Newton.
And you know, you can question the reasons and note all day long, but that was what had to happen, and like what happened, And at a certain point, you know, I stood up in front of the team and said, hey, guys, you may not agree with the game plan, but I can promise you we'll have a zero chance of winning if we aren't all marching to the beat of the same dramas, not all on that game. Game plan. It may not be the best, but let's get into the
game and adapt and roll with it. And we just decided, like I said, we decided before that game ever started that we were going to win. We were going to do whatever it takes to win. And you know, I think the team took on that identity after that and went on to win some other some other big teams. It was Georgia, you know, and had a somewhat successful rest of the season.
That's Will Fiddler. We had a chance Jeff of corpl and I did to talk to him from south of Wrigley where we tape the Wildcat Whip. You can hear that via my Facebook page or Twitter accounts for Tom or Jeff or me or the UK Sports Network. So on this very show, two of the three quarterbacks who scored against Auburn appear to tell us about their exploits that led to the last victory Kentucky had over the Tigers. When we come back, look ahead to the weekend a
little bit later on Heroes, Fools and Flakes. Here on six point thirty WLAP, Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider coming up. We will wrap up the week with Heroes, Fools and Flakes, but need to share some
information with you. We talked about UK men's basketball earlier in the show and the Wildcats, who were ranked twenty third in the preseason poll according to the Associated Press, likewise number twenty three in the very first men's basketball coaches poll, which is a part of the USA Today coverage of a college basketball So Kentucky twenty third preseason in both the AP and USA Today. Women's soccer last night, tough loss on the road in Stockville, losing one nil
to Mississippi State. Bulldogs are fourteen to one to OH eight and oh in conference play. The Wildcats now ten three and four and two three and four in conference play. Kentucky outshot by the Bulldogs eight to four to three to one in shots on goal. So rough trip to State. That was the final conference road game for the UK women's soccer team. World Series begins tonight in Los Angeles. As you know, you may not know that the Dodgers
have made the announcement. Dave Roberts, the manager, said, Nope, Shoheotani will not be pitching, no how, no way against the Yankees. Not really as surprise, but I guess some folks were asking, but he said there is no possibility none whatsoever, Thank you for asking. He has not pitched Otani since undergoing major elbow surgery in September of twenty
twenty three. Strictly a DH this season, and what a season he had as a DH, overwhelming favored to win the National League MVP after post was seen, the first fifty to fifty season in Major League Baseball history, and now a chance to win a World Series. He has rehabbed his elbow. When it comes to pitching, he threw off a mound starting in August, and then the last month Roberts basically opened the door to Otani pitching in the postseason. Said he wasn't going to rule it out,
but then he did so. No show hay from the mound in the World Series. You know that made its way quickly to the Yankees' locker room. College football last night, Syracuse and Penn, those two ancient rivals in the ACC. Pittsburgh is for real rankdom or nineteen Syracuse. We were talking earlier about Kentucky not making mistakes. How about this six interceptions last night by the Panthers against them Syracuse Orange.
Three pick sixes in the first first half. Checked that five interceptions, but three of them in the first half went for touchdowns, and you talk about putting yourself in a hole. Ended up being a forty one to thirteen blowout. But I saw two pick sixes, so did you? Last year by one guy Maxwell Harston for Kentucky against Vanderbilt. I have never seen red or heard of a game
with three pick sixes and one half no less. While we're talking football, if you're an NFL fan, you may have heard over the weekend that it looks like the Browns well, instead of renovating where they play now Huntington bank Field in Cleveland, they want to move. They want to move just north of Cleveland proper and build a dome stadium. So now apparently there's a law that says
they can't do that. It's the Model Law. Art Mode was a guy who snuck out of town on the Cleveland Browns all those years ago and took them to Baltimore, which was a city where the team snuck out of town, and so in order to protect itself from future sneaking, they passed a law called the Model Law. And now the Browns are suing the city looking for clarity. They want a judge to rule on this it's a state law designed to make it harder for sports teams to
leave taxpayers supported venues in their home cities. Another Browns want a judge to rule that the law is unconstitutional or that it doesn't apply to the team's plans to build that dome stadium. It would come in brook Park, which is, I guess a suburb of Cleveland. This is just days after Cleveland's law director said he will enforce
the model law. City council passed legislation earlier this year obligating the law director to act if it looked as though the Browns were on their way out of town, and now apparently they're trying to do just that, flouting the Model Law and acted in nineteen ninety six after the Browns left Cleveland for Balmore, and it popped up, of course, because this was a long standing franchise where fans taxpayers had supported the team, but he couldn't get
a stadium deal that he wanted. And so now this law says, if you're an owner, or if you're a pro sports team and you're looking to move out of a tax supported facility, you have to get approval from the host city first or give that city at least six months notice while you give the host city or area residents a chance to buy the team. How about that? And of course the Browns are saying it's vague and unclear of the law. Doesn't sound like it to me.
Sounds pretty simple. And if the fans buy the team, would that basically make the Browns like the Packers, a team where the city owns the franchise. And it's my understanding that professional sports leagues now legally are structured so that can't happen. City of Green Bay owns the Packers. And this happened many many years ago when it looked as though the Packers were going to leave town, back before the NFL was huge, of course, and some city
fathers got together and sold shares of stock. And so, long story short, the city not only owns the Packers, but they cannot leave. They can never leave the smallest franchise of the smallest city in all of professional sports. And from what I'm reading here, if indeed the fans are given a chance to buy the team, you would think that the Browns would have a similar situation. But again I read somewhere that that was not possible. So I want to keep an eye on that because there
are a lot of Browns fans around here. Generational yes, because when a lot of folks who grew up in Lexington and Louisville were young, the Bengals didn't exist, or when they did, they were terrible. And we got Brown's games piped in to us in both Lexing and Louisville. And when I went to work for CBS affiliate WKYT, I found out that that's known as being on that
team's network. Within the overall networ work, each team has its own network of affiliates, even if you're not in the greater Cleveland area, even if you're not in the state of Ohio, and it has a lot to do with commercials that are strown throughout their regional commercials. We
were complaining at KYT about getting the Atlanta Falcons. We kept getting Atlanta Falcons games and they weren't any good, and we kept requesting like the New York Giants because Phil Simms played it morehead and we would get those, but we just wanted other games because the games we got were terrible. And this CBS rep was sitting in our office and was trying to tell me about your viewers, blah blah blah. I'm like, no, I'm the one who takes the phone calls. You don't know, Jack squat about
our viewers. And he finally he didn't mumble it, but he may as well have told me. It came down to regional commercials. I said, why couldn't we get such and such a game? Well, that's designated for the West Coast, I said, so we can pull it off the satellite. Yeah, but the commercials in that game, many of them are directed at regional audiences because the outfits buying the commercial time are on the West Coast. Only. Like, man, it just seemed like every time we turned around, we couldn't
get the games we wanted. So I'll be really curious to see if this sticks all right the NBA last night Mavericks beat the Spurs. Got a little more on that coming up in Heroes, Fools and Flakes. But it's interesting because Klay Thompson no longer a Warrior now he's a Dallas Maverick and I'm a Mavericks fan from when I live down there. My buddies are play by play guy, so interesting to keep an eye on Klay Thompson. He had twenty two points in twenty six minutes. Seemed pretty healthy.
Mavericks wanted one twenty to one on nine me. The biggest story coming out of the NBA opener is Joel Embiid basically saying I'm He's essentially said I'm gonna play when I feel like it, literally feel like it. He didn't play in the team's opener against Milwaukee and basically has said he will not play him back to backs and they're not saying he's injured. And now the league is looking into this as well it should. And I heard Coronizer and Will Bond talk about it on PTI
on ESPN. Willbond, of course, never speaks ill of the NBA. Oh, they got to think about the championship ron in the spring. Come on, man, that's weak. And Corneizer was right when he said it's consumer fraud. People who buy season tickets to see Joel Embiid play for Philly. They come to the he's not playing tonight. Why not? Doesn't want to Charles Bark. They weighed in on it. You better believe he did. It's time of year when I get to
pull clips from tant and listen to, sir Charles. He is not happy with Joel Embiid, But.
Man, I don't have any idea what the Sixers are doing. You know, I don't think it's fair. Now listen, I want to get this number right because this is crazy and bless a kid, and I'm gonna wat he just signed for three years, one hundred and ninety three million dollars, three years, one hundred and nine three million dollars to play basketball. We're not still workers. We're not nurses like people who got like real jobs who have to work
forty to fifty hours a week. We're playing basketball at the most four days a week, most of the time three days a week. He has the best back up in the league and drumming. If he had to say it in Kennyshack know this day, just say I'm gonna play twenty five minutes on the second night, or back to back or dream drummer plays. But to come out and say it in advance was a stupidity. Got a Sixers period, Love.
Me some, Sir Charles. I check it every night to see if I haven't seen it. I checked to see if he has said something great, and if so, I will definitely share it with you. Interesting fun fact tweeted out by a guy named Sam Kuvaries. He is a sports journalist based in Jacksonville, and I saw this pop up on the innerweb and I grabbed it because he tweeted about uncrustables. You know what those are? Those are those pre made sandwich is usually peeb and J with
no crust. They're round, and I see them in the UK locker room all the time football. They put them out there and snacks. A lot of kids eat him at halftime. A lot of players eat him at halftime. And he tweeted this. He said, it's an unknown fun silly NFL at uncrustables are the favorite snack at halftime of most teams and post practice during the week in the NFL, he wrote. League wide, NFL players eat about
eighty thousand a year. He said the Jaguars, where he is ranked third with about three hundred and fifteen a week. The team that leads the league in eating uncrustables the Denver Broncos. They eat more than seven hundred uncrustables per week. That is amazing to me. Seven hundred per week by the Broncos and eighty thousand by the NFL. So there's a statue can drop on anybody and I'll promise you
they'll be impressed. Heroes, fools and Flakes next on six thirty Wlap Welcome back to the Big Lewis Cider time now for our heroes, fools and Flakes. And our hero tonight is Luka Donsich of the Dallas Mavericks. He is an unstoppable force, it seems on offense and during the Mavericks win over the San Antonio Spurs last night, he was trying to beat the Spurs down the court on
a breakaway. But he's not the fastest guy. So you had Paul George behind him trying to knock the ball away and Victor Wimangnana, the incredible seven foot town seven foot plus talent in his second season, trying to block his and he successfully blocked his path to the basket. So Donsich and it looked like he had stumbled, like Paul George had clipped his heels. Whips behind the head. No look past to the corner to a teammate for a three pointer. I could not find the radio call
from my buddy Chuck Cooperstein. The radio voice of the MAVs. But here's Kevin Harlan, who's just great on TNT.
Leaving the break, Paul nipping at his heels outside what a passsing on.
That beautiful As I said, Kevin Harlan on TNT, he is he is so great himself. You hear him on Westwood One Radio, do an NFL. He also does my Packers preseason games, which of course are going away, but just another reason to like Kevin Harlan are fool tonight. While the Cleveland Browns, and of course they had lost their quarterback, and you don't wish ill on anybody, but when it happens to Deshaun Watson, you kind of shrug
it off. Karma can be, you know what. But Watson now out gun for the year with the torn achilles, and of course the Browns didn't want to have to answer questions about the fact that Joe Flacco last year in relief outplayed to Shaun Watson. So what do they do in the postseason? They get rid of him. I mean, he is a Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, still capable, but it was making the Browns look bad to have him on the roster. With DeShawn Watson sticking it up, and
now the Browns are stuck without approving quarterback. So, like I said, Karmack catches up with you one way or the other. Our flake tonight is the World Series. And by that I mean this is a really unusual situation, even though the Dodgers and the Yankees have played against each other more than any other teams in the history
of baseball. That of course goes back to when there weren't that many teams in Major League Baseball and the Dodgers were still in New York and the year after the Yankees would beat them in a series except Heevie reason the Dodgers got one in nineteen fifty five, the year I was born, they finally jumped up and beat
the Yankees. But it's so unusual now they haven't played since eighty one, Right, But ask yourself, as NBC Sports pointed out, when was the last time home run kings from both LEAs we've played each other in the World Series. You've got Otani and you've got Aaron Judge. That was nineteen fifty six. I have two opponents would at least fifty home runs ever slugged against each other in the
World Series. No how many times since nineteen eighty eight as the American League MVP and the National League MVP met in the World Series just once? How many times this century as the best team in the American League played the best team in the National League in terms of one loss records in the World Series. The answer there is twice, and one of them came during the pandemic shortened season. So this is all coming together tonight
in the fall classic kind of flaky. That's gonna do it for now thanks to my guest John Longshore, Will Fiddler, Morgan Newton, and Ben Roberts join us for Kentucky Football five thirty Air Times seven forty five kickoff tomorrow. That said, good night from the garage in Lexington.
Charlie, here comes the deuce. And when you speak of me, speak well.
Totally. I was gonna throw a douce right yep, man Netball get out of here in a hurry.
Anything travels that for to have a damn stewardess on it.
Do you think.
Yet?
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