Uh.
Oh, guess what day it is. Guess what day it is?
Huh anybody, it's humpy.
Yes, it is hump Day Wednesday. Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriell with you, and you know what, this is our final full show of the week. Whether permitting, the next two nights, we're gonna have Kentucky baseball, as the Wildcats played down in Nashville against Vanderbilt. This is the time of year when every team plays a Thursday
through Saturday series. Everybody, I think plays one during the regular season prior to this week just for TV purposes, but at this time of year, every SEC team plays Thursday through Saturday. In advance of the SEC tournament. Someone has to give teams, just about every team a day off the rest prepare, get your pitching ready. But also if there's rain involved, you don't want to bump into the following week because you got the tournament coming up.
And this year begins on Tuesday. Down in Hoover, Wildcats would play South Carolina. If they played today, Kentucky would be the ten seeds, South Carolina the fifteen, but Wildcats can move up. They could possibly get a first round by it would take some doing. They'd have to win at least two games from Vanderbilt and get some help other teams losing. That is so right now it looks like Kentucky will play South Carolina. Wildcats beat the game
Cocks two out of three earlier this year. That would happen next Tuesday, but first a three game series with Vanderbilt that begins tomorrow night. The games on Thursday and Friday are at seven o'clock. You'll hear the pregame right here with Darren at six forty five on six point thirty WLAP. Wildcats win. Last night they beat Northern Kentucky. They were up three to nothing going into the eighth inning.
Northern scored a run an interesting three to one. Kentucky immediately answered with three runs of its own to sock the game away and win their final home game of the year, knocking off the Norse. Sorry, Mark Berger, they noursed up, they played well, but it was Kentucky winning it, and the Wildcats now with more momentum.
They won four.
Straight following that weekend series sweep of Oklahoma. Rank thirteenth or fourteenth, depending on the pole you favor. This past weekend so Kentucky apparently has got some things figured out. Wildcats still trying to make things work after some injuries rob them of important players and pitchers. But right now they're playing their best baseball when they need to the most. So it looks like even though they have been listed as one of the last four teams in, they should
be in pretty good shape. I gotta think win one and you're fine down in Nashville. Try to avoid that sweep to take everything away from or not everything, but solidify things, let's say, in the eyes of the selections committee. But it looks like they're okay right now. Biggest news of the day yesterday, of course, nationally. This hit late in the afternoon as we were arriving at the ballpark.
So yeah, Doug and Darren and I spent a lot of time chatting about this as Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred hands down a ruling stating that any former player who has deceased now is off the list that kept them out of consideration for the Hall of Fame. In other words, Pete Rose, Shueless, Joe Jackson, all these players who might have been ineligible for the Hall of Fame now eligible. The way that works is the writers who vote them in. They're not the ones who declared
Pete Rose ineligible. He was ineligible because he was on the Baseball the MLB list that said he was not in good standing.
With Major League Baseball and.
That meant he was ineligible for voting into the Hall of Fame. Well now he is. And I talked about this a while back. Right after Pete died, somebody shared with me I had not seen this, and it didn't get a lot of media play that Rose wrote a letter.
And you know, I got to think he.
Knew he was in poor health, he was ailing. He sent a letter to the commissioner about eight months before he died, admitting to and apologizing for everything. And according to my buddy Doug Flynn, who was buddies with Doug, Doug introduced, or rather Pete introduced Doug to his wife.
That's how close they were. Pete broke the news to Doug that Doug was traded to the Mets, but Doug and Johnny Bench and others held out for years saying Pete does not deserve to go in the Hall of Fame because he never apologized for lying to his teammates much less the fans, much less MLB. Once he did that, I felt like he had paid enough penance time to vote him into the Hall of Fame. Doug has been public now saying he didn't about face because baseball now
is involved with the legalized gambling. I maintain that that should have nothing to do with it, because still, even though they're in bed with fan duels, DraftKings, all that, players are still not to bet. That's rule number one, and they know it. They cannot be involved. And if you think it's hypocritical, that's fine, but I do not. You don't want the athletes involved in the games to be involved with gambling. It's the same reason jockeys and trainers are not supposed to bet on horse races.
Do they do it?
Sure, they do through other people, but if they're caught, they pay a steep price. Literally, Pete Rose got caught and he paid the price. Thumbed his nose at Baseball's number one rule. And if you think it's silly, we'll think about it whatever game you're watching. If you're watching a basketball game and the best player on your team is sticking it up, and you have every right to say to yourself, well, he's probably throwing this game because he has a few thousand dollars on it and nothing's
gonna happen to him. Coach can't really bench him, at least maybe down the stretch he can. But that's why those rules are in place. So once Rose apologized to everybody and admitted to what he did, I felt like he deserved to be voted in. And by the way, I think they need to take another look at how they vote these guys in because some of these writers who refused to take the greatest players in the game, guys who didn't vote Hank Aaron on the first ballot,
you know, Babe Ruth on the first ballot. They need to turn in their ballots just to dig in and say, well, guys don't deserve it in the first ballot. Yes they do, some do, Clemente. Some do, not everybody, but some do. And now with Rose eligible and shoeless Joe Jackson in it never should have been banned in the first place. He was duped into a confession putting his mark on a piece of paper he couldn't even read. They need to take a look at all of this, redo it
and clean things up up. Next more comments from Mark Pope. Little later Aaron Gershano the catch pause on six point thirty wlap.
Welcome back to the.
Big Bloonsider coming up in just a couple of minutes herein Gershawna the Cat's Pause, and then Sean Woods, our Unforgettable Guard, joins us every Wednesday, as does our West End Bureau chief Gary Moore. That's all coming up in our number two. As I mentioned earlier, Mark Pope talking to us on Tuesday yesterday, and as I said yesterday, you're gonna hear practically everything Mark Pope had to say
throughout the next several days. I'm sure it's all online somewhere, but those of us in the media, we like to feed off of this like it's a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey that you carve up the day you get it on the holiday, and then you feed off of it for the.
Next few days. So we'll be doing that as well.
And you know, we played some of the comments yesterday, but one of the comments that got a lot of traction that I mentioned we would use today was about Travis Perry. Somebody asked him, of course, about the young man from Lyon County transferring and it caught a lot of us off guard, including Mark Pope. I don't know if that surprised you or not. It did surprise me. And a friend of mine said, well, you know, yeah, he signs him and then he recruits over him. Well, basically, Perry,
as you know it committed to play under Caliperi. And as I pointed out to my friend, I said, everybody recruits over everybody.
Mark Stoops talked about this in a press conference one day.
He said, and he was not speaking about anybody specifically, but he said, when he signs a young man, he said, you know, we need you, We were glad to have you. Now I'm going to go try to recruit somebody better than you. That's how you improve your program. You recruit over people. And if the guy you just signed or the woman you just signed is good enough and you keep trying to recruit over them, they're not going to let you bench them or recruit somebody better.
They're gonna work hard to hold on to their spot.
That's how you build depth, that's how you build quality programs. And keep this in mind now, and I'm not trying to defend Mark Pope or criticize Travis Perry or whatever. But when Perry signed with Kentucky, it is someone who's close to the family told me it was made clear to him. You know, if you really don't want to come, that's fine with us. This is when Calipari was here.
Think about the guys, including Boogie Flann, who had agreed to come to Kentucky, all those kids who ended up at Arkansas, some of them did, and the kids who already here. Travis Perry knew this. He just wanted to be here. He wanted to be a wildcat. And I submit to you he had a better chance of playing more minutes at Kentucky under Mark Pope than he did
under John Caliperi for two reasons. Number one, I think cali Peri had more of the upscale, flashy NBA ready talent, you know, potential one and done's or two and duns at Kentucky than Mark Pope.
Had in the roster he was building.
And I do believe that the Pope method, the Pope's system, is better for a guy like Perry, simply because Pope goes deeper into his bench and it drove a lot of unuts this last year.
You know, why is he subbing.
Now they're playing well, you know, and Pope explained it more than once they sub a little earlier. They don't leave player combinations out there as long as some of their coaches might because they want the first rotation guys fresher at the end of the game. So he's not going to pare his rotations down to eight maybe nine. He's gonna keep playing. They ask him, you know, who's gonna play how much? He said, I want to play everybody, And for the most part he does, maybe not throughout
the entire game. Now, yeah, Perry's time dropped off as Colin Chandler's time picked up. But that's all part of it, and I'm really curious to see what kind of minutes Travis Perry earns at Old Miss. But again, Mark Pope with some pointed comments about Travis Perry when somebody asked him about the young man leaving.
I was devastated when Travis left. I think he's a you know, mostly because I think he's such a terrific young man. I think he's a really really special person. I think he's I think he's he's got an old soul and he's he's full of wisdom, and he is he's just is everything that you want in a in, a in a young man and a player. And then
he's a big time basketball player. He's a great talent and and and you know, I think it was it was certainly devastating to me personally because I enjoy coaching him so much, and I think, you think he's got a brilliant upside. I think he was on his way to becoming a legend here at Kentucky. So so you know that that made me sad. But you know, he's he's he's he's to find a path that works for him and it's gonna it's gonna be positive. But you know, that was a tough one for us.
Yesterday I played the comment when I asked Pope about what it means to play at Kentucky. Where is that on the punch list when you're recruiting a guy through the portal or through conventional means out of high school.
And he talked about the fact that it's got to be at the top of the list and at the bottom of the list, in other words, you start and finished with that, and toward the tail end of those comments, he added something about understanding what it's like to play at Kentucky and really how important it is to appreciate that and what it could mean to you later in life.
Understanding having some concept of what Kentucky basketball means is a vital part from the very first phone call to the very last pre commitment conversation. And and there are a lot of guys that that don't really get that, and they're they're going to go be great basketball players, they just won't be great basketball players here because this
place is different. And you need to understand that if you want to come play here, not if you want to come player, if you're going to accept the incredible opportunity to come player, you have to understand that. If you don't understand, you're just not going to be successful. If you do understand it, you're going to be crazy successful. And our guys last season set a beautiful, brilliant standard of of what it means to be a Kentucky basketball player.
And we actually are leaning on them a lot as we try and describe this. Their video, their outtakes, their clips, their comments, just to help guys understand it's really important.
I asked about the guys from last year.
That's how I prefaced a question because when we started talking to those guys in August, they allowed us to talk to all the newbies. There are so many requests, and they were genuinely so appreciative of being in election. And they talked in August about what was like already to be recognized on the street at restaurants and the mall things like that, to be a part of UK basketball.
It's an appreciation they had having been at other schools, some of them multiple schools, but wherever they had been it did not compare. You know, they had been kind of celebrities on campus or whatever, but nothing like it is here. And you know what I'm talking about being a Kentucky basketball player, being a basketball player in Lexington,
in central Kentucky. It's just different. I don't want to say it just means more, but it does, you know, like being a football player at some of the football schools, but even more intense because there are what you know, eighty five to one hundred football players. There's only thirteen to fifteen UK basketball players. And these guys having been elsewhere, it's all relative. Now, what was it like to be a basketball player at West Virginia or Arizona or Wake Forest, whatever. Now,
what's it like to be in Kentucky. You got kids coming in, one guy from Alabama, a Final four program. You've got a guy coming in from Florida, national champion. But he wanted to experience what it's like to be here, and he will do that, So that's going to be interesting. There was another question about nil, and there are so many figures thrown around, and you know this program spending
this much that much. Mark Pope hung firmly in cheek, said Kentucky's NIL figure will be two hundred million dollars, and we all laughed at that, but he didn't shy away from wanting it to be the fattest number that's out there.
We would like to win it everything, guys, like we really would with this the flagship program in the country, and so I'm fully on board with all of it. We want to play the hardest schedule, we want to play the best teams. We want to win the most games. We want to have the best players. We want to have the highest and I all went out the coolest uniforms. We want to have the most media attention, like this is Kentucky, and and and We're gonna do this the
very best we can. And we were blessed. We're really blessed UH to have President Capluto and Mitch Barnhardt and and some of the most committed generous UH fans and donors and and supporters UH in all of college basketball. We we we have the best donors in college basketball. We have the best fans in college basketball. This is the University of Kentucky, Like I never forget that. So we should be the best at everything. And and and I put anil put the transfer portal on the list.
Our job is to go be the best at everything. So we're not shying away from that, like it's it's important to us there.
That is if you've ever wondered, is Kentucky fully committed when it comes to giving this guy what he needs. He's not gonna sit still, right So, I don't know what the exact figure will be, but I don't think they're gonna lack for anything. Coming up next, Aaron Gershan of the Cats balls later on Sean Woods, the Unforgettable
Guard and Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore. That's coming up on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big binsider Joining us now is Aaron Gershawan from the Cats Bops covers football, cats, baseball, football, basketball, you name it, he covers it. And he is working long distance visiting mom down in Florida. But one can do that these days, Aeron, thanks to the innerweb. And you were dialed into Mark Pope's comments yesterday. And as I said, and you were on,
we're talking off the air. We'll feed off these comments for a week or so or more. All of US media types and Big Boe Nation anything in particular, jump off the podium at you.
No, nothing crazy, I mean nothing. I wasn't expecting. I thought, I'll tell you. I guess two things. I guess that probably are different than most coaches. One, I never heard a coach speak as candidly about a kid transferring out unless it was something really bad, as he did with Travis Perry, so I definitely wasn't expecting him to go into that much detail there. But and the other one, I think I think the quote of the day at least that got the fan base fired up was well.
First of all, Admide the joke when he was asked how much he thinks his roster value is he's a two hundred billions. That's pretty pretty darn funny. But you know the quote saying, you know, we want to be the best at everything. We want to have the highest anil, we want to have the best transfers, We're going to have the best players, best play, the best teams, all that good stuff. So you know that competitiveness that firing us. I mean, Hope obviously is pretty goofy in these press
conferences he comes up. You know, he's very charming, he's very you know, witty and all those things, but you know there's that competitive You see it.
After they lose.
I mean that he just he's a whole different person after they lose games. But he is a hell of a competitor. I think sometimes that gets I wouldn't say unnoticed, but I think gets overlooked maybe from more of the national perspective or more within the SEC just because of kind of with the personality he is and how outgoing, you know, charismatic and all that good stuff about him is. But man, is that guy competitive. And you could kind of see the fire in his eyes as he was
saying that. So those are kind of the too close to stuck out nothing else that was all that earth chattering. Just good to hear him talk about some of the guys that he obviously hasn't been able to talk about yet now that they're signpen to paper.
Yeah.
I thought the comments about Perry were really interesting as well, and he followed that up with comments about Trentonoah. You could tell how much he really appreciates him. And again I think I was talking about this earlier in the show. People need to remember that Travis Perry committed and signed under Cali Perry. And my theory is, let me see
what you have to say about this. I said that he stood to benefit more in the Mark Pope's system then Cali Perry, given the type the style of players that Cali Perry had, you know, the future lottery picks.
All that stuff, whereas Pope goes deeper into his bench. And I really believe it.
Once Perry got bigger and stronger, Yeah, he was going to knock his ads with Colin Chandler some other guys in the back coourd. But I felt like he would have been better off now. He might even be better off at Ole Miss, But in terms of what he might have done at Kentucky under Calipari versus what he did under Pope. I thought he was in pretty.
Good shape, no question.
Yeah I don't think. Look, Caliperry didn't recruit him all that hard. It was kind of a situation where this is where he dreamed of playing, and cal accepted the commitment,
and that was kind of that process there this. You know, obviously Pope didn't recruit Travis Berry at high school and only you know, kind of recruited him quickly on the fly there as he took the job, probably watched a little bit of tape early, but you know, didn't obviously didn't know his game as well throughout the recruitment process
until you know, he got to Kentucky. And of course you look at what Travis Perry brings to the court as a shooter, and you know his ability on the offensive, then he absolutely is a better fit in Pope's system than he ever would have been in Cals. And that's why he saw Arkansas never really got involved in the transfer portal process, but it just look, it's a tough situation right where the SEC is better than it's ever been. Travis Perry at this point in his career six one
one hundred and seventy five pounds. He's not his body's not quite sec ready yet. It wasn't going to probably be ready yet for this coming year, and you know, he got recruited over and you know, obviously Colin Chandler by the end of the year passed him on the
depth chart and kind of took his minutes away. But you also bring in Denzel Aberdeen who plays the same exact convo guard position and is coming off a national championship as their six man, and you know he's gonna he's gonna devand a lot of playing time, and you're bringing Jalen low Is the starting point guard. Like there's just there was a log gem there and Perry saw
that didn't see the pass of playing time. Really, I think he probably honestly would have had a smaller role next year than he did this past year, and that's discouraging in this day and age. And you know, he definitely,
definitely it's a Parry's credit. He was very thorough with his process because he didn't enter the portal till the very last day to do so, so he took it to the wire and decided that was the best thing for him and I think in the immediate it is the best thing for him, because again I'm not sure about that body being SEC ready yet. We'll see what he what he's able to do over the off season. But you know, on this just they had a need. You go look at their depth chart and there's a
task for playing time for him right away. He could be you know, I don't think he's gonna be a staughter, but I think he's going to play be He's kind of between six and eight in their rotation. We're here probably twalse man, and we all know that you know, at Max they're going to have it's going to be an eleven man rotation once we get to SEC play, and he was probably one of the odd men out.
You brought up something else that I had also touched on earlier in the show, and that is the notion that he was recruited over and I think you were uncertain in the room some months ago when Mark Stoops was talking about recruiting and just in general, he talked about the fact that essentially whenever he signed somebody, it was yep, welcome to the.
Family, glad to have you.
Now I'm going to go try to recruit somebody better than you are, because that's how you build depth. That's how you build a quality team. Now it's a bit more intensified when it's basketball, but you can't really play a pad hand, can you.
No, you have no choice.
If you don't get better, you're getting worse.
I mean, it is what it is.
If you say the same, you're getting worse. And last year, Kentucky's biggest issue, you know, was a lack of athleticism. And you know, Perry, I'm not going to say it was part of the issue. He just fit kind of that mold of they needed to add some more athletic guys than him on the roster point play and Denzel Aberdeen fits that, Jayalen.
Lowe fits that.
Obviously, the guys they added like Cam Williams, Jayden Quaintons and Modia Basse had other positions fit that. And you know that that was the biggest kicker that kept them from being on Alabama's level. I know they beat Florida, but obviously they weren't on Florida's level the whole season they were. We saw what happened when they played Auburn. They just got man handled. Like those games were decided because Kentucky did not have the athleticism they needed to compete.
Those teams were full of freak athletes one through five at each position, and that was clearly I know, I think out of respect to those guys, because obviously they were a very talented group and did an outstanding job getting to the Sweet sixteen and year one with that
kind of ragtag team. But you know, Pope didn't say necessarily yesterday he has to get more athletic, but his actions, his actions with recruiting showed that he knew they needed to and he brought in some freak athletes, and you know, unfortunately Perry is not that at this time in his career.
I was really interested and fascinated by Pope's comments about
Diabate coming in from Alabama Aberdeen from Florida. These are two guys who were at programs that were excelling and as you just pointed out, arguably a notch ahead right now, just in the immediate of Kentucky, with Alabama being a team everybody loved last year to go back to the Final four, did not, and of course we all know what Florida did, and yet these two guys were principal players on those teams literally, and now they come to Kentucky.
That fascinates me. And I loved Pope's comments about those guys.
Didn't you Absolutely yeah, I mean they know the league, like you said, they know what it takes from a physicality standpoint. They just the venues like nothing's going.
To rattle them.
And now they come here and it's a whole different experience to play in this uniform of course and play at home, but you know, once you get on the court, you're gonna you're gonna feel pretty comfortable. They've been there, done that, and you know, both of them obviously, Aberdeen's a senior, via Bati is a junior. Like there's not
a venue that haven't played in. There's gonna be really outside of just having this experience, which is, you know, not a light thing, but uh, there's not much un known here, like these are pretty much an own commodities.
And that's great.
I mean last year, yeah, you definitely you knew what you were getting in the mont Butler, you knew Kobe Berry was an elite shooter, but you know, those guys were coming from the Mountain West and a ten and it's just different and luckily, you know, those guys worked out. But these guys you just feel are pretty darn safe too, and hopefully they even get better because both of them, you know, the reason both of them transferred is they
wanted to play more too. Like Diabate was off the bench there and there were some games he hardly played for whatever reason or not. Benzel Aberdeen was the sixth man at Florida last year, they go and recruit over him at point guard with Xavier Lee from from Princeton, and it sure seems they were working on getting a second guard in there as well as now we see Boogie Slam pulls his name for the draft and all
the all the talkers Florida. So it's just, you know, it was a situation where both those guys were really good at their last offs and they want to even make a bigger impact at Kentucky, and they're both going to get that chance. I mean, I'm not sure exactly how the starting lineup's gonna it's too early to say, but both those guys are gonna if not, if they're not going to be in it, they're gonna have a
really good shot to make it. And if not, they're both probably in line to be in that sixth man role, so you know, there it made sense for both of those guys. I think the chancefer when you dig deeper into it. But it also uh definitely a benefit for Kentucky that they decided to and decide to come.
Aaron Gershean of the Cats pauses. My guess we'll come back and talk more with Aaron about Kentucky basketball. On the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're chatting with Aaron Gershaan of the Cat's. Pause covers the basketball Cats, well football, baseball, basketball, but we're talking about Mark Pope's comments from yesterday and how some of these moves in the SEC are going to affect.
Teams around the conference.
You mentioned Boogie Flann prior to the break, and you and I have talked a lot of people, really have about the fact that boy Arkansas makes that run last year under Calipari and frankly should have gone deeper but in the NCAA tournament.
But I truly.
Believe in a backhanded way, and it seemed evident that Arkansas benefited when Boogie Flann was sidelined with an injury and looked like it was going to be the rest of the year because it just looked like the old school, bad old days at Kentucky where one guy dominated the ball, the ball stuck, as he used to say, and they give the ball to Boogie, tremendous player.
And everybody hung back and waited for him.
To do something great, you know, and then he goes down and suddenly the rest of the teams involved in Hey, what do you know?
They're pretty good.
But when he came back, Aaron I thought everything assimilated much better with flann Now I'm curious to see how he affects Florida if indeed that's where he ends up.
What do you see.
Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting because again they brought in one of the top point guards in the transfer portal, Nxavian Lee from Princeton, and another guy that you know was testing the NBA waters and completely took his name out to be there. So it'll be interesting it is Boogie or was one of them moving to the two full time to kind of get rid of that problem.
But you know one thing about Florida, uh with Todd Golden, is we know that if any if any coach in the country last year proved they can handle having a logjam at the guard position and making it work, it was Todd Golden in Florida. I mean they had obviously Walter Clayton, but then Elijah Martin coming over from Fau Guy Ben in the final four, been there, done that and makes a major impact there. And then you know, Will Riley not too bad either to have. That's another
guard in that back court. Oh yeah, they Denzel Aberdeen coming off the bench. So you know, I trust if it is Florida, that Golden's probably gonna make it work a little better than cal did. I mean, obviously, you know, again in a backhanded way, Arkinson proved. I think the biggest thing for them at what it allowed them to do is it allowed Janelle Davis to just be himself, Like let him get the ball. I mean I watched
him a time, my brother having gone FA. You just let him get the ball in ice those situations and beat his man either off the dribbler from thirty and that you saw he was a whole different player the rest of the year. And he was big John L. Daves they paid for. But yeah, it's gonna be interesting if it is Florida. Obviously Arkansas at this point the way their roster set up, he doesn't really fit with d J. Wagner coming back, bringing in Darius Aekoff, who's one of the top freshman point guard.
That's not the.
Top freshman point guard on the market this past year, So that's it's Look, if it's Florida, it's just you know, the national champions reloading. I think Todd Golden will make it work.
Wow, that would be something to see if they can make it again. Back to back at Florida a few minutes level of Aaron Gershan of the Cats. Pause back to the Mark Pope comments. Interesting up and down the line. It's very entertaining. Obviously he's just fun to listen to, as you know. But the comments he made about the improvements that his players make from year one to year two, I thought you kind.
Of knew that was coming.
But the way he of course, he's so exuberant about everything, but really when you look at and you think about his system, and it truly is a system, and it took them a while to figure it out, but once they did, I thought Kentucky really moved up nationally, especially with defense, but I'm really curious to see how that all shakes at, you know what I.
Mean, yeah, And I think, you know, the biggest thing he touched on with that is the decision making stuff, and I agree. I mean, you should be able to know where guys are at, have a better field where guys are at, you should have a better feel of what defense, how defenses are going to guard this system.
And there's no question I agree with it, and i'd actually, you know, he kind of talked about the same thing when he was on with John Rothstein a couple of weeks ago, and I went it's on our website now and went through some of the guys at BYU and Utah Valley who had second years in the system and made the biggest jumps, and you know, they're definitely a couple that jump off the page. But really the biggest
number tick you see. I mean, yeah, there's some guys who averaged three more points per game or averaged another
assist the game. Some of that's minute related, some of that's improvement, but the biggest thing you see actually is the shooting percentages all go up, and I think, yeah, I'm fun of them, especially you know, not just on three, been on twos as well, And I think the biggest thing with that is, again, you kind of have an idea of what defenses are going to give you, and you can kind of go into the offseason and train from certain spots, train certain situations, and have a better
feel of things. And obviously you know, defensive adapt and you know both. I mean, yeah, they were in the Big twelve for one year, but they didn't really get to prepare. They didn't really necessarily know exactly what was coming at them. But you know, so they were in the whack and they were in the WCC, so it's different. But that was interesting to me that the shooting percentage is all one up, whether that's mechanical stuff, whether that's.
Knowing the defenses.
I'm curious to see how that translates for the four guys, likely for guys that they have coming back.
I've got to think as well, that so much of that is learning that system, learning those backcuts, learning that interior passing that leads to the high percentage shots. Now you can't say that about three pointers, but Kentucky last year got more and more comfortable with that offense. And of course there's so much of that was Amari Williams making good. Some of that was Brandon Garrison down the stretch. So that's gonna be fascinating, isn't it.
It is going to be fascinating, And you know it's gonna be really interesting to see the jumps Brandon Garrison make. Specifically, he's a guy they're going to be really counting on because you know, it's we talked about it every week and we're going to be talking about it every week till the season. But like James Quainton's is a big question mark, Like I'm just not counting on a kid who had an ACL repair surgery at the end of March to be ready for November fourth or whatever.
Opening night is going to be.
So Brandon Garrison, you know that's going to be your center because Malachi Mareno is still you know, it's going to be a true freshman. You can't necessarily count on that. And you know this Reese Potter kids probably not going to play much at all. So it's it's gonna be Ben Garrison at the five uh, and then you know, doing some small ball stuff with Diabat. So assuming Quinton
isn't ready, we'll see if he is. But so my point being, and they're going to really need Garrison to make that jump from here one to year or two and show that he was able to do it quickly out of the gates, because the schedule is pretty unforgiving because now without set up within the first four or five games of the season, depending on how they schedule some of these, you know, by games, you're gonna have Louisville on November eleventh, and you're gonna have Michigan State
on November eighteenth, two teams that are probably gonna be preseason top ten.
Yeah. Yeah.
One thing we know about Malachi areno any of us who's covered any of his games up to and including a state championship game.
He is a willing passer.
He is one of the most unselfish kids in word and indeed than I've ever covered. So, uh, you know, it's just going to be sure learning the system issues not gonna be as he willing to give it up.
He's always definitely be willing.
Yeah, he's always thinking about his teammates first, almost to a So that's going to be interesting as well.
Uh.
Okay, as I let you go, I told you beforehand, I couldn't remember what it was. I have remembered what I was gonna ask you about your New York Football Giants had the toughest upcoming schedule in the NFL that it was like a dagger to your heart when you saw that.
Yes, but it's like you come in last, so you should be awarded as such. But you know, you go look, obviously you play the FC West. Okay, so you know you're playing. And by the way, the schedule leak their first four games as of right now, assuming it's accurate, at Washington at Dallas Sunday, I had football against the Chiefs, happy home opener, and then the Chargers at home, so unforgiving.
But yeah, they played the FC West. They play I believe the NFC North, right yet so the Packers, obviously, the Vikings, the Lions there are even improved, at least should be. We'll see and then you know it's like, okay, well that's brutal. You're already playing in the NFC.
That's brutal.
Ye, at least we'll get to play some last place teams. Oh wait, San Francisco came in last last year. You got to play them. It's like unbelievable. So really, you know, the only three games I feel super, I wouldn't even say super, but the only three games you feel confident in New Orleans with their quarterback situation, New England still up and coming, and then you know Vegas maybe, but well, yeah, it's unfortunate. It's kind of it's almost similar to Kentucky.
And to tie it back home here for a second, like I think the Giants roster is a lot improved, and I think Kentucky's football's rosters actually improved. The schedules are just like what are you gonna do? It's like you just hope for the best.
Well, speaking of Kentucky, they do have Wandale up there and they have Drew Phillips, so I do maybe those guys can help.
Aaron Gersheino the cash Foss.
Follow him on Twitter at a Gershawan ninety nine. Thank you, enjoyed the rest of your time down in Florida.
Appreciate it.
Up next our.
Number two with Shawn Woods, the Unforgettable Guard and West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on six thirty.
Set tact then can anything to anything?
Then welcome back to join now by our Unforgettable guard Sean Woods. He joins us each and every week. Of course it's Jersey hangs in the rafters of up now the head coach at Scott County High School, a longtime college coach, I wanted Sean to run something by you. We all heard Mark Pope talk yesterday about a number of topics, and you and I have talked about Travis Perry in the past, and Pope talked about how he was really devastated he said when Travis left, and a friend.
Of mine said, well, he shouldn't have recruited over him.
But as a guy who now you're going to be working with kids who are being recruited. You were recruited as a player, You were a recruiter as a college coach, both assistant and head coach. Isn't it incumbent upon coaches to try to recruit over kids? I believe to build death.
Isn't that the way it works, no doubt about it.
You know, and the way the transport portal is right now, you know a lot of guys you know you needed. You know, this is Kentucky. So you want to recruit the best high.
School players in the country.
When you have a chance to get them, But not only that, you must, as you can see, need some older guys to go along with that young talent because of the experience and so on and so forth. And that's what Mark had to do. You had to go get a seasoned veteran at the point guard spot when he got the low kid to compensate for you know,
the youth. But also you got to remember too, he was put in the position where injuries kind of plagued the growth and the success of their team, so he wanted to make sure that that didn't happen again.
Awesome Is it tougher now?
Do you think for college coaches to build rosters? I know, the portal can be instant help and you've got a better idea of what a kid's all about, perhaps after a year or two somewhere else.
But man, the competition for portal players is fierce, no doubt about it.
And strategically you have to, you know, get what fits you. Like I told you before, you know, when you in that transfer portal, you know you need experience, but not only that, you need somebody who fishes what you do. And for me, if I was in that situation, first, I'm recruiting I'm trying to get a kid out of the transfer portal that comes from a winning situation first and foremost, so he knows that he's.
Coming in and he's used to a winning environment.
And then the second thing is, you know what he did last year, like he struck lighting in the bottle. You got to get great character kids, you know, because everybody's coached different. You know the reason why they're leaving. Sometimes it's not just the money. Maybe they didn't get along with the coach. Maybe they're hard to deal with this player. So you know, a lot of these kids now they feel like they.
Have leverage because of the transfer.
Portal and nil demands that you know, they can just come.
In and do what they want.
They're looking for promises because every last kid wants to go to the.
Prosop spoke as always passionately about what it means to play at Kentucky, and I asked him about you know, when you're talking, when you're looking at kids and you're talking to them, do you put what it's like to play at UK at the top of the list or do you close with that?
He said, both.
You experienced that you played at Kentucky, you played on a much beloved team, and you carried those lessons with you throughout your life, your professional career, and like like you said, you know, Pope said, it's just so important that he tries to hammer that home.
How vital do you think that is.
It's vital, but it's vital to him, and it's vital to us as Kentucky people in Kentucky fans. But it's to be realistic with you, it's not that vital to these kids anymore. You know, they're looking for the best situation for them financially and playing wise. So you know, it's not the school anymore, it's the situation and he has to do that, and if I'm him, I'm doing that because you know, you have to continue to stress the importance of where they are and what's that stake
when you come put on that jersey. But to be honest with you, Dick a lot of in that way anymore, And if they were, he would be having a more success at attracting other guys.
It's not the name on your jersey.
It's the money and the situation more so than anything else. And you know when they get there. I thought he did a great job with this team really stressing the importance of you know, wearing that jersey.
But before you wear that jersey, you have no idea.
And you know, it's just a different approach, especially with these young kids and new kids. Yeah, you know, it's about money now. It's not about the jersey. It's not about If that's the case, he would be, you know, winning every recruiting battle like we used to. But we're not doing that anymore because of the situation, the way things have changed.
It's about minutes and money, and minutes can being money. I know, I know that for a fact.
When you were.
Growing up, we've talked before about it. You spent a lot of time election and your grandmother was here. You were so aware of Kentucky basket all they offered you you you accepted a scholarship and became a Wildcat.
But before you got here.
Did you think you knew what you were getting into and what was your perception like versus what it actually.
Became when you became a part of the program.
Well, I knew what I was getting into because of that, he sudden I didn't know what I was getting into once he left and coach Patino came in.
That's true.
Yeah, so drastically changed.
They drastically changed with the changing of the guard.
So you know what I thought I was.
Getting into coming in here, style of play, the coach personality, so.
On and so forth soon changed after the freshman year when we you know, when we.
Got you know, coach Patino, so that you know, that situation was different. But you know, the aura of Kentucky never changed. Uh, just a coach and the coach has a lot to do with because that's who you spending most of your time with.
That's the guy you got to play for.
And uh, you know, it was a great It was a big time adjustment for me because he was totally different from Coach Sutton.
Oh, no question about that.
Uh, you would have prospered, I believe in or any Sutton's system. But I also think Sean of the guys who remained behind you might have been best equipped, best suited in terms of your skill set to play for Patino. Now we have all we've talked several times about the fact that that you and your guys Richie and John and Darren and Reggie high basketball i Q and Patino benefited greatly from that. But in terms of your specific
skill set. I felt like because Reggie was a little undersized for a post player a lot, I felt like you were you were best suited maybe to play under Patino. Did you see it that way or did you even have time to think about that?
I did.
I thought thought I was good enough to play for anybody. But his style was.
Kind of good for me because it was up and down. I like to get up and down.
I was very aggressive, you know, getting in the lane and pushing it and things like that. The only thing he did to me was he told me scoring wasn't my responsibility as much as it would have been for Cole Sutton or where I played in high school. So other than that, you know, I thought I was good enough to play for any coach in the country at any place.
And you know, I did what I needed to do.
To fit in and make sure things ran smoothly, smoothly the way he wanted it. And I became a great assist guy because of my the pressure I could put on you getting to the basket, you had to help, which opened it up for guys shooting threes well.
Speaking of recruiting, we talked about that earlier and Patino and during that documentary series, and he has reiterated he's doubled down on it because people have asked him about the fact that he is not and I don't know if he held true to that, but he basically said made it sound like he was going to ignore high school players when it came to recruiting and go almost strictly portal.
Did that surprise.
You, No, it does not.
You know, if I'm in his shoes, I'm doing the same things for the most part.
You may sprinkle in the freshman the.
Two here or there. But man, he's in the Big East and coaches. You know, he's a pro coach too, so he's used to free agency and you know, roster changes and dealing with money and contract issues and things like that. So he's kind of in his element more so than most college guys because college guys are used to, you know, a guy coming in as a freshman, you know, staying four years and playing or something like that. But you know, in the pros, everybody's a free agent, and
you know, you can be traded at any time. As the coach, you have no power over that. That's between the general managers. Sometimes the general manager doesn't even tell the coach that he's trading a guy or or bringing in somebody else. So no coach has kind of got a feel for that. And that's the mentality you have to have, you know, each year you have to adjust to new players.
Yeah, it's interesting.
It's interesting you said that because Patino during podcasts when somebody said, you're exactly right, he's comfortable with it because not only does it mirror the pro game, it mirrors the European game where he spent a little bit of time coaching. He said, if you got a kid or a guy for more than two years, that's unusual.
He said. In Europe, generally.
Guys come and go after a year or two. So that's an advantage for him.
Isn't it.
Yeah, no doubt about it.
And you know, coach can get to anybody. You know, he knows how to coach prose. Yeah, And as a matter of fact, that's what this college game is.
Now. You're coaching pros.
You're coaching guys, especially at the high level, that are thinking NBA, that are thinking more about money.
That's more money involved.
And the only difference is you're dealing with parents and you know, but you're dealing with you know in pros, you're dealing with age all the time.
Yeah, you know. So now these guys.
Got brokers too now agents, So you know, he's in his element, whereas other coaches aren't because they're just dealing with the kid and you know, and so on and so forth. But that's something that everybody's going to have to get used to.
Now.
Hey, Sean Wood's the unforgettable guard.
We talk to him every week.
We'll talk more on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP welcome back. We're talking with the unforgettable guard, Shawn Woods and Jersey Yangs and the Raptors are up now. The head coach at Scott County High School. We were talking part of the break about your old coach, Rick Patino. He is on the Kentucky schedule and Kentucky fans now are excited about it. Patino endorsed Mark Pope came back. You saw him at a
football game, at a basketball game. Was he was a villain for so long, Sean, especially when he took that Louisville job.
And I later came to terms with.
It by saying, Rick Batino knew he made a mistake by leaving the state of Kentucky, and he wanted to come back to the state of Kentucky. So I couldn't blame him for taking a Louisville job, and he didn't take it. He didn't leave Lexington for Louisville, obviously, But what do you make of the fact that it's almost like with UK fans, he's had an image change, you know what I mean?
M h, Well, you know he's getting coaches getting older now, and when you get older, you start to appreciate things that you didn't you know when you were younger. You know, when you were younger, you were chasing everything. You were chasing success, you were chasing your legacy, you were chasing money, you know.
What I mean.
Now he's made enough money, he's getting enough accolades, he's had enough success to where Saint John's is. He's always been a New Yorker, so it's either New York or Kentucky. And what be way to end your career going back to where it started at? You know, you're not the New York Nick coach, but you can play all your home games in Madison regard, which turns him on. And as you can see, he still dresses dapper with those Harmoni suits more so than any coach in the country.
Everybody else has gone to the sort vest and you know, zip up tops and things like that. He's still wearing the suits, acting like he's coaching with the New York Knicks or back when he was coaching Kentucky and so on and so forth. So coaches in his element, and that's why he's still one of the best coaches out there, because that's what's made him great.
He's learned to.
Adjust and move on and still be him. You know, there's not that many coaches who can still coach the way he coaches.
You know, he's very demanding.
He's very upfront and straightforward, which that's who I am and that's who I learned from.
But you know, young men nowadays can't take it.
And how he still gets across and still stay successful man is a triumph to him.
You know what I mean and exactly.
You know, I just remember it. You were a suit guy, shoot and tie guy. As a college coach. What about high school? What are you going to be?
Well?
I told I told everyone that, you know, there's gonna be some games where I'm gonna wear a red a red jacket unfortunately, not unfortunately, but you know it's gonna be different. It's different, you know, to honor Billy Hicks. You know, to honor Billy Hicks. So you know, I'll do that every time, you know, every now and then. But other than that, I'll stay casual and loose and uh, you know, comfortable on the sidelines. But there will be some particular games where I get suited and booted, you
know what I mean. But for the most part, I'll stay relaxed as much as possible.
I don't know what is gonna happen, but the first time you take a team to the Sweet sixteen, I guarantee you you're gonna be suited and booted. A few minutes later, Sean Woods, the head coach of Scott Gunny Heidie Unforgettable Guard, we talked about the portal. We always talk about it, it seems like, but do you think it's ever going to be possible for the top level teams to crew back the way they used to and sort of get away from the cycle of going through the portal.
Or is it just too tempting.
Let me tell you something, the portal is the safest way at least you know, you got that kid for that year, maybe two or but if you get a high school kid, shoot, those are the ones who are more vulnerable to transfer.
Yeah you know what I'm saying.
So you know, at any level, you know, keeping the kids for four years, even if he's a four year kid, it's rare nowadays. So you much rather get somebody who's already transferred, and you know it's kind of you know, on their.
Last leg a little bit. And you know, because you know.
You've got kids now, it's transferred three times out of a four year career. And some of these four year.
Careers are turning in the six year careers in college athletics, So you know, you know, when is it going to end? And when is there gonna be a cap? Who knows?
You know, the NT double As doesn't have a cap. You know, schools don't have a cap. I mean, you got kids, now, make us six million dollars you know, oh yeah, thread.
To six million dollars for top being guys.
So I mean, look, if Oldway comes back, he's asking for the bank.
You know.
Well, you know, look at she Way when he left, he left money on the table going to the NBA.
Final question for Sean Woods kids when they need help with decisions. Oftentimes maybe not as much as they used to unfortunately, but a lot of kids, and I've had coaches tell me this, they come back, they come home to the parents, but also to the high school coach if they had a good relationship with him. And I know that in your role as the college coach, it was different now than it's going to be as a
high school coach. You're gonna be on the kind of the receiving end trying to help kids make those those life decisions. Are you looking forward to that?
That's why I'm here, That's what God got me here for because I can help these kids make great decisions because I've been there. I know what these guys are looking for. I know you know, I can, I can I can figure you out a mile away, and I'll be able to help my guys, you know, kind of navigate through that because I've lived it. And that's an advantage coming to play for us here. You know at Scott County is you know you're planning for a guy who's done it, you know, at the highest level, and
know exactly what's a great fit for my guys. And also It's a great situation because if I call a coach, or a coach finds out that a kid and he saw on the summers playing for me, he knows what type of kid he's getting just because he knows, you know, how I do things and what's they be successful. So you know you're getting something if you do get a kid from you know.
A Shawn Worst coach, uh person.
Yeah, well you're gonna shoot him straight and I know that. Yeah, but you also got to tell him at times what they don't want to hear.
Uh. And that's that's got to be a tough part of coaching.
It is, you know what I mean. But my credibility along way more.
Than others because they know I'm coming from a from a great place and I'm coming from a great experience. So you know, in order for them to get to where they need to go, they need to do things they never done. And they're getting it earlier than most most kids because you're getting a guy who's been there, done that at that level that they're trying.
To get to.
Are the kids going to know from you or the parents. Are the parents going to tell them what Sean Wood's playing.
Career was all about I'm sure that their parents who know more than them, but you know, these kids now are finding out, you know, just doing their homework because of all the hype about around me coming to Scott County gets created a major buzz and uh.
They all got phones. They can look it up.
Yeah, no doubt about it.
They already know all about you, don't they.
Yes, they do.
Well, that's that could be a blessing and a curse. Coach, Thanks so much about it. Always fun talking basketball. We'll chat again next week.
Are appreciate you man, talk to you soon.
I can't wait to see that. And I would bet by that I mean Sean Woods in a red jacket to honor Billy Hicks, which would be a great move And it wouldn't surprise me at all if he came out in the red jacket his very first game as the head coach at least home game of Scott County.
So that's going to be interesting to see. But imagine stepping into those shoes. Wow.
And I know Sean's not the first head coach to come after Billy Hicks, obviously, but every head coach at Scott County for decades now will be compared to the late great Billy Hicks.
Coming up next, it's our West.
End bureau chief, Gary Moore, and a reminder of that. Tomorrow night, we've got Kentucky Baseball at seven o'clock, six to forty five pregame as the Wildcats open up a Thursday Saturday series at Vandy.
Here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blues Sider. It is Wednesday. That means we look west.
We cast our eyes to the west down I sixty four to our West End bureau chief, Gary Moore. He has been with us since he was our West Coast bureau chief when he worked with KLOS Radio in Los Angeles, but now in LA the Louisville area, and it has some thoughts on his mind.
Boy, we got a good one to the day. We got a spicy one of the day, Dick. We got some hot button issues coming up here and something really cool to end it all up with. But first here on two guys in a six pack. Our first twigged is a question you know the answer to only too well because you've seen it all season. I'm gonna ask it anyway. What would happen say if you had a
team in the College World Series one year. Then the next season that team lost their starting first basement and second basement and shortstop and third baseman, and a left fielder and centerfielder and weekend rotation and two main relievers. Well, you'd probably have a team struggling to get back to that level that they had before, and you'd have, of course,
this year's Kentucky Wildcats baseball team. But maybe, just maybe those struggles and the season long search for an identity are in the rear view because, as the great UCLA coach John Wooden said, be at your best when your best is needed. And the Cats were certainly at their very best this past weekend sweeping then number fourteen and now unranked Oklahoma at Kentucky Proud Park. Their best will be needed definitely again tomorrow night, Friday and Saturday in
Nashville against number ten Vandy. You like that kind of tune up before the SEC Tournament next week.
Well, you know, whether you like it or not, welcome to the SEC brother And it just seems like Kentucky is always running into Vandy when it needs to be at its best, just as it was last year when it played the Commodorees. But beat them to win a share of the SEC championship. Yeah, you're right. I mean it took a while. The other thing too, that while they were trying to figure this out and move all these puzzle pieces to the right places, injuries began to
pile up. You know, they've lost two or three position players, they lost two or three more pitchers to injury.
And that's all part of it.
Everybody deals, right, agree, But point to plug that into a scenario where you've already got all.
These new faces. Yeah, it's it makes it more challenging.
But as we saw last night in the win over Northern Kentucky, they just got to keep grinding till they figure out how to win games. They can do it with bunch, they can do it with hit and run. They can do it with a home run, as they did last night. So things seem to be falling into place. But man, going to Nashville then going to Hoover, the SEC tournament, some believe, and I agree, could be tougher to win than the NCAA Championship.
It's a good point.
I agree with that second swig. How about the other three D one schools in the Commonwealth, keep an eye on baseball wise, well, something kind of weird last night. You're number twenty three. Louisville of course beat Vandy last week, but then lost two out of three to unrank Georgia Tech, and then inexplicably lost ten to nine Crosstown Bellerman last night. I mean, at one pointing it was like nine to
three carts hosts three. With wake Forest starting tomorrow night, they better get their stuff together, I mean down I sixty five. You got my Hilltoppers. Well, they swept New Mexico State last weekend and if not only won seven in a row. But the Topper is only one of ten teams in the country with forty or more wins. Toppers have officially clinched the top three seed in next week's Conference USA Championship done at Liberty and don't sleep
in my hometown Murray State Racers. They won their sixth consecutive Missouri Valley Conference series last weekend at Belmont. Play for the regular season championship against Missoo State and Murray starting tomorrow night. And remember Murray has beaten UK there at UK and Western in Murray should have beaten number seventeen old miss down in Oxford back in March. Here's hoping that all four Kentucky teams will find a way to the postseason. That'd be pretty cool.
I was witnessed Toded Murray win over Kentucky. That was a bit of a shocker, although we saw how well Murray played. Murray's got a good team. Obviously, Western Kentucky. Now you need to explain it to me, sir, Western Kentucky with the forty wins and a series win over Dallas Baptist, which has an excellent program. Dallas Baptist is ranked. Western Kentucky is not. Try to explain that one to me.
I know you cannot. And if you haven't seen it yet, folks get to the innerweb and find the last play at the Louisville Bellerman game, and Bellarman's had some decent teams in the past, not this year. Not a good Bellerman team, but UFL had at least the tying run on base and a guy hits a moonshot to the deepest part of the ballpark. The Bellerman center fielder slams into the wall, making the catch.
Game over.
It was as dramatic a play as you'll see all week. They did not play the Bellerman played great in that game. The Cards did not either. There's a lot of mistakes that they made too, errors and walking a lot of guys and stuff like that. They were kind of asking to get beat and they got it. And by the way, you were asking about the Toppers, they lost three in a row to unrank Florida International now knocked them out
of the twenty five. I should have never happened, So that's kind of hurt them in the RPI Okay, third swig. Last year in the majors, we had the Chicago White Sox setting a new club record for futility, losing one hundred and twenty one games, one more than the halpless nineteen sixty two Mets. This season, Colorado Rockies are telling the Socks hold our cours light for a second. Colorado currently seven and thirty five worse than the White Sox
were at this point last year. Rockies have the worst ERA in baseball, the third lowest batting average, and are the second worst fielding team in baseball. They've been called not only a Triple A team in the Majors, but allows the triple A team at that already they've lost three dick, they've already had three eight game losing streaks
and it's only May the fourteenth. They finally fired beleaguered manager Bud Black on Sunday, after the dreaded vote of confidence on Saturday from the general manager who constructed this triple awful debacle, and after the Padres eviscerated the Rockies twenty one to nothing on Saturday. So here's my one hundred and twenty five million, five hundred and thirty seven, two hundred and fifty six dollars question to you. That's
the Rockies payroll this season. How how I ask you, in this day and age of advanced analytics, supposedly superior athletes, supposedly know it all Ivy leaguers running things, and definitely more money than ever thrown in all the teams, how do we end up with those Socks and these Rockies and in consecutive years.
Yeah, that's a great question. That's a fair question. And I heard somebody dismiss Colorado as well.
That's in there.
You're never going to have a good team there. That's nonsense. There have been good teams in Colorado.
That's got into the World Series.
But exactly exactly, you fired a manager because somebody has to be punished, and the people who actually construct these teams don't fire themselves.
Tell me someone who's going to come in there, Maybe you'll win a few more games.
If these guys have stopped playing for a manager, maybe so many needs come in and kick them butt. That's temporary, but they got to tear it all down and start over, and it's hard to do when you're carrying that kind of price tag.
True that fort swigg in two guys in a six pack. So we'll stay with baseball here one more time. I don't know about you, but I've got a like dislike relationship with a Baseball Hall of Fame. I really like that there is one first of all, honoring players who played this extremely difficult game the right way, surrounded by historical artifacts we can all go and see in Cooper's town and enjoy. But I really dislike the mindless voting
it's involved with getting guys in there. Players such as Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, even Jackie Robinson didn't receive one hundred percent unanimous votes by some of these genius writers. And then there's the politics, including now president Presidential politics have entered into this because we have Pete Rose, Joe Jackson, and some other dead guys who are eligible after apparently not playing the game the right way. We
know we've talked about it before. Rose bet on baseball as both a manager, and this is kind of underreported. According to ESPN's Outside the Line Show, he also bet as a player.
Ye.
Rose denied it for fifteen years, and he copped to it, and he also did some prison time, and he also had a relationship with an apparently underage girl while he was married. Pete said in his book My Prison Without Bars, quote, I'm sure I'm supposed to act all sorry or sad or guilty now that I've accepted I've done something wrong, But you see, I'm just not built that way unquote. Well, in my opinion, he's not built for the Hall of Fame.
But he's already in the Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame has had for years many of his items artifacts from his big red machine days when he became the hit King of all time and then wound up being and breaking baseball's cardinal rule number one, tainting his legacy. You think he gets in, And how about the steroid boys too?
Yeah?
I think if you take one, you take them all now. But just to be clear, and I think everybody probably understands this, it's not the writers who decided not to take Pete. Pete wasn't eligible, nor was Joe Jackson, because they had been banned by Baseball.
You had to be in a good standing with Baseball.
But as I mentioned earlier on the show, I had dug in against Pete and didn't change my mind until I read the letter that he sent less than a year before his death to the commissioner, fully copying and apologizing for everything. What held me back was the fact that he had never apologized to his teammates, not so much fans and the rest of baseball. But once he finally did, I said, okay, he's paid his dues.
Shoeless.
Joe Jackson never should have been banned in the first place. They never proved that he was involved in point shaving and game fixing, and they duped him into putting an axe. He was illiterate on a confession. Go back and look at his stats. He had an incredible.
World Series in nineteen nineteen, so that was unfair all along.
But yeah, if if now, I think, if you take one, I think you got even if it's what a huge asterisk or in a section that says these guys were part of the steroids era.
I think you take the rest of those guys.
Fitzwig and a six pack. Okay, you've talked earlier about the one hundred and fiftieth Preakness coming up at old, worn out Pimlico this Saturday. No Derby winner running, but Derby runner up Journalism will be there eight five odds as the favorite so far, and Derby favorite Sandman will also be there four to one odds. Only nine horses for Saturday's race post time seven oh one on NBC Saturday, and with no Sovereignty running means that no junior Alvarado
will be riding in the big race. Of course, you've also talked about this. Alvarado is fine. Sixty two grand by Heiza suspended for two days for excessive whip use. Blood Horse Magazine says today's riding crops aka whips are kinder on horses than in previous eras they have poppers for people who don't know that produce a loud sound,
but are less likely to produce welts. So, as always, I defer to you anything about racing, because I know how passionate you are and how knowledgeable about it you are. Number One, do all the jockeys use these kinder quote unquote whips? And what would happen? People wonder about this that aren't into that, aren't racing efficientados, What would happen in a race if no whips were ever used?
I've never thought about that. That's very interesting. They'd find a way, but and again I'm not certain. I would imagine most riders do use the new and improved whips, anything that would give you an advantage. Yeah, I've talked at length to different horse people about whips. It's more about the optics. Yeah, it can leave it welt, I know here and there.
But the most part I've.
Been told it's basically like somebody whacking you in the rear end, you know, to get your attention, that sort of thing. And there are riders who go too far with those whips and the optics are terrible. There was one rider who used to ride a lot of Churchill downs. I won't say his name, but his nickname was the
slasher No, which is just a terrible, terrible image. But I don't think they'll ever outlaw the whips, but to expect a rider to keep track, to keep a number in mind of how many times he or she has whipped a horse. I don't think that that's realistic, but just planning the seed I think can help a little bit.
Sixth and final swig in the six pack. One wee could go to night, Dick. I saw the coolest thing I've seen all year and maybe for the rest of this year. The biggest rock band on the planet and a band that I've seen and worked with many times. We did some incredible promotions with them while I was at k Loos, Los Angeles. Metallica played a college town of about eighty thousand people a week. Could go tonight Lynchburg, Virginia.
Why when they could play huge, gargantuan metropolitan Aians Because for the past twenty five years, that town's university, Virginia Tech, has used Metallica's Inner Sandman, as we've talked about before, is the electrifying intro music for their football team at Lane Stadium. For me, it's the greatest most geeked up crowd in all of football, college or pro. But it's
not always the whole stadium. Last Wednesday, the entire stadium, sixty five thousand plus not only saw Metallica play a full set, but when they ended up playing Sandman, the crowd jumped and stomped and were in such a collective frenzy that it registered a small earthquake on Virginia Tech seismograph a mile away. Write it Down. Wednesday, May seventh, twenty twenty five, the day the Earth didn't stand still thanks to Metallica.
You know, I really really love seeing the video.
That is one of the great and organic Yeah intros, and you know, you can't manufacture something like that. And on the flip side is South Carolina, which plays that song non stop Yeah, which to me kind of ruins it. It grinds it into the earth. If they like it, that's fine, good on you. But I like the fact that Virginia Tech now is probably better known for that.
Oh, they're definitely better known for it, And it makes me want to go. I just want to go to a game just to be the crowd with I'll leave, you know, like I don't care about seeing the rest of the game. I just want to be a part of the crowd that's jumping up and down, like Okay, did that.
Everybody I know who's ever been on that campus raves about it. I hear two things. It's one of the great campuses you'll ever see, and it's hard to get there. You really gotta want to get there. Get in the car and go. Gary Moore is our Western Bureau chief. We'll come back with some hot region just a minute. They're on six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back.
We're talking with our West n Bureau chief, Gary Moore. We have heard two guys in a six pack. Now befow a couple of hot reads at Gary.
This number pops up every now and then, Gary, and it just blows my mind. And you're you're a baseball wonk. Max Schurzer, great pitcher. I've heard him described as a warrior, no question about it. Also maybe the most astute businessman, or at least his agent is, in the history of Major League Baseball. He's making this year fifteen million.
Dollars from the Nationals.
Fifteen and a half million from the Blue Jays and that's American money, folks, twelve point five million from the Rangers, and thirty point eight million from the Mets for not pitching. Everybody gets their boxers and a bunch. When Bobby Bonilla day comes and goes, because for the next however many years, the Mets have to pay him a million dollars part of the deferred contract. Nobody bats an eye at Max Schurzer is nuts.
Well, that's kind of lazy reporting. It's like, yeah, Bobby ban another million dollars today. Well, go down the list and find the shirt. There's more than sures. Or there's a bunch of guys that are on some other extended pay payrolls that are going on there. You can look it up and they dwarf what Bobby Benia gets every year.
It's what do you tell it. Look, if you've got kids coming up and you want them to be some sort of professional athlete, MLB guaranteed and that's all the money you just talked about, that's all guaranteed.
Yeah, they've got the best.
They probably the best union period in the entire country, no question, not just sports, but just the way that they you know, they've they've made sure that these that you're paid well, you've got great benefits, great retirement benefits, and guaranteed money on top of it all.
Maybe the umpire union might be the only one that's better. You've got guys there are horrible at their job and they're untouchable.
So too.
Yeah.
Our second hot read involves the NBA Draft lottery. It is coming gone. I call them my Dallas Mavericks. I still root for the MAVs. I was a season ticket holder when I lived down there. My buddy's a play by play guy. But I reeled in horror at the terrible trade that has still has Mavericks fans up in arms.
But now now.
They win the lottery with a one point eight percent chance unbelievable of winning that number one pick, and of course they're going to take Cooper flag and they have said Gary they will not trade the pick for giannis Ante to Kompo, which a lot of people are lobbying for that. But my question to you is I love
a good conspiracy. Part of me believes, honestly, you know, no pun intended that the lottery, if not this year, has been fixed in the past, simply because so many teams have gotten the precise player they needed at the exact time. Magic Johnson to the Lakers, Larry Bird to the Celtics, Patrick Ewington the Knicks, and now Cooper flag's going to the MAVs.
What say you?
Reception is reality, as I said before, and I perceive this to be definitely fixed.
It's fixed, Dick.
None of the top three teams are the best chances to get the first lottery pick. Utah, Washington, Charlotte didn't even end up in the final three draft positions. Dallas, San Antonio and Philly got those that you tell me that's not fixed. One of those should have been at least second or third or at you know, why not first Dallas with a one point eight Are you kidding me? No, you're not kidding me, because it kind.
Of brings me back a little bit.
Is when Rick Bettino went to Boston, and he freely admits now and he did then that what tempted him the most was the fact that Boston had the best chance statistically of winning the lottery and therefore Tim Duncan, which would have been perfect for the Celtics, the storied franchise on the East Coast for the NBA, and yet with a minuscule chance of winning it, the Spurs get Dunk and put him with David Robinson and a dynasty is born. Now, maybe if you want to take the
conspiracy a step further. Maybe the NBA powers would beat didn't like Rick Beatino, didn't want him to get Tim Duncan.
There you go. It's certainly fun to discuss.
I think that I think this is one conspiracy theory that's got us got some legs to it. I certainly feel that there's something going on there.
We'll get stone, we'll get it.
Good idea.
He is Gary Moore Western Burea too. We visit with him every week and we also follow him on x or Twitter.
At if you got no extra time, I got too much extra time, try nine to five to five Gary, same place you're at at.
Big Boo Insider one. See you next week, see it and that'll do it for now. Thanks to Gary, Thanks to Sean Woods, Aron Gershawn that said good night from the garage.
And Lexington that Frog really tied the room together, did it?
Not?
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Taking the sin anything anything only.
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