Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with you on a Friday, the eve of the Big Game. Kentucky Louisville, we aren't that far removed from Uku. L Football didn't go so well for the Big Blue Nation, but the Wildcats should fare better tomorrow when they take on the Basketball Cardinals because both teams are actually be set with injuries. But I think more depth for the Wildcats means Kentucky should win it.
But you just never know.
I mean, Louisville threw a scare into Duke, and we know how good Duke can be. So it's gonna be fun, gonna be interesting. It is not quite the same rivalry for a couple of reasons. Number one, both teams are on their way back. Let's put it to you that way. Kentucky is ahead of schedule, I think, by knocking off a couple of top ten teams, of course, and creating a lot of buzz in the college basketball world, not
just within the Big Blue Nation. But they've got coaches and analysts and experts and talking heads chattering all over the country, especially after the comeback win over Duke and the comeback win over Gonzaga. Louisville a little bit behind, I think primarily because of injuries, but they got a
coach who is an absolute live wire, Pat Kelsey. Different from Mark Pope, but similar in that he's younger, he's enthusiastic, and in fact, he made national headlines with a comment the other day when somebody basically asked him about his concerns or his worries or whatever about his team or his program, and he basically said, you know, life is good.
How challenging is it emotionally or mentally to give a team ready when at.
Duke Point Sunday, this big marqueting event.
You got Kentucky on Saturday.
Another marquee kind of game and uteb pluff right here in the peddle. How difficult is that.
This emotional stand?
I mean, we get a bunch of free sneakers, I wear sweatsuits the work like like you know, my kids are healthy, my wife's hot, Like I got I got pretty good life. We didn't get to play college basketball, we get to play in the Young Center. We get to get ready for Utah. My dad used to say it all the time like I would. I would say him, Dad, you gotta go to work today, said, so not I get to go to work today, right heck heck yeah,
you know. I mean, schedule's been a little bit difficult and we had some adversity, but you know, this guy's been awesome. Guy's been awesome, The process has been great. Results will take care of themselves and just onto the next one, most important game in the history of the programs, the next one we play, and that's that one on Saturday, about three hours ago. It was this one right here. It's the deal?
Is that not great?
And I don't know about you, I think he actually believes that. That's not coach speak. I do believe just based on everything I've read and I've seen interviews and heard interviews with him. I just thought that was great. And apparently Mark Pope knows him, knows of him. It has a lot of us for Pat Kelsey.
Pat does an unbelievable job. Like he's a he's a terrific coach. He is going to crush it there and and I like him as a person, and he's he's insanely intense and competitive, but he's doing things the right way and for the right reasons, and he's gonna have great success there. So They're a good team and they've already proven they can be really really dangerous.
They can be dangerous starting with Chucky. Hepburn their point guard. They're all everything, really transferring in after three years at Wisconsin, started every game of his career, total more than eleven hundred points, more than three hundred assists, more than one.
Hundred and sixty steals.
Last year help Wisconsin get to the Big Ten Conference title games at NJ Tournament, All Big Ten Defensive Team, All Big Ten All Tournament Team. As kid's a player, and now he's in Louisville and Kentucky is without as you will know, it's top two point guards. So I'm guessing Jackson Robinson will have to try to check Chucky and he is the head of the snake, no question about it. The former Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year and Polk talked in general about how good this Louisville team can be.
Terrific team.
Uh, they've had some huge wins there. They can be super disruptive, they're really aggressive.
Uh, they they're they're you know, they're really aggressive. Uh. You know, Chucky is is playing at an elite level.
He's a veteran veteran guy, and he causes so much chaos on the defensive end, and and and also causes a ton of.
Chaos on the offensive end.
And they got you know, he kind of feels like they're you know, six six across the front line, guys that can shoot it and drive it and make decisions and play and have some real physicality of the game. And and and then they've got some real length, you know. I mean, you think about playing No. At six eleven at the three and the four and the five and everything he can do. And so they're a terrific team with a massive upside. They're really really dangerous. I think
that's how they feel, is super dangerous. On any given night, when all the pieces come together, they can be a really really dangerous team.
Yeah. And if you're not sure about that, ask Indiana. I'll tell you what.
Over the holiday. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Louisville kind of shocked the nation by beating Indiana, back then ranked fifteenth in the country, and blew them out down in the Bahamas eighty nine to sixty one. Then they beat West Virginia in overtime, finally lost by five to Oklahoma in the finals of that event. Now Tennessee blew them out. Tennessee's really good. Ole Miss blew them out. Ole Miss is pretty good too, And.
That happened in Louisville. And you know about Duke.
They had Duke down, kind of let him off the hook in the Young center.
But they're coming off a close win over UTEB.
Texas l pass not a great team, but again, they've had ups and downs like Kentucky, and they've got injuries like Kentucky. And one of the kids who's injured is a six to eleven center named Ali Khalifa, and you know he's out.
For the year.
Transferred in played one year for Pope at Brigham Young, and so did another kid named Noah Waterman. And this is where things get really interesting. This is where we are today in college athletics. You've got a coach and a player crossing paths at their next respective stops because the kid was able to go into the transfer portal.
Coaches move all the time, and obviously Mark Pope came to Kentucky from Brigham Young and the biggest reason was not that he's a former UK player, but he had success there and over the last couple of years, Noah Waterman, a six ' eleven forward, had big seasons for Brigham Young. He was a really important part of their success last year in twenty four minutes per game, nine and a half points a game, five and a half rebounds, and because he and his teammates played so well, that kept
Mark Pope front and center. They did so well in the Big twelve. And when the job opened up and Mitch Barnard started looking at Pope's track record, he saw the success at Brigham Young, of course, and Noah Waterman was part of that. And now he's in the enemy camp. But it didn't sound that way today when Pope talked about him.
You know, it's our job to really really just hate Louisville, but that's hard to do, and certainly in terms of those two guys, like I listen, no and I have been through it, man, and I'm so proud of him.
The way that he's grown.
Uh, And he's two years with me, and then he's continued to grow this year. It just as I love him, and it hasn't been easy and and he just is He's a special human being and he's grown into a terrific, terrific person. And you know, the truth is, and I actually had a conversation with my former players just a couple of days ago that that, uh, you know, I get to be here right now because of no Waterman and that's actually no, that's no overstatement, and and I love him for that.
I don't know about you, but I find that refreshing because when coaches move, obviously it's because of the job done by them, by their assistance, by the people on their staff, and by the players. And that's why I don't big rudge players being allowed to move, although I think it should be a one time only thing without sitting out portal's out of control. But that's a topic for another night. But the fact that Pope openly talks about I mean, if you held coaches down, they would
tell you the same thing. Most of them would, decent human beings would. But Pope's saying, look, I don't have this job without what those players did with me and for me at bring them young.
And Waterman's one of them now.
Hugged before and after the game, but during the game they'll try to beat each other's brains out, and that's why it's fun. We'll talk Kentucky volleyball next here.
On six thirty.
WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bloon Sider Coming up tomorrow. While the basketball Wildcats are playing U of L, the volleyball Wildcats will play Pittsburgh, just the top seed and the entire tournament playing at home, but the winner gets to go to the final four, and anything's possible. As we all know, Wildcats look pretty good against Missouri yesterday.
Missou really put it to them in the third set after Kentucky won the first two and after the match, emmac Grome, Kentucky setter who had fifty assists, talked about how they lost a little bit of focus there it's set number three and had to reset for set number four.
You know, I think we just realized that, like hard said, we did have to step it up. We lost a little bit of our focus at edge, I think in that third set and their server, you know, those were great service, but I think we could have adjusted a little bit quicker. But yeah, we just came out and forced a really strong kind of a mental change and shift in what we were doing. So we'll just really proud of how we responded and we were able to come out fighting.
Obviously, you cannot lose focus against Pittsburgh. You know how good they are. They've lost one match to MU, a team Kentucky beat, But this is a team that is so driven. Panthers have twice each of the last two years made it to the Final four and lost, never got to the championship round, so they are really wanting this obviously. So yeah, you got to keep your head up, you got to stay in it. Brooklyn Delay talked to ESPN after the match about responding in a third set
and then trying to move on. Missouri made it difficult. Just as Missouri did at the end of the regular season, Kentucky played at Massoo and had to rally to win that one and in doing so clinched the outright SEC title.
I mean, that happened the last time we played him, so I knew we didn't want that to happen again, and I think just experience what we did last year, we didn't want that to happen again as well. So I think just all around, we did really well at responding And what.
Adjustments did you make defensively, especially in that fourth set? Just slow down Island.
You know, I don't think we really changed much. I think it just started clicking more, it didn't really at the beginning of the game. So I think the third set just was not what we wanted obviously, and I think we just really responded and played our own game.
What's it going to take to get another one headed to the regional vinyls?
You know, we just got to clean up the little things. But I think we're ready for it.
Well they're gonna have to be, because I said pitt is big, strong, physical, They're tough. Kentucky is the champion of the SEC, but that league is not quite where the Big ten or the ACC are right now. Still not impossible for the Wildcats. They're playing their best right now and they're about as healthy as they have been all year long, with the exception of Asia thing Pen, but she was kind of a bonus toward the middle of the year when Kentucky was dealing with injuries.
They had to move her.
From a defensive spot basically to an offensive spot outside hit her. She's only five foot ten, but she can play. She'd be overmatched against this pit front line, but you gotta go with what you gotta go with. So yeah, the Wildcats will be underdogs for once. Craig Skinner talked about that. How pressure kind of changes throughout tournaments like this.
You know, pressure is shifts all the time. You know, pressure shifts to you know, we had the pressure on us all year after we got in a win streak and we were expected to win the conference the last few matches, and so we understand what that means. We also know how difficult it is to be, you know, top teams in the country, and because we played a lot of top teams in the country. So I don't
think there's a situation we haven't been in yet this year. Obviously, no matter who wins this next match, it's gonna be a tough one on Saturday to go to the final four.
Last night on the show, I came on and only had a little bit of time because we pre record to send this in and talk about the win. I tweeted about the fact that this and I talked about it on the show. The announcers and again I'm not going to go with names, but I was so disappointed in the job they did because it was clearly from the Missouri point of view, And as I said yesterday, when you're working on the SEC network or the ACCN network, whatever,
and you're the person in that home market. Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna call sports, as I always say, through the prism of the home team.
But if you're not working on that school's TV or.
Radio network specifically, I think you have to call it as much as you can right down the middle, because there are as many viewers probably who are interested in the opposing team as the home team.
I have no idea why. Maybe these women work Missouri all year.
I don't think they did, but maybe they did. Whatever the reason, it was almost as though Kentucky wasn't even there. They didn't mention until the end of the third of the fourth set that Kentucky was the defending SEC champion that Brooklyn Delay was the player of the year in the SEC. In fact, they did a little quick feature on her with a full screen shot of her coming out.
I think of the second set because Kentucky was on the verge of a sweep and they had to get it in, you know here they had the producer had this prepared, so they finally got it in and then Missouri really destroyed Kentucky in the third set, and oh my god, were they overjoyed the announcers with that. So and I thought of my being too hard on these people. And again I'm not gonna name names, but my Twitter
feeds show that you all agreed with me. Gerard said the volleyball call was very one side of ESPN fire the announcers. Jeff said, definitely agree on the one side of TV call that was blatantly obvious. Kenny said, thank you. I thought the call on TV was horrible. I don't know their love of Missouri, but hopefully they can go
home with the team NOP. They're gonna be calling the game tomorrow when Pittsburgh takes on Kentucky, and just look, just brace yourselves if you watch it or record it and watch it after basketball, which if I'm gonna have to do, it's gonna be all Pittsburgh tomorrow. It is going to be a Pittsburgh Panthers Volleyball festival. It'll probably sound almost like a documentary. And again not naming names.
Just tune in you'll see what I mean. But I'm really amazed by this, you know, I just because it is a national broadcast.
This was on ESPN two.
It wasn't on the ACC network, it wasn't on the SEC network, it wasn't on any network other than the Deuce, and of course Missouri is an SEC team. Pits in the AC scene now in case you've forgotten, but it shouldn't matter. So again I wondered, was I a little too sensitive to this? I don't think so. And my own sister and I were texting back and forth. She said same thing.
So all right, coming up next, Billy Rutledge joined us.
There's a lot to talk about in college and pro sports today. We haven't had a chance to talk to Billy all week as we were bumped Monday with a state wide show, which is usually when we catch up with him, so we will do that next year on a Big Blue Insider. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider, joining us down our celebrity hotline.
He's actually traveling.
But we didn't get a chance to check in with Billy Rutledge first of the week as we always do, because the state wide show was preempted.
So I need to pick your brain, young man a little bit. First of all, Billy worked. We all know Western Kentucky alum, and you got a big one coming up tomorrow as well. Western Kentucky plays Murray State. But you were working in Louisville before you came down the interstate to work with us here in Lexington, so you've got a little taste of uku of l What are your thoughts on the big game tomorrow.
Yeah, it's really exciting, Dick. It's the first matchup between two coaches that I feel like have re energized their programs in Pat Kelsey and Mark Pope. They're kind of in like a compliment off right now, which I'm not the biggest fan of. Hopefully there will be a little hay in between them eventually, but as of now, I think there's a lot of excitement for this game and
a lot of excitement for Mark Pope. You know, people are starting to say media members if that if their coach of the Year of ballot had to be casted today, Mark Hope would be their coach of the year, I think rightly.
So, I mean, you've got.
Two huge top ten wins versus Duke and Gonzaga, a loss on the road at Clemson. But you know, with the SEC schedule coming up, we may just have to take a deep breath when Kentucky dropped a couple of these games in conference, because the SEC is just so damn good this year. But I'm excited for Kentucky to wrap up their non conference schedule with a win over Louisville.
Don't get me.
Wrong, I think the Cards will play at a little closer than they did then with Kenny Payne. But this is still Kentucky's rivalry until they say otherwise. But yeah, excited for the game on Saturday.
Well, you know what really kind of turned it. I've talked about this before. When Beatino got here, he kind of dismissed this rivalry at first as just something that was, you know, oh, well, yeah, it's nice. It's not the Celtics and Knicks, though, But then when he lost out on a recruit. He lost out on Dwayne Morton to U of L, which committed a secondary violation. I think Danny Crumb bought his mom dinner or something, and Patino really wanted Morton, and I think he thought he was
gonna get him. But that changed everything, you know what I mean. I don't know that that happens with this staff. I think they're built differently. But yeah, it's a little too warm and fuzzy right.
Now, isn't it.
Maybe a little bit.
And you're right about Patino he brought the juice to that rivalry being the former Kentucky coach going over to Louisville. And I tell you what, I don't know if Cal wants anything more in this world than to beat Rick Patino when he's on the other side of that court. And you could tell, like you know, even in Rick
Patino is the same way. I think at times he saw the loisvill players play really tight when it came to the Kentucky Louisville game because I think Matina wanted it so much, and so you know, it's just different now and can't coach guys the same way. Rivalries are different now. I'm hoping this rivalry sticks around, even though the football one ukuf L might be going away in the near future, but this is a basketball state. The entire Commonwealth will come to a halt on Saturday to
watch this game. And that's probably my favorite part is you know, you go into a local shop on the day uku of l play and nobody's really paying attention because this is what matters right now.
And I tell you what, Louisville I.
Mean, if they can just stay healthy, Dick, I think they've got a shot to do some pretty good things this year. They had a good lead on Duke for most of the game, and you know, they've definitely got some potential. But this one, at being at rop Arena, I see the Cats doing some good things even if they don't have a Kerr Crisa to play. I'm expecting Lamont Butler to play though.
Yeah, Louisville, I think when it gets healthy, who will look like a different.
Team than a will tomorrow.
But if it comes in it starts throwing in threes like Colgate, you never know what might happen.
Yeah, they show a lot of threes, just like Kentucky, so are I'm going to guess over sixty threes attempted in the game. But you know, Colgate was a weird one. That's how Mark Pope. That's the adjective Mark Pope used to describe it, and that's the one I'll use too.
I mean, you go to the you start up seventeen to zero, and the only person in the world that thinks that this is still a game is Jack Gibbons, and he said it on the broadcast as so they need to come out in this second part and still play with intensity, and to Jack's point, Colgate came up and made it a game, and thank goodness, Kobe Braya decided to start hit the threies again, Dick, because you know, right now, what's the injuries to the point guard and
Jackson Robinson thrust it into that role. It's everybody's kind of having to do something a little bit different. But that's part of overcoming the adversity and the non counfterence schedule and starting to become more of a team as we move.
On to the year.
Yeah, we talked with Mark Pope earlier today regularly scheduled news conference, and he talked about how they're still trying and it will keep trying to make sure that these kids know how they want them to play, you know, with all the cutting and screening and all that which they got away from at Clemson and got away from in the first half at Gonzaga, and now to your point, Billy, minus your top two point guards, you know, it's up to a kid who doesn't really want to be the
point guard to get the team into offense. And I think that's a heck of a challenge, you.
Know it is.
There's been a little bit of a log gym there at the two and three, and that's why Kobe hasn't been starting one of the best shooters, if not the best shooter in college basketball. But you know, Jackson going over to the one allowed Kobe to start and have
that good game and get back on track. But you know, the criticism a lot of people have had is that Kentucky didn't have that guy, that guy to go to get a basket break somebody down off the dribble when you really need it late in the shot clock or late in the game. And Dick I'd argue, the system
is the guy on the team this year. I mean, it may be a different guy every night, depending on who's open or who's had the hot hand, you know, case in point, I feel like Andrew Carr has had a couple of pretty bad games this year, but he's also had some really good ones.
Yeah, against some of the.
Best competition that they've played. So you know, if it's the Clemson game and in Car hasn't given you anything, then.
He's not the guy.
But if it's the Duke game, or if it's the Gonzaga game, maybe that's somebody you look to. But you know, it's just so so different than what Kentucky fans has seen in the previous fifteen years, and to Cali Perry's credit, you know that that game is probably very different with cal at the Helm because you probably have more athletes on your roster and you probably are able to maybe create some more distance than you were with Mark poper Lion on three pointers and the and the system to
gain the advantage. So they have their their advantages and disadvantages. I know you're watching Arkansas as close as I am, Dick, and they've had some they've had some moments and bad moments. That Michigan Michigan game was a strange one where they were down by fifteen, then up eighteen, and then it was a one point game in the final minute. So it's you know, there's a lot up and downs going
over there in Fayetvill. I'm excited for that February first game, but I guess we get we're getting too far ahead of ourselves. We've still got a few challenging opponents before then.
Talking to Billy rud LEDs.
We talked to Billy every week, of course in the state wide show, but we were bumped on Monday, so we're catching up with him today. He's in root from one place to another. Uh, let me ask you a little bit about college football before I ask you about the NFL. But we didn't get a chance earlier to talk about the bracket. Are you a Alabama should be in an SMU should not kind of guy or what?
No.
I'm finding the way that it worked out, it just it just paints a clear picture on what college football will be moving forward. One, I'm glad they didn't penalize SMU for playing and losing in their conference championship game. You know, I think that would open up a bag of worms if you're that loss as a detriment to the team. You know, they they're having a chance to win the conference. They shouldn't be penalized for that. But it also really clarifies for me that there is no
point in scheduling good non conference opponents anymore. And that's why I do think the Kentucky Louisville game is going to end if the conference goes to a non game
conference schedule. It's just not worth it. I mean, you see the Alabama with their three losses, and you know, I mean you could say that Alabama should have beaten a six and sixth Vandy team in a six and sixth Oklahoma team to make that point across, but there's really the committee showed me at least that they're really just looking at the win loss calm and it doesn't matter what you do out of conference, the neutral site games to kick off the year that people like I
just don't I just don't think we're going to see that much more because you know, as coaches have said in press conference, all that matters is winning games by as much as possible can get the best seeding possible in the College Football playoffs.
Yeah, but general, what if I'm on the committee and I'm looking at Alabama, I'm thinking, yeah, they've got some nice wins, but look at the losses, and you talked about it. They weren't non conference losses that killed Alabama. They were losses to a six and six Oklahoma and a six and six Vandy. And yes, I know those teams play in the SEC. But everybody talks a been a well what if Alabama made it, would they not be favored to beat so and so? Well, yeah, but
they were favored to beat Oklahoma and Vandy. You know, so win those games and I don't care what your non conference loss was.
You're in right right, But I would argue that if Alabama played a very good team at the non conference and beat them, I don't think it would have mattered because they would have had these losses to Tennessee in Oklahoma and Vandy, And I think that's just the way that it works out, that they're not valuing that enough for people to take that risk of playing, which is
a shame. I mean, you want to see the best play the best, you know, Dick, Don't you think we're going to get like an SEC playoff or an SEC Big ten playoff one of these days? Because it just feels like the ACC and Big twelve are a bit irrelevant at this point. And while they may get one team in, you know, unless they do a little damage, I feel like we're just going to get closer and closer to that reality of super conferences.
Well then, yeah, you're right, because money talks, and that's why I do think that the neutral syche games will keep happening as long as they can because the networks will demand it and they'll pay big money for it. But I think that it was tickled me. The critics jump right in right away with the fact that Arizona State got to buy You know that shouldn't happen.
Oh, you know, you knew that going in.
You know, everybody accepted this bracket, this system. These conference champs will get buys. You know now they're saying they should recede them. Okay, we'll do it next year. But you don't throw out what you agreed to do just because you didn't like the way it looked at the end of the day. But still getting back to your point about winning games and score points, I'll share this
comment from James Franklin. This happened obviously before the playoff bracket was set, but they beat the daylights.
Out of Maryland.
Penn State did, and Mike Loxley took issue with it, and at midfield rather so I say half court, but at midfield when they went in to shake hands. And there was a lot of video shot after that forty four to seven pounding and Penn State scored thirteen points in the fourth quarter, and those coaches went at it. But then Franklin later explained his stance on this, and first of all, talked about my subs ought to get a chance to play hard, and then I need to put up points because of the playoffs.
It didn't look like it was the smoothest postgame handshake. Yeah, I get it. Right at the end of the game we throw a touchdown, I get it. But a couple things I will say. My job is to put the threes and fours in the game. Threeason four is get to go in the game. They get to play football. Those guys deserve to play football. Your ones are in the game. You were you were trying to score. We're trying to score. On top of that, you're you're playing cover zero. If you don't want to play Cover two,
I'm good with it. And on top of that, there's also a change in college football. We are trying to play as long as we can make the playoffs and be seated as high as possible and scoring as many points and a point differential matters.
All that matters.
And if you don't get that, it's really not my problem. So w one to zero, I'm good with it.
Anybody that's not, that's that's their problem.
I'm not a huge Franklin fan.
I kind of am Billy, But then I'll do something or say something that that bugs me. But I have a hard time I'm arguing with those two points he made, you know what I'm.
Saying, Yeah, I want to disagree with the first one because I feel like there's a respect factor there.
But he's right.
I mean, you put the threes and fours in. They should have the opportunity to play ball hard and to be able to score. I guess I don't feel the same if it's like youth football, stick or it's maybe even high school. But the way that college football set up, you're striving to score as many points as possible. So he makes sense when he's talking about those guys doing that.
You know, it's it is different, though, you know what I mean, it's very it's very strange to hear that these coaches that are taking into effect how many point totals there's going to be, you know what. It feels a little bit like college basketball, doesn't it.
Yeah, yeah, it does, and it shouldn't. But I don't know that it helped them. They've got a decent draw. But yeah, I can understand really good draw. Yeah, I can understand Locksley being angry. Bill Belichick, the new head coach in North Carolina, and of course, a guy from a TV station in Raleigh asked about and we all were thinking it. What about if he gets an NFL offer?
Pat Welter wr L, But what do you say to people that fear that if you do succeed here, that you might leave for the NFL again in a year or two.
Yeah, I didn't come here to leave.
So now he says, you know, he didn't come here to leave.
That to me is a little bit of a non denial denial. But what did you make of that, you're an NFL fan?
Yeah, I haven't seen the news about the amendum in his contract. So can he leave the job without a buyout if he gets an NFL offer?
Is that I haven't seen him myself. He's just saying he's in it for the long haul.
Well, you know, I guess, I mean, I guess it's part of him reinventing his image. I think many kind of look at the relationship he had with Tom Brady that he was more of a benefit than Tom Brady was, and maybe he wants to prove these people wrong. I know there's a little nostalgia factor there with his dad coaching at UNC and him growing up kind of around the program. I'm just not sure the most unpersonable guy in the NFL is going to be able to, you know,
get deal with young kids every day. Yeah, maybe we should give him more credit for recruiting the youth with his new twenty four year old girlfriend. But at the same time, I mean neither. Did you see what the Flora linebacker was asking to come back to Florida? He said, like, you know, I want eighty five thousand a week, and you know, I want to play on every third down, and you know, it was it was It's just so much entitlement. And you know, I'm all for player empowerment.
We've talked about the transfer portal and and guys being able to move just like coaches can, but that it just seems like this is not what NIL is designed for.
I was looking for the bad Boy Mower's commercials with the guys that have a name that you know that he could play off a bad boy, not the guarantees of seven million dollars so I can go to BYU to play one year of college basketball and that will correct itself eventually, and you know, the revenue sharing will do I think a big part of that and spreading
the pie around. But you know, eventually, we may get these guys as employees in the university so that you can have salary caps, and you can ad mitigate that entirely. But you know, I just don't see Bill dealing with these college kids the same way he could just brush off a professional player professional player. I think, yeah, I think you could fire them. I think you can understand that this is a job. You have to go make that money, and they get that. The college kids still
in this transition period, I feel like, don't. I don't know if they would take them very kindly to maybe some of Bill's antics, but maybe he herears me all wrong. And maybe Michael Lombardi as the GM is exactly what North Carolina needs. But I think if you told Bill Belichick that, you know, a year ago, he'd be accepting the fourth best team in the ACC. I just don't know if that would be the way that he wanted him to play out, but it may be what he wants to do now.
I can't see Bill Belichick sitting in a living room begging an eighteen year old to sign with his team.
I mean, that's what recruiting is. I just don't see it. But he may prove us all wrong.
Belly rud Ledge is of course our network studio producer, and you hear him all with us on the State Wide Show. You hear him as well on the ksrpre Show every morning at nine a m. On this very radio station. Thank you, sir, we'll talk to you soon.
Thanks Jick enjoying it.
Back in just a minute here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. Coming up in hour number two, Walt wells Eku football coach. I got to tell you ek you got jobbed in the playoffs. There were some really bad calls in their game. And I'm not just being biased. If you saw the game, you know exactly what I'm talking about, in particular a scoop and score that they
took off the board. I want to hear why they did that, if Walt got any kind of explanation, but it ended their season prematurely at Villanova on the road the playoffs. They still haven't won a playoff game in forever, but should have won. It was the same day as the Louisville game, So Walt's coming up in a few minutes. Also, our West n BUA chief Gary Moore, we were bumped on Wednesday, so we'll talk to him tonight get his
thoughts going into the weekend. But I wanted to share with you some interesting comments from Steve Kerk speaking of officiating. He of course is the head coach of the Golden State Warriors. They are out of the Whatever it is, the mid the early season tournament is called Whatever the Whatever Cup, and it's been a great success, at least it was last year and it has been so far this year. Teams are playing their butts off and it's
really popular. They were eliminated by the Rockets and it came down to a loose ball foul.
It was kind of like one of those scrums.
People are going for a loose ball on the floor, Guys are diving trying to tie things up and just go for the held ball loose ball, and an NBA official, as Kerr points out eighty feet from the other basket, calls a foul and that's how the Rockets, they hit free throws, end up winning it.
And you usually don't.
Hear coaches talk like he does, or did hear, but Steve Kerr made sure everybody know how unhappy he was.
I'm going to call it a loose ball foul on a jump ball situation with guys diving on the floor.
With a game on the line. This is a.
Billion dollar industry, get people's jobs on the line. I am stunned. I am stunned. I give the Rockets credit. They battle back, they play great defense all night. But I feel for our guys. Our guys battled back, played their asses off and deserve to win that game or at least have a chance for one stop at the
end to finish the game. And that was taken from us by a call that I don't think an elementary referee would have made, because that guy would have had feel and said, you know what, I'm not going to decide a game on a loose ball eighty feet.
From the basket.
And again, that's Steve Kerr of the Warriors. And you rarely hear any coaches, college or pro talk let this because they could get fined. And I guarantee you he'll be fined, and he doesn't care.
The team may pay it for him, who knows.
But if you see the video and google it, you'll find it very quickly. You can see what he's talking about. So I don't blame him for being upset. And I don't have a dog in the fight. I just like hearing the comments from Kerr, very pointed, very specific, and again if you look at the video, he's got a point. And he not only said this, but he doubled down on it as he concluded a very quick news conference, he said it essentially one more time on his way out the door.
I wanted to go to Las Vegas.
We wanted to win this Cup, and you know we aren't going because of a loose ball foul eighty feet from the basket with the game on the line. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and that was ridiculous.
Thank you.
That's pretty cool if you ask me. And we'll keep an eye on this story and see how much he's fine. Is not a question will he be fined, although I will say this, if he's not, that's the.
League admitting that he was right.
So I don't see how they can't find him because if they don't, they're not supporting the official who in my opinion, and you know, I'm sympathetic to officials, but that guy was wrong. Show some discretion whenever you can, as a referee, as an umpire, as.
A whatever you can do at that time. Steve Kerr. Let him hear about it. I remember two is next year on six point thirty.
Go Elapa, welcome back to the big blon sider, joining us now in our celebrity hotline as a guy.
Put together a pretty good season this year.
Eastern Kentucky head coach Walt Wells playoffs and I came up a little bit short coach, but I thought a big step for Colonel football. And now this week week has been a signing week, recruiting week, portal week.
It never slows down.
Does it never stops. It's you know, with the movement of the signing date to the first Wednesday in December and the playoffs being the starting the last week in November, it's just been, uh, it's been one thing after another, but that's that's what they pass for. And it's been fun so far.
Mark Stoop's your your buddy and at one point your boss. He's talked about how college football needs to to kind of rejigger the calendar.
I would think that you'd be in favor of that.
Oh. I mean, listen, I'm all for the transfer portal, and you know, I get everything the ramifications of it, but to have it open all the way through December. The twenty eighth makes absolutely you know, let the people that make those rules come be a college football coach because and not everybody makes, you know, the nine million dollars a year or the two million dollars to be a coordinator and stuff like that. I mean, could you imagine getting a phone call on Christmas Eve that you're
best linebackers going into the portal. I mean, that's a great phone call, and that's what happens. And you know, I think we got to I get money is important, but we got to have a reality of what's going on a little bit and have some common sense in what we're doing. Like I said, I don't want to take anything away from our kids, our players, the young men that are involved, but you also got to consider the other side to it a little bit.
All of these changes, as you will know, are done by committees. And I always wonder, to your point, who are the people on these committees. Have they ever had to coach a sport, manage organize that kind of thing. Maybe they did back in the day, but it just it just doesn't seem to follow much logic these days.
No, And I think what's happened is everybody scared of the of the lawsuit or the pending lawsuits or all these things. And I understand that, and it's just like you know, a lot of different things as we go into sports. The more people get involved and understand it, the more you know, they try to make things perfect, and things aren't going to be perfect in life. That's
just not how it is. And whether it's football or whether it's anything in life, it's I mean, it's not ever just going to be totally fair or perfect, and they're trying to find that. And I don't think they've thought about the reality of seventeen to twenty two year old's development. Yeah, and I think that's the biggest thing that they're forgetting about. Sure, they're getting money, and I
think that's great. I'm not against that if they can make it, make it, if that's what they want to do, But there's a lot of development that's being missed and really taking away. You know, I sit here at Eastern Kentucky and think about coach Kidd and all the impact he had on all the players that he coached, right, And people say, well, the money would impact them greater, Well, yeah, momentarily,
but whether they going to do. When these kids are twenty five years old, then they're not making you know, not here at Eastern Kentucky, but at other schools making one, two, three, four hundred thousand dollars a year. They don't make the NFL. Then they got to go to work, and some companies are gonna be like, yeah, i'll pay you fifty thousand dollars. I'll pay you seventy thousand dollars, which is not a bad salary, but you're not you know, they're not gonna
do it. How many these guys are gonna go be coaches after that? You make fifty thousand dollars out a high school, yeah, not many, you know. And and then learn the value of health insurance and the value of retirement plans, and you know, they don't they don't get any of that. They just get the quick satisfaction to play football and then move on. And I understand, you know,
I understand both sides of it. But somewhere in the middle, somebody with some common sense has got to have have the kahonas to go make some rules, and that makes sense, Like I think Nick Saban should be the Commissioner of Football.
It's all right that will work.
And because I think he has a genuine interest of all sides. Yeah, and now he he may not want to do that. And you know, I don't you got a good gig right now. He don't care, he don't care what I think. I promise you that. But but it's, uh, you know, somebody liked that that cares about the players but also cares about the coaches and cares about the sport before it gets too far out of hand. In my opinion, you and I.
Have talked before about the portal and the FCS. So one double a level, if you will.
And I think people probably look at it like, well, if e Ku has a good player, uh, the bigger schools are going.
To poach him and leave him. But that door does swing both ways.
You've got playing time available at that level, and that's a that's got to be a big selling point.
Well, I mean, I think it's you know, people look at our track record since you know, just say, since I've been here, Okay, we've we've had on two three four guys make NFL rosters. Okay, the two guys make either CFL or us us L, I think is what they call now USFL. That was rosters. If you play, they'll find you. And we got to this year playing in the Huli Boat, which you know, I'll say this out of all due respect to the Hula boat. When one of them got in Vede I wanted to get
invited to this one or that one. And then he started seeing all the guys that were getting invited to the Hulabo. He's like, holy calcos. I'm like, hey, you better strap it on. There's a lot. I mean, that's a really good bat. I mean, yeah, sure, it may be the third ball, but there's gonna be every scout, every gym or assistant GM or every team's gonna be there. We've had every team come to our practices for the last three years at least bring somebody from their organization
two different times. Yeah, so you can get seen if you want to play here, you can go to the next level. If you want to play here, and you're gonna play, and you're gonna be able to beat the guy. And if they hear about you, which they will because Eastern Kentucky's known, they'll hear about you. Then they they're gonna come see you and then they'll make the determination. It's like our safety Mike Smith. A lot of people
looked at him. I was like, you know, or watched his early film and he did he had some development to do. Then they walked in and saw his body and like, holy cow. Then they saw the development, you know, like and it's you know, I like to credit our defensive coaches for doing that and developing it, and our strength and conditioning coaches. But it's also the fact that
he got out there and made mistakes. They didn't watch that tape, and he got better and better and better, and he got to play because he increased his value. And that's what it's all about. And but some of these kids, But the good thing to this, Dick is some of the these guys you find out, are they really in love with football or do they just want a little money?
Yeah?
Yeah, you know, because if they're going somewhere and they're like, yeah, I know, you say, hey, you're probably gonna be a backup there. Yeah I know. But I'm gonna make seventy five thousand dollars this year. Yeah, okay, go do it.
And then to be fair, some families need that money.
We know this, that's right, that's right. So that's what it's his life. I can't control.
That's right, That's right.
But to your point, you know about being found at EKU, and you know I've covered that program for a long time. I mean, your academic center is named after Chad Bratski, you know, went on to a great career in the NFL and made a little made a little bit of coin and plowed some of it back into his alma maters.
So but yeah, get out.
I mean, at one point when I was here working for coach kids John Jackson, oh yeah, at Chad Bratski or the two highs paid offense and defensive linement in the NFL.
That's right, how about that?
I mean it can be done. Yeah, yeah, it's just it's it's are you good enough and are you getting the opportunity to play? And both of them came here weighing like I think John was the offensive lineman way two forty and I think when Chad came in here he was like one ninety five.
Yeah. Yeah, And John was a little bit of a surprise.
I mean, he was a nice player in college, had the size by the time he left. But I don't know anybody who really projected him as being a longtime NFL player.
But guys develop at their own rate, don't they.
Well, he got to play, yeah, and that's the biggest thing that happened to him. So when he went to camp, he was a twelve round pick best I can remember, and that's back when they had I think fifteen rounds And he was a twelve round pick. And he went to the Steelers and he was so athletic and he's so big that, I mean protect a quarterback. He ended up playing left tackle in the league for like ten twelve years.
Yeah.
Yeah, And then Chad came and I think he was a free agent with the I don't know. He may have been a third round pick. I can't remember. I'm getting confused there a little bit. But Chad, Chad was such a hard worker and just but continued to play. And they can't ignore you if you're making play. They got to come and see what you're doing. As soon as one of them doesn't come see you, and he goes to another place and he shines, that guy's got a chance to get fired.
Oh yeah, oh yeah. Rescu led the league in sacks won year.
I think you know, and I think you're right. I think you're right.
You just can't fire no.
And John's on our Super Bowl wall because he played the Super Bowl, that's right, but he played it more.
With head coach wald Wells on the other side of the break here on the Big Boon Sider six thirty w LP, Welcome back to the Big Boon Sider, Dick Krille with you were talking with EKU head football coach wald well Got to look back at this past season. Man, what a run you guys had. At the end, you pick up five straight wins, including a big overtime win over Austin p You got to go to Villanova and
you and I talked off air about that game. I know you can't talk about officials, but uh, you know, you lose it twenty two seventeen.
You'll scratch your head for the rest of your life about that one.
I know, oh that that that game. Will talking about that one, hopefully in a long long time on my deathbad that that one me and my son will talk about. I promise you that because it's you know, it was just I mean, we've got to we've got to make the play to win the game, and we had an opportunity at the end of the game. And that's nothing against the young man that had the opportunity to make
play just didn't happen. But uh, you know, to have you know, fourteen points taken off the board, it's just, uh, you know, it's unheard of in a playoff game.
Yeah.
Well, you and I se books about the season, and we talked right before and right after your first couple of games where things didn't go in entirely well against two D one team Mississippi State and Western Kentucky, but we talked about basically them as an investment for the future.
Did you see it play out that way?
Walk, Because yeah, you took your lumps back then against you know, bigger teams, but it seemed like it paid off. You won three straight after those first two losses, and you wind.
Up in the playoffs.
Well, I think what happened is, you know, you play Mississippi State in Western the first two games, and you know you're zero and two, and everybody's like, who are we really? And I'm like, I just relaxed. Let's let's get into our SDS schedule and play who we got to play and see where're at. Yes, we go to win those games and we go to play well in those games and that didn't happen. It either plays really offensively or defensively, and so we had to check and
just be real with ourselves. And you look at Western, they played in their conference final. Misssippi State plays in the SEC. And so then we went on a three game run, and then we lost our first two or or not our first two, but then we lost two conference games on the road in a row, and uh, you know, a lot of people were wondering where we were at. And I felt like if we just tightened the screws a little bit and found out what we found out what our players do, now, let's go do
what they do well. And if that means we had to change our philosophies a little bit offensively and defensively, then let's do that. And we did. And you know, I sat down and with our coordinators and we challenged each other and and uh, you know, we came out with a plan and we went on a five game win streak, and our players adapted to it. They bought into it. One and uh, you know, we we went back to to what you know, offensively, roy kid football. We ran the ball and we were you know, Josh
Carter carried our football team. And Matt Morrisey did a great job at quarterback of taking the challenge to run the ball more and you know create that would would help us create more holes for Josh and uh. And then he made the throws when he needs to make the throws. And then defensively it would stop the run and uh. And you know, our defensive side of the ball did a great job. Our d line, you know, did a really nice job in our linebackers are stopping
to run and uh. And we put a lot of stress on our corners and they manned up, you know, Jordan Thomas and Veto Tiddell and manned up and did a great job and and uh gave us the opportunity to you know, get get three and out and you know, get teams off the off the field basically, and uh get the ball back to our offense, which we ended up I don't know where we were at one point. We were in the top five in time of possession.
I don't know where we've ended up at, which you know helps your defense because they're sitting on the side.
Yeah, defenses.
It was the first smiling on him.
I've not heard.
Many coaches well, UH talk about making philosophical changes. I mean, you we can't install entirely new schemes and all, but uh, to go in a different direction in the middle of the year. Have you ever been a part of a staff that's done that.
Uh, yes, I have, not totally like kind of what we did, because you know, we've been known around here to throw it all over the yard, right and do those kinds of things, and that just wasn't where we were at. With injuries and new quarterback and things like that. We just weren't you know, we didn't have the time to prepare each other. So we just said, hey, we've got to do this. And I credit Andy Richmond and our offensive staff for doing that. And uh and you know,
understanding that we got to play complimentary football. That's basically what my challenge was to our coordinators, you know. And and you know, our special teams ended up playing playing well, and I felt like, you know, when we got all in there, we said, Hey, the only thing that matters is winning. It's not stats, it's not is this kid going to transfer because he's not doing this or that or this or that. It's just go out and win. And this is what it's going to take to win.
You know, Offensively, we've got to keep the ball. Defensively, we've got to get out, we've got to get off the field. And special teams is going to have to score at certain times of the year and they did or put us up in scoring position and they did, and you know, and give us opportunities every game. And so those are the things that we just sat down and talked about and then we went to and then those guys went to work and we talked about it.
And you know, I'm really proud of our staff and how they handle that, but also the kids because it take great sacrifice. I mean, we had a we had a guard that had to play tackle all year and that takes great events at Mundlin Junior, that takes great sacrifice guard for three years, right, he wants to play at the next level and he has to go out and play tackle. Yes, and he played well enough, but you know, he probably would have played better as a four year guy attack and got you know, or a
three year guy and uh. And so those are the sacrifices that it takes to have a good football team, whether it's you know, changing philosophies like you said, or whether it's just coming together and understand there's a greater cause than just yourself. And that's the hardest thing you got to you got to get across nowadays in this inn il transfer portal era.
And Josh Carter ran for a one thousand yards one hundred yards per game basically, and he was a red shirt senior.
Do you lose him?
Yes, we lose him. He uh had a great season and we knew, we knew he was Josh was capable of what he's capable. Uh, you know, and we're gonna miss his talent and his will to win and his will to run the football. Uh, and we're gonna miss his leadership expect But what a great young man. And you know his brothers. His brother gets everything. Brother plays for the Cardinals and great tailback and all this that and the other. But Josh is a heck of a heck of a person and a heck of a player.
Well and signing days come going here looking into portal. But you came into election and you got some talent. You got some talent uh at uh Boyle County over at Woodford County. I know you're happy with with your with your sinees and can't wait to get.
Definitely, you know, okay, wait, I mean we you know, we've got so many different signing periods now is just never ending. And that first signing period, because of our location and we're in state, we try to make sure we get our in state kids in that first signing period because you know, we want them. We want to make sure we don't miss on anybody. That's what I call local, which is obviously Kentucky, but you know East Tennessee, uh, and then Cincinnati down you know, if we can, or
West Virginia if we ever get somebody from there. And so you know, we got like you said, boll County, uh, Woodford County, Uh, Frederick Douglass, I mean, we've got we've got some good young talent here in the state that we're excited about and uh looking forward to getting them over here in the summer and starting to work with them. But you got long ways to go because the portals just opened yesterday and and uh, you know, and we've been fortunate, but uh, but I'm sure you know we've
got players. Like you said that people are recruiting right now that that you know, hey, whatever their decision is, they know we love them and want them to be a part of us.
Uh.
But we're gonna be supportive of them and do what we have to do. But you got to You got to recruit who for who you think might be here or not might not be here, and then you got to recruit for who's not here. And then we still got some hospital signings that we'll do in February from Florida and Georgia.
Coach always great talking football with you. Appreciated and we'll talk again soon.
Appreciate your time, Dick, Happy holidays.
Weston Bureau chief Gary Moore up next here on six thirty Welcome back to the Big Mow Insider joining us now he's had a little bit of ahave this because our West End Bureau chief, Gary Moore was back on the West Coast for a little while.
But he's back with a notebook full of stuff. Well we got we got two guys in a six pack. But don't want to tell you I was. We had to go back there for a wedding and you'll appreciate this. It was one of the former equipment managers for Oregon University of Oregon football team, nice and he got married in San Clementi And how cool was this? Of course, during the reception when Oregon was playing Penn State. You better damn well believe there are TVs blast in the game.
I don't know how many weddings you've gone to where there's a football game on multiple screens, but this was very cool once in a while.
But how in the world happened? How do they schedule that? Clearly the bride had a say in that.
Right, Yeah, well, you know they both went to Oregon, so there is what I'm saying.
How do you schedule it on a football weekend?
Yeah, well, that's another story for another day. How dare they even think that?
Exactly?
Well, Dick, our first sip in the six pack here, we know we've had rivalry weekend already in football, so it's time for the same annual animosity in basketball. We got two of them this weekend. Let's not bury the lead. Number five UK and number unranked U of L men's hoops five point fifteen tomorrow rupp Arena. It's on the ESPN Mothership. Cats have won five by the last six As I know you've talked about this week, eight out of last ten, including that ninety five seventy six blowout.
Kenny Paine's last experience with that game over here at the Youm Center. It was a decidedly big Blue crowd last December. Both the Cats and the Cards might have gotten a little distracted, maybe lackadaisical two in that Wednesday in their Wednesday warmups Colgate and UTEP respectively. They will not be lackadaisical Tomorrow night. Cards come in shorthanded, as we know, because of injuries as well as short on made threes. U of l seventh in the nation for
three point attempts in a game. They average almost just under thirty two a game, but they're one hundred and nineteenth in the nation for actually making the threes about twenty seven percent. And on Wednesday, Dick ufl went six for thirty four from the arch for anemic seventeen point six percent, and they did better against Duke oddly enough
thirty five percent. They still lost. It says here that if Louisville shoots that poorly again and anemick like in the teens from threes and they don't get rebounds, UK is gonna win going away. I think there's like an eighty six percent chance Kentucky's gonna win anyway, accorney to
Espen Analytics. But if Louisville does shoot thirty percent or better like Colgate did the other night kolkg had thirty three percent from the arch, could be close, maybe even overtime, especially if there's still no Lamont Butler for the Cats. What have you heard on that front?
They think that having back, we'll find out a little bit well as we speak later today.
As you hear this, folks, we should know.
But all of this is predicated as well on Kentucky shooting, because Colgate shot itself back into the game.
How Kentucky couldn't buy one.
Kentucky's in a team wise slump over the last four games or so, shot it insanely well early and now is not hitting very well at all from the outside because other teams are doing a good job or running them off the three point line, not letting them get comfortable on the arc. And I think Pat Kelsey will make sure the Cardinals do the same thing. So but against Gonzaga, Kentucky lived.
In the paint. I think it will do that tomorrow.
Second swig Dan I sixty five did Arena had Dan Weell beater better be rocking like Ropperena will be tomorrow night. Western and Murray State renew a rivalry that started back up last season, WKU winning at Murray in the first of a four game yearly series that had been dormant for nine years for some inexcusable reason. Obviously, these two
have to play every year. And as some guy who grew up in Murray cheering for the Racers nearly every home game, including that epic seventy one upset of the number seven ranked Toppers that went on to the Final four, then I had left Callaway County for college at the hated rival in Bowling Green. I know a rivalry that needs to happen every year when I see when regardless of who the new athletic directors are or who the new coaches are, don't get it. You just have to
play these two every year. Western right now six and three, three game winning streak coming into the game, while the Racers are six and two, also winners of their last three. And if you want to talk about how evenly matched they are, besides that, Western averages eighty point seven points a game, Murray State seventy nine point eight points a game tip off is at two o'clock, but it's on ESPN Plus. And should I pull from my alma mater or should I say for the I can't say go
Racers or go Toppers. May the best team win.
Yeah, that's a great rivalry and people need to better appreciate the basketball tradition at both Murray State has taking teams into the NCATE Tournament as one in the tournament before is scared teams. So is Western Kentucky making that deep run under Darren Horns. So I love that rivalry and people, I hope pay more attention to it. Hey watch that one to warm up for the Kentucky Louisville game.
Sure thing our third switch in the six packs. Speaking Western Louisville, Let's talk football and specifically dick the portal where u of L has grabbed Hilltopper linebacker transferred Darius Thomas. As a sophomore. This past season, Thomas had fifty four tackles, seven for losses, and four sacks. He's going to be missed in Bowling Green and I ask you, is it true? Hilltopper quarterback and Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year, Caden Veldcamp, who's in the portal again this year? Is
it true? Interested eyes here in the ville are upon him? Then again, Cayden came back last year after he was in the portal after that famous toastery Bowl performance. WKU's also got quarterback t J. Finley in the portal. He was in it before. In fact, that's where they got him last year. He was slated to be the number one this year, but he got hurt in Veldcamp took over. U of L needs a veteran quarterback and oh so
does your alma mater. Have you heard anything about bringing a quarterback in from the portal for the.
Cats, only that they're going to do it.
And those are two names that surprise you to see pop upp either at UK or u of L. Everybody needs quarterback help, everybody needs depth. If Kentucky I can't see Vandergriff coming back, I don't know about Whimsy, but it looks right now like it's gonna be cutter bowly in two true freshmen. So yeah, they definitely need help, not only to make it a competition, but just in case of injury. Right, Thanks for reminding me about the Toaster Pastry Bowl whatever it.
Was with the famous the famous Toastery Bowl with.
The fulls the life size toaster pastry dropping itself into a toaster.
Well, that was the pop Tarts Bowl.
The pop Tarts Bowl. Is that what it was?
No, that's coming up that this was a minor toastery. This is this is a minor toaster. This was like a sandwich toasting company. I don't know it's back this year.
Oh I don't even remember that one. Wow.
Happy memories of the pop Tart Bowl exactly. That's coming up. We may talk about that next week because that's gonna be fun our fourths, Wig and the six packs. So from college football, let's turn to the NFL and Dick. Besides the indignity of the Cowboys listed as two and a half point underdogs at crummy Carolina, I have a fab four pack for Sunday possible Super Bowl preview. At the top of this, Buffalo at Detroit. How great a game is this? Potentially going to be Lions are two
and a half point favorites. You also got Tampa Bay at the Chargers LA at three point favorite in that game for the Battle of the Keystone State. Pittsburgh at Philly Eagles at last check five point favorites, but clearly Dick the game of the season for you and me. You're Green Bay Packers at my Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night football. You're going down, going down. Actually, the Packer two and a half point favorites. I will not be surprised if they win because these Hawks have been crummy
at home this year. Now, besides the two and a half million I've got invested on the Hawks to win straight up as using our house as collateral. How about you and I having a friendly bet the pack wins. I will buy you lunch over here at the Scottish restaut with the milkshake machine that never works. They have a drive through case. You're you know, pressed for time. If the Hawks win, joe Be's again.
Yeah, I can live with that, you know, honestly going in reverse order. Uh that this game frightens me because your team is playing well with a quarterback that they pulled off their reclamation ep and the Gino Smith or West Virginia U product like my dad. Uh, my guys are playing well, but underdog at home on Sunday or Monday night is a really good.
Bet, believe it or not. Oh okay, yeah, it.
Just historically is I'm not saying you know anything of an either team, so it wouldn't surprise me if the Seahawks win it.
But yeah, that's gonna be fun.
Pittsburgh at Philly it'll be a low scoring I would actually take the points and Pittsburgh five's a lot that they'll keep it close somehow.
Bucks charge you gotta like the Chargers on that one. But the Bucks just keep surprising people. But yeah, Buffalo at Detroit too bad. There won't be snow.
Like there might be up in Buffalo, right.
I think Detroit figures out a way to slow down Josh Allen, who right now would be my MVP, and Detroit's been They've had some problems in their secondary that's true. Watch out for that.
Yeah, but they'll get to Josh Allen.
True our fifth wig and the six pack. So in the lateest example, as we've seen in the last week of MLB owners still not understanding how ridiculously long contracts never work out, Mets are guaranteeing Juan Soto seven hundred and sixty five million dollars over fifteen kind of fifteen years. As as we've found out, that's actually sixty five million fraction for playing for the Mets. Seven hundred million for having to live in Zuo York is how this is
apparently working out. Sodo also gets that free luxury suite and up to four free premium tickets for home games. That was something that the Yankees apparently would not cough up. Hey, buy him yourself, your greedy basket god, how much more
do you want? Seven hundred and sixty five million? Dick breaks down to four hundred and twenty five million a month, one hundred and forty thousand a day, six grand an hour, or one hundred bucks a minute, kind of like what you used to make at twenty seven over there, right.
I could live on that.
You know what's interesting about the sweet is that apparently he was one of the tipping points for so he's a he's a family guy, not none like the animated show, but he you know, it was important to him, and the Yankees basically felt like they had to say no, because when you think about all the superstars that have come through New York, if you grant that Dwan Soto, now you got to start doing it for all the other guys, you're gonna run out of sweets.
The Mets not so much. That's sweet, you got it? How many would you like?
So? I thought that was really interesting.
But he basically said at the end he said the Yankees did all they could except for the suite. He didn't say that, but that was clearly a tipping point.
And by the way, the La Times had a story early in the week about the Otani financial influence that he was bringing in from Japan. Yes, it's annually so far in the nine figures, and it could be a billion annually. Tourism groups, well, tourism groups, but also these Japanese businesses are coming over there, like Nippon Airlines has got an agreement with the Dodgers, toyot Tires. There's a bunch of famous and mid level Japanese businesses that are
striking agreements with the Dodgers. I mean that happened like within the first couple of months. Excellent, our final swig. One major college football game tomorrow, not a meaningless bowlgame though, just the opposite the one hundred and twenty fifth meeting between number twenty two Army and Navy Saturday afternoon, three o'clock on CBS at Northwest Stadium, which is formerly FedEx Field, same place where the Washington Commanders have been playing for
a while. In landover Maryland, Army eleven and one four point favorite over the eight and three Midshipman. And we talked earlier about Army's game uniforms honoring the World War two hundred and first Airborne Division down in Fort Campbell. Navy's uniforms will be honoring the Fighter Squadron seventeen from nineteen forty three, who had a pirate theme. So it's gonna be the screaming Eagles versus the jolly Rogers, which
will be a lot of fun to watch. Navy's gonna be playing, by the way, in a bowl game like Army. They're gonna be Armed Forces Bowl against six and six Oklahoma that's in Fort Worth and December twenty seventh and Dick despite being ranked much of the season, in fact, they're twenty two. Now Army gets relegated to Shreveport and the Independence Bowl against Marshall a day later. Doesn't Army deserve a better bowl than Shreveport? Isn't that like being
relegated to like Siberia. Some Kentucky fans have long lived back when the Independence Ball had an affiliation with Yeah, see see please keep winning. We don't want to go to shreve No kidding, but no, that's gonna be a great game.
I got a Army winning that one. But I love it.
I'll record it, and I think it's great that they haven't moved it earlier in the season to you know, fit it into somebody's schedule.
They've left it where it belongs.
That's that's not always the case with big time athletics like that.
Yeah.
I like armying that one too. I would like to have seen them maybe somewhere closer in the in the East Coast. Oh yeah, for more of their their fan base. You know, like they're playing at Yankee Stadium. Go back to Yankee Stadium. I know they played Notre Dame there, but you know, Fenway Park's got a Bowl game.
Yeah, but you know what, that's closer to West Point.
But the fan base for either one of those academies, service academies is everywhere.
I guarantee it. There'll be a massive crowd in Shreveport. We'll come back with some odd reeves for Gary Moore. He is our West End bureau chief here on the Big bluon sider six thirty WLAP welcome back to the Big blon Sider. We're chatting with our West End bureau chief, Gary Moore, back from the West coast, so we've been waiting to throw some hotters at him.
First of all, let me start off with and I gave you this ahead of time so.
You may have had a chance to look it up. I think it's going to be a great trivia question. Who is the interim coach replaced at North Carolina by Bill Belichick?
Look at his staff? Freddy Freddy Kitchens.
Freddie Kitchens.
Now Freddie Kitchens is best known. He's a career coach. He was at one point, for one year, the head coach of the Mighty Mighty Cleveland Browns. They went sixteen and ten.
He has worked in the NFL for the Cardinals, the Giants, the Cowboys, was an assistant in Mississippi State, North Texas, LSU, Glenville State in West Virginia. But to me, he will always be the quarterback at Alabama the night they lost to the Kentucky Wildcast. Now when he was a QB at Alabama. When he played there, they went to the Citrus Bowl. They went to the Outback Bowl. But the
following year from the Outback Bowl. There were four and seven and lost to Kentucky and set off the bedlam here in Lexing, and it resulted with the gold post coming down and hilarity ensuing.
That needs to happen again, in fact more often over the next few years. As a matter of fact, I think that should definitely keep happening. But yeah, that's that's I remember that. I think if you follow Kentucky football anytime in your life, you definitely remember the times when you beat the Georgia's in the Alabamas.
Well, he was the tight ends coach and a run game coordinator at North Carolina. So now you know where's he gonna go. You gotta wonder what he's gonna do.
Well, people are wondering if what is Billichick? But seventy two, I think is what his age is. Yeah, if he's gonna be able to recruit younger players or relate to them, Well, he's recruited a twenty four year old that for arm Candy, So I think he's doing okay so far on that front. Right, our second high read for Gary uh you're picked for the Heisman that's coming up, and it looks like a two way player is.
Going to get there.
But there that's my pick.
There are other candidates. Probably the best player is from Boise State. How great would that be if.
Gent won it?
Of course you got mister Gabriel, your cousin. Would you love to see that?
I wish I gould.
See somebody other than a quarterback. You know, if Jendy went it, that's fine. But I think Hunter is just he's just kind of separated himself. He's done so well on both ends. Yeah, I mean you can't say, well, he's better as a dB than he has a receiver. Well, no, he's greaty, he's superb, But he's the NFL ready at either one. That's a bad question.
Statistically their best receiver and statistically with four picks, their best defensive back. So it's not just a guy they're putting in there for show or because they're short on players. But yeah, it's it's it's probably gonna be him. He's a uh and he's odds.
On to win it.
But like I said, it would be really cool if a Boise State running back got got there. But yeah, I think it could be. It could be Uh, the two way guy in a runaway.
Although supposedly his teammate Shador Sanders will be the number one pick.
Soft.
If you're an NFL coach and you draft Hunter, how do how do you how do you play him? What would you what would you see him on?
Well?
I mean they played Dion at defensive back because he was so good at defensive back that he could cut the field in half. I don't know that Travis Hunter is that good, but he we just know he's he's good enough, you know. I think the other two, I think all four of these guys will be you know, top five, top seven picks.
In the NFL draft. But I often think it's cool if a two way player want it.
Yeah, I would love to see that, and let's see more often. And you know a team that probably a team that needs both a defensive back and a wide receiver is gonna benefit from a guy like that.
Oh yeah, no question, no question.
And age when you're trying to make do with multimillion dollar players who walk off the field and don't feel like playing at the end of that guy, if he's not already cut by broadcast on ya, that's that's You're not gonna stand for that, not in the grown man league.
Whatever the equivalent is of cutting him, firing him on the tarmac. That's what they should have done with that guy.
Gary Moore is our West End bureau chief.
We chat with him every week when he's not trapesing about the country. If you'd like to chat with him, you can find him on Twitter or x at.
At nine to five five Gary, the same place we always find you at.
Blue Insider one. We will see you next week.
Go team. May the best teams win this week and.
That's going to do it thanks to my guest, Gary Moore, Billy Rutlins coach wald Wells UK Louisville Tomorrow five point fifteen, Tip free game of two thirty with a KSR Boys Network at three point thirty and.
Then Jack and Tom at five fifteen. That'sh it. Goodnight from the garage and Electioningdon.
My safe word will be whiskey.
Sorry, Rod, what was that whiskey?
So you mean a whiskey?
What you're saying? It weird? Saying what weird?
All of it?
Where do you get off?
I just don't get what you're saying.
It that way?
Why I'm saying what?
What way? Forget it?
I will? I will forget it.
Dad,