Oh, oh, guess what day it is. Guess what day it is?
Huh, anybody, it's hump Day.
Well, you know, we're gonna go two for thirteen in the first nine minutes, sometimes in the three point line when it is shots that we're earning, and we're gonna keep shooting. It's a beautiful way to play. And you know what BBN is gonna learn is they're gonna just be like, Okay, this is really hard right now, but it's coming. Like it's coming.
That's Mark Pope reassuring Kentucky fans that, yeah, even though the threes might not be falling at the beginning of a game, you don't need to panic. Just get used to it, because you're gonna see, as he promised, you're gonna see this Kentucky team chuck up a lot of threes, and they're gonna be times when they don't go down. But just hang with him, he says, and for the most part, all will be well. And as we welcome you to this Hump Day edition of The Big lew Insider,
Dick abro with you on a Wednesday. Now, the exhibitions are over and it begins for real week for both the men and the women, and we'll talk a lot of Kentucky basketball tonight. We'll also talk with our unforgettable guard Sean Woods. He will join us coming up at the bottom of this hour. Coming up an hour number two, we're gonna meet with doctor Ben Kibler. He's an old friend, he's been on the show before and I wanted to talk to him as we're in the middle of the
World Series about once again, Tommy John's surgery. Now seems like the real answer for any pitcher who wants to add two or three miles to the priority was fastball. And there was a story on CBS Sunday Morning the other day about a young guy who threw out his arm. He's coming back, he believes fully he'll be a major
leaguer better than ever with Tommy John surgery. But there's so much more to it than that, because we're also talking about UK baseball as the Wildcats wrapped up the fall portion of their schedule their season, So we'll talk about doctor Kert, talk to doctor Kibler, and then in hour number two is well Weston buer chief Gary Moore. But I need to talk about these Wildcats who came out last night and they were cold. We saw that and missed eleven of their first thirteen, and then they
got hot. Looked like a different team.
Didn't they.
Jackson Robinson hid eight of them, all twenty four of his points coming from beyond the arc. What a smooth stroke. And he was in the interview room as Mark Pope walked by to come out to Tom Leech, and he actually did. Pope chimed in with a question among the reporters, Jacks, were.
You frustrated you only got twelve threes off tonight?
No, I'm not got here, coach. Well, he had the ready answer, didn't they know?
I'm not frustrated that I only got off twelve threes. Show one two pointer. All the rest were three pointers. And his teammates, of course, did the same thing. They took three when they had him, some of them took threes when they didn't have them, And Pope talked about that as well.
It was interesting. He used some terms.
Like belligerent and karma and things like that. But the myss threes are going to be a part of it because you don't have to hit fifty or sixty percent to make them effective. So Pope basically said to Tom Leach on the post game show and of the fans assembled and the fans listening, get ready because.
Here they come, all got nervous, right, You're like, are they really gonna keep shooting these threes? Man, they missed nine?
I think you are.
It's gonna be dramatic.
Let me tell you that there's been a lot of drama.
Don't miss a game.
It's gonna be really dramatic.
I can't wait.
I didn't love us in the first half shooting because guys, we could have a long, long conversation about this. We don't have time for it tonight, but we were You know,
this happens all the time. The teams we made twenty one last game and shots fifty percent, and you get tricked and be like, wow, if I just throw the ball up in there, it's going to go through the hoop, And don't really need to earn them the way we earn them, And we start out the game a little bit belligerent, which we're going to be in that space sometimes shooting the.
Ball where we weren't earning them. We weren't earning.
Them for each other.
The game.
The game rewards you when you play it correctly.
And when you earn.
Shots for your teammate, and we kind of lost a little of that vibe and there are a bunch of actually real reasons for that.
Well to his comment at the very beginning, y'all got nervous, Yeah they did. You could feel the twittering and no pun intended in the Rupp Arena crowd. As the three didn't drop, you could hear the groans, but it was also this palpable feeling of nervousness among Kentucky fans. But boy did debt change when the threes began to drop. It wasn't a pretty game, but it gave the coaching
staff a lot to work with. And Pope said something that the prior head coach used to say all the time, basically, I'm condensing it, but we needed a game like this to learn. Every coach says that every coach feels that way.
Pope is no different.
It was a I'm really proud of our guys. It was actually a very important night for us because we had some opportunities where we didn't quite feel right on the court, and we had some weird rotations, some weird lineups from are going down early. You know, we got us a little weird. We had some weird fatigue on the floor, and so all of that led ourselves to be in a situation where we kind of had to fix things and we came to a timeout, guys looking
around like, man, it doesn't feel quite right. And we needed that so much. It was actually a real gift playing against a terrific team.
In fact, it was a Minnesota State man Cato team that had to score twenty two twenty I think after the second TV timeout, maybe early in the game, and then the Wildcats going to run. The threes begin to fall, and now you see what Kentucky will be. Well, I don't care there when the shots go down up tempo transition offense from your defense, which is why Pope said, don't worry if the shots don't go down right away, you know.
We're gonna be two for eleven. Sometimes that doesn't phase me at all. It's gonna make you all nervous, but doesn't phase me. The thing that was concerned to me was the shots that we were taking weren't the threes that we love. And then we didn't have our normal presence on the offensive glass.
And that is where you need to worry because This is not an entirely huge, big, physical, banging Kentucky team. And if you are missing your three point shots, it's essentially you know, one and done the guys who've got it going the other way. So you've got to rebound. You know, you've got to keep the other guys off
the glass. Guards have to rebound. Kentucky only won the Battle of the boards thirty nine, the thirty seven and the leading rebounder now again, Amari Williams, was out injured, and Pope said he did know at that point last night, of course what the extent of the injury was. But minus Williams, who had two rebounds in three minutes, Jackson Robinson led Kentucky with six rebounds, and yeah, everybody got out. Everybody got to play, at least with a couple of exceptions.
Seventeen minutes, Almanor had five rebounds. In nineteen minutes, Lamont Butler had five assists and three steals, stuffing the statuet. But rebounds will be an issue for this team. If you're going to miss, yeah, go ahead and shoot your threes, but if you miss it, go get it. So many other things that the Wildcats did well, fast break points thirty five and held Minnesota State, which is not known as a fast breaking team, to just eight and Wildcats hit for the game d four percent thirty seven to
sixty nine. It what twenty four of thirty two from two point land. And what I find interesting is, and they did this last night, is when they pass up what looks like a pretty good shot for two for a three pointer, and that's what they do. You know, they'll make that extra pass and try to get the three. But if you do that and you miss, you better
go get it. So it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out whenever Williams gets back Kentucky in the first I think after the first TV timeout, which was the first four minutes plus at five turnovers, I tweeted about this last night. Five turnovers. That was one of the reasons, the biggest reason, frankly besides the missus, that Minnesota State was able to hang with the Wildcats.
But from that point forward, three more turnovers, only three, which I find incredible given the pace that they play at. And even better than that, twenty eight assists on thirty seven made baskets. That's incredible. Won't always be that great,
but that's pretty impressive. During his postgame show, Pope showed off the Devin Booker Nike shoe that he was wearing, and he told the crowd something he already knew about Devin Booker, but he brought it home because it's something he from Afar had noticed and kept in the back of his mind about the former Wildcat.
Think about Devin Booker, I tell his story all the time. Okay, Devin book here came here and played on one of the all time greatest teams to ever play at the University of Kentucky, came in as a superstar player, never started one game his entire career at the University Kentucky twenty minutes game, scored ten points a game, shot forty two percent for the three point line, and had one of the epic seasons ever in the history Kentucky, and now is on his way to probably win an MVP
this year and next year in the NBA is But the top five guy in the league for the last couple years is just extraordinary representative of the NBA and Kentucky and we had to wear our guys suit man. Come on, maybe what.
Booker's been in the NBA now with eight or nine years and has developed into one of the best players in the world. Is high career high seventy. But I'll always remember him being on the bench when the Wildcats couldn't get a shot against Wisconsin in the Final four. Three straight times Kentucky was called for shot clock violation, couldn't get off a shot. Devin Booker on the bench again. We'll never forget that. So what's now? What's next for
the Wildcats? Pope talked about that as you wrap things up every.
Day, we're just starving to find it every possible. Weity got to get better. We were hoping from these two exhibitions we get some data. We got some great data and experience tonight and so now it's on to you know, it's for real. So don't miss Monday. Guys, come here Monday and let's go to war the way that BBN does.
We beat you.
Guys here, come, let's come get this done and then we'll go vote Tuesday, and we'll be back in here Friday night against buck Nell. And it's on.
It is on, coming up on Monday.
It is the regular season as a Wildcat stick on Wright State seven o'clock tip time and then the following game is actually Saturday. I think he said Friday, but it's Saturday, and the Cats will play host to buck Nell. The women minus exhibition games open play on Monday. Well, I don't know why they're scheduled like this. The women play at five, the men play at seven. If you're home watching TV, then yeah, you're good. You're going to see the women's game on SEC Plus and the men
on the SEC Network. But you know, there might be people who want to go to both games, and some will probably try. But anyway, it's just an odd way to schedule. But they play at five o'clock at Historic Memorial Coliseum and get things started under Kenny Brooks.
Up next, we're.
Going to talk about the World Series, but also the hideous statue of Dwayne Wade. Charles Barkley, Sir Charles the chuck Wagon has weighed in. Yes, of course he has. You can imagine what he has to say. We'll have it for you next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Cider. Coming up in just a few minutes, Unforgettable Guard to Shawan Woods. A little bit later on our West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore will join.
Us much to talk about when it comes.
To the World Series, and of course, if you're a Yankees fan, you're still alive.
But how about the numbers for the Dodgers in Japan.
CNN did a big story, and this is fairly obvious that you're going to get a lot of viewers in Japan of the La Dodgers, but I didn't know that I expected this many. Fifteen point nine million for last night's game, a Yankees win, of course, but fifteen point nine million in just about all the games have been rated like that in Japan because essentially because of Showhey, this isn't a country with approximately one hundred and twenty four and a half million people. The US has nearly
three times that many. But of course you've got so much national pride happening right now in Japan, and international baseball is paying off. If you're wondering why pro leagues are branching out, the NFL's playing overseas, the NBA is playing overseas, and now Baseball for years has signed players from foreign countries, and it's it's adding up for the US and for Major League Baseball. And I'm not entirely
certain how it creates dollars in sixes for teams. But I can tell you this that the city of Los Angeles, the tourism, it's enormous. Now. A Japanese travel agency told CNN it was booking up to two hundred clients from Japan for each Dodgers home game this season. Dodgers jumped on the phenomenon by adding twelve new Japanese sponsors. So that's one way of making the dollars and cents work. Japanese language, stadium tours, new menu items designed for Japanese
fans for the fan experience. Look, you're not going to get that at every Major League ballpark, but on the West Coast better believe it, maybe even Texas and Colorado and Arizona. Major League baseball in general has shown a two hundred and twenty five percent increase in social media engagement, with views across various platforms rising by two hundred and twenty nine percent. So if you think there's no interest in baseball, you're looking in the wrong direction. And it's
not just showhy. The Dodgers signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto last offseason twelve year deal three hundred and twenty five million an He won game two through six and a third innings against the Yankees, gave up just one hit, and that cranked things up in Japan.
You better believe it.
So, yeah, we may be looking at a sport that is just kind of fading in America among Americans, but worldwide it's happening.
Now.
Last night's game will be remembered for a number of things, but probably because of the two idiots and right field who tried to stealing out from the Dodgers and Mookie Best. Did you see this twisting foul ball? Mooki Best goes down the line, leaps with his glove over the wall, catches a foul ball for an out. Two fans grab him, one grabs his wrist, the other grabs the glove and prize the ball out of the mitt, and of course
it immediately is ruled an out. Umpire running down the line, one hand grabbing the other, signifying interference fan interference, and these two guys are kicked out of the ballpark. But you know what, the Yankees have said, they'll be allowed to come back.
There'll be no lifetime ban. No.
Now you wonder had they and you know, and again they try to steal it out but didn't. But had they stolen it out from the Yankees, you gotta wonder. Well, they have been banned forever in Yankee Stadium. And by the way, way, this is also a fan base, and this is one guy, but it reflects so poorly on
the entire fan base. There was the moment during the game that everything stopped on TV and anybody you wished to grabbed a sign and wrote down the name of a cancer victim or patient, and there was a long pause on television as America saw fans, players, broadcasters, camera operators holding up those signs. I've done it at UK games in honor of my late cousin. And during this moment, some Yankee fans screams, f you, Freddie Freeman, and yeah, I'd got out on TV. And somebody tweeted it and said,
worse fans in baseball. So there you go, one guy reflecting on million. It's unfortunate, but it happened. One more baseball note. If you're a white Sox fan, I don't know if it matters, but will Vennable as your new manager?
They've had forty four managers in franchise history. That says a lot, but at one point he was a special assistant to theo Epstein when they were with the Cubs, was a first base coach for the Cubs, was their third base coach, bench coach for the Red Sox, and was the associate manager to Bruce Boshi with the Rangers for the last couple of years and helped the Rangers win a World Series in twenty three.
So he's got.
Some some rep he's got some resume. Juice.
Don't know if it's going to help the White Sox in the NBA.
Last night, I always, of course check and see what Charles Barkley's up to, and I knew he would have a comment because I got to look at the Dwayne Wade statue.
Have you seen this monstrosity?
I'm stunned, and I've got to think that I would least hope, but maybe maybe this is the answer. Maybe nobody saw it while it was being created. And the face it looks like an alien I don't know any other or like a cartoon.
I don't know any other way to describe it.
Now. On TNT's postgame show or pregame last night, they talked about it, and Kenny the Jet Smith said it was, and he's trying to be polite and kind. It's an animated moment, he kept saying, And yes, it was, so what don't pick that moment to capture for posterity forever? Ostensibly, Dwayne Wade outside the arena in Miami, pick a moment where his face is not con horn it so he looks like himself.
But they didn't.
And Charles Barkley weigh in, as you knew you would.
But obviously a great a great honor for d Wait, that's.
A great honor.
But they got to take that thing down.
Animated, not anime.
You made an animated face, and then they made a bronche.
You made an ugly statue.
That's what it would look like. That thing's awful.
It's not awful.
Look he's making it. He's making an animated face. A moment that was after he saw the statue right there, that's the face he made.
One of the best, one of the best reactions I saw was that.
Look if you showed that to a thousand people and didn't say who had their who just got a statue?
Would you ever say, oh, yeah, that's say.
The way Waite making an animated face, you know, the statue was so bad they had to put all his status behind us.
So you know who it was I got.
He shout out to the statue maker. Man, Yeah, put all that time and I'm kill get your education next time.
All I will say is this, Dwayne Wade must have signed off on it. If he's okay with it, I'm okay with it. But his statues go, that's one of the worst I've seen. Haven't seen them all, but that's one of the worst I've seen all right. Coming up next Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard. We'll talk about last night's Kentucky basketball game, but also we'll listen back to some comments from a former SEC coach that you could apply to just about every sport and just about every
coach in the game. Today here on the Big Blue Sider six thirty w l A P.
Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider.
It is Wednesday, which means we visit with our unforgettable guard, Sean Woods. His jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp and coach. Before I talk about Kentucky last night, I need to share a SoundBite You've already heard it, and I'll drop it in here from Conzo Martin as he talked about and this is kind of.
An old one.
I think he was still in MISSOI when he said it, but it popped up on social media talking about how we're stealing the struggle of our kids.
For me, I can only speak in my situation growing up. When I called home, it's just my mom was grateful for me to have an opportunity to get a college degree. The basketball part she never really talked about. The basketball part is like, Okay, my son is happy. But it wasn't like how many minutes are you getting? There was never anything like that. And I was never a god it's gonna, you know, bail out or give anything like that because I couldn't my high school because what I'm
gonna call him say, I'm not playing. I mean that has nothing to do with me. I mean that's what he say. I mean, you know what to do. And so when you have that, Now, if you're being mistreated, that's one thing. But if it's just about the basketball piece, I say to parents all the time, let him go through that, because he'll grow in that. Whatever that is, he'll grow in it. That's a lesson. If you allow me to continue to jump and make moves that will
never grow. And then all of a sudden they become fathers, husbands and parents. They have some tough lessons, but they didn't get equipped to deal with those lessons at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen eighteen. That was struggling in life.
Conzo is now at Missouri State.
But as I played this for you before we went on the air, you were kind of chuckling because you've you've heard it from him before.
But you've also said this before. And we sound like.
A bunch of old guys, don't we when we talk about stealing the.
Struggle from our kids.
But and you want to make you you're a father as well as a coach. You want to make life better for your kids. But as a coach, how do you balance that with knowing they need to learn difficult lessons.
Well, first of all, as a coach, you're going to go through, like you know, some tough lessons within your in your in your your young life. You know you can't you know you can't run away from it. You know, problems happen, you know, girlfriend school, Being an athlete, you're going to have trials and tribulations. You know, that's what makes you tougher, that's what makes you go through things. Because we all want to be a champion, we all
want to be successful. But in the midst of that, you got to go through something, you know, and shoot, I'm going through something right now, you know what I mean. So you know, but it's it's called life. And you can't substitute things that that that occur that bodes you
as a person throughout your lifetime. And nowadays we are trying to or I'm not saying we society has allowed kids to bypass some type of struggle to enhance their growth as individuals, and it's started to touch the athletic world and we've seen it verbatim right now with you know how easy it is to transfers, you know how easy it is to make money when you're not supposed to be not supposed to be quote unquote a professional. You know, life has become much easier. Yeah, I'm a
parent too. You know. Did I want my son to have a better life than me growing up? Yeah, but there still has to be some sort of discipline, some sort of struggle in order for them to have growth in their life. And you know, society for whatever reason is allowing us to allowing us to bypass this. And it's not good because I know I'm rambling, but there's such a gap now between you and me and young people anymore. And it's become evident now you know what
I mean. You know what happened to constructive criticism, what happened to discipline? What happened to telling the truth? For that matter? You know, did the truth hurt you and me growing up? Sure did, but it made us. Now I'm scared because these kids look at you now. When you do present these type of scenarios to them, they fold, they run, And the sad part about it is their parents know better, but their parents aren't doing better in sustaining them and making them go through something you.
Played for that you played for Rick Patino, And I've heard stories from you, have heard stories from Cameron Mills just about just the way he treated you guys.
And I remember one after you got out of school, you said, no.
One's ever going to talk to me that way again. But you're tough on your players, but you were also successful. But can you mentioned discipline? Can you not have discipline without the aggressive for lack of a better term, style of coaching of a Rick Patino, because not everybody coaches that way, but a lot of different coaches have had success.
Well, here's the deal. Aggressive and telling the truth. Aggressive and not allowing the same mistakes to happen over and over again. Aggressive and holding kids accountable to paying attention to detail, telling them the truth, not allowing them to run away from situations. You know, that's what we call aggressiveness. You know what I mean? Nowadays, you're walking on eggshell's coaching kids anymore, because one, you don't want them to leave, because you need their talents too. You know, I saw
something on TV the other day. Can you coach a kid that's mad at you? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, coach a kid that's mad at you? I don't know anymore? You know what I'm saying. I really don't, because they quit so much that they're mad that you know, you know, they're gonna stop, They're gonna you know, call their mom, They're going to call their dad. You know, coaches on me today, I'm sick of this. You know, he's always
on me about this and that. Well if he's always on you about that same stuff, well why don't you change it.
You reason. There's a reason he's on you every day exactly.
And if he wasn't on you, that means he didn't care. Because if he didn't care, he wouldn't waste his time and effort getting his blood pressure up going through the same things day in and day out. Who's the dummy? The coach is the dummy. You want to know why and be the same person and what they say about in the same person. A person does things over and over again, it expects a different results. Well, we're the.
Dummies, right, that's true.
Uh, you know, And and the sports world is full of stories too about people who have been successful but wanted to quit called home and mom or dad said no, no, you're not coming home. You know, you're staying where you are. Toby Smith was one of those people. You know a lot of people like that.
You know.
I'm going to tell you a story, dick, And this is the truth. When Eddie Sutton left Okay, and we were going on probation, we were on the investigation and so on and so forth, and they were saying that we were not going to get to play on television. We weren't going to get a chance to go to the NCAA tournament. I had no idea who was going to become our coach, and whoever became our coach, I was hoping that I had some type of relationship with him.
In a recruiting process, well, every coach that they brought in didn't recruit me come out of high school, and everybody recruited me, but it was just there was only a few that didn't recruit me hard and I didn't establish a relationship with And when that was starting to happen, I called my mom and I said, Mom, this is what's going on down here. We're gonna go on probation.
You know, Coach Kasey, who was my mentor, who's the guy I really fell in love with and the reason why I came, you know, and he was the one who was becoming was the scapegoat. I didn't like that either, So there was a trust factor. And I said, can you call the schools that were recruiting me and let them know that I'm opening up my recruitment and I would like to talk to him? And my mom didn't buy the nine. He said no, And I said, what do you mean no? I said, I can't stay here
there's nothing here. Sean Kemp's leaving as my best friend Chris Mills got to leave. Eric Manu Camp is not no beble to play anymore. The coaches that recruited me are not gonna be here. The only thing I got is my grandmother and my family here. That's it. But the basketball piece in which I really came for, besides my grandmother is gonna be gone. And she said, nope, she goes, this is the first time you had to face the version as an adult, and you're gonna face
the head on. Wow, and you're gonna deal with it.
Wow.
And by her saying that, I stayed the course and look at me now, I mean, who would have thought my jersey'd be retired at the most historical basketball program in America and I wasn't in all American.
Interesting. I don't think you ever told me I have.
A significant impact, you know, on a major university like I have, and that my other teammates had. You know, no one thought that. We didn't see that coming.
Interesting. Oh a lot to your mom, don't you.
Yeah. Now, my my mom's my mom. My wife has become my mom, and she's in me right now with some things that I'm going through because I'm at a cross road. So you know, if I didn't have those type of experiences, I would I would I would melt right now in this averse time in my life. So you know, it's it's a it comes twofold and you learned that at a young age and does life its easier? Know,
life it's tougher. You know. The more you want to be successful, the more you know, trials and tribulations you know come your way. You know there's a price to pay. And I learned this, and I always told my kids this, especially when they come play from me. We have to get we have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Yeah, true, being successful is very uncomfortable. I don't care how successful you are.
He is Seawan Woods.
He is an unforgettable guard because of his mom and other things.
He worked hard.
We'll come back and talk basketball with Sean on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with unforgettable guard Sean Woods as Jersey hangs in the rafters of RUP.
Speaking of RUP.
Last night, the roof just about came off and Brandon Garrison threw down a dunk. But prior to that, a lot of three pointers went up. Very few of them went in at first, and then they started to rain down on Minnesota State. Man Cato and the Wildcats wrapped up their exhibition season. I know that these games valuable for you coaches, Sean, because now you've got either data or film, whatever you want to call it. But it's a great way to study what you have going into the regular season, isn't it.
Oh, no doubt about it. You know, every game is important, no matter if you're playing system areas are the poor. It's just the fact that you you know, for the first time, you you know, you get to put just five guys out there, and you want to see who's your best five. You want to see who plays better together, and you want to see and test your guys, you know, how they respond to different things that you know you
can't see in practice. And I thought it was a great test, especially early in the game yesterday, with you know what Minnesota State presented to the Cats, and you know, I was very impressed. And you know, just by the way they stayed the course. You know, they stay with what they do. You know, shots weren't falling early but eventually they did, and I off the better they shot, the tougher they played defensive, yes, because I thought that I thought their defense was not was scary in the
first half. I was like, oh man, it's gonna be If this is the way they're gonna play defense the rest of the year, we're in trouble. Because they didn't rebound, they didn't keep guys in front of them, right, you know, that team was getting layups. I thought that Kentucky was discombobulated and disorder you know, and not disciplined in the first half defensively on assignment especially, you know, switching and
you know, so on them so forth. But you know, they stayed the course, they stayed with what they did and eventually they found their groove and you know, like that old saying, if that ball's going in, everything else feels great. So you know, the name of the game is basketball, and Billy Darvin always said, you know, good offense, good defense in the day of the week of the game be zero zero. So you know that was that was a prime indication of that of that quote.
It's funny you mentioned defense speacause I'm watching Lamont Butler and I'm sort of I'm upstairs and I'm sort of at an angle off for one of the corners. I'm not flush with the court parallel, but that allows me to see the angles that players play. And I'm watching Butler just harassing the imposing ball handler, and honestly, he reminded me a little bit of the way you did that. I mean, he's a different kind of player than you, but he is similar in how aggressive defensively he is.
What do you think of him when you watch him play defense?
That's amazing that you're talking about that. I want to practice. The other day was that Tuesday, Dwayne Casey came in. Coach Casey came in too, n me here and I went and watched practice, and I got a chance to really sit down and have it one on one with Mark Pope, and I told him, I said, listen, I said, this team reminds me so much of our team. We didn't we weren't as athletic, we didn't have a true
big guy. But what we did have was and now, when I bragen on myself, was you got a point guard that can harass and change the course of a game by himself defensively. He said, yeah, he doesn't finish at the rim like you did. I said, it doesn't matter, I said, but he creates havoc. And he's the one person on your team because you are a three point shooting team that can get in the paint, and you got it. No matter how good of his three point
shooting team you are, you must have paint touches. And he's the one guy that can penetrate and get in there and get paint touches and make things happen. To keep pressure on on that other team on both ends of the court with his pressure defensively and his pressure of getting by his guy and getting into the paint. And I said, you know, this team is very very similar to you know, the team in eighty nine to ninety.
And you know, have fun with it because you do have a point guard that's pretty tough and he's probably the makeup of your basketball team. But just just just relish in it and enjoy him. Only thing I don't like is I don't want him to get in foul trouble because he is aggressive and he's the one guy that you have that can create havoc. And it's just as good as any other point you know, any other player on the other opposing team. You know, you want
to be able to win every position. Well, that's one position. I don't think too many point guards are gonna be able to win against him. I think he's that tough.
I agree. I've only got a minute or two left. But there was one play. Reabsolutely picked the guy's pocket, but he was harassed down the floor and then he missed the layup. But it is just such a joy to watch him go, isn't it.
He is. I mean, I love guys that like getting in the people. You know, a lot of guys don't like playing that way anymore. But I just think that, you know, God forbid, he gets in the foul troubles. He's the guy that really can set the tone and really punk a bully the other team's point guard. You know, if you can win the point guard battle nine times out of team, you're gonna win the game.
Creasa backed him up and he add six assists. He's not quite as good defensively, but yeah, between those two guys, it's gonna be really interesting. This entire season is gonna be interesting, and Sean Woods will be here to help us break things down as well as life lessons in general. I appreciate your observations. I appreciate your mom all over again now the fact that you're still here. But I have a great week, Coach, and we'll talk to.
You down the road.
Take care, Dick.
Coming up next to our number.
Two sports doctor Ben Kibler, who is a world renowned orthopedic surgeon who is based right here in Lexington, semi retired. We'll talk to the doc as well as our West End bureau chief Jerry Moore. That's all I had coming up an hour number two, the Big One Insider six point thirty Wlaper, Welcome back to the Big Blue and sider joining us now on the Celebrity Hotline is a
guy I've known for many, many years. He knows my knees inside it out, because doctor Ben Kibler has operated on me three times and treated me for many other minor injuries.
But welcome back. We haven't talked with you in a while. Doc. Everything's going in your semi retirement.
Oh thanks a lot, Dick for having me. I enjoy always talking with you. Doing just fine with staying busy, staying involved with with the throwing shoulder and some injuries and preventative things. Still having some good time with that.
Well, I wanted to bring you on and we're going to talk about your latest research as well. But CBS Sunday Morning a couple of weeks ago had a really
interesting piece on Tommy John's surgery. And they're not the first to dive in, but it was just prior to the baseball playoffs, right in the middle of it, really and it's amazing to me, Doc, and I know it's no surprise to you, or maybe it is that it seems like so many guys want Tommy John surgery that they see that as especially younger people, something that could help their careers.
Is are we careening in the wrong direction on this? I got to think we are.
I think there are several things that are brought up by that type of statement. First of all, remember that the Tommy John ligament is a key ligament in throwing baseball. But to be honest with you, you know a lot of people can get by without it in other situations,
but in baseball it's an extremely important structure. And the disturbing finding is that this is the need for surgery is occurring in younger age groups, even down down the fifteen to eighteen, and the original surgery that doctor Job did has been slightly modified to include a couple of other new techniques which include these little what's called internal braces, as well as better ways of doing the reconstruction, so
that there's a lot of different options. So I think, well, that's no big deal, just you know, we'll fix it and let it go about it. Well, it turns out that's really not the case. That the idea as well, you get a couple of miles on your fastball and no problem, you just have spend a year getting better. Turns out that that's sometimes true, but a lot of times it's not true. And if you look around, you'll
find that this thing doesn't last forever. And there's a couple of things that are noticeable that the incidence of a subsequent shoulder injury is quite high, and these incidents of subsequent re injury and secondary surgery second surgery is high.
Witness.
You know, Walfa Biler did really good last night. It took him two years to come back from his second Tommy John, And to be honest with there a whole lot of other problems going on at that in him that are not just the Tommy John. And that's the other thing is that this injury now is not just the ligament, it's the shoulder, it's the muscles. There are a whole bunch of things. So it's not a good idea to have this surgery. You don't you don't go toward that. Once again, it does seem to and the
people that works seems to work pretty well. But because the other thing we find is that the mechanics of the shoulder and elbow are usually not the best in these throwers. And if we do not totally restore the mechanics, then that portal of ligaments left out to dry. I don't know if you know this or not, but what's called the yield strength of that ligament, which is the
force beyond which it'll break. You know, the tensile force of bread is about half of what the elbow sees every time the ball throws, from which means you've got to have a lot of help from a lot of other things, such as shoulder rotation, shoulder strength, arm strength, by steps, a lot of things, even hipp and core that decrease that load so that you can put that ligament ad close to its yield failure every time. So so it's it's not a good idea to just say
I'll get this fixed and I'll just go back. Sure, there's a whole lot of rebuilt. So and then he's fifteen sixty year olds. There's no reason for them to have this. You know this it's all about the radart gun. Oh yeah, it's all about radar gun and especially pitches and and so so there are who lot of reasons to probably look at Scance said oh yeah, let's go ahead and have it done.
Yeah, they spotlighted a young man. I can't remember where he's from, but he had hurt his arm.
Heav'n.
He was coming back from Tommy John and he said, I will absolutely make.
The major leagues.
And and you know, the interviewer said, well what if you don't, do you have a backup? But now I don't really need one. I'll be I'll be a major league pitcher. Mom and Dad are sitting there grinning, you know.
So I was talking to Butcher Thompson, who's the Auburn baseball coach and one of the better when it comes to pitching, one of the more knowledgeable guys in the Southeastern Conference, and I asked him, I said, what do you think of all these kids that are trying to get up to one hundred on the gun And he said, well, he just shried. He goes something's got to give, and that's where doctors come in.
Am I right, Well hopefully. But the other thing is is that's where the athletic trainers and the strength condition coach. I mean it takes a whole effort. I mean the doctors unfortunately, the only time they see him is when they get hurt. And so unless the doctors are getting involved in the training programs, which is where eyes of
sportsmens is my own personal interests have always been. But but you've got to have that kind of stuff because otherwise, I mean I talked to the Major league team doctor and I was we were talking about forces on the elbow and all that kind of stuff, and how you need to implement training programs as well. I'm sorry, it's probably right, but I don't have that time. That's what we've got our training staff for, you know, and and
so and that even goes down. So you imagine if that's what it is major leagues, what about the high schools? Oh yeah, you know, and you got these guys trying to throw.
Uh.
The other thing is I was consulting on a guy who was getting ready to be a high school junior, and you already had Tommy John and so junior years when he got to really make sure he shows up real well for all the college scouts. And so he got he got injured, and he got a surgery back in like November, and so this was in February, and they said, well, he's got this brace, so he can go back and throw. So he's out there throwing this
team and everybody's head. But if you watch his mechanics, it's pecially because you can make your armle fast, and you can make that arm you can just take it and just flail it whip now.
Yeah.
And then what happens with that a lot of times is let's get what's called the slow arm with arms behind, which opens up the elbow, which puts stressed on there or your your your launch window or your you know, your slot is off, therefore your pitch performance like that.
So I can throw it fast, but.
Kind of throw it accurately, and I'm throwing it efficiently. Answer that, unless you've got some really good guys watching this, then you know it's not going to be.
The best amazing and all did We did.
An instinct study at anything study where we looked at guys everybody who went on the ile, all the pictures that are not making leaders, and we looked at them one year before being on the ile and one month before being on the I L I can do this now when I'm trying can look at all these statistics at all anyway, And so we found that there was a significant difference in all location between the year before and the month before.
Really and that.
And that you know you've always heard the pitching coaches say that you can tell when the pictures losing it. He's wild high, right, Yeah, well that's exactly what happened. If you draw a draw the strike zone that box rectangular boxing, uh, and you put where the where they were one month before injury, what I call the Mickey mouse had two circles indicating and there's outside the box high inside and high outside and it significant where was not was down in a way. So in words, he
couldn't get the location. He couldn't get that slider right down and the way he was missing up, which you know batters like to see that thing so that's that's what you see, instinct that the velocity hadn't changed. Stomachy armicle fast, Yeah, which you couldn't put it where's supposed to go.
Yeah. Interesting.
We're talking with doctor Ben Kibler, who is I say semi retired because he say he's very busy, but retired from the Election and Clinic in twenty twenty. Basically had been there since nineteen seventy seven. He was the head team physician for the Election and legends has been since twenty oh one. So he knows arms, you know, shoulders. And we'll come back with more questions for the doc. And just to minute here on the Big bullone sider six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back. We're talking with sports surgeon.
Basically is an easy way to describe doctor Ben Kibler, but he has done more than just the twenty three thousand surgical procedures.
He is an author and is doing research now.
Has coached thousands of young athletes, both in baseball and tennis. If you've got a shoulder and you're playing sports, you need to know this guy. You mentioned in your opening comments, Doc the word core And I tell you what when I watched pictures now. And I tried to pitch when I was young, wasn't any good? I wish I had known then and had no one talking to me how important your core was, Your legs are your rare end is It's it's so much more than just your arm.
Isn't it.
Yeah, we did.
This is one of the studies I did back in the nineteen nineteen ninety. We looked at the contributions of each of the elements of the body, the legs, the core, the shoulder, the elbows. We found that to the to the velocity of the arm at ball release, it turns out that fifty four percent of all the force and fifty percent of all the kinetic energy developed to the pitch is from the from the waist down.
Wow.
And all this instant contribution of the arm going forward at the shoulder is only like eighteen percent because basically what the shoulder muscles are doing to try to keep the shoulder from fall, from being pulled off, pulled out of the body. So but over half is from the lower body. And it's it's so very important to make that right as your base because you imagine those big muscles.
If if force and velocity you are proportional to the cross sexual area of a muscle because you rather have your legs developed that strength, or you try to get your forearm muscles develop that force. So you're playing ketchup and ketch up with these smaller muscles out farther, and then all kinds of things happen. Soh yeah, So the core and and and actually thinking the core, the lower extremity and the upper extremity in a unit is the way that we go about doing this most efficiently.
Here's a simple question, and you could probably talk all night about it.
Do pitch counts work? Are they just being totally overblown? And every other day you see a.
New stat about Nolan Ryan on on social media and I don't know if he was a unicorn or he just did things the way they should be done. But everybody's on a pitch count now, Doc.
Yeah, I think originally the reason for pitchcowunt is because we found that if you looked at people who got injured, that they usually were, you know, had high volumes of throwing, and so everybody got on a pitch count. But I think you're exactly right. There's a there's an individual variation. If you want to construct a major league picture, then you would construct him along the lines of Nolan Ryan.
He had didn't have a big buddy, had very strong muscles, a very good core, very good handstrings, wide shoulders, and just to that easy motion. I mean you usually he just needed easy motion. See some of these guys, you can tell it looks like they're fighting against themselves. Then you see somebody like Greg Maddick, somebody just to the
easy motion, just this full flowing of motion. And so there are differences, but in general, the more times you do that, and that's a huge amount of load that you're putting on the arm, then the more time you have four possible injuries, and of course it's pitch counts plus your your core and your strength, all that kind of stuff, and where you are in the season and your recovery there's got to be there's going to be a recovery component. Then there's another thing called workload. There's
a workload. So that they found out now that it's not necessarily the number of pitches is perhaps the change in the number of pitches if you have it's called the acute chronic workload ratio. And the idea is that if you're throwing about the same amount all the time, then your body gets used to it. But if you change that by more than fifteen percent in an acute situation, then your risk of injury goes up. And so it's not know it's a pitch count, but if it's a
pitch count. For example, in the high school, you know you're pitching, and then you go to a camp, yeah, and then you're throwing every day or something like So now your number of throws plus you're trying to hit that radar gun goes up. That's where you get into injury. And these relief pitchers nowadays that throw what three batters, you know, maybe fifteen pitches or twenty visits, you know they're never going they're going to get it beyond a pitchcount.
But that doesn't happen in youth. Pitchcowns are more important than youth because they're less regulated, they're less developed, and they're less skilled, and so all those things go into this pitchcount. So you can talk about major leaguers you want to, and everybody's going to watch them pretty carefully. Nowadays, that's not gonna be as much of a problem, but it's in the high schools and colleges where the pitchcounts probably still need to be really pretty closely monitored.
By the way, speaking of Nolan Ryan, I seem to recall, and I know you've probably you and your colleagues or studied the heck out of him, but he had a part of his workout routine.
And he was an absolute fiend. As everybody knows.
He would drive his pitching hand to the into a bucket of rice and work work the hand, like squeezing the rice all the way to the bottom of the bucket. I don't know if you've ever tried that, but I did when I was young. Oh my god, is that taxing. But you could tell it had to help that forearm, that shoulder all the way down to his waist.
Yeah, it's a it's a he popularized it, but a lot of people we we we have a big throwing program over to Lection and clinic. Yeah, and Mike, Mike Howell is our pitching guru there and it looks like he's he's just conducted a wedding there.
I mean so much right off the floor.
But it's it's a great exercise. And and then all the pictures both love it and hate it. They love it because they get a benefit, but they hate it because it because it because it does TAXIM pretty good.
Yeah, yeah, no, Like I said, I remember trying that, thinking, Man, I don't want to be a picture this badly. If you've Mint Slevin, doctor Ben Kibler uh just basically known as a sports doctor, but he's so much more than that, a surgeon and now in semi retirement doing a lot of research, and I love talking to him about baseball. In fact, we played baseball together in the Old Bluegrass
League and you played at Vanderbilt. But I wanted to talk because I had seen this piece about Tommy John surgery, and it also reminded me of a conversation I had with my partner, Doug Flynn from the SEC broadcasts, And of course Doug played eleven years in the majors, and he said that when he played Doc, the radar gun reading was the ball going across the plate. Now it's out of the pitcher's hand, which I think makes it less relevant. But you talked about the gun earlier. It's
all about the gun. People now are acutely aware of that radar gun, and it's just ruining a lot of arms, I think, and I'm sure you do too.
Well.
The emphasis on speed is it's only one factor. I mean, you know, almost everybody says location and movement are more important than speed. And and of course we keep going back to people like Greg Maddox, for whom that was entirely true. Then you get these other guys that can can throw real hard and so but you know, once again, what you can do for tim You go to this camp and do they ever look at your ball strike
ratio and your report? You know that they give back the kid and no, it's always velocity and and and the problem with that is that that means you're trying to max out everything, so it's not much control. So you really trying to make that arm go fast. Well, most of the kids are not totally coordinating, you know, some of them are still growing and things like that.
So the idea of making an arm go fast, you you can take your arm, you can sling it, you know, but that but that and that'll make it go fast because that's at the end of along chain right there. But it's not helpful and it's not accurate, it's not mechanically safe. So but once again they're all using it, and of course then they'll use that as a look how much better you are? Yeah, you know, and they proved that a couple of miles.
You know.
One of the biggest studies they did on the weighted balls. Don't get me started on that, but they they weighted balls and young kids, is that we improved your velocity. It turns out to improve the velocity two point three miles per hour.
Wow.
Is that enough to go through those And it turns out that forty percent reported some kind of injury in the next some kind of paint and limitation in this one study over the next six months of throwing, so so that that trade off's not good. But you're always just going by the velocity.
Wow.
It's amazing what people latch onto. And now, as I said in the in the piece on CBS Sunday morning, Uh, mom and Dad were right there, you know, supporting all the way. And you've got money out there from the pros, You've got scholarship dollars out there.
It seems like the pressure to make it is even greater now, isn't it.
Yeah. And the thing is, you get the proliferation of all that you know I'm not knocking them entirely, but all these individual coaches and camps and things like that, for whom that is a source of lack of a better word, money or prestige or whatever.
I was saying.
Some of them are really good and some of them are probably more hyped. And you've got to be real careful about where you put your effort and your interest and your money in a growing kid and developing kid, and you've got to be really, really very discerning on those.
Well, Doc, I always enjoy talking with you when I'm not being treated, when you're not saying, oh, what have you done this time?
But let's keep in.
Touch and can be posted on your research because I find it fascinating.
I sure like talking to you, and I do appreciate your time.
I always enjoy talking.
We always have a good time.
Reminiscing about the old days. Is also keeping totally current on what's going on now at that's right, Thanks loud up.
Next, West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Wills Cider. It is Wednesday, which means we cast our gaze to the west, to the west end of I sixty four, where we find our West End Bureau chief, Gary Moore, he all time West Coast Bureau chief when he was a Kailo Wes.
Radio now back in LA the Louisville area, to share with us some of his musings. Muse for us, young man.
Two guys in a six pack. We've got six things to talk about. Huge, huge hump knight. In sports, Dick Gabriel got us a potential series clinching Game five in the Bronx, Dodgers and Yankees, and at the same time ESPN two some good old college football between my Hilltoppers five and two and the one and six Kinnesaw State Owls.
Or maybe it's just college football. Scratch the good old part of that toodnight eight oh eight Eastern Yankees Ace Garrett Cole, who grew up idolizing the Yankees in southern California, faces off against LA's Jack Flaherty, who grew up idolizing the Dodgers in southern California. I thought this was kind
of interesting. Cole pitched obviously a great game one at Dodger Stadium, which is not surprising because he was a better away from Yankee Stadium this season on the road, he was five and three with the two forty nine era at home and Yankee Stadium, Cole was three and two with a four point three to one er for those not keeping score at home, now down I sixty five and Bowling Green my toppers twenty four point favorites over Kennesas State, which inexplicably upset Liberty twenty seven to
twenty four a week ago. Tonight, Western I will tell you will not let upset number two happen this evening. That's a seven thirty kickoff on ESPEN two. So I ask you about the baseball game you go in with the Dodgers or the Evil Empire tonight.
Well, I had thought.
That the Evil Empire would give the Dodgers a better run than they have, But the Dodger pitching, all those guys pouring out of the bulls have done the job. But I have a feeling the Yankees will get another one tonight, and including those clowns that they let back in the game.
But we'll talk about that a little later.
Gotcha second squig in the six pack tomorrow night. Thursday Night football. Dick is one of to me, the two most intriguing NFL games of the week. We got the six and two and AFC South Division leading Houston Texans at the two and six soap opera that is the New York Jets losers now a five in a row, and yet, and yet the Jets are favored by two over the Texans tomorrow night. Give me an all caps wtf on that? USA Today called that betting line laughable.
Vegas also had the Jets seven point favorites last Sunday against the Patriots, which seemed a little more legit, but still, what's the deal with this? Then on Sunday, your beloved Packers that you have you own a stake in at an all and in fact, they're going to be in their own thought out tundra of lambeau Field three and a half underdogs to the sixth and one Lions, Lions currently cooking on a five game winning streak. I ask you, do they make it sixth or does your pack rack
their fifth win in a row. Something's got to give.
I'm not I'm hopeful, but I'm not entirely confident that my guys can get it done, simply because the Lions are really good, well coached, have a good, smart defense and you got. Probably. I think it depends on whether or not. We don't know yet about Love, whether he's going to play or not. If it's Willis, I think they'll have some some packages built in to try to confuse him, although he has played remarkably well based on how I thought he would play because he was a
bit of a flop in Tennessee. But we're finding out more and more. It might not have been the QB, might have been the system, might have been, the line, whatever. But Lions are really really good. I wouldn't be surprised if my guys win it, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it came down to the last possession, which it has the last two games for my Packers. Unfortunately, we've won both and one of them came against Houston.
And I'm with you on that point, Spread, But man, again, those guys in the Desert, they've never spent a dollar that was their own.
They know what they're doing.
But you're right they blew it with the Patriots Jets, but I think they're putting way too much on Devonte Adams signing. And also they still think this Jets defense is something special, which we have seen it is not, and neither is the quarterback agreed.
Third swig in the six pack. On to college football. Two monumentally tough road games for our Cats and Cards this weekend up first at seven point thirty. U OFL kicks off at number eleven Clemson five and three Cards ten and a half point underdogs to the six and one Tigers, who, by the way, are coming off of a bye week. Clemson's also won six in a row since that opening blowout loss to Georgia. Clemson has also scored at least forty points in five of those six wins.
Cards looked awful in the first half at Boston Boston College last week before they rallied in the second half. Try that start against that same kind of start against this team Saturday, and UFL will be five and four, probably before halftime now, as you've talked about all week, fifteen minutes after the UFL start, Cats are down I seventy five. Of course you'll be there at seven to forty five start in Knoxville against the number seven Valls,
who are sixteen point favorites as we speak. But Dick, don't count on me piling on here. From everything that's happened in the last week or two. I think some things are bigger than football, like losing a parent, as Mark Stoops did this past week. So my heart goes out to the coach. I hope, I'll say this, I hope his players honor him with their best performance of the season. And it's got to be better, even better than the one that they showed down in Oxford, Mississippi.
I hope they can do that.
Yeah, it's gonna take that, because while the win at Oxford was great and always will be, it was a matter of which team will control the pace offensively, and of course it was Kentucky just a little bit better and I'll miss there. That is a huge challenge this week given the power of Tennessee's defense, and over the last couple of minion, especially down there, it's either been the jail break for Tennessee or a track meet either one pick your metaphor. But Kentucky's at a very difficult
time slowing Tennessee's offense. Well, Tennessee's not known this season for its offense, and of course is known for that defense, which has yet to give up more than nineteen points this year. So they got to find a way to move the football or it's going to be one of those long days, and I've covered a few of those down in Knoxville. As for the Cardinals, the impressive comeback against Boston College still kind of rings in my mind. I got to watch most of that, but it occurred
to me that two things. Number One, ACC football is just different from SEC. I don't think there's as much size, but that means you can move the ball a little bit more freely. I guess you could say, uh, you know, because your lines aren't these behemos slamming into each other. But Clemson we had ridden off, which was stupid after that Georgia loss and again an SEC power destroying Clemson. But since then has looked like the team Dabbo won.
So it's going to be really, I think difficult, plus the extra week to prepare for Jeff Brohm's offense forth Swig.
As far as the game of the day on Saturday, that's an easy one. Number four Ohio State at number three Penn State. Buckeyes are three and a half point favorites, and they've beaten the Nitney Lions in their last seven meetings. In fact, they've beaten them nine out of the last ten that will be at high noon on Fox on Saturday. What else looks fun? Well, you got the Florida Georgia cocktail party done and Jackson Village usual. You got number
one Oregon at the Big House against unranked Michigan. You also got number thirteen Indiana at unranked Michigan State. Last week, Michigan State, as you know, ended their rivalry game with Michigan in that postgame fistfight you might have caught. I guess the thinking was, well, if we can't beat them, we can beat them after that.
Maybe the second best game of the day.
Number eighteen and still undefeated Pitt at number twenty SMUs by the way, SMU seven and one ACC Showdown Mustang's a seven a half point favorite. That's at eight o'clock Saturday night. ACC Network. Two predictions. I like Indiana to go. I believe nine to zero for the first time and who's your history? And Penn State to snap the streak against and Ohio State University.
Yeah, I'm with you, and again I have to eat it on the Ohio State Oregon prediction.
I made you.
I said it would be a blowout. Not only was it not it was a loss by Ohio State and they had to go a long way to play. Now you don't have to go quite as far, but still it's a difficult place to play at Penn State, and it's not your granddad's Ohio State team.
I'm with you.
I think if they don't win, at least cover and I guess more than anything, I'm kind of hoping Indiana stays unblemish. But I think Indiana is a better team than Michigan State, and I think the residue from that dance party after the game, I think may have a lot to do with that. I think Georgia will take care of Florida no problem, simply because I like Georgia's defense, and again, Florida's got a very young, but talented quarterback as we saw Oregon.
I guess this is for real. I just got to admit it.
I'm happy for my cousins who live in Portland, and it's weird for me to see SMU more than a touchdown favorite over an undefeated pit team. But got to go to Dallas and play. There will not be a huge crowd, But SMU is better than we think it is.
Yeah, saw that here.
Yeah, yep, bittswig and a six pack. By this time, one week from today, Dick your number. Twe three, University of Kentucky Wildcats, my WKU Hilltoppers, and U of L will have played their first regular season basketball games. No more exhibitions. Three Monday season starters. Monday night, as you've talked about all week at RUPP, the Pope Era begins against Wright State. Over here at the KFC Young Center
downtown Louisville. The Pat Kelsey Era begins as unranked Louisville plays Morehead State Morehead Still in the OVC, then down I sixty five.
In Bowling Green.
The third Monday game with also the third Monday game with a new coach for Kentucky school, the Hank Plana Era has the Hilltoppers hosting Wichita State, probably the toughest of those three games. And by the way, my hometown Murray State Racers, one of the preseason favorites in the Missouri Valley Conference, host Bethel University from Tennessee. That's an
NAIA school. Also on Monday, Murray just dismissed sophomore guard Lamont Rice after he was arrested on domestic violence related charges down there may or may not affect team chemistry initially or what they're planning to do. We'll see. My prediction is the Cats will be much better than twenty third. We always hate these preseason polls. Anyway, Louisville will eventually get into the top twenty five, and they're already light
years better than any of Kenny Paine's teams. And Western has its third coach in three years, so I'm just told to that I have low expectations, but they got some players, so we'll see.
Yeah.
Well, we've talked a lot about Kentucky already tonight and as you know, wrapped up exhibition play with an impressive performance, although there were things Mark Pope did not like. But big on data, big on analytics, lots to study, as you kids like to call it game film that they like that they like to study, so they'll be ready for their opener. Louisville's got an interesting schedule if you look beyond what is it Morehead.
State on Monday, Tennessee. Yeah, you got Tennessee.
Coming up right after that in Bellerman and Winthrop, but then Indiana and Ole Miss. So we're gonna learn a lot about u of l early and it's uh in its worksheet. Yeah, it's so weird, Gary, the revolving door on your beloved Western Kentucky and uh, you know. And to talk about Murray State still being in the OVC, man, you just wish that conference would dig in, you know, and get back to its roots. I don't know if it can, but it used to be a brutally tough place to play anywhere in the OVC.
You know that.
Yeah, Morehead and still in the OVC.
Yeah that's true.
Yeah, yeah, Well, our sixth and final swig here as the greatest sideline journalist ever in the history of ever. You, my friend, have been on the gridiron for many a field stormings by winning fans. How many would you say that you've been on the field just a rough estimate that you've.
Oh, gosh, probably five or six.
None for me in football, I've been on two court stormings in basketball, when in high school, when in college. But let me introduce you now. Let me Gary Moore introduce you now to Gary Morse of suburban Los Angeles, who has stormed three different college football fields three consecutive weekends this season already, and the year is still young. To clarify, Morse is a highly recruited baseball prospect who visited noted baseball school Vanderbilt. The weekend the upset number
one Alabama. There's field storming number one. The next week, seventeen year old and his dad are in Eugene, Oregon visiting the Ducks, and then they're at their Ohio State game. Ducks go on to win against number two Ohio State, field storming number two. The next weekend, the six to eight right handed pitcher was in Knoxville for a recruiting visit with the defending champs. When the Balls beat Bama, field storming trifec to complete. Said the seventeen year old Morse, quote,
I won't lie to you. I'm living my best life. Un Quote Dick. There's no guarantee that if you have a first and last name with Gary Moose somewhere in it, you'll live the life of a three time major college fields dorming sought after recruit.
But you never know.
And it didn't cost him a dime, even though schools probably had to pay fines.
But it didn't cost him anything.
And now he has that's right, and he has memories that are priceless.
We'll come back and throw some hot reeds at Gary.
In just a minute, you're on a Big Blue Sider six point thirty wlap.
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. We have heard two guys.
In a six pack from our West n Bureau chief, Gary More time to throw a couple of hot reeds at him and Gary.
Earlier in the show, I talked.
About the Dwayne Wade statue. It's been unveiled. I can hear your reaction already in Miami. And again, Kenny Smith tried to be polite. Charles Barkley was Charles, but Charles is known for his blunt honesty, if not just his opinions in general. But I got a side with Troy, and I appreciate Kenny saying, you know, this guy put in a lot of time and work and effort and all that. But I I got a side with the Chuck Wagon on this one.
Man.
That is a terrible, terrible statue pandemonic looking huh oh man. You know, the history with sports statues is very sketchy. Either you nail it or it's kind of not good. And we'll go back to nineteen sixty eight. They said pretty much the same thing about the stand Musual statue, remember that the very first, the tall statue, the very first one that was ever at Bush Stadium outside the ballpark. Yeah, and it was always the thing, Well, you know, whe're
you going to be. We'll meet you at the game where you want to go. That's so huge, We'll meet me at the statue. That's always the thing that you know you do an you right?
Well.
Jack Buck later in many of his speeches to groups, would say, I know the statue is bronze, but the guy who did it must have been stoned because it didn't resilutely really resemble him. And Musual worked with him on the stands and stuff like that, but it got really I'll never forget. I got really criticized about that. I thought it was kind of cool. Same with a bunch of other statues. They said the same thing about the Shack statue outside of Staples, Well that doesn't really
look like Shack. So there's been a lot of blowback on some of these statues. Some of them are are perfect righte on. You never hear about the ones, Hey, this is really good, but you always hear about the bad ones like this.
That's the job, right to capture the.
Subject can make it look like tough man. Do you remember the Ronaldo statue that or the bust? Oh they actually redid that they did it was still kind of.
Eh, yeah, that's the first thing I thought of. Can they fix this? Can they redo it? Or is the artist standing by the artist?
The sculptor says that nobody could have done a better job than him. He said, he's dead it because I'm proud of it. You know, Dwayne worked with me and he said, I'm proud of it. Nobody could do a better job. Okay, And you know.
What if Dwayne's okay with it, I guess I'm okay with it. But I just have a hard time. Are a second hot read again? Going back to the Yankees Dodgers game last night. You being a Dodgers fan, but two guys wrestle with Mookie Bets. It's a bart Man moment, but not nearly the same because the game wasn't on the line. But it's not that they did that, Gary, it's the fact that the team kind of shrugged it off.
You know, they're not banned.
You know, they were escorted from the stadium, which they should have been, but at the very least they should not be allowed back for the rest of the World Series. Some people said it should be a lifetime ban. I don't think so, because you know, they were in their spot. I don't know if they're entitled to do that. I don't know what the fine princess on the back of the ticket stubs, but I'm amazed or maybe it shouldn't be that the Yankees are shrugged off.
Well, yeah, I think one of the guys, if not both are season ticket holders. They said, and the brother of one said, well, you know, Mookie was swearing at us afterwards.
Not good.
Well, when was the last time you saw New Yorker complain about somebody swearing at them? That's that's the national language of New York City, is blake. Yeah, hey, thanks for perpetuating every bad stereotype about Yankees fans while you're at it. That was terrible. This is where MLB should come in and say, you know what, these guys are are not going to have season tickets next year?
They're gone.
Yeah, they should have and they should have kept them out for the whole game. It was like one of those now boys, don't do that again. I get out there and do that again.
If you get a chance.
Yeah, right exactly.
And then of the course the fans were proplauding them coming up. They're like, hey, good job, wait to try and steal the game.
Yeah, now, I'm with you, and they One of the I think CNN or so many found one of the guys later in a sports bar and the guy said, yeah, you know, we talked about it. That's our spot, that's our space. So I don't expect Major League Baseball to lift a finger, and uh, maybe they'll surprises.
You can find my man.
Gary on ex or Twitter, whatever you'd like to call it at at nine to five five Gary, same joint.
You're located at Big Blue Insider one. We'll see you next week. Go Dodgers, go Toppers.
And that I'll do it for now, thanks to my I guess Gary Moore, to doctor Ben Kipler, and to the unforgettable guard Sean Woods.
Reminder.
UK Football seven forty five kickoff on Saturday night. We'll have pregame coverage for you at five thirty with Christy and Logan and Jeremy and then Tom Leech, Jeff Piccoor and I will have the action as the Cats try to upset the balls down in Cannocksville. Not impossible, Paul order.
But we'll see if they can get it down. That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.
We really must be going. Thank you for a memorable afternoon. Usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your statue, Da