Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dickabrielle with you on a Wednesday edition of our program. It is the final day of April, first Saturday in May. Coming up the Kentucky Derby. That's right, I'm not gonna make it there this year. We're going to talk about that a little bit more. In segment number two. We'll here from Bob Baffert, who has got a couple of horses, one in particular that I think could win the race, but if the other horse he's got has drawn the rail,
so we'll talk about that as well. A little bit later on with West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore, we will double down on our Kentucky Derby pick for this year. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, Aaron Gershan of The Cat's Boss. We'll talk about Kentucky football and basketball, and right now the news is all about the portal with these programs, and Mark Pope's out there trying to do some work, so we'll we'll find out about the
latest from Aaron. Also his thoughts on the NFL Draft, because his New York Football Giants did a good thing and drafting Abdul Carter, the d lineman from Penn State, but also Jackson Dark, a quarterback from Ole Miss, And I texted Aaron during the draft and said what do you think? And he didn't like the pick, So we'll
find out where he stands about that. Right now, Dark a good quarterback at the college level in a great system for qbs at Ole Miss. But will that translate to the National Football League as Pat McAfee calls it, the men's league, So we'll hear from Aaron on that. We'll also talk with Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard. We talked with him every Wednesday. He's now the new head coach at Scott County and I'm going to talk to
Sean about the NFL draft. In Shador Sanders as it relates to coaching in general, You've got the ultimate what in baseball you call him a dugout dad? What do you call him in football? Sidelines? Dad? And Dion Sanders, who has steered his son every step of the way. And look, this kid's a really good player. There's no question about it. He's a really good player. He's been really good wherever he's gone. But his baggage is his father and that cost him and it cost him in
more ways than one. It cost him with the attitude that he is instilled Dion has in his son, who by all accounts blew the job interview. But it also cost him because Dion has made it clear that he will be part of the process, not just telling teams where his kid will play and not play in terms of don't draft me, I'm not going to play for you.
And Eli Manning did that. John Elway did that, but neither one of them and I know Elways or Eli's dad, Arch was one of the greatest names in the history of football, but he didn't make it clear that he would be, you know, part of the overall process. He just advised his son don't go to San Diego and they didn't and it worked out. But Sanders now is it's in a really, really tough situation and Sean's going to talk about that with me. We'll talk to him
about parents. He's had to deal with it as a college head coach and now as a high school head coach. He will deal with it as well. Every coach does. Heck I filled in coaching a flag football team one Sunday for a friend of mine and had a parent walk around from one sideline to the other and say, you know, my kid hadn't touched the ball yet. Well, truth be told, his kid was a nice kid, was
the worst player on the team. And I had this thing where everybody got a play to carry the ball at least one and we had a specific play design for his kid, and it was coming up. But because this guy walked around, I said, okay, fine, and I moved his kid up in a rotation, handed him the ball and he screwed it all up. He embarrassed himself. I felt bad for the kid, but I was also angry at myself for not telling the dad, and I wanted to tell him. But on the other hand, it's
flag football. It's a lot more complicated now for Shador Sanders and Dion Sanders, and in fact, there's so much money at stake. And Chris Carter, the former all everything wide receiver, is quite vocal when he's interviewed. He was on the podcast called Fully Loaded this week, and he broke things down in terms of how much money Sanders cost himself, Like.
You're going for a job interview, So for this job interview, he was so concerned about, oh, what his outfit was, His necklace was over one hundred grand. Like he hadn't even convinced people that you're the face of our franchise. Matter of fact, he had convinced people that they were better off going in a different direction, even with people who had lesser talent. That's the rub he put on the people.
That's the case.
That's a bad interview, bro.
No, it is the case.
He didn't get drafted, right, it's no speculation, like we're through the draft. We through three days. He threw away at least thirty to fifty million dollars at least yep.
Sure did uh, he's a good player, but would not work out for teams in the combine and again did not come across well at all talking to the teams. And you can say that's fair, that's not fair to look ultimately, as Carter said, as everybody has said, it is a job interview, and any of you, as have I, who've been in a job interview, you've got to let them know what they're going to get when they hire you,
when they draft you, when they signed you, whatever. And if you come across as somebody who is going to come in and tell the company how to do things, not here's what I can bring to you, but here's how you're going to change in order to fit my skills. That is a recipe for disaster. That's somebody who's going to politely show you the door. So we'll talk more with Sean about that. But I haven't really gotten into
it that much. I wanted to collect as much info as I could, but I've read several accounts that said this guy just did not come across well and it turned off so many teams. And by the way, there were only four or five teams in the first round looking for a starting quarterback. After that, you're drafting a backup. And do you want to burn your first round, second round,
third round pick and that kind of money on a backup? No. Now, I didn't think he dropped at a fifth round, but he at least has a shot now with the Cleveland Brown. Speaking of John Elway, what a mess for him. His business partner and former agent was writing in a golf cart. Elway was driving and something happened and this guy, Jeff Spurbeck, fell off and hit his head on asphalt. This happened in California. Late Saturday. TMZ reported that Elway was at
the wheel. No indication he was driving negligently, but the injuries were described as life threatening. So they were sitting and they were in the cart after attending a party with Spurbeck and their spouses. They had an emergency crew respond took him to a trauma center. That's all we know. But what a moment for the former two time Super Bowl winning quarterback John Elway. He's gotta feel terrible about that. Obviously. Speaking of feeling terrible, the baseball Wildcats must feel pretty
bad this morning. Blew one. Last night they were leading Western Kentucky three nothing going into the bottom of the fifth. Remind you this is a good Western Kentucky team. Western's now won thirty five games. I can't imagine won't make the nca tournament field. But they picked up a big win last night over an SEC team, didn't they While Kats committed three errors in the bottom of the fifth and blew the game by a final of six to four.
Cats go on to Mississippi State this weekend, starting Friday. You'll hear the games right here on six thirty WLAP there on SEC plus as well. We'll talk Derby next. You're on the Big Blue in Sider. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, Aaron Gershawan and the Cat's pause. It is the last day of April. First Saturday in May is coming up. You know that means the Kentucky Derby. I'm
not gonna get there this year. It's bothering me. I haven't been to the Derby in a couple of years. I've been to somewhere between forty five and fifty derbys. I lost count. I went to something like thirty seven straight, thirty eight out of thirty nine dating back to nineteen seventy two. I was in the infield in seventy two for rever Ridge and Secretariat seventy three. I was standing on top of an empty beer keg. Yeah, they snuck a keg in to the infield and at one point
I saw this flash of blue and white silks. That's the only part of the race I saw in person. The infield is the worst place to be if you want to watch the race. At least it was back then before they had the huge TV screens, and you can't hear anything if you've got a transistor radio. Back then, you couldn't even hear that because the noise was so loud, it took us forever to find out that Secretariat had won.
I missed in seventy four because and that was my first year in the UK, because I had to take God help me, a geology exam Saturday morning Derby Day, and I pleaded with the teacher to let me take it some other time. Nope, so I missed the hundredth running. The Queen was here, I'm sure she missed the fact that I was going. But anyhow, from that point on I went for the longest time up to I think it was twenty eleven when my son graduated EKU and
they had graduation ceremonies. I'm talking to you Eastern Kentucky University on Derby Day and I grabbed one of the pr people. I said, what are you thinking, Well, tomorrow is Mother's Day. I'm like, perfect have graduation day when every mother who might be there would be proud to see their kid walk and get a diploma. But nope, they added on Derby Day. So anyhow, because of wre Kentucky Baseball things like that, I haven't really been able to get to the Derby as much lately as I
would have liked, but I will watch it. And of course I do own a share of a horse that won the Kentucky Derby back in twenty twenty, Authentic. I have what's called a micro share. It's through the program that my racehorse dot Com has going was spend through a farm you can get online right now. I bought a couple more shares of a horse called black Tie Optional, trained by Bob Bafford. There are several horses available, and you, for not a whole lot of money, can buy in.
You can be a thoroughbred owner. It's a lot of fun, really, And I bought a share of Authentic. The night before the derby, I had helped Channel twenty seven with the story, had interviewed a guy from my race Horse for the radio show, and I got home and I thought, you know, that's a great idea, So I jumped online bought a share. They were whipping and driving coming home. I'm yelling like a banshee, and my wife's like, what are you so
excited about? And I pointed at the TV at the horse that was on the lead, and I said, we own that horse. So yeah, I've got a photo of me with the roses and the saddle towel and all that stuff. But Baffort's got a couple of horses going as you know this year. He's got Citizen Bull who's on the rail, which bothers me. He's twenty to one. Anyway, Rodriguez is in the four hole and he's twelve to
one and I kind of like him. He's got Mike Smith aboard, and Mike Smith is vying to become, at age fifty nine, the oldest Derby winner as a jockey. Right now, it's Pat Day who is on Ferdinand back in nineteen eighty six and speaking in the rail. That's the last horse to come from the one hole and win the Kentucky Derby. It's hard and I'll talk with Gary Moore about that a little bit later on in the show to win out of the one hole with
a field that big. But I may throw a few Nichols at Rodriguez, who is a good horse with a good rider and a good trainer. So Bob Batford of course on the backside all week doing all kinds of interviews after missing the Kentucky Derby, after the mess involving Medina Spirit who won the Kentucky Derby, but was taken down for testing positive for illegal substance not allowed on race day. It's actually legal up until race day, and
there was a minute amount in the system. And then Bafford went head to head with Churchill Downs or the powers that be in racing or both, and it went on longer, probably than it needed to. But now he's back. He's good for the game, whatever you think of him. And he talked to wdrb Over in Louisville about how he believed when he got back. You know, he didn't have any trepidations about being welcome on the backside.
My greatest memories are hearing Churchill Downs coming the first time, bringing horses, winning the Kentucky Derby, having my parents here winning the Kentucky in them being here. So to me, like I said, when you have great memories like that, I've never I was never sour on the issue, and I wasn't really blaming the Churchill Downs. It's what went on with other things that happening and why it happened, and so it was one of those things where I
understood their position, my position. We just were fighting for the horse. He ran so hard to win the derby, and to be disqualified for something that was so minute, but it still couldn't be in the system. It was a legal medication. But it's one of those things where you know you miss being here, but I you know, I still watch it on television. We had Derby parties. I still enjoyed it, you know. So, I mean the
Derby is so important to our industry. I mean without the Kentucky Derby, I probably couldn't get anybody to buy a horse, you know, because everybody it's a dream. It's like the Masters.
Yeah, and that's a great analogy. It really is like the Masters, because every pro golfer wants to win a tournament, any want to win a major. But if he held him down, they would tell you the one I want to win is the Masters, which is probably the hardest
one to win. And the Kentucky Derby is the hardest race to win because they're three year olds, they've never gone a mile and a quarter and you've got a field of twenty, you've got one hundred and fifty thousand people and how many times have you heard a jockey talk about when they come out of the far turn and they head for home, it's like slamming into a wall, the noise they face as they cut that last corner as ca what Ldford used to say, they cut that
last corner and they come to me now they hit that wall to sound and a lot of horses can't handle it. So it just takes a special trip. It takes you know, everything falling into place, obviously, but as Bafford points out, the early stages again coming out of the gate, if you have to come off the rail or anywhere near it, that can be a big problem. So those first few jumps are vital.
And you don't know if these jockeys are nervous the other You know, a lot of the first time they've ridden it, and their horses are geared out. With twenty horses, they leave there in a scrum. You know, the first two hundred yards. It's it's one or loss in the first two hundred yards. And once they get into the backside, and if your horse is in a nice rhythm, but if he has once he checks once forget it there. It's like they're lactic acid builds up. They get scared
and they quit running. And it's the only race that you good horses get beat. Thirty forty lanes. You'll see the chart. You got beat forty lanes. It's never going to happen again in his life.
He's right about the jockeys, and as a rule, I don't bet on a horse just because of a jockey. But it can help. And as I said, Mike Smith knows what he's doing, and it helps if you got a rider who has been in this mess before. And I'll never forget being on the track one year, that's where I usually would watch the race from the track, near the finish line, and there was such a scrum, so much banging going into the first turn that I
saw a rider unseated. A rider flew up in the air and I thought, you know, you get that split second thought. I thought, he's going to come down. He's going to get crushed, he's going to get run over. But because the horses near him were banging his horse, he had nowhere to fall but back onto his horse. It was frightening. I do not remember the horse or what happened later. I'm pretty sure the horse didn't win. It was not the winner. I would remember that, But
that's the kind of thing that can happen. It's the one time of year when people who ordinarily don't follow horse racing are racing fans or at least just realize it's happening. And one of them is comedian Jim gaff Again he's got a bit on the Kentucky Derby, and whoever does his social media accounts has been making the rounds with it. It's been on Facebook, Twitter, on Instagram and here's a little bit of it. It's pretty funny.
I have to admit we are a country that loves to bet on horses. Every spring we tracked the three races of the Triple Crown, and every spring I always have the same thought.
We're still doing this is Woodrow Wilson President, But people love the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, where people bet on horses while they're dressed like characters from Gone with the Wind.
It's like prom for gamblers. Do you like my hat?
I'm living in my sister's garage because I have a debilitating gambling addiction. Shall we have another?
Men?
Julb that was announced the winner of each race on the news. You're can always tell the horse was named by a guy on his eighth wife. The horse is always named like Viagua's revenge alimony be Dad. They show a picture of the winning horse on the news, they could show us a picture of any horse. We wouldn't know the difference. I don't know what we're supposed to do with that horse image. It's not like we're gonna run into that horse in a bar. Excuse me, did you win the Kentucky Derby?
I did.
I won the Kentucky Derby. Now I'm at a bar enjoying a half invison. There is the classic photo of the winning horse right there. They're always wearing that huge horseshoe wreath of flowers they stole from someone's grave site, standing next to the winning horses. The owner of the horse, who did not train the horse, did not ride the horse, and based on body language, has never really met the horse.
I don't know about that. If you are a derby owner, I'll guarantee you you're so excited you've been to the barn at least once or twice that week, and if not, you shouldn't be a Derby owner. That's Jim Gaffigan courtesy of Jim Gaffigan Productions. In Bob Baffert came to us from WDRB Aaron Gershon's next year on six point thirty Welcome Back, We are chatting with Aaron Gershan of the
Cat's Balls. Aaron, of course covers football and basketball for the Wildcats, also a diehard New York Football Giants fan. And this is a situation, Aaron, where you're beat covering Kentucky football kind of intersects with your beloved Giants and one of the players that they drafted. You covered Kentucky Ole miss You watch the Cats beat Jackson Dart in Mississippi.
At first, you were a little leary about the Giants drafting Jackson Dart and a lot of people thought he was a bit of a dark horse quarterback draft candidate. Now you feel better about that?
Why feel a little better? I think it's the fact he has to sit. He's almost guaranteed to sit this year when they have Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston on the roster. My big thing, my big thing, really, and it's something we've talked about in the past of Tennessee and translating to the NFL. If you remember the Will Levis Hendon Hooker debate a couple of years ago, it's
that offense at Ole Miss. It's great for college. It tears up to college defenses, but it's very, very simplified and does not at all reflect what an NFL offense is. I mean, it's very much first three there, okay, that's not there, check down that's it, or run. There's not many going through progressions. It's a very you know, quick to the line of scrimmage. You're not in the huddle, you're not calling out. You know, you're not calling much
out at the line of scrimmage. It's just very very much running gun, let's go, you know, hurry up, purry up, purry up. Whereas my worry is, okay, how's that going to translate.
To the NFL.
But the fact he has look Brian Dable, I guess they had a bad year last year. He's a quarterback. Uru he got the most out of Daniel Jones in twenty twenty two. He turned Josh Allen around as soon as he got there. I mean, Jalen hurts to at college.
I mean, go on and on. I feel good about that, and I feel good that he has to sit behind Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, who I don't they're not great quarterbacks at this point in their careers, but they've been through a lot and they're both really good leaders, and I think they'll both help them out a lot. So I think he got drafted into a good situation.
And then, so I was telling you before we started here, I'm just glad they didn't take him at three because he can't pass on Abdul Carter, who I think is probably to the best player of the draft.
I agree. I couldn't agree more and I was happy for you that they took him, And there were a lot of people thought he should have been the first player off the boards, first player taken. But you know, going back, and we've talked about this before, but that Old Miss game as much fun as it was to cover it obviously from the UK sideline, and you got a chance to talk after the game with some really
happy players and coaches. But to me, Aaron, that was the most puzzling game of all That was more puzzling than the losses in my opinion, because Ole Miss had everything going forward, I mean, was psyched up, had a great crowd, a great day for football, and Kentucky for the most part, did everything right, including a huge best pass that that that quarterback ever threw in his life for the h Yeah, oh oh.
Yeah, four seven.
Yeah.
I was thinking, yeah, they even and look, remember what's even crazy about it? Remember Old Missus first drive they went down the field with ease and it was like, oh my gosh, they're going to score seventy points, They're going to run Kentucky out. And Kentucky was out. You know Max Harrison, that was first game he missed to Ryan Nichols with true freshman was out there at corner. I'm pretty sure I want to say Waller went down in that game. Maybe not, I feel like he did, right. Yeah,
So they were banged up at corner. Nichols I think was playing hurt already. So they were a mess in the secondary going up against the best passing offense in the in the conference. And then you know Jackson Dart who think ended up being the first team quarterback in the SEC last year. So uh yeah, it was just an on paper, a matchup nightmare for Kentucky and Ole miss last year too had one of the best pass
pachers in the country as well. You know, you saw Walter Nolan went in the first round to Arizona, so it was a just a looked like a matchup nightmare for Kentucky. Like if you were going to tell me they were going to upset someone in sec play, that'll probably be one of the last teams I would have picked last year. But uh, they made it happen somehow, and then you know, that was kind of the last good moment the unfortunately it really was.
But you know, it gives you hope when you've got some of those guys coming back that they can build them yet. But as most teams are, it's a totally new look for the football Wildcats. But let me shift over and don't miss too.
By the way, when they come in we two, they lost a lot if you watch the draft, they lost a lot of guys.
Yeah, but the style is going to be the same, isn't It.
Was going to be the same. That was gonna be the same.
We'll let me shift you over to basketball. And you've written about uh Miami guard transfer Kentucky's looking at first of all, how do you pronounce his name?
And yeah, divine something? Yeah, is that right? I think so?
I don't know so, but uh, yeah, Look, Kentucky's at the point where they can be very selective and with the House settlement not passing, they're still at thirteen. It's still thirteen scholarships. So basically they're in the same boat as they were at this well not quite this time last year, but after they landed Jackson Robinson. Where okay, we're at twelve. Guys, Now, if there's a thirteenth guy that makes sense for us, you know, we'll take him.
If not, you know, we don't necessarily have to fill the void. One thing they're gonna have to do is still two walk on spots. That's a different story, assuming it does stay at thirteen, because they did lose two walk onto the portal. But they can fill it if they want with a guy like this divine kid who you know, was a freshman at Miami last year. Miami was terrible, obviously, but he showed some promise at a really good game. There's two of his best games of
the year actually were against Duke and Louisville. So the guy showed a few flashes. Couldn't really shoot much from three, you know, six to three. You know, maybe you can
unlock something there. Maybe you find a freshman you you know, you think you could grow over the years or at least, you know, it's really hard to grow guys over the years of the portal era, but at least hope you can maybe go the international route, maybe take you know, another Angley Aminor type, who's the guy who's just willing to do whatever for you. You know, the options are
there now. Kentucky's at the point where, you know, obviously with all the injuries they had last year and then Quainton still you know, I still want to see him on the court in November to believe he's going to be ready for Opening night. Yeah, you know, you probably want to fill that thirteenth spot this year given what happened to you last year, but they don't necessarily have to with the deaths and you know, the talent they've bought in already.
Yeah, I agree. And it's the kind of thing where Pope now I think, has done such a good job building the roster by all accounts, one of the top five in terms of the transfer classes. He can afford to be juicy Canny.
Absolutely, Yeah.
I mean they've kind of taken the Florida approach a little bit from last year, where they kind of have two of everything that you could put in there. And feel really good about. I mean, they have two tweeners who are super athletic and can score and really defend, and Cam Williams and Moda Boste. They have, you know,
two bigs that you feel comfortable in. Are two centers excuse me, that you feel comfortable in, especially Quaintons, and then also Garrison who's back, and maybe Malachime Marino proves he's ready.
I don't.
I think he's gonna be kind of an odd man out this year. If that's okay. You have tons of death at the two position now, between Aberdeen Chandler Back. I mean, they just have tons of death there, and then assuming always back as well at the two. I didn't need to mention him. You could play Aberdeen at the ones with Jalen Low. I mean, there's just so many different options that Mark bopas. I mean, really, you know, he loves playing eleven guys, so that's good because he
can definitely use just about everyone on this roster. It's just going to be it's gonna be interesting right now to see who the odd man out is. I would guess it's Malachime Marino. But if they ad a thirteenth
that's what makes it tricky. It kind of feels like, whoever they bring in for that thirteenth spot, it's either going to be someone that it's surprisingly really good, like not surprisingly, but just it's a surprise they took someone and recruited over someone they have because that means maybe another guy in this current roster of being odd men out, like a Jasper Johnson, maybe even Tchatonella, or it's going to be just a guy again who's kind of like the odd man out on this year's team.
You know what, you bring up a couple of really good points, and I'm thinking about, you know, the fan reaction, media reaction, and social media being what it is these days, you can't help it. But last year there were so many people who got upset who you know, took the to the as we used as they took to the airwaves, but complained when he would sub when a team was on a pretty good run. And then he put in it you know, the different guys, why do you leave
him in and all that stuff. But he made it clear, this is the way, as you said, this is the way we're going to run things. This is the way. That's the way his coach did there. It's the way Rick Beatino did things. They played like hockey shifts, you know, and they played their butts off on defense. Now a little bit different with Pope because the defense didn't really take hold, as you know, till a second half of the second but you know, play hard, we'll sub you
and then we'll put you back in. That didn't set well with people. But on the other hand, if Malachi Moreno is the odd man out, and you know as well as I, he'll get minutes in the non conference games. But if he's not really kicking, but he'll sit in the SEC games, that's going to piss people off. So Pope's gonna earn He's gonna earn us keeping me.
Yeah, when you have this job, he just has to be the all out let their twitter coaches coach on Twitter type deal. I mean, look, and what you know. Last year, I think the reason they play eleven guys out. Yes, Rick Patino did it, but they want to play. Last year, yes, they were top thirty in Temples, they did not go as fast as they wanted to and they didn't get money three office.
They won to last year.
In large part because they didn't have a point guard for several games down the stretch, and Lamont was banged up and Jackson was falling out a position, Travis Perry was playing out a position, you name it. They had You know, I'm not a big excuse guy. They had excuses why they didn't go as fast this year. Assuming everyone stays healthy, those excuses aren't there. And you bring it in guys like like Modia Bosta is coming in from the number one simple team in the offense in
the country. Excuse me, that's the guy who's going to be comfortable playing fast. Denzel Aberty in a Florida, they play as fast as anyone in the country. He's going to be the guys comfortable playing fast. And then you have, you know, your core returners who should be comfortable with it. I haven't looked. I don't have the top of my head how fast pit Arizona State played with Low and
Quaintons and then camber LANs from Tulane. But you know those guys will get used to it, especially Low, and I'll have no choice to get to get used to it. And look, Lamont Butler was playing in the one of the slowest offenses in the country. It's not the slowest of San Diego State, and he got really comfortable with it.
He just got hurt. So there.
I think you got to remember that last year didn't go as planned as far as the tempo, and that's kind of the reason they play that way. And it kind of looked funkier because it's like, all right, you're not going that fast, you're not running these guys at the ground. But that's you know, that's kind of what they trained for in the offseason. Now, you know, again, assuming health, hopefully you can stay a lot healthier than
you did last year. They're going to play really fast from day one, and it's gonna make a lot more sense to want fresh bodies out there.
He is Aaron gershan and the Cast Paws. We'll talk Kentucky football on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Aaron Gershawan. He is the beat writer for the cast Balls, part of the two four seven network. Last time we spoke, it was just when the portal had closed for Kentucky football, and we touched a little bit on the guys who
would come in. But let's look a little deeper at for instance, Harley Gilmour, who has had a bit of a checkered past, as we know, was a uck and was kind of showing the door at Nebraska, kind of showing the door. Now he's back, which chose you what happened to him here? Aaron couldn't have been all that bad, but was just just bad enough, you know, So how do you how do you see him fitting in?
They need him now.
I mean they're at a point where they legitimately need him. I was kinda you know when they first signed and was kind of like, Okay, you know, get him back in the program, get his stuff figured out off the field, and then you know, try to untap that guy that was so dominant in the spring and then the fall camp before he got hurt last year and even showed flashes you know, of that potential on the field last season.
Now they're a point where they they need him. Look true Edwards the transfer from Louisiana Tech, who was you know, waiting eligibility. He's gone. He signed with the LA Rams. So that's a guy that you were counting on that's gone. You had, I don't know what the injuries, if any
of them were really serious. Hopefully not that they had pile up during a spring ball here, but you know, Fred Ferrier, there was a guy that was now in dj who is a guy that we saw in the open practice played really well and kind of excited you a little bit. As a true freshman. He was down by the end of camp. So you know, you hope those guys are okay. But in Kentucky, you know, still, yes,
the portal's closed, but they can still add. I know they had a receiver from I think Jackson State who's been pretty productive the last two years on campus yesterday, so I think they need to add another body in there. They have three open scholarships left right now. But you know, yeah, gil Moore, look, they got to They definitely got to figure out his stuff off the field and get him in line and hopefully, you know, he's in a place with that that he can contribute and if so, like
he needs to be in there. I don't know about a starter, but he needs to contribute in that wide receiver because they're you know, the bodies, the injuries piled up, and True Edwards, a guy who I think many people thought was going to be the go to target this year, is now not an option.
Yeah, he's gone to the pros. Plus Gilmore now got to understand that this is well, I say, this is probably it for him. But the portal being what it is, seems like you can play for it in ninety years. But in terms of at Kentucky and the SEC, if he wants to play at this level, he's got to keep his nose clean. You could say the same Verseeth McGowan. The kid came from Mensago State, a running back which they really needed, had a good start at Oklahoma, got
himself into trouble, legal trouble. U worked through that, went to Juco, went to New Mexico State, and now here he is at Kentucky. And again, this is a guy who I have no idea what he's like as a person. I know he made mistakes, but sure he's got to keep that nose clean as well.
Don't you.
Yeah, they really did, he said it. They needed him, and he's a guy that was very productive last year at New Mexico State. I mean he's a really really good receiving back. You know, you go put on the tape, you see a lot of those same wheel routes being run that Ray Davis ran when he he was here. I'm not saying he's gonna be Ray Davis and just saying, you know, that's the idea I think the coaches probably saw.
And then you know, you're reuniting with Jay Bulware. That was his primary recruiter at Oklahoma, so you hope that relationship can help, you know, keep him in, check him in. Look, that was three years, four years ago at this point. Obviously, you know, you always got to keep an eye on
these type of kids. But he would hope that nothing, having coming up in four years, were past that with him and Kentucky was comfortable enough to take the chance because they really needed to fill that last running back spot. They were down to three. I mean Savanni Bizil obviously still just not quite the same guy was in high
school coming off an injury. You know, they were really down to three options at running back and one that they didn't trust, you know, in Jamaran Willcox, so at least they don't fully trust yet another in Jason Patterson, who played really well in the spring, but he has four games in his career logs. And then Dante Dowell, who you know, she's a short yard expact. Hopefully he can prove these a little more, but until proven otherwise,
he's a short yard expact. So they needed to add a guy who can kind of do it all at the running back position, and it's really hard to find those guys in the spring portal and that's why you, you know, you kind of took that chance, and he fits what they need on the field. He just got to, like you said, keep together off.
You know you mentioned Ray Davis. I know you're working on a piece for next month or later this month on transfers, but Ray Davis is almost a poster child now for transfers who come through the portal. I mean, you couldn't you couldn't get a better guy with a better track record, so capable and produces. I mean, the team didn't do well, but he he was terrific, does really well. Actually they did do well while he was here.
But yeah, yeah, but has a really nice rookie season and now he's gonna shepherd Hairston and d I Walker up in Buffalo. So yeah, I mean, but I mean that's almost I won't say once in a lifetime, but man, if you can land somebody like that, you're damn lucky. And you got to be drilled for Harston and uh and.
For Diane Walker, Oh, no question, they landed in a great spot to not only win right away, but you have Ray up there that you've already played with and it's been a leader for you. It's a great situation for both those guys for sure. But yeah, look, I mean that's the one thing with Kentucky the last five last year, the portal class just flopped. It is what it is like they missed last year. They took the
chance on Vandgers who hadn't really played. He wasn't good. Uh, Dumus Johnson was really good, but he can only do so much. Got hurt as well. Bother than that, I mean, and Farmer was good too, the guard from Florida. Otherwise, I mean the overall they've done a pre job with
these portal classes. I mean, Mondale was probably got a little disrespected, just given or not respected, just not talking to and Kedrian Smith in twenty twenty two down some really nice players in the portal year was so bad. So you know, hopefully this can be more like you. And I'm not saying that one pops off as a star, because I mean remember in twenty twenty one when they had one ditch once. No one navigates the portal better than Kentucky Randa and obviously just caught up and passed them,
and then that was always going to happen. But uh, you know it hasn't been nearly last year, but it's really been one bad portal year hit the way they wanted to, you know, were winked, but you know.
He still had a deecis statistical year.
The quarterback then into some pretty big wins, like it wasn't a total bost it was a it was kind of like, I mean, yeah, so that one, and especially with how Vandergrift, I think they've done up.
You got up next guy number two, Sean Woods, the end forget of a guard and West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore. That's all I had on six thirty gony.
Earl Peet, such pact sat down anything, don't.
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. And it is Wednesday, which means we will visit with the unforgettable Guard Sean Woods, the new head coach of Scott County High School. But before we talk hoops coach, I know you love foot all and europe An Indianapolis coach fan I know were you happy with the draft, by the way, what your coach did.
Well, yeah. You know one thing about football and draft is, you know, they know about a lot of things that we don't. They see things in a different light than we do as spectators and fans. So I never really unless it's a Heisman Trophy winner or a guy that's a standout that had great it was a great skilled player that you know of like lineman, I can't tell who's good and who's bad, you know what I'm saying,
So I don't even look at it that way. If you're and a receiver, maybe a corner who gets a lot of interceptions, or running back who's rush for a lot not a yard, or or receiver who called a lot of passes. The other guys, I don't know who's good, you know what I'm saying, because I think all cost football plays are pretty good, so I can't be the judge of that.
Well, everybody loves a good tight nd. They took the kid out of state, Tyler Warren, quarterback's best friend, and then took a d N from Ohio State, and they cranked out some pretty good players. So I think you guys did a big I thank you.
Guys did all right, solid solid, yeah.
Yeah, And you got to be happy for Maxwell Harriston going in the first round, no doubt about Buffalo to a really good team. And the fact that that kid, that young man was congratulating every pick, every kid who walked out of the and they're all kids to me, who walked out of the green room got a hug from Max Harriston.
That's just who he is, you know, and that's why the thing is going to happen to him, because he's also going to be a great locker room guy.
Yeah. Yeah, that's big, that's big. Uh. Well, let's get to one other matter for the draft, and you and I have talked The reason we're going to talk about this is Sean and I have talked about, of course nil in the portal for for many weeks now and how it's affected college sports, and now you've got and it just seems like there's an element of entitlement that goes with that. And now you've got a kid who showed up for his job interviews and shador Sanders and
cost himself a lot of money. And I'm wondering, as a guy who's been a head coach and has been a recruiter for your entire career for the most part. And you've had to talk to kids, talk to their parents, gauge situations, things like that. And as a football fan, what was your take on how all that played out? Because this guy costs himself a lot of money.
I knew what was going on before. I mean, it was evident, you know, look at it from this standpoint. Okay, coaches, especially at pros, you got general managers, you got owners. Okay, nobody's going to come in there and tell them what to do, how to do, when to do with their teams and their organization.
Yep.
Okay, this kid here, the reason why he's in this situation is because of what I've been saying. Parents are ruining kids' lives, you know what I mean. And and and the question that everybody in the NFL has is Chador has always played for his dad ever since he was a kid. His dad coached him in the Little League, his dad coached him in high school, his dad has coached him in college. His dad has you know, because of the way he has gone about it, acts like
he's the God's gift to everything. Well, you know, first of all, Shadull Centers is a pretty good football player, but I don't think he's I don't think he's head and shoulders are better than all the other quarterbacks. And you got to throw this in the equation, who has he played? Okay, he played in the swack at Jackson State. He did good. He played in the Mount West or the Southwest Conference or the Big Twelve, now, whatever you want to call it. And that's okay, all right, but
nobody wants to put up with your your ego. And you know you come in an interview is you're trying to sell the organization on yourself. And when you went in there and you acted like you're the guy's gift to everything and it's all about my dad, then these guys thinking, okay, well, how can we coach you when you're always gonna be questioning us because it's not what your dad wants or your dad thinks is right or wrong. Nobody's gonna put over that. There's too many athletes and
there's too many quarterbacks in the world. There's so many quarterbacks right now that's even playing in the NFL that are sitting behind somebody that are better than shir Door Sanders. And they don't have to put up with the baggage. And you don't come in saying that you know, I'm only going to play for this team. We're not gonna play for this team. Well, come on, now, you know you and your dad, the way you guys go about
things has cost you forty fifty million dollars. Nobody's putting up with that anymore.
What about the argument? And well, Eli Manning did it with Archie Manning.
Well, and guess what, there's levels to this and I and I'm in agreement with that. That is true. Yeah, that is. John Elway did the same thing, right, Okay, but Eli Manning's dad ain't ain't as flamboyant, and let's get it, and he's not African American. So you put out those two flamboyant African America and you're telling people what to do, how to do. They're not doing that. They're just not I.
Also think, Sean and you're right about that, there's no denying it. But there's also a level you know, when when you when I think when you mix in the first thing you talked about telling operations and organizations, here's how we're going to do it. I'm the guy coming in, I'm the rookie, and here's my dad, and we're going to tell you what we need to do here, you know, when it's obviously supposed to be the other way around.
I don't remember Eli doing that. I certainly don't remember Lway doing that.
No, and their dad wasn't on social media. You know, killing people and talking about this organization is not good enough for us. You know, they had their deals, they had their wishes, and they went about it and yeah, they you know, they weren't treated the same as as as Dion them. But there's some people who don't like Deon. I mean, it's evident, right, you know what I'm saying. That's just you know, I mean, that's that's it is
what it is. And they're not going to say, well, Dion Sanders, you know, you might can do what you're doing at Colorado and the Jackson State and all that, but you don't run nothing up here in the NFL.
I also read a comment from, you know, an anonymous they're always anonymous for obvious reasons. But somebody said, you know, we didn't want Dion in our building telling us how to run our operation.
And then you know what and that's true, and that's what hurt them because they that's how they see it. And Dion might not do that because he's got a coach com Colorado. You know what I'm saying.
Find the time?
Yeah, he find the time. But what I'm saying, nobody wants that headache. And they also and also everybody, somebody was going to draft this kid or bring him in. I mean, he's too good not to be you're drafted at all, right, but you didn't want him to come in and he already had a leverage like if he was the first rounder, you had to pay guarantee the money and you had to play him. Okay, now they want to see what your doing. Sentence is all about, do you have grit? Can you compete? You know what
I'm saying, Will you compete for this job? But will you come in here? Because when you heard if you heard him, when he got drafted and they called him, the first thing the GM said, as the coach said, was we need you to come in here and compete. You know what I'm saying, blah blahlah blah. You know, because we want to know if he can compete because everything's been handed to him.
Well, look at their qb room. Man, they got five quarterbacks, you know, and it's going to come down to more than just competition, too, is going to go down to all that stuff.
They did it for publicity reasons, but they don't have to keep them. And I would be shocked if he even makes it wow to camp Man. I'm just telling you right now, he's one slip on a banana pill for just being cut. And I'm being honest with you. And that's and that's and that's the leverage that they
want to have. It's unfortunate that, you know, this young man is put in that position because I think he's earned the right no matter what what he's done on the football field, he's earned he's earned the right to be, you know, the number one projected quarterback. He earned that for what he did on the football field. That that that that can't be denied.
Yea.
But what they can't do is he's over the top. They're just over the top. They're they're they're just over the top. I mean the kid that they got drafted first. You know, he's a braggadocis kid too, But that's just confidence, you know what I'm saying. Ward yeah, yeah, you know, not to that extent, but not to this. This is over the top.
Cam Ward. Was it bragging about wearing a necklace worth one hundred thousand dollars?
No?
No, you know, I mean and and and that's the question too. You know what's really important to your social media the way you look bling bling and the thing that Dion didn't. I mean, Dion tells them in a solemn way when you watch their watch their their their
show or their Twitter or whatever they're doing videos. Dion was like, you know, they come to Dion and you know she doer does And he said, well, you know I got to work out for you know, for the combine, you know, my speed and this and that, and Dean I was like, well, you're not me. You know, I never worked out for a combine. You know, I to do baseball, you know, I you know, I got the plane, you know, went right there. And I told him, look, man, you know, just let me run my four or five.
And I'm gone, Yeah, I can say that.
I was that he was sure didn't work out for the combine.
And see that hurt him absolutely. And guess what whose fault is that? Who needs to getting advice from Yep. So Dion is just as guilty for his son to have these mishaps as anyone.
I agree.
He is the main reason.
You sound like a guy who's dealt with parents in your career.
And you know what now from here and that's going to be my deal when I have my first family. You know what I mean. Coaches don't want to deal with parents. These parents are are more My mom never questioned a coach one time.
You've told me that.
Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying. And all parents want to do is jockey for their kid. But what's it doing for the kid, Because when when the rubber reached the road with life, they're gonna be looking over their shoulders, you know what I'm saying, waiting, you know, for their Mohammed dad to say whatever they've been saying their whole life. Yeah, you're right, you should do it. Just in the same situation.
He is Sean Woods, the unforgettable Guard. We'll come back and shift over to basketball. We'll still talk about coaching and parents in just a minute. On the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Seawan Woods and forgettable Guard as Jersey hangs in the raptors of ugh new head coach at Scott County. Before the break,
you were talking about parents. If you could give advice to parents about in general, not just in a season or in a moment or whatever, how to handle their kids, how to help their kids without you know, complicating things with regard to their relationship with their coach. What would you tell parents.
I'll tell them to stay out of the way, you know, and enjoy the ride. If you want to do some extra with your kid, go do extra with your kid. You no question, Like, if you want to get some extra workouts in and things like that outside of their team deal, that's fine because that's what all these guys are doing. If you want to be a really good basketball player, then you got to do over and beyond to become a really really good basketball player. That's what
the elite are doing. Okay. Second of all, there's no way that your kid can thrive under any coach when you're going against the coach. Question everything that the coach is doing. How can you have success and how can that team have success? Because that kid is never going to flourish as much as he can in the environment that he's in if his mom and dad are always questioning what's going on, and.
Generally they're sitting in a crowd of other parents, and it kind of spreads, doesn't it.
And it spreads like wildfi, you know. And then and shame on the coach if he even allows that, Like if you bow down to one, they all got you. And you know, coaches now are because there's you know a lot of coaches that I know don't put up with that. But the ones that do and are passive, those are the ones that are not successful because you're never going to win when you always got to answer a question on why did you do this, why did
you do that? Why didn't my son get you know, x amount of shots or x amount of playing time? You know, a coach is hired to win games. That's what that ad is hiring him for, and that school is hiring him for sure, and you can't win at a high rate when you're answering the parents. And it starts, not it starts at the little league level. And all these parents now because they didn't make it, you know, they want to live through their kids. And half of
these parents didn't even play. And if they were players, you know, what I'm saying, they were just subpar or average.
But even if they were good, that doesn't mean their kids going to be as good as they were exactly.
You know what I'm saying. Your mom and dad didn't run up against a coach every time you did something good, bad, or different.
Plus, you've also got parents who believe at your level now at the high school level, and you were coach at the college level, that their kid's going to get a scholar someday and going to be my papers on college. And that's a great goal to which to aspire. But you know that doesn't mean you need to get in there and you know, move your kid from school to school trying to find the best situation or a coach is going to tell you what you.
Want to hear, right, you know. And you know coaches got to be careful, you know, when they do try to attract kids. You got to be up front. Yeah, you know, and just and sometimes you may lose a kid because the coach is only looking for I mean, a parent is only looking for a coach that's going to do just for their kid. And in the game of basketball, you got thirteen guys, know me, on the roster,
high school, college or whatever, and everybody don't get to play. Okay, be happy that, you know, because this nil deal and it's the shame and all these coaches are frustrated. Okay, you sign a kid and say he's got leverage. Okay, he wants one point five mini or he's getting two million, But is that guaranteeing him playing time?
Right?
You see what I'm saying. But he's making two million.
I've heard some coaches who have admitted privately that they feel the pressure to call a play for a certain guy because he hasn't touched the ball lately. And this guy is getting a lot of NIO money, and you know, we've got to justify spending this kind of money, so we got to get him the ball. That kind of stuff and more football than basketball. But that's that can be nothing but trouble. You know.
It's all this deal, all this stuff, this transfer portal, nil stuff. All that's done is taking the power and the leverage from coaches, okay, and it's putting it in these young people's hands. Okay, you were hired to run a multi million dollar company, which is your about your team, your football team, baseball team, basketball, team. Okay, and then you bring in these employees and you pay them high dollar, which are the kids the student athletes, all right, now
they get to run the slum. How does that tell me? How does that organization that with your five hundred company flourished right when they're when the prisoners or the employees are running the asylum. It doesn't. It's not going to happen.
Because you know that's in everyday worlds. Uh. If you've got a company like that, odds are the employee has no compete or a contract that doesn't allow them just to pick up and leave without doing anything, still taking the money and moving on. You know, that's what's crazy about about this this era that we're going through exactly.
So you know, I can't coach that way. I went to the Final four, like I told you, and every coach out there was miserable.
Yep.
Because they're miserable because they're losing kids that are rapper rate every year. That's one thing. You got to put build a team every year. That's that's frustrating, all right, And then you're paying kids money that you know what I'm saying. Everything is built on potential. So you recruit a kid, you prosperate a kid, blah blah blahlah blah. You know, and and and and where's the development come come into play? There is no that's not even thought
of anymore. So when you pay them this amount of money, even as a coach, you're you're expecting instant gratification, instant success because of the money that you're giving them. So now you're frustrated because they still have some growth to do, but they're making two million dollars and they're not ready to help you win a conference or a national championship.
And you have to be more as much a general manager as a manager. And that that's not what you signed up for either.
Is it. No. And you know, like coaches in the in the in the NBA, right most coaches don't have they can't even have their own staff. The general managers in the organization they hire the coaching staff. That's one thing, okay, you don't have leverage or two. It's a player driven deal, right okay. And only time you have good teams in the NBA is when you have a coach to stern
like a Papovich has been there a long time. You got a man at Miami because he's back by pat Riley, so you know, in prisident, I mean, I'll have Jimmy Butler's situation. Okay, you got Tom Thibodeau who coaches hard, and it's gonna coach, you know what I'm saying. But when a guy is late, not doing this and doing that, you can find them. You can knock their you know what I mean, because this is their livelihood now with
these kids, they never had anything. So if they're don't go to class, if they're late, they're showing a bad attitude. Faking an injury. I mean, you got kids faking injuries now, you know. So it's a lot more to do. That's why I think high school is my calling because I want to show and set an example of what parents it's supposed to be like. Because there's no way I can tolerate a parents trying to tell me what to do and how to do with their kids. I mean,
it's just hard to do, you know. I know. And you got and look at the teams that are the best teams. Rick Patino's not going for that. You know, you got my man that at Houston, he's not going for that. Samson, you know, you got Danny Hurley, He's not going for that, coach. Guys are going to continue to leave them because the phrase constructive criticism, it's almost like, uh uh, what I want to call it. He's verbally abusing me and it's just criticism. So we're in a different world, Dick.
What I'm saying coach here, I got to leave it here amount of time, but we'll pick it up next.
Okay, okay, okay.
All right, good talking to you, you two, buddy. Won't be long now before Seawan is working the sidelines as a new head coach at Scott County High School. That's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be on top of us before we know it. Coming up next, it's our West End Bureau Chief, Gary Moore. We're going to talk about of course it cany derby and college baseball, the pros, all that stuff as we
usually talk about with Gary. That's coming up next here on the Big Blue and Sider six thirty Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. It is Wednesday, meaning we look west. We cast our eyes westward down I sixty four to our West End Bureau Chief, Gary Moore, out the longest time was our West Coast Bureau chief and he joins us each and every week with a passel of topics.
Well a six packs worth anyway, right, two guys in a six pack? Yeah, first wig here Dick. I was out at the all gussied up Churchill Downs today for winds wins Wednesday, and there's gonna be a.
Good chance of showers tomorrow.
For Thirby.
It looks like fifty to fifty chants for the Oaks on Friday for some rain. And this from world class meteorologist Mark Weinberg over here WDRBTV YEP. And for Derby Day after the eighties this week, he says it looks like there's gonna be some lingering showers in the morning, maybe going into the afternoon, and a h I have only about sixty eight cool day on Saturday. As for my pick, I'm going to go with a three year old named after one of my two two college majors.
That would be course journalism, currently three to one odds and coming out of post number eight so far to cover my other major. Dick, I haven't seen a horse named keg Parties yet, but the week is still young, So who are you taking on Saturday.
Yeah, I like journalism. You know, you hate to go with a chalk because you like to try to make some money. So that's what the exotics are for sure. But ever since they began the points system, there are a lot of the horses that my little brother for years referred to as bums who didn't belong in the race. And we're just screwing things up for everybody else. But every once in a while one of them will jump up and win and pay a whole bunch of money.
But really the cream, it's a little bit easier for the cream to get to the top. Plus, I'm not a big post position guy, and we'll talk about that, I know, coming up. But that's a good one. Eight. That's a good one about.
Where you'd like to be. Yeah, it's kind of ourdeal, isn't it.
Our second swig of a jewlip involves racing and rock horse called Sandman coming out of the number seventeen post position has gotten quite a bit of love from the biggest rock band on the planet, Metallica, whose course biggest song ever is Enter Sandman. Now the band has sent their workers over there. Mark Cassie's I think is that
his workers got all sorts of Metallica T shirts. They posed with a great photo on Facebook not only has them in the shirts, but also there's that beautiful gray Sandman sticking his head out of the stable kind.
Of looking like, hey, what's up. I'm with these guys too.
In fact, I've posted that on X by the Way too at nine to five to five, Gary Sandman, is I guess Dick my other favorite?
Currently?
I guess to see last Check five to one. And I love all the winners of the Arkansas Derby's sentimental reasons. My only Derby ever went to an eighty one pleasant college one Arkansas Derby winner, so I always look at those horses. Now, if Metallica ever got into the racing biz, they got a whole bunch of other great song titles for horses. Hero of the Day, Seek and Destroy, my
favorite ride the Lightning. But you know, Sandman, I think that's the best use of that song since what we last saw the last Virginia Tech home game.
Right, seek and Destroy? What a great name that would that? Would that be great for a horse? And we talked a little bit about this last week. You know, it's it's a cool song, but when you go cover a game, as I have many times at South Carolina football and basketball, they play it NonStop. I mean, think of Rocky Top, only more obnoxious. At least Rocky Top. You know, there's a little bit of of you know, there's a there's a softer edge to that. Not Sandman, so the kind of ruins it for the class.
Our third one more Derby swig. Here our third swig. I mentioned post positions sad to say no horse has ever ever won from the seventeenth gate, So sorry Sandman, but.
Hey, why don't you be the first?
Maybe conventional wisdom says the ideal post that we said are probably right there in the middle, say five gate five up to fourteen or fifteen. But did you know since twenty twelve of the twenty five Derby winners have broken from gate thirteen or higher. Sure, and that includes remember you're talking about some crazy odds rich Strike three years ago age.
To one from gate twenty. Yeah, how crazy was that?
And conversely, only three horses have won from post one, two or three since Ferdinand one from the dreaded gate one in nineteen eighty six. Bloodhorse dot com gave me those fun factoids, so I feel a little bit better about, you know, journalism. Like we said coming in, coming out of the eighth eighth post. So how much does that affect you? I know it scares off some betters, but are are you? You said you're not really a post position guy for the most part.
I'm only a post position guy when it comes to number one. And that's where risen Star was and got crushed at the rail and finished. I think fifth maybe went on to win the Preakness in Belmont the way his daddy Secretariat did minus the one hole. I think he's a triple crown winner because there's so much traffic
and horses diving to the rail. Now, when you talk about those horses to the outside, remember now, for years and years and years and years, there weren't that many horses running in the Derby, and some years there were three or four. So yeah, you're not going to see that many horses from sixteen, seventeen, eighteen out there winning it.
And you're right about it, Rich Strike. What I always think back to Gary is got Odell sol with Arthur Hancock back in the early eighties and when Arthur heard that he had drawn I think it was eighteen with Gatto. He was so depressed. But then he said he called a friend of his who was a mathematician, and he said, if we don't race to the front and tuck in, how much ground do we lose before the first turn? Using the Pythagorean theorem, which we all learned in high
school or before. The guy said, I don't know about four feet, and Arthur said, he jumped to his feet, and yet we're back in the race. And that's exactly what goddo did right, And that's exactly how he ran and got a hole when he needed it down the stretch and won the derby. So breaking from the outside, unless you're a sprinter, I wouldn't worry about it. There's always a chance to run into problems anywhere. But if you're clean getting into the first turn and out of the first turn, you're okay.
Yeah, looking forward to it. Nonetheless, our fourth swig in the six pack, we turned to Major League Baseball in the news that Commissioner Rob Manfred is going to rule on a request to reinstate the late great Pete Rose from the league's ineligible list, which would make him eligible, of course, for the Hall of Fame.
It gets to that fat lot of good. Of course, that does repete.
As we've already said all this after Manford met with Trump two weeks ago, and Manfred has not said though, when he's going to issue that ruling. Although back on see January eighth, throws his family fouled a petition that we saw that would have Pete posthumously reinstated, still doesn't mean he gets into the Hall of Fame, given how many older Hall of famers still resent him. But of course it does mean that there would be a chance.
So I ask you, is this a good idea for any American president, no matter what party, to pop off on an athlete getting into the Hall of Fame? Or should they just keep their big powerful commander in chief yaps shut and let the leagues and players handle all of this stuff.
I say, the latter the president, no matter like you said, no matter who it is, doesn't belong in this conversation. And you and I have talked about this many times, and it wasn't until recently somebody sent me a copy of the letter that Rose sent to the Commissioner in what turned out to be the final months of his life, apologizing and admitting to everything. So why you can't take
him now is beyond me. But no, to answer your question directly, it's I always say it's rare that I want to see politicians getting involved in sports, and this is one instance where they have no business any any politician.
I agreed.
Bitswating and six pack college baseball over here yesterday, U of L, now number seventeen in the nation, beat up on poor EKU eleven to five. Talked about the Colonels this year. They are now eight and thirty seven, one and twenty one on the road. Dick, the Cards have won now three in a row. They're thirty one thirteen overall, and starting tomorrow night three up at unranked Notre Dame before they get number fourteen Vandy over.
Here next Tuesday.
However, as the Cards continue to go back up a little bit, my Hilltoppers fell completely out of the top twenty five after inexplicably losing all three in Miami to Florida International. Western's now number four, fourth in the Conference USA they play in and they're going to be playing third place LA Tech, and that's in Bowling Green this weekend. Thought the Toppers played well against the UK yesterday. Well, I had to after that lost weekend. Speaking of the Cats,
now they get three in Stark, Vegas. Mississippi State now under new management. So I ask you, you've seen this kind of thing play out before, whenever they change managers before the season's over.
Does that enter?
Do you think Mississippi State would be energized? But they could be kind of depressed about all this whole situation.
To be honest with you, I'm trying to remember the last time I heard of a baseball coach being fired. We see it all the time, don't we. In football? Sure, basketball at the college level. But I'm trying to remember the night last time. And remember, now, these kids were all recruited by him and his staff and this is the same guy who coached this team to a World Series championship in Omaha, yeah, four years ago. Yeah, so
it's really unusual. But standards being what they are at Mississippi State, they're they're incredibly high, not unlike basketball here at Kentucky. So I could see him being really scary. But I don't get it. I don't understand why you do that. Now. I can't imagine that that would affect your coaching search, you know, I don't get that, but you know, it's the way things are done in Starkville.
I guess sixth and final swig.
Last Saturday, I was down in Bowling Green, you know, my alma mater. We talked about that WKU Student Publication Centennial weekend. They honored one hundred years of the College Heights Herald newspaper and the Talisman yearbook. Of course, the Heralds produced numerous Pulitzer Prize winners, nominees Kentucky Journalism Hall
of Famers. It's a club you just joined, and even helped university a few years ago rid itself of a two year plague known as the Kerrent Alexander presidency in nineteen eighty eight when he was threatening to take over the College Heights Herald and put some advisors on it and check out everything they're going to be writing about.
They got rid of him.
And with all these attacks against the press anyway by billionaire owners and dictator want to be politicians, we know the stakes have never been any higher for journalism at every level, especially college and college sports, which of course is witnessing a revolution in all the sports with the portals and nil and payments in general to student athletes now, Dick, I told the guy who's coming in as the new sports editor there that look, those handing out the money
do not want you or me or anyone in public to know the details of the doe.
You asked the tough questions.
You dig for the truth, and if they get evasive with you, or they get pissed off at you, guess what.
You'll know you're doing your job.
That's true, and a tip of the cap to that journalism department over there. They have turned out really, like you said, really fine journalists. A lot of people on the electronics side, really talented, and I've worked with some folks who went to WKU, and I was happy that you got to go back and take part in that.
But yeah, people forget that if a journalist is doing his or her job properly, they're seeking the truth, which is what consumers need, especially I think sports fans, because you can get wrapped up in your team and wave the pennant and you know, hoist your foam finger. But you're paying a bill, so you have a right to know what the heck's going on. To a certain degree, you know, there are some points that need privacy, but
when it comes to the matters that raise your ticket prices. Yeah, you ought to get the truth.
And some money that you've dumped into NIL or whatever. Exactly no transparency there.
We will talk more about the NIL on the other side of the break. But Gary Mori is our west End bureau chiefs. Some hot reads are coming up here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Gary Moris, our west End bureau chief. He presents two guys in a six pack each week and in return we volley with a couple of hot reads for Gary. I thought
this Gary was really interesting. The attorney who defended Nico Iamalaieva his NIL agreement while that kid was at Tennessee now is basically I don't know, say he's crossing the street, but he's playing for the other side now because he's going to help the University of Arkansas go after the Iamalaieva family. When Madden decided he wanted to transfer as well. Arkansas is trying to protect itself and protect the money that this kid had taken. So now they've hired this
guy who's a bit of an expert. He has Tom Mars. He's attempting to enforce the biot clause against Madden Gary for two hundred grand, which seems like a small amount. But my question to you is do you believe neither one of us is a legal scholar yet? But could this kind of lay the groundwork for every other school out there that feels like they've been done in by transfers who come and then leave immediately. I think so.
I would love to see this as being starting to be one of the pathways to something like this to happening.
Because it's already.
Look at the schools that started the whole nil thing and a lot of people started following what they were doing. And again, there's so much non transparency in all of this stuff. We don't know if he was supposed to pay it or he just took it, or he was going to pay it. There's so many questions with this that we'd love to get answers. I'm sure people in Arkansas would love to get the answers too to exactly what is going on with this? Yeah, okay, two hundred
thousand dollars. Yeah, if you get that back, great, But did he already take it? I mean, is it gone for good? Was he entitled to it? What's the story and all of that stuff. Well, he probably knows where the bodies are buried on something like that. Haven't worked on the other side of it.
Yeah, you know, And how is the agreement written. It's all about what's on paper exactly. So I guess they'll be challenging from that end. But if it does work, first of all, this guy Mars is going to get all kinds of work just way. Hey, hey, we need a little help over here, you know. So he knows both sides of it inside out. So this is going to be fascinating.
I love the story.
I love I love how they were being comparing the two brothers to Frank and Jesse James. Yes, in terms of Robin, these schools blind that beautiful exactly, keeping in mind keeping an eye on the NIL A lot of people, of course, it wasn't too hard to figure out.
So and so could stay in school because the NBA money is slotted and make more potentially or nearly as much through the NIL because as we all know, kids had been leaving early because they want to get I don't blame them, wanted to get their NBA clock started and get to that second year the bigger contract. But per the NBA Gary. Only one hundred and six players
entered the twenty twenty five NBA Draft. That is the lowest number of early entrance since twenty fifteen, and the peak was in twenty twenty one when three hundred and sixty three hundred, just before the nil era officially started. So, now, does this mean that the level of play, the quality of play in college basketball is going to be as good as we've seen it in the last five years?
I really think so. And if you look at where some of these guys think they're going to go, if they're going to go in the drafts and do a G league thing where they might make six hundred thousand most versus a million in college or more. And that's money in the G league, and maybe it's not all guaranteed either. So you got a chance to a improve your game, make more money, even get a degree.
What a concept.
Yeah, And I think that they've learned a valuable lesson, haven't they, Because there are guys who put their name in and then out, okay, but some who stubbornly left their name in there with an inflated sense of self and then they end up in the G League making pretty good dough for you and me, but not what they expected. Or they're off to Europe where you can make money depending on what team, what league, what country. But mom and Dad can't see you play, and.
I never heard from again exactly.
And a lot of those teams overseas. I've been told by former Kentucky players who played for good teams and not so upright upstanding teams it can be difficult to get your money, especially if you get hurt.
Right, So you and I have heard this for years with the Calipari teams. I'm so tired of this one and done stuff. I here's another bunch of uk Okay, Well, now the guys are going to stay in school potentially a lot longer. They may be they may still be one and done with you and then go to another school, but they're going to stay in longer, which is good I think for everybody.
If somebody put it in underrated positive impact, right of nil. We kind of saw this coming, but now it's real. He is Gary Moore. He is our west ham b area chief. We visit with him each and every Wednesday, and we also find him at.
Oh I'm loitering at nine to five to five.
Gary on X where are you.
I'm a big one sider one see you next week, Happy Derby, say at you buddy and that'll do it for now. Thanks to Gary, thanks to Sean Woods and hearing Gershwan. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.
I like to ask a few questions about this breakfast cereal. I yeah, yeah, A box of tricks.
That's right.
I've been led to understand the tricks are exclusively for children.
Is that correct?
Well, I mean they say tricks are for kids in the commercials.
And there's that enforced by law not to my knowledge. No, then.
Anything any such such stake tapping the show can do anything. Then chat change tact.
And I think.
Back from tat
Don't do