Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you on New Year's Eve, taking one more day off this holiday season, So we're gonna present the best of the Big Blue Insider going into the new year, and a reminder that tomorrow night we're gonna present a special edition as we look back on the year twenty twenty four, which was a huge year in UK sports. So we'll relive the highlights coming up tomorrow night on The Big
Blue Insider. But tonight we're going to take you back to a conversation I had with ESPN's Jimmy Dikes after Kentucky's comeback win over again Zaga Ada in Seattle. It's a game Jimmy worked, and he talked with us one night on the Celebrity Hotline about the Cats and the Zags year on the Best of the Big Blue Insider. Jimmy, I know there was a long trip out there. You guys, you were rewarded with one heck of a game, aren't you.
Gosh, He's one of the great games so far this year, and any you get a chance to do a game between two of the great national brands out there, obviously, Kentucky becomes AGAs is also you know, one of the one of the strongest brands in the college game right now, you jump on the chance and did delivered and it didn't. It did not look like at halftime it was going to deliver it because our producers, I mean the halftime, our producers literally asked me to me, what do you
see anything changing this game? I said, no, oh, like, I didn't see any I saw nothing in the first half. That said, Kentucky has an answer for this. But uh man, they did, and man, what a what a great game to watch, I'm sure from the second half of that overtime.
Oh yeah, before we break it down a little bit, just quickly give me I don't know that we've talked in a while, and I'm just curious about your reaction. And I follow you on Twitter, of course, But when Kentucky hired Pope, when all this happened and he had to cobble together a team like a jigsaw puzzle, Well, what was your reaction? Because I always talk about the fact that you know, of all the analysts out there, of course, you know Kentucky better than anybody because you've
lived it and you appreciate the tradition at all. But what was your what was your response when all this happened here in Lexington.
Yeah, well, you know, because you guys are very aware of the names that were thrown around and kind of out out of left field comes to Mark Polks and this of your life, hump, that's an interesting hire. But then as the twenty four hour period went by, and I kind of dug into to what he's done and started listening to all the things that he understood about
Kentucky basketball and like big Blue Nation. And within twenty four hours that's think Flip Man, how they went from this is not a great hire to we hired the guy that's going to put us back on the map. And then so far, so good they have they've been right, and you know he was He's exactly what Kentucky needed right now. The guy that comes in and completely gets the value of that Kentucky jersey, the fure that teams the state, the expectations. He hasn't ran from it. He
knows the pressure. But there's it's a it's a perfect fit, you know, for for a Kentucky program that is desperate to get back to being who Kentucky basketball supposed to be. And so far they have this year.
What do you think of what he runs and how his team runs it?
Well.
They have great belief in their system, which is a great starting point. You know, they understand exactly how they're supposed to play. If you're going to shoot thirty or more three point shots the game, then you have to make ten or eleven the game to make it pay off. And they have not shot the ball well over the last three games. Now. They delivered in the second half against Gonzaga, but more importantly, that offense got things done
on the inside. And I talked about during the game, you don't jump shoot your way back from sixteen downing it's the top ten team basically on their floor. And Mark started calling play and he went heavily with Andrew Carr and then when he too went out. It kind of worked after their benefit because Kentucky became bigger on both ends of the floor. And now the matchup problem that was was really something for Gonzaga to have to work to on both ends. And you know, Mark does
what a great coach does. You got to find a way to change the game, and he changed the game with that one three one zone that it really just it was a one three one to start with, but after the first pass or once the ball got.
Blowed the free throw line then went manda.
Man, but it completely through Gonzaga off of their rhythm and change the game.
I felt like in the first half, Jimmy Gonzaga was more aggressive, more physical, kind of played Kentucky out of his shoes a little bit.
Did it seem that way to you, No doubt, Man, that was the you know, that was the blueprint watching the Clemson films. Yeah, from you bike from Gonzaga's standpoint was We're just gonna be physically these guys and blow up all that dribble hand off and make sure we're out on shooters and bumping them.
And it worked.
It worked to a sixteen point leads, and Gonzagia was doing anything they wanted, especially off that ballscreen action with neim Hart and the Graham k Kentucky had no answer for it. But man, the things changed within that first two minutes of the of the second half. Because gonzag is really good. I mean, they're ranked inside the top twelve and this week's ap pole I mentioned that during the game that this week's ap pole your national champion
is somewhere within that top twelve. It's been that way for twenty straight years, and it's not a guarantee, but about as close to a guarantee as we have in the college game predicting a national champion. And thankfully for Kentucky fans and Gonzaga both they're both inside that top twelve this week in college basketball.
You talked about it on the air, you mentioned it a minute ago. But Mark Pope started calling plays and changed the game a little bit. Obviously going to Andrew Carr and he tried to get a little bit done in the first half, but I felt like he just kind of, as the expression goes boat his neck, he just went to work, didn't he in the second half?
Yeah, And yeah, he had the game. That's kind of hard to It's just kind of hard to defend. He's I'm not going to say that it's an awkward game, but he's so big, strong, physical, you know, you can move him around different spots on the floor and he You're right, he kind of I think he was the first one early in that second half that kind of drew a line and said no more.
Yeah, and if we go.
Down, we're at least going to go down with pride and fight and being the aggressor, and it went from him to Jackson Robinson and he had to move to the point and everything everything clicked. So I mean that was a really I mean, it's hard to say like which win really establishes a head coach with the program, but that might be the one when you look back on his hopefully long career as the head coach of Kentucky that it kind of solidified we got the right guy.
I tell you what you mentioned, point guard. I was listening to the pregame show and heard Tom Leech talking with Mark Pope. When Pope and that's Nola mont Butler. I just kind of dropped my shoulder. I said, well, there goes that game because I didn't see honestly anyway, Kentucky with them heart are so good. How are you going to disrupt Gonzaga at all? And then get into your offense with that Butler. At what point did you guys find out on TV side that Butler wasn't going to play?
Yeah, we pretty much knew it to shoot around, you know, we're yeah, we're privy to obviously a lot of information, and they trust us and we're not gonna say a word. That's not that we're not into breaking news like that, but I was like you at halftime, I was like, well, that's that's kind of what we thought. We don't have a little butler the best defensive point guard out there and them Hart's doing whatever he wants. But it's funny how you kind of fall into things sometimes as a
coach or a team. When when Kirk Crisa went out and he was forced to put Jackson Robinson up up top as a primary ball handler, Kentucky got really big on both ends of the floor. They had match up problems working to their advantage, and they just kind of fell into it. I don't think Mark will play a heavy lot of minuts going forward with that lineup, but it's sure. It's good to know that, man if we get if we get in that pinch, we have a bigger lineup we can play.
And it worked really well.
You know when Kentucky fans were studying this new roster and they were so relieved. Frankly, when Jackson Robinson signed on, wasn't a real shock tested the waters. But I think they may have expected and this is for lack of a better term. You can help me with this, but I think maybe they were looking for a flashier game man, maybe from a guy who you know might be NBA ready. That's not his style. But I think what we saw against Gonzaga is what I mean. That was him at his best, wasn't it.
The second half was the best he's played in the Kentucky Jersey. You know, he did not start at BYU. He was the sixth Man of the Year and led BYU in scoring. He's not just a guaranteed next level NBA guy, but he showed signs in that second half that he can handle the ball, he can make some tough shots. Obviously Kentucky needs him to continue to shoot better from the three point line like the team does overall.
But I think it's a cool story that once he threw his name, there was no question where he was going. And he told us before the game that Cody Feger, the assistant coach, and Mark Pope changed his life. And you like guys like that that will just believe in the head coach. The head coach has great belief in him, and it was a really good coming out party for him in the Kentucky Jersey. In that second half.
More with Jimmy Dikes here on the Best of the Big Bo Insiders six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. We're talking with Jimmy Dikes's basketball analyst for ESPN. He has written the film Doesn't Lie and hosts the Coach Me Up podcast. And of course Jimmy just a few years ago and assistant coach at Kentucky. Wow. I hate to think about how many years we go back there, but more more than
a few. But uh, I know, and you you you've done some coaching since then, but you're enjoying what you're doing for ESPN. How far ahead do you have your schedule? Do you have Kentucky coming up at all?
Uh?
Yeah, so I have them.
I think my next time I have him is in early in conference play when Texas A and M comes to rout And that's about as far as my schedule goes out. I think that's like maybe the tenth of the fourteenth of January somewhere in there.
We we we we send it.
We team tend to get about a month out, you know, just based upon the matchups and how teams are playing where they want us to go, so I'll certainly be following Kentucky. It's you know, it was a great two years of my life there and there's nothing like Kentucky basketball and big Glue nation and the passion that they have. And you know, there's a there's a small percentage of Kentucky fans that get after all of us on Twitter sometimes, but that doesn't represent who the true Kentucky fans are.
Man.
They they love the team that I think, they appreciate honest analysis on their games. They want to be told the truth and I try to do that and call the game down the middle.
When Kentucky's good.
I'm the first one to say they're good when they think and the first one to say they stink. And but when people ask me when I'm traveling, where's your favorite place to go to a basketball game? I say Kentucky just because of all the dynamics of Ruff Arena and the fan base and always sold out and you know it's a big game when you're doing Kentucky on National TV.
Well, you made reference to the Kentucky fans in Seattle. I mean they always say Blue gets in and when Kentucky was doing well, you know your director was picking up shots of the UK fans. I know that didn't surprise you, what all did it?
Now?
I said, Kentucky can play in Russia and let's go, let's go. Blue Chants going to break out at some point. That's just that's who they are.
It was.
It was a great atmosphere.
I mean, a lot of times you watch games they say, hey, it feels like an Elite eight. No, not really, that one did because it wasn't fifty to fifty. But there's a lot of Kentucky fans in there. Obviously a huge amount of Gonzaga fans. Both were loud at the time that they, you know, had the momentum going. But you just saw, like I said, two teams that are legitimately Final Four contenders going at it in early December, and it's great to be a part of that game.
Well, getting back to that second half and you you touched on this and you guys talked about it of course on the air, and Jack Gibbons was delighted to see the one three one because job hall uh snuck that in every now and then. Of course with Jay Scheidler running the baseline, it was such a great athlete. But did you have any idea that that one three to one was coming? Did you see it and shoot around? Because I have to admit I don't get to go
to practice much. I've been to a few, but I've not seen them work on that.
No, I didn't.
I did not see it and shoot around in the four or five practices i've actual practices I've seen in Kentucky this year, I haven't seen it. But you got to do something to change the game. And at times it was at times it confused Gunzaga. In times Kentucky was confused a little bit running it like who's going to be wearing? They let the guy wide open in the corner on one missed assignment. But that's okay. That's
the beauty of the game. And for your guys to believe in something when you at halftime say okay, this is what we're gonna do defensively, and they go out and execute up believing it. And that's that's all you can ask if you're a fan of Kentucky basketball, is how much do they believe in their head coach? And I got to think to a man that they think that Mark Pope is the greatest coach right now in college ball, and that's exactly what you want, right Yeah.
And you know, it's interesting people. I think I've talked to some folks who it seemed like they had this impression of Marcus this neophy, you know, this this this kind of a newbie head coach. He's new to the UK job, of course, but he has a solid resume. I mean, what he did at Utah Valley State, what he did at bring him young. Both programs overachieved. And so it's not like in terms of just his basketball acumen, it's not like he came in you're all wide eyed, you know what I.
Mean, no doubt.
I mean, I just just reflect him. Back in the first half of con Zaga was going away, he didn't look any different than the first half, and he did the second half when it was going his way. He just has a calmness and a belief and a confidence about who he is and how he coaches and how he sees the game. And you know, he took his BYU team into ball Gallon Kield House last year Kansas and the one it wasn't a great Kansas. It wasn't a great Kansas team, But not very many people go
in there and get a win. He was never a phase at goun zagaon and he will not be.
Phased this year.
And you know, Kentucky's coming off of a two games road swing. That's going to be exactly what they're going to face in the SEC high high level games, competitive, physical, loud crowds. And this week was the best. This past week is the best thing Kentucky could do for himself to go play at Clemson and basically at Gonzaga and now you know, going into SEC play, Hey, we we've been down this road before. We know how to handle it well.
And I think you mentioned that during the first half what happened at Clemson. You know, with that atmosphere down there here Kentucky's coming to town. You've been a part of that as a member of the coaching staff. It's like the circus arrives and Clemson just hauled off and punched him in the mouth. And and that paid off, didn't it.
Yeah, no doubt. And yet you've got to be knocked around a little bit to understand how to play through it right because Gonzag had the same game plan. They're not as physical as Clemson. They tried to be, but they're not. Yeah, and I think that's a big part of why Kentucky said, you know, we've seen this before. We can handle this. Unless they got rolling. Man, they
they got rolling. They they played a great second half and Jackson Robinson had a ton of confidence when Mark puts the ball in his hands and everybody just kind of fed off of it. So now they got I don't think I think they're off all wee cantill to play Louisville on Saturday, and I don't.
Have to say anything about that game. It doesn't matter. Louisvill is not.
Louisville's not what they're going to be under Pat Kelsey. I think he's going to be a great fit for that program. I was with him in Atlanta during Thanksgiving week. Kentucky will be heavily favored. But man, you take nothing for granted in that game. And Mark Pope, he understands that game better than anybody else out there. So Kentucky should be fine in terms of are we ready to play?
They've actually got Colgate on Wednesday night, but come on, yeah, you know they can work some things out there. With all due respect. A couple of minutes left with Jimmy Diyke's of ESPN worked at Kentucky again Zaga game. Uh. You know, we've been talking about Mark Pope, the head coach, and he has talked about the fact that he changed his tone as a coach. He went from being you know,
the kind of wear you down kind of guy. There's no way he's going to be another Rick Patino, but he went to the more of the uplifting, positive style. And Jack Gibbons in the postgame interview talked to one of the players about the fact that Jack and they sat opposite from you guys, they were on the on the bench side. He could hear Mark even when they were down. Pope kept yelling we're okay, We're okay. I don't know if you if you could hear any of that. And that's kind of rare, isn't it.
Yeah, it is, But I mean that's who Mark is at his core.
He's sent to.
A positive energy, stable, confident guy and who he is and as a dad, as a husband, as a coach, and I think he realized about ten years ago that trying to be maybe something that he's not wasn't working, and then his players were playing out of fear and trying to please him and not for the right reasons. And now he's, uh, you know.
He's changed. He's he will still get on.
Him some I've seen him do that, but he does it with a tenderness and a tone that that you have to have in that balance between toughness and tenderness. So, uh man, it's it's all good right now. With that put your basketball program and miss Barnhardt knocked it out of the park with his hires.
Are there going to be some tough times? You know? That SEC coming up Tennessee is awfully good. I don't know if you've seen them yet, but I mean, this league has gotten so competitive. Jimmy and the money. Now they're spending on facilities, coaches, staffs, that kind of thing. It's finally what the SEC thought it was for quite a while. But now it's a grind, especially with Texas and Oklahoma joining.
Yeah. I was the lone soldier there for a while. Last year.
I kept saying the SEC is the best conference in college basketball. I got a lot of pushbacks, but I stood firm because I knew what I saw and I knew what was coming. And it is clearly this year through the first week of December. The most dominant league in college basketball and maybe historically one of the most dominant league. Now they have to finish out in non
conference like they've done. But when Joelnaradi, who's pretty good at his job, project twelve teams the SEC for the NCAA turn that that would that would be a history, that would be a historical year.
For the league.
So if you're Kentucky, you know you're gonna get knocked around some an SEC play. That's that's that's just part of it.
Yeah.
I don't know, Dick.
If the sc camp SEC champion is going to have four or five six losses, I don't know, but it's not. It's not going to be a two or three lost champion This year.
The league too good, Yeah, because I mean Alabama and Auburn are out there. That's gonna be fun. I remember one year Kentucky under Joe b had five won the conference with five losses, but the depth wasn't there the way it is now. So uh, tell everybody where they can see you on Saturday.
Yeah, I'm next.
My next game is at the former number one team, Kansas. They lost too in a row, which is announced. You're like seriously, like you're number one and then you go lose.
Two in a row. But still I thought Fall.
Gallon is one of the great great places to a college basketball and they take on NC State, who got hot last year made for the Final Four, and then actually stayed the next day and do the women's game Kansas versus Penn State. So yeah, two games in two days and then come home. I think that's that. Because it's finals week for a lot of teams. I'm up again until next Saturday with wake Forest at Clemson. I go right back to Clemson, who I think is really
really good. That's not a damaging loss to Kentucky's resume. Clemson, they could end up being the top two or three in the ACC. So good team you got, I know.
That was my conversation with former Kentucky assistant now TV analyst Jimmy Dikes, who worked the Kentucky Gonzaga game in Seattle earlier this season. More the Best of the Big Blue Insider when we come back here on six point thirty WLAP, welcome back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider, joining us on our celebrity hodline as a guy who has actually been right here in the garage in front of him. He's been on the celebrity highline too, but coach Keith Madison usually here with the chain gang.
But you're you're kind of special people now, coach, because you're an author, you've written a book. Tell me all about this.
Well, it's it's been a fun experience. I really enjoyed the writing process. And the name of the book, Dick is Coaching with Purpose, and basically it's trying to help coaches avoid some of the mistakes I made. But it's not all about that. But uh, it's it's a book that hopefully helps coaches win on the on the field or on the court and off the court with their athletes.
I just I just think that coaches, Yeah, they're paid to win, but they have such an opportunity to impact their athletes and in a positive way because they spend so much time with them, and because if if you're if you're a decent coach, a good coach, they're going to listen to you. So you can impact these young people and help them to become better husbands but wives
be are citizens. I just think that coaches have this golden opportunity to make an impact that's perhaps bigger than they even know.
Did you feel like you were not tuned into that when you first got started. I got to assume you were kind of overwhelmed by the job itself because you had so much going against you. But this sounds like something coach that has dawned on you through the years.
You're exactly right. I think when I first started coaching, I really loved my players. I had a great group of young men, but it was it was it was all work, and I didn't talk to them as much about important things off the field as I should have, probably, although I still have great relationships with those guys. But I just think that you know, these coaches that whether you're a college coach or a minor league hitting coach or a little league coach, you know, it doesn't matter.
You have influence on those people you coach. And I think that young people need that discipline and that structure that they have at practicing on the field, but they also sometimes are a little bit lost when it comes to things off the field.
You know, I'm wondering about a challenge you might have faced when you first began, because that's when I first met you. When you started coaching at Kentucky. You know, relatively speaking, how old we are now, you weren't that much older than the guys you were coaching. I got to think that had a lot to do with it.
Yeah, I think so, you know, I was, I was twenty six years old, and my first baseman was twenty two years old and my second basement was twenty two years old. Wow, I just you know it. But I think because they had such a tough year of the year before. Uh, I think they were they were looking to win, and they were looking to turn it around. And I had just played professional baseball, uh two or three years before that, and so they thought that was
kind of cool. And they felt like I could relate to them, and I felt like I did.
Relate to them. Uh.
And we had son. You know, we worked hard, so we had son, and we uh gosh, we got to know each other because we had to. We had to take trips to places like Athens, Georgia in vance. Yeah, and we didn't we didn't take a bus. We took you know, about three vans and and John Butler drove one, I drove one, and an equipment manager drove the other. And and we're heading down I seventy five, and and it was amazing because I think you and I've talked about this before, but we we would get to the field,
and let's just use Georgia as an example. We get to the field at ten thirty or eleven o'clock in the morning and take battie practice and do all the pregame activities and then play a game and then get in those vans and drive back to Electington. It was exhausting, but when you're twenty six or twenty seven years old, it's that big a deal. I guess we but that's
what I really got to know those guys. You know, I've spent time talking to him in those vans, and they felt comfortable with me, and I felt really comfortable with them. But it's those kind of relationships that are so special that coaches have an opportunity to experience.
You know.
I was in touch on a regular basis with my little league coach up until the day he died. He actually called me the day he called me the day he passed away, right, and you know, and the impact he had on me as a kid, and then my high school coach was he was a great guy. He had a tremendous impact on me. I just want other coaches to leverage that and know that they have it. And winning is awesome and that's what we need to do.
It's a lot more fun when you win. But you can win on the field and you can win with the players off the field, and that's doubly special.
You played for and coached with a lot of different coaches, and I got to think writing this book made you. You know, and you just talk about how much you enjoyed it, but you know, sit back and reflect on what you learn from them, what they may have learned from you. I mean, you know, this had to have been a great trip down memory lane.
No doubt.
And that's exactly why it was fun, because I started remembering things that I hadn't thought of in years, like this one experience I had with Russ Nixon. He was a manager. Dug Flinn and I both played for US. Great manager, tough guy played. He was a catcher for the Red Sox, played with Ted Williams and all that. But I respected him so much so I had a
really bad outing one night. I was the closer on the staff, and uh, he called me into his little office there at all Little Past Stadium the next day before we did our workout, and I thought, man, this is not going to go good because he was a tough guy and and you know, as a minor league do you never know whether a bad outing is the last time you'll ever pitch right. And so he calls me in and he had a really serious look on
his face. And I'm not going to say it over the air, but he said, Madison, you were a horse. You could fill in the blank. And he said, uh, he said that that was that was just a terrible outing last night. I thought, oh, boys, that.
Yeah.
And but then he said this, he said, but you're my closure, and if you go out tonight, I expect you to to be the best closer in the Florida State League. And man, he just I mean that listed me. You know, he he ripped me a little bit and I deserved it, but then he made me feel so special. And sure enough, I go out out that night and I'm throwing gas and I'm feeling good because Russ Nixon
believed in me. And that's such a that seems like such a simple thing, but when coaches believe in athletes, sure they can do so much more.
You know, I've never coached really at your level. I'm a little bit of little league here and there, but I've managed people through my career, and and looking back, there a couple of times when I thought, you know, I just never got through to this guy, and I probably should have just parted ways with him, uh because but I didn't because I thought, well, I'll be laying another problem on somebody else, and it's my problem to manage all that kind of stuff. Did you ever think
in those terms. I got to think there were some players you just couldn't get through to and maybe somebody else could have.
I don't know, Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, I would be lying to you, Dick, if if I told you that I connected with every player that I coach. That just doesn't happen, because there's always this thing called personality that that can that can cause you not to connect. You know, maybe that maybe that young man or that young woman they just they just don't want to spend time with you. But that that does happen. But I think, you know, the coach's job is to is to get
the best possible out of that particular athlete. And if you have to bite your tongue a little bit and eat some mumble pie. You know you got to do that. But your job is to get that young person to produce. And uh, if we if we go about our jobs that way, it's going to be better. And then I've had this happit for Dick or you do that and maybe you know that that player doesn't like you, yep, but you just keep you just keep on pouring into him and try to add value to not only his
his skills, but also add value to his life. And if you just keep doing that, I mean, some of those people are the best friends I have right now. That the relationships started off a little top, little rocky, but then you just keep pouring into him and things turn around, and that's when it's really rewarding.
Interesting coach, I appreciated. We will talk more about this when the rest of the chain gang joined you here in the garage, But tell everybody where they can find that book. Is it out yet or we are we ready to recommend it for stocking stuffers?
Yeah?
Yeah, it's just coming out next week. And as a matter of fact, today I want to be putting the links on my website and you can go to my website web site coach Keithmadison dot com and you'll be able to find a link there on how to order the book. And I really appreciate you asking me about it, Dick, no.
Problem, Always enjoy talking with you. Thanks, coach. Have a great holiday and we'll talk soon here in the garage.
Okay, Dick, thank you.
Want to come on the Best of the Big Bloon Sider here on six thirty WLAP. You're listening to the Best of the Big Bloon Sider. I'll take you back to Thanksgiving week of last month. We got some stuff to discuss. First of all, what Colorado beating Yukon, second ranked team in the country and Danny Hurley going off on the sidelines once again, and he has really taken a lot of flak for that as well he should. He says, it's the second time he has gone ballistic on the sidelines over the officials.
Yeah.
I know coaches have troubles with refs, but this is kind of ridiculous. Kansas beats Duke seventy five seventy two, and if it weren't for Hunter Dickinson, the headline might be the posterizing dunk delivered by Cooper Flagg, but it wasn't. Hunter Dickinson, fifth year senior, still doing childish things, ejected from the game for kicking a Duke player in the head, Malik Brown. They were scuffling on the floor. It all kind of erupted. Brown was assessed a personal foul for
backing into Dickinson. They were both going for a rebound. Dickinson was given a flagrant io for kicking them in the head. They were on the ground in front of the bench area, and Dickinson kicked him in the head, so he got the flagrant two and he got the boot. Dickinson has been doing punk type things ever, so I don't know if he did it in his previous school Michigan. I don't remember seeing him do that in London. Didn't
do anything goofy there when he played against Kentucky. But man, he is making some bad headlines since getting to Kansas. And remember there was a point where a lot of us thought he was coming to Kentucky. Got a better nil deal in Lawrence saying with basketball inside the NBA was kicking it around last night. See what I did there.
Evidently somebody leaked somebody from the Philadelphia seventy six ers leaked the fact that Joel Embiid is late all the time, and they had a team meeting, and that's one of the things that came up. But somebody leaked what they were talking about to the media, and the gang on inside the NBA discussed it, including my man, Charles Barkley and Shaquill O'Neal, and Barkley as always quite frank about both the Embiid situation and whoever leaked it.
You cannot be leaked all the time. That's disrespectful to your teammates and your coaches and everybody. You can't be late. So first Joel has to own that. But whoever leaked that to the press need to be punched in the face in a team meeting. Those are secret, Ernie. You can't tell out secrets on a team meeting. Now, like I say, maysually somebody has been punched in the face,
but that didn't get out yet. No, no, But I'm saying though, when you when you when you in those meetings, they're very personal when you especially when you call out a guy like that. Like I said, Joe has to own being laid all the time. He has to own that but that that should have never guiden to.
The press in this area we live in. That's never going a check no check.
You know, if y'all had a team meeting, a guy accused you or something, but it shouldn't should not it should not check Jim Gray, how you doing something? But somebody has to tell it, Jim Gray, and you should not do that. I have a Joe was right on the part he said he called me a piece of crap who leaked that? But he has to own I can't be late all the time.
That's Curtsey a T n T. I certainly hope whoever did the leaking wasn't Tyrese Maxey. And as a media guy, I love him when people leak stuff. But I don't want Tyrese Maxi to uh invoke any bad blood with his teammates. That's a certainty. Over in the NFL, the Players Association released the top fifty player sales list and some guys are seeing their jerseys fly off the racks. Who is number one? The top five are all quarterbacks, No surprise, Patrick Mahomes once again with the most merch sold.
Second year QB C. J. Stroud of the Texans is second, Then Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts number four on the list. Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. I guess that's not a surprise. And even though his team is struggling, Joe Burrow of the Bengals is number five. The highest ranked non quarterback in terms of Jersey sales. Lions d nd Aiden Hutchinson is number six, and then his teammate wide receiver i'man Ross Saint Brown is number seven. So some of those
numbers are predictable and some of them are not. And by the way, number eight Christian McCaffrey, number nine Mikah Parsons, and number ten Travis Kelcey. Quick baseball note for you, the rich kid Richard. The Dodgers sign Cy Young Award winner from the Giants. There are tribals Blake Snell, so that means they have a potentially incredible starting rotation of Snell, Tyler Glass, now Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Otani, assuming he pitches
again and then picked from four or five guys. But one of the names that is not coming up is lexing his Walker Buehler. So the signing of Snell, and of course Bueller has been battling injuries. Although we pitch well in postseason, just might mean he's going to be looking for another team. I won't get into the money. It's ridiculous, but the Dodgers have just, you know, incredibly deep pockets. They can afford to pay the payroll taxes. But they signed Snell. Supposedly the Red Sox are trying
to get him. The Yankees at a zoom call with him, but they're really concentrating on re signing one Soto And college football note you know this by now. Mack Brown fired by North Carolina right after he said he was coming back. Not so fast. My friend. One of the names, of course, it's being tossed out there, John Somerall. And this doesn't mean he's a candidate. It just means that whoever was typing up a list of guys who maybe
they might want to look at. But the former Kentucky linebacker in his first year Tulane has the Greenway nine and two. They're thinking playoff playoffs. He went twenty three and four in two years at Troy. He's young, he's forty two years old, and he has a great reputation. Of course, Kentucky fans who are unhappy with stoops or banging a drum for John some Roll. Here's an interesting note about Mac Brown. When he was first in North Carolina,
he had two turns there. This is when Kentucky was looking for a head coach with Seam Newton as the ad ended up hiring hell Mummy. But Newton and I were together at one point and he asked me, what are the fans saying? And I mentioned two or three names, and one of them was Mac Brown was doing some good things at North Carolina. And talking about all three guys or however many I mentioned, seem said yeah, yeah,
they're good. Yeah, but have they ever sustained anything? And I had to answer, well, I don't know, I don't think so. But turns out Mac Brown did sustain well enough at Carolina, then went on to Texas before we ended up back in North Carolina. But now he's out of a job. I hope you're having a great New
Year's Eve. We are presenting the best of the Big Blue and Sider and a reminder tomorrow night special edition is We're gonna look back on the big moments in the year of sports for UK athletics, football, baseball, basketball, women's basketball, A lot of great moments. We're gonna look back on some of those tomorrow night on New Year's Evening, back with our number two of the best of here on six point thirty Wlaper. Welcome back to the Big
Blue Insider, I number two of our program. I'm going to take you back to a few weeks ago when I chatted with Katz Paul's general manager, editor of columnist Daryl Bird about the basketball yearbook that came out and it really is a great issue. And I had a chance to talk about his interview and his interaction with Mark Pope. I want to congratulate. Do we talk before it came out. We haven't a chance to chat since the yearbook came out with the Star Trek cover on it.
Explain to people what that is because I I'm like you, I have a feeling people are going want to grab this one and hang on to it.
Yeah, I think so to you. Just I was trying to think of a It's always hard on cover because you really need just one or two words to sum it up. And the more I went around talked to people energized has struck me. One day and it's exactly how it was. The whole fan base was completely re energized, starting with that introductory press conference that just was absurd when you think about it looking back on it, and just so much new LIKEE pumped into it and energize.
And when you think energize, at least I do, I think Star Trek. Of course I could could not pass up the opportunity to go on that.
Then there have been so many iterations of Star Trek, but that is enduring. It hasn't it energized?
Yeah?
Yeah, absolutely, that's the original.
Believe it.
Now, I assume did you take the cover photo because you're really I've told you this before, you're a really good photographer. But did you set up and take you that?
Now?
That's Kat White took that one.
Okay, he's great too, he's the UK athletics photographer. Is that? Tell me about the background because it looks like the I know it's green screen or CGI or whatever you want to call it, but it looks like the transporter chamber.
It is the transporter room. Yeah, a photo of that, and I had to cut out all the individual players and yeah, resize them proportionally so they looked like they were being being to board the UK starship.
Yeah, I was.
A bit of a start to do. I was a bit of a star trek nerd. On its second running, it was I guess after it's been canceled but became super popular. I read a book, one of the first books about the making of it and how they came up with the way that they created that energizer look with the spar that's aluminum dust. They were able to sprinkle through a light or something like that. So I was so happy to see.
Yeah, William Shatner's book about it is really good.
Really, I've had that. I read that along. Yet it's really good.
I got that a long time ago about just the whole process and how season three they had they knew they were done, and they cut the budget to nothing, and the prompts were horrible and all.
It's a really good reading.
In the original book I read, it might have been in his as well. And we'll get the folks, I promise, we'll get the basketball in a minute. But they wore those those uniformed shirts made out of volure, and of course you know, there were physical scenes and this and that, and whenever they would clean them they would shrink, and so they had to wear them as long as they could before they were just impossibly tight. And as you said, the budget, you know, oh my god, I got to
buy more of these things. So anyhow, yeah, exactly, So let us let us get to to the basketball program. And I used the SoundBite the internight from one of your questions. I've told you asked good questions, but you asked about and I used the racing term bounce what you didn't. But you asked Mark Pope if he was afraid of a letdown after you to win over Duke, and I thought his answer and I played his answer was earlyast part of it. You know, it's pretty long. Yes,
was a typical Mark Pope answer. You know that there has been a lot of thought and research and emotion going into it. But explain to everybody in a nutshell what he said if they didn't hear it the other night or when you first asked it.
Yeah, it was, I wrote about it yesterday. To me, it's it's getting to be the norm. You ask what you think is a simple question, you get a very profound answer, is much more than what you bargeted for. Basically, summed up at the end, we focus on what we
want to happen. We don't focus on what we don't want to happen, which is the only way to look at and he said, and then he gets into the neuroscience, of course, is to be worried about the letdown, the emotions that come along with with you know, the pure body chemistry of such a high that you're going not going to be rised back up with that, he said, But from that second they won, and Andrew Carton, you know, we celebrate just a little and then it was on
to the next game. And you know, had that been a young team that pulled off that win against they would have looked horrible against them, and these guys didn't. Yeah, and that was my premise, was what was your anxiety level because it's such an old team. I was thinking, okay, it was greatly reduced, and he's like, no, we don't. We don't even accept that as a possibility here. Okay.
I also where he says, we don't get nervous, and I was like, man, it's so human to be nervous. And you wonder how did they coach that either out of somebody or into somebody, you know what I mean?
Yeah, he said.
The natural reaction is to be a little nervous that it might happen, and they just calculated and dismissed it summarily and get on with it, which I think you can do with an old team. I think it's a completely different question if this was an all freshmen like we're used to.
It also helps to be pretty good, doesn't it.
Yes, it does.
That's what That's what has amazing me because we all it's kind of like with the football season. He said, how good you k? I said, I don't know how good rock bander is. It's never played this group. How good is basketball?
I don't know.
It's twelve guys who've never been around each other. How long is it gonna take the mesh? How good are and you look at all these guys were considered good, Yes they weren't. They weren't considered elite by any stretch of the imagination at any no matter where they came from. And some of these I don't even if they were leading scorer on their own team, but here they are. And just I give all the credits to Mark Pope.
What buttons?
He's pushing and I talked to some of the players early and they're like, I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm playing for a coach that doesn't yell at me. Everything is positive reinforcement and it's and they're just lapping that up like crazy.
Yeah, he's got it. I think he had one player was a bread who came off the bend, was the sixth man and you had led the team in scoring or something like that, but still something accepted the role as six man. You know, was not the marquee player on that team. That You're right, maybe Lamont Butler fit that bill well, just because San Diego State was known for defense and it was their point guard. But it hit that big shot in the tournament. But yeah, that's
a great point. No great, but a lot of good, right.
Yeah it is.
But yet the sum so far as is looking great, and I know it's early, but there's so much more, so much room for them to improve. Yeah, some of these and I can't wait to see Colin Chandler get the rest completely off and start playing up his fool potential.
And you know, it's a great point you bring up, because as you look at this team and I was thinking about this the other day. What are they going to look like in March? Everybody wants to know that, of course, and they're gonna be much better and they're gonna win some games. But will we call one player in particular great? This guy has become a great player, I honestly, with no disrespect and tenant, I doubt that simply because of the makeup of this team, the way
they play, the way they rotate players. There's there's so many of them, you know what I mean?
Yeah, you're no, You're not gonna be interesting to see what postseason awards look like because nobody's going to be way up there on average per game, right the star. I mean, that's what I thought about the other day. Andrew against Duke. Andrew Carr has seventeen, Jackson Robinson has one point right flip it come back. A week later, Robinson has twenty, Andrew Carr has two. They did a
complete reversal and didn't miss a beat. And that's to me, if I'm scouting them, I'm like, oh my goodness, word, are you what poison do you pick on this group?
Yeah?
Because you don't know where it's coming from.
Yeah, when I was looking at this roster and reading up on them before pro day. I got to Andley alman Or. I saw his size and his ability with a three pointer, and I thought, that is a matchup nightmare. And there's more than one on this roster, isn't there?
Yeah, there are It's it's it's a very unique group. And it's like, yeah, I got a got a guy out here that shoots seventy eight percent from three point line, but he can't break the starting lineup.
But what a weapon to bring off the bench. That's fantastic, you know. Is Yeah, we're talking to Darryl Bird. He is a general manager of the Cats. Pause writer, columnist, photographer. Uh were you a photographer before you started shooting pictures for the cast boys? I've always meant to ask you that now.
I started when I started the newspaper Elizabethtown. I was hired as a writer, but quickly, with a smaller staff, you end up taking a lot of photos at your own event. And just kind of fell in love with it. And my desk was literally across the hallway from the dark room, and you know, the stowers like can you help me with it? And I just started doing that.
I fell in love with I mean, I'm going back way old school, rolling the film on the canister in complete darkness, and you know, renting it back and forth, and then printing your own prints and using your hands to dodge and bird the images. And I hope you got it right. You don't have to do it over and just fell in over that whole side of it and just ended up kind of doing both my whole.
Career dodging and Bernie Man, I remember that in the old school photographers, nobody's talking about. I learned that much when I wrote for the UK paper. I never took that. I wish I had taken the course in photography because I enjoyed doing it, but never followed up with it. But one of the guys, Stuart Bowman or somebody taught me that. But I never learned how to do the world. You have to obviously, you don't want to expose your
film to any light. So when you're rolling your own film into those little canisters that you put in your camera, you have to do it in utter darkness, just by feel, and.
I feel and hope that that you know, the film does not can't touch the It has to roll in a way that it doesn't touch or when you're getting ready to develop it.
Yeah, amazing back and now with digital technology it's easier, but in some ways it's tougher, so you know, uh, but you can take a lot of pictures, a lot of pictures without spending more money, you know, because with the old every time you expose the frame, it costs your money.
If thirty six rolls per thirty six images per roll the film, that's right. And now you'll see people shoot five six hundred of these games on digital and you know, thirty six and shoot three rows of film and get back, have it developed the next day and find out your exposure was wrong, which you know. Digital it's like you take it, you look at it, and you're like, okay, just here. Yeah, it's amazing how much different I.
See you guys on the sideline, and the most guys add it as they go. They'll take picture from the day of a football play and look at it. Nope, don't like it, Delete it right now so they don't have to do it later. Sonny, we got a little gut, a little bit off off track with Daryl Bird, but I do want to talk some football when we come back. You're listening to the best of the Big Boom Insider on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Best of
the Big Boom Insider. We're talking with Daryl Bird, the GM of the Catch Pause, who takes pictures and rights and reports and does everything for the cast bolls. He and Aaron Gershawan and a kind of a skeleton staff anymore with the Cats balls. But they put out a great basketball yearbook just in time for Christmas. But I want to talk to you, of course about Mark Soups in his football program. This has been kind of a throwback season when it comes to wins and loss has
been in a different way, isn't it. It's not that Kentucky doesn't have enough talent. When Stoops got here, the cupboard was almost bear. With all due respect, he's got some talent on this team. But between injuries, mystifying penalties, it has not been a satisfying season to say the least, has it.
No, it's been very, very frustrating, and I know the fans are really frustrated, and I think, you know, we're gonna be honest here, that's a pretty good segment. Was hoping he might retire and just kind of ride off into the sunset after thirty years. But he's made it clear he is and no intention of doing that. But those saying people who would like that kind of like seem right away are well he does. He has earned
the chance to set with what he has done. I always go back to UK has four keen win seasons and one hundred plus years of football.
And he has two of the four exactly.
So shut up. He knows what he's doing. If he wants to try to fix that, you owe him that.
I don't know.
But it's been a weird year.
Oh it has. And that leads to my next question. I don't about you, but I kind of feel bad for him because it's written all over his face and he's not He's backed off on talking much about the portal and nil because there was some backlash nationally. I think when he complained about it, but oh, he said, Darryl, I promise you whatever he coach in America was thinking that instead of coaching now, my spare time goes to raising money.
I had that one on one with him for our football, right. He was so open and I'm like, are you kind of thinking? Are you sure you want and he's like, and I said, thank you for saying this. That he was the first one that, if you remember, came out one day to Prescott and said, well these are free agents.
Yes, oh my.
God, it we let's call.
And then this year it was I'm working to meet payroll and I'm like, what do you mean, pyroll?
Payroll?
If I don't play, if I don't raise enough money to pay these guys, they either won't play the game or they'll leave. Yeah, and you better believe that pressure is real, and it's in his fairness. I did a thing with Texas Radio this morning and I said, well, they were asking me kind of the same thing, and it's like, well, here's the deal in Io at Texas. It's going to football. We're like, yeah, here you get half. Maybe, yeah, maybe it's a best you can hope for is a
fifty to fifty split. And it's a much smaller state with much smaller resources in that regard.
So yeah, of course it's a challenge. Better believe it is.
Yeah. Job.
And I'm like, they brought the an M job and I said, well, any fan with logical sense here in Kentucky said, yeah, you better talk to an M. If they call you, yeah, better belie them.
Look, and you know I worked down there. There's a bottomless pit of money down there, so that that would never be an issue. Plus, as you point out, football is king. So a few minutes left with Daryl Bird. What about this game with Texas? Uh, I expected, with all those injuries going into Knoxville an ugly blowout because we've covered some of those games down there, haven't we? Yes, but now and their question marks about Texas about strength to schedule, and then when Georgia did going in not
the Kentucky's Georgia, but Kentucky played with Georgia. So I think there are some Longhorn fans who are wondering about the Wildcats.
I had. That was the exact reaction from the guys on the Texas podcast. I said, you're going to get a game. They're like, oh, yeah, we know, we're going to get a game. There's no question because they're like, what's the deal? How do you beat Ole miss and nearly beat Georgia and play Tennessee as hard as you did and then lose your some of the games you've lost. Yeah, and it's I don't know, I said, I think it's the soup's mentality in that locker room. They are going
to play tough. They may not win. They probably won't win. They need a very on brown kickoff or turn touchdown, and they need they need to go for it on fourth and eight from the thirty, not take the field goal. I mean, if I'm gonna lose, I'm gonna lose seventy to nothing. I'm gonna keep going for touch heead, what do you have to lose at this stage. I'm with you, I'm with a You know, they're anticipating, they they're going to know they were in a fight.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to just being done. I've been in Austin when I work down there back in the eighties, but not for a game. Uh. You know, so I'm told it's going to be a full house. And uh. One of the weird things, I was on a radio show down in Austin and I had the guests on my show, the host on my show, I said, what can we expect? And one of the things he said
there I was, they don't tailgate down here. They have a different kind of setup, you know, with a long I guess this road that surrounds the stadium that's dotted with different places you can go to eat and drink of that kind of thing. But my reaction was they will learn to tailgate once they see the rest of the SEC.
Just they will. Yeah, not everybody accuracy. What they're going to think? Is that to me?
When they were talking about UK and I said, well, here's the deal.
UK.
At the beginning of the year, I would k's living. I guess you're eleving by the end of the year after going through the SEC. Now their feat to death. Yeah, and I'm wondering if Texas is like, Wow, this is a much more physical league than what we're used to do.
You run the gauntlet, there's no questions about you do. Daryl Bird is the general manager of the Cats Paws. You need to pick up the Cats Paws Basketball yearbook. It features, among other things, Mark Pope how he got to Kentucky. I love there have been so many takes on this and I love reading everybody's takes, profiles and all the players and SEC preview, the opponents, talk of recruiting. State colleges are covered, Boys and Girls, high school, the
UK women and you write about it. You have a feature about the fiftieth anniversary in the UK's nineteen seventy five season basketball, which was a great one and I was in school for that. It was a lot of fun. I love that team.
Yeah, that team was great, and that story is it's tremendous and I was able to I talked to Joe Hall before he to talk to Kevin Greevy and Mike Playing, all those guys their memories of that whole season, and it's really cool stuff. It's amazing. Like this team, we can get good stuff, but talk to him ten fifteen years from now, and you'll get so many great stories that they won't tell you now.
You are right about that. And what I always loved when teams got together with Joe b years later, he always said, I'm hearing things, stories about things. I'm glad I didn't know we're going on when I was coaching exactly, but every now and then he would tell them stories that they didn't know, you know, that was going on
with the coaching staff. But that's seventy five basketball season followed a super weird seventy five football season, you know, with the investigation of Sonny Collins and or then included Sunny Collins unfairly and you know, Kentucky kept snatching defeat from the jaws of victory all year and points shaving rumors which were bogus. Uh So, yeah, we needed that basketball season, didn't we.
Yeah it was. And then to go up early and have Indiana beat your brains in and you know, the old head slapped at Joe Bobby Knight. Ye come back and beat undefeated Indiana to get to the final fours.
Almost perfect, people.
John Wyden decided he's going to retire to day for the championship.
There are people to this day and I'm sure they ask you. They asked me, what's your favorite game or moment or this or that? And my favorite basketball game is still all things considered, that game where they came back and beat Indiana in the regional and I know they didn't have Scott Green or Scott May or whatever his name was, Scott May, but still everybody expected Indiana to roll over him again and that didn't happen. So that's why that's.
Way, and everybody talks about you know, Joe b in the seventy eighty finally got out them under Adolph's shadow to seventy five. That's when he got that was his signature coming out party. Look what he did with He took down Mighty Indiana what two years three years after Adolph Yeah.
Great point, and took down Bobby Knight with him.
So yes he did.
Darryl, thank you so much. And again you need to pick up the Catspaws Yearbook. Follow Darryl on Twitter at Darryl Bird. But they can get the the yearbook wherever they get sports magazines. Am I right?
Kroger specifically shop Yeah, not Kroger this year, shop Catspaws dot com.
The easiest way, Okay, very good, all right, the easiest.
Way we can get it right to you.
Thanks Daryl Bird of the Cat's Pause and more to come on the best of the Big Boo Insider here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up a little bit later on, we're gonna replay this segment we use to close out our Thanksgiving program just ahead of the big holiday, as we look back on a great up of WKRP in Cincinnati, and if you know the show, you know where I'm going with that.
I thought to take you back to earlier this month when I made some points to some things that jumped off the internet at me. I needed to touch on a couple of things that I didn't have a chance to get into yesterday. First of all, congratulations to former Wildcat Sydney McLaughlin lavroon Female Track Athlete of the Year. She was a Wildcat only one year. But she was not somebody who just used this place as a way station.
And we know this because she still claims UK. You know, she wasn't one of these athletes who just stopped here for eight months and took off to a great pro career. Now she comes back to UK, so I give her credit for that. The other thing we need to talk about is the fact that when I was talking about Mark Stoops yesterday, I didn't realize because it popped out on social media a little bit later after I recorded.
I didn't realize that it was twelve years to the day since Mark Stoops signed on at the University of Kentucky. And I bring that up because I was talking about that during my chat with you guys about Kentucky football and the fact that Mark Stoops is trying to rebuild this program now, not the entire program, the subculture is there. The culture's there now. He just got to get it back in shape. But keep in mind what he said
when he got here. He said he talked about how he was going to lay things out and get things done. Essentially was recruiting, got to bring in better players. Rich Brooks said that when he got here. Do you remember that rich Brooks said when he got here, And he said this in hindsight, He didn't say this when he was introduced, but he said, UK at the time had one player, one that could run a sub four five forty. Now you think about that, that meant that Kentucky was
maybe the slowest team in the Southeastern Conference. And obviously the two things you have to have to win in this league size and speed. I don't remember what kind of size the Wildcats had. And you can have guys that are big who don't have a lot of athletic ability. We've seen that, haven't we. But minus speed, you've got no shot. You don't have receivers who can get open. You don't have d backs who can cover that kind of receiver. So Stoops comes in, looks at the talent
level and goes to work. He and Vince Merrill and his staff members who have come and gone, They brought in better players, right, they developed them and they won more games. But one of the things that Stoops said was there will be no shortcuts. Well, guess what. That's exactly what. The portal and the nil represent shortcuts for everybody. Only they're gambles. You sure you got the right guy, You're sure you're paying the right people the right amounts
of money. It's tempting, isn't it. And it's not just tempting. It's a must if you are a college football coach, because it's so much of a numbers game. Basketball too, but football is such a numbers game, and anymore, especially coaches paid a ton of money like Stoops, It's not what have you done for me lately? It's what have
you done for me today? Coaches aren't getting four and five years anymore because the demand from fans, the demand from boosters, the demand from athletics directors who are paying top dollar demands success right now. So that's why the shortcuts are so vital anymore. And I firmly believe, and I've not talked to him about this, and even if I wanted to, I don't think Stoops will talk to
me about it. I talked to Tom Leach about it, But I think this just gets it Stoops where he lives how to build a football team the right way. And given the fact that everybody and Stoops has had some success with the portal, but everybody's dealing with it now, means he can't go back to do things the way he used to do them, at least not at the Division IE level. At the SEC level, he's stuck with the current situation. So you've got to try to make the best of it. And as I said, sometimes it
works out. Sometimes it's great. Will Levis's first year at Kentucky, well, Liam Cohen and a great old line worked out great and there was at least one transfer on that old line. And then sometimes it doesn't work out. Speaking of times it works out, what about Syracuse. Syracuse upsets Miami Kyle
McCord is a big game. And remember this is the guy who started his career at Ohio State and I believe started for the Buckeyes for a couple of years before he left, and they couldn't be Michigan when he
was there, and apparently people blamed him for it. Well, Fran Brown as the head coach of Syracuse and was catching some flak for a comment he made about sending champagne to Ohio State or sending him Kyle McCord, and on the Jim Rome Show, he said he owes Ryan Day, the head coach at Ohio State, a case of champagne, and he made note of the fact that Ohio State still lost to Michigan minus Kyle McCord, which kind of brought or took Kyle McCord if you're look at it that way off the hook.
So I'm excited for just our communities. You know, everyone down there represents him, but just the country to be able to see how good of a football player he is. And you know, it was kind of put out as if he was the reason. So I mean, I guess after watching him win this weekend, and I don't know what happened to that piece of you know, you're seeing the same results again. You can't blame Kyle, correct, you know.
So I'm happy that Kyle was able to go and clear his name, come here and show that he's a good quarterback. I got I got ridiculed for stateent that I wanted to send Ryan Day a bottle of champagne, where I wasn't being disrespectful. I was just saying, this guy is the real deal, and you guys let him come in like great, thank you. You know I still owe him. She's send him some more. She send him cakes, not even a bottle. She use my language, but just extremely excited and thankful for cod.
At Syracuse coach Fran Brown and Syracuse played a great game, obviously beating Miami and show a Kyle m But I guess the lesson here because some people got upset about that comment, specifically Ohio State fans. You gotta be careful when you're talking about other programs, especially in college sports, and especially in college football, because people get their respective backs up very very quickly. One other note is we go to the break. Were you watching Sunday Night Football?
But Chris Collinsworth and Mike Turrico. I didn't see this part. I was in and out of the game. But evidently Chris Collinsworth's hands look really bad. And at Total pro Sports on Twitter tps but that's the avatar or the account name. But if you hit at Total pro sports, they posted a screen grab and collins worth hands are all black and blue. No idea, what's going on, but it touched off a flurry of tweets and social media posts.
Collinsworth has not yet said anything publicly. Some people think it's because it was so cold at the game and he wasn't wearing gloves. But yeah, it's odd looking. And you see in elderly people who bruise easily, and he's not elderly. That's my point. Sometimes their skin looks like that,
or their hands look like that. But a lot of people out there concerned about Chris Collinsworth, who of course married a former UK cheerleader and whose dad Collinsworth's dad played basketball at UK, and in fact he was up. Collinsworth was for SEC Athlete of the Year and I think it was nineteen eighty and Kyle Macy actually won the award, but the banquet was here in Lexington and I remember Chris collins was saying it was such a throw for him to be there as he got a
chance to meet his hero Nile Macy. Want to come on the best of the Big Blue sider up next to classic Thanksgiving moment from a great sitcom of several years ago. A reminder tomorrow night, we'll look back on the calendar year twenty twenty four, lots went on in UK athletics, football, baseball, basketball, some shocking news on the coaching front, and the Big Blue Nation. Welcome Mark Pope back to the Bluegrass. So we'll take a look back at all of that coming up tomorrow night as we
welcome in the year twenty twenty five. Back with more of the best of the Big Bloon Insider in just a minute six thirty WLP welcome back to the best of the Big Blue and Sider as we wrap up the year a year twenty twenty four. Hope it has been a good one for you. Hope this evening remains safe for you and your family. We will wrap up with the segment that we closed during our Thanksgiving show as we look back on one of the greatest episodes
in the history of sitcoms. And of course, when you talk about Thanksgiving, you've got to talk about WKRP in Cincinnati and the episode called Turkeys Away. Gave you a little history on it and presented the highlight here on the best of the Big Blue Insiders. I wanted to leave you with everybody's favorite. This is from the Turkeys
Away episode of WKRP in Cincinnati. It is considered one of the most famous, revered episodes of the show, and really in all of the history of sitcoms, and in fact, in nineteen ninety seven, TV Guide ranked Turkeys Away episode at number forty on its one hundred Greatest Episodes of All time. In twenty oh nine, it was moved down to sixty five. I don't know where it is now within one hundred greatest episodes, but it's got to be
up there. It's got to be up there. Back in ninety seven, in the very first at the top of the list was the Mary Tyler Moore show Chuckles Bites the Dust, And you know, I don't know what's on top now. You'd have a hard time replacing that one as number one. But Turkey's Away belongs on the top one hundred list to me, forever and for all time. And you know the story. WKRP, the station in Cincinnati that featured doctor Johnny Fever and Venus fly Trap and
les Nessman and Bailey Quarters. They decided they would thanks to the big guy, Arthur Carlson stage Thanksgiving promotion, right, and so Less goes to report on it in a live remote and you hear doctor Johnny Fever tossing it to Less out in the field, and what comes next is radio magic and its history.
Less you're still there, Yes, Johnny, you see anything yet?
Well?
No, there's quite a crowd though. Where's the big guy?
I don't know where Carlson is, but we're coming to you right after this record.
Okay, okay, no problem, I can have one.
Okay, real close.
Yes, all right, fellow babies, And now it's time to go to our live remote Man on the scene at the Pinedale Shopping Mall for the.
Big WKRP Turkey giveaway.
So take it away, less Ness man, this is less Ness, But you're man on the scene here at the Pinedale Shopping Center. But the excitement is mounting. We're here to witness the big wk on Rookie Thanksgiving giveaway. You got permission to be out here? What you're blocking my store?
Here? Buddy?
Don't you know who I am?
Huh?
I'm less Nessman.
I won the Buckeye Newshok Award last year for.
You, Bucky. Now get out of my doorway. I'm sorry, creep.
Far so good.
I hear hundreds of people who.
Have gathered to witness what has been described as perhaps the greatest Turkey event, and Thanksgiving dang is great. All we know for sure is that in a very few moments they're going to be a lot of happy people out here. Now the crowd is the crowd is curious, but well behaved. And I think I hear something. Now the crowd is moving out into the parking area. And oh yes, I can see it now. It's a it's a Hello copter and it's coming this way. It's flying
something behind it. I can't quite make it out. It's a large banner and it says heavy things kidny from wy.
Hey want a site?
That is, gentlemen, What a sight. The culpter seems to be circling in the parking area. Now I guess it's looking for a place to land. No, something just came out of the back of the helicopter. It's a dark object, perhaps a skydiver plumbing to you to the earth, only two thousand.
Feet into the air.
Second to the third, No, hirshut yet? Have these skydivers? I can't not, you can't run they are, but oh my god, they're turnkey. I'm going to get this. Oh I'm cut you to the earth.
Right We're.
Always gonna We're going to win.
You have a hot had It's just colors running around pushing each other.
Oh my it is. Oh there's your moments in there.
Let me get bombs of The turkeys are hitting the ground like sets of what samans.
It's like, I don't know how much longer they're the trot is running for their lives. I think I go to step in site. I can't stay up here and watch this any moments. No, I can't go in there anything like that.
I don't know my division here.
Johnny.
Last, last, are you there?
Lass?
Isn't there?
Thanks for that?
On the spot report.
Last we just tuned in.
The Pinedale shopping mall has just been bombed with mill at eleven.
Then you cut to the last scene where Less returns to the station, followed by Arthur Carl's scenes with the famous last line, are you okay?
I don't know?
The man and his two children tried to kill me.
After the turkey's hit the pavement, the crowd kind of scattered, but some of them tried to attack me to gem myself into a phone booth. Then mister Carlson had the helicopter land in the middle of the parking lot. I guess he thought he could save the day by turning the rest of the turkeys loose. It's pretty strange after that.
Let's come on now, tell us the rest.
I really don't know how to describe it. It was like the turkeys mounted to counter attack. It was almost as if they were organized. As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
Now, Believe it or not, This was based on a true story, although it's debated as to where it happened. Some people believe it happened at an Atlanta radio station w q XI. They called it Quicksie, and that the general manager character was based in part of a guy
named Jerry Bloom. But Bloom's son Gary said that this was not It didn't happen at the Atlanta station, but his dad had worked at a station in Dallas in the fifties and they did a turkey drop, or actually they threw them off the back of a flatbed truck, and things did not go really well. And by the way, the famous line at the end was actually a take on something that Bloom told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in
nineteen ninety six. He actually said, I didn't know turkeys couldn't fly, which of course inspired Arthur Carlson's famous line. But I did want to share that with you as we headed into the Thanksgiving weekend. And I thought I had heard someplace that this was based on an event that actually did happen, but wasn't entirely sure where. But yeah, the Internet's got it. Although, as we said, some believe
it happened in Atlanta. But the man who worked at both stations, both the WQXI and at a station in Dallas, No, it happened in Dallas, but they did something else in Atlanta. But the turkey drop, which was actually off the back of a truck, happened in Dallas in the fifties. And by the way, WQXI and in Atlanta still exists as a Korean language station, which I thought was pretty interesting. And that'll do it for the best of the big
blon Cider. As we wrap up the calendar year here on New Year's Eve, hope you have a great man or reminder. Tomorrow night, we'll look back on some of the biggest moments in UK sports from the year twenty twenty four. You don't want to miss that. Tomorrow night at six o'clock right here. That's it, hoppy new Year, everybody. Good night from the garage in Lexington.
As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.
Baaa