Well, Oklahoma against a little revenge for getting swept by the Wildcats in Lexington, as the Sooners eleven eight Kentucky by the final score of five to one here at the SEC Tournament.
That's how the game ended.
Darren Hedrick called it on the UK netwhere Kentucky falling to Oklahoma.
Five to one.
Wildcats flatter it seemed today then last week's club soda. They lose to an Oklahoma team they swept last weekend, So now their fate is in the hands of the selections committee. Wildcats with just twenty nine wins on the year and yeah, thirteen of them in SEC play. But Kentucky, which put runners on base in each of the first re innings in scoring position, but they were one for seven with runners in scoring position, scored one run thanks to an Oklahoma error. Five to one was the final,
So now their fate is a real mystery. Nick Menzione appeared on the SEC Network yesterday with Paul Finebaum and broke down some numbers, which I find fascinating, especially with baseball such a numbers game. But I remember talking to Gary Henderson a few years ago about one of those
years where Kentucky was so close. You know, in certain situations, might have been here, they were ranked number one in the country a couple of times, but just to win here or there, and wins come down oftentimes to one inning, which can come down to one pitch or one play, just so many moments. And you can say this about a lot of different sports, but we're talking about baseball here, and it just seems like baseball is easier to crunch
numbers of this sort. And Minjeo, and being an analytics guy, has gone through and he's done the math. He's done it simple arithmetic, really, and he broke down some of these numbers for Fine Baumb when he was describing what the regular season was like for Kentucky, which came so close so many times to winning a series. And that's what's about, of course, in the regular season in the SEC, we talk about it all the time on TV side,
Darren talks about it on radio side. Win the series at home that you have and maybe get one win on the road and you're in great shape and pull off a surprise on the road, two or even three wins on the road in one weekend. Now you're contending for an SEC championship, which Kentucky won last year. That's
how the Wildcats did it. For the most part. They took care of business at home and got some big wins on the road because they were able to take advantage when the moment was right there for the taking. And they've come up just short this year in so many ways. And here's how MinJe O described it mathematically to Paul Feinbaum on the SEC Network.
This is crazy, but in an average SEC game, the average SEC team throws one hundred and fifty four pitches in a game.
Now, so you times out by.
Two, there's about three hundred and eight moments in every single game. Well, for us, when you look at it and you break it down that way, we've had nine thousand, six hundred and sixty eight moments in our thirty game season. We are five plays away from winning four more SEC series and winning eight, which only Texas did, and we are nine plays away out of that nine, six hundred and sixty eight from being back to back SEC champions nine plays.
I knew they were close to being much much better in terms of their record. I didn't realize. I guess if I had sat down and pulled out a pencil and figured it out. Yeah, I knew they could have won more series, but they were that close. And the reason is to an SC title again because as good as Texas was, as good as a Florida was good as a lot of teams were, nobody ran off and hid with the SEC title.
Vandy has done in the past.
Other teams have done it, but there was so much parody this year, and there's always going to be now. I think that nobody ran away with it. And look, Kentucky won one game over Texas right in Lexingon, could have won, two, might have won, three, might have swept. The Longhorns. Had enough moments, had enough opportunities, and if Kentucky had, Texas wouldn't have won the SEC championship. That's where things turn in the Southeastern Conference. It is so
hard to win. But that's what made last year so special. And as men Geones said, he believes this team is a really good team, and he has said it all year. He hasn't complained, he hasn't you know, talked about injuries. He's talked about how well they've played at times, how they've come up short, but he still has never stopped being proud of this ball club.
I'm really proud of this team, and we really believe we're one of the best teams in the country because we're battle tested and we've been through it. And I would say there's thirteen or fourteen teams in our league that believe that.
And that's why.
Yeah, you're gonna have one team win this tournament, obviously, but the other teams in the tournament that that get bids to the NCAA, they'll know going in in Kentucky included that, Hey, you know, we might have lost in Hoover, but we're still good enough to win in Omaha.
And you may well see that. You may see a.
Team that didn't win the SEC title. Now Tennessee did it last year, but you may see a team from the SEC they got knocked out in Hoover and jump up and win in Omaha. Because you're not playing day after day after day. You get a little bit of respite in Omaha. But you got to win that first one. That's the key. That's one of the keys, the other key,
just as it is in the SEC tournament. And men Jones said this prior to today's game to find Bomb, but he has said it all year again when fine Baum asked him in terms of pulling Kentucky through these close games that the Wildcats they won some, they've lost too many. But fine Baum said, if you could wave a magic wand what might that turnaround be?
I believe it comes down to one thing. If you said manage, put it into one word, I would say, it comes down execution. That's it, plain and simple for our players to execute what we are trained to do and what we're capable of doing. If we do that one thing and we execute at a high level, with tremendous focus, tremendous energy and persistence, we'll like the result.
So ask yourself, did they execute today? Yes? Or no?
And can they keep executing once they get into the NCAA tournament if they get a bid. But after losing today, twenty nine and twenty four, and I've seen Kentucky teams with better records not get a bid. But the SEC wasn't nearly as tough. You get a lot more credit these days for winning an SEC game, winning an SEC series, And the Wildcats did win four and it might come down to that series win at Tennessee when Kentucky really he was at its best. So now they've got to
sit and wait until next Monday at noon. That's when the selection show is. That's when the Wildcats will learn their fate. So five won the final the loss to Oklahoma. One other note in the SEC this was a pretty big headline not related to baseball, and that was finally the rumors are over and its official. Florida has landed. Boogie flanned through the portal.
You'd heard about this.
Had he pulled his name from the NBA consideration, he would end up at Florida. That's exactly what happened on Sunday. He pulled his name and now he's a Gator, and it makes sense. He's represented by Mike Miller, a former Florida Gator. Ask yourself this though, why does he leave Arkansas when you know that Caliperi, at least his past year was running everything.
Through him before he got hurt.
I firmly believe Arkansas was better after Flann got hurt and then came back, and everybody had gotten.
Used to being involved in the offense.
Prior to that, it was like give the ball to Boogie and get out of his way, and they struggled. He goes down Arkansas finds itself. Boogie comes back makes him better. But now with ironically enough, Denzel Aberdeen leaving for Kentucky, that might be why he sees an opening in Gainesville. Maybe he's the point guard. Well, he will be the starting point guard for Todd Golden down in Gainesville. And this gives Florida a really nice class out of the portal. Flann was rated the eighth best player in
the portal. Had to be because he was coming back off that injury. But you know a guy who was five star coming out of high school and insanely talented and now joins the defending national champs. Now, of course they lose Walter Clayton Jr. Among others, but they get Xavion Lee out of the portal from Princeton.
They get aj Brown from Ohio.
You you might not heard those names, which you will when the Gators take on the Wildcats this year. And of course Boogie Flynn was going to be a Wildcat until Caliperi left, but now he is a Florida Gator.
It's official. When we come back.
There is controversy brewing with the proposed changes to the nil one SEC school in particular may not be cooperating a little bit later on the incredible story of Sunday Silence. In nineteen eighty nine, on this date he won the preak Mistakes, the second Jewel of Racing's Triple Crown, after twice literally defying death. We'll talk about that a little bit later on David Siske of Cats Illustrated Forrest Tucker WTVQ. That and more come out up right here on six
thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, a great story about Sunday Silence. It was on this date in nineteen eighty nine that he won the second jeweler Racings Triple Crown. He won the Derby and then followed up with one of the greatest Preakness finishes of all times, right up there with the one we saw this year, different but right up there with it. So and it's a great story that began one county over in Bourbon County, on
Stone Farm in Paris. And we'll hear from Arthur Hancock, who owns Sunday Silence, and we'll hear from him a conversation that he had ten or eleven years ago with a blood horse. But all the backstory about Sunday Silence. It's an incredible story and he's one of my all time favorite horses. So if you'll indulge me, that's coming
up at the bottom of the hour. I wanted to point out if you haven't seen this yet, you know, if you're a college sports fan, and if you're listening to the show, thank you, and I'm sure you are, that the House Settlement ruling is imminent. Right, that's supposed to bring some guard rails, some enforcement to NIL, which is right now the scourge of college athletics. But the state of Tennessee has plopped itself squarely.
In the way. And here's how.
Back on the first of May, Governor Bill Lee quietly signed a six page state bill, Tennessee Senate Bill number five thirty six. According to Yahoo's Sports, they dug it out last week, and that paves the way for state schools in Tennessee, UT, Vandy, Memphis, et cetera, and their affiliated collectives to break House Settlement related rules and prevents
college sports New Enforcement Entity from penalizing those schools. I mean this is directed squarely at the INNSA membership power conferences and their desire to police the revenue sharing era of college sports takes aim at any athlete compensation cap and any penalties for rule breakers and policies that prevent phony booster backed image, name, image and likeness deals to players.
What they basically did was say, we're going to do whatever we damn well please, and by our state law, there's nothing you can do to hurt us within the state of Tennessee. What's to stop other states from doing the same things? Now, Power conferences, according to the story,
have plans to combat such laws. You have officials from the Big Tennis he see Big twelve acc There's a draft of what Yahoo describes as groundbreaking, first of its kind document intended to prevent these schools from using their state laws to violate the new enforcement rules and requires schools this is Big now to waive their right to pursue legal challenges against the new enforcement entity called the
College Sports Commission. And remember, this is what everybody, fans, administrators, coaches, players not so much, have been calling for from day one. Guard rails everybody said, it's the wild West out there. And there are people, some administrators who had said, you know, we really don't like the terminology.
So what it fits.
It is the wild West, and it's ruining college athletics. Not that players should get what's coming to them, but it's just a little too crazy right now.
Isn't it.
So they came up with this design, and now the state of Tennessee jumps in and says, no, Now, we're gonna do whatever we want, and we're gonna make it so there's nothing you can do about it. Well, now the power conferences are pushing back, and dozens of leading school administrators, it says, are checking out this document. It
would bind institutions to the enforcement policies. They basically would have to agree, all right, we want to be a part of the NCAA, or if you want to do a way of the nca and give it a new initial, who cares? Whatever it is this membership, this group, if you want to be a part of it, you got to follow the rules.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
So, and it also says, even if their state law is contradictory, it would exempt the CSC from lawsuits from member schools over enforcement decisions, offering instead a route for schools to pursue arbitration. Arbitration, how about that membership agreement affiliation,
call it whatever you want. But a draft of this contract's been distributed to a lot of school presidents, general councils, athletics directors have expressed legal concerns with several of the document's concepts, and so they're trying to hammer them out right. But in the state of Tennessee, they're trying to fight at all. Why because they want their schools to have a leg up on everybody else. Whether this enforcement policy takes rute or not, the College Sports Commission, whether it
takes rude or not. We in Tennessee are saying, you can't.
Tell us what to do. We're gonna do whatever we damn will.
Please, and if you try to stop us, we will sue you. And I already saw one commentator on Twitter say Greg Sanki, not that Sankie could do it, and not that they're gonna do it, but said Greg Sanki should kick Tennessee out of the sec That ain't gonna happen. But this could get messy, This could get bloody. But one athletic director said, you have to sign it or we don't play you. As a condition of membership, you must comply with a settlement and enforcement says one president,
or you're out. This is going to get tied up in the courts. Lawyers are going to get rich. But this has to happen in order to save college athletics. It's going to be easier to deal with the portal. They can pass a rule saying you can come through the portal as many times as you like, but after the first one you gotta sit. That to me seems like it's going to be on the way. But this involving all the nil dollars is going to be a lot more complicated.
A couple of other notes before we hit the brakes.
Ryan Ritter, former Kentucky Gold Gloves shortstop, is the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week. He plays for the Albuquerque Isotopes Go Topes. That's a Homer Simpsons favorite team, the Springfield Isotopes. But Ritter last week get This delivered either a game time or winning hit in the ninth inning of three straight games wins over Tacoma and in that series ten for twenty two with four doubles, two triples, and a homer. We all knew this watching him, he
knew he'd be. He's already special when he was at Kentucky. The only thing that held him back a little bit was his bat, but he had shown flashes of brilliance at the plate. And once he gets that worked out, he'll be in the biggs, and he'll be in the biggs for good. Finally a tip of the BBI Captain our man, Sewan Woods. He'll be with us on the air schedules permitting tomorrow. He has been named the coach, the head coach of La Familla.
For this coming year.
He was an assistant last year and takes over coaching the team the head coach now that he's the head coach at Scott County High by the Way for this coming tournament. So we'll talk to Sean about that tomorrow night.
All right.
Up next to great story about Sunday sile Ons how he survived a near death experience literally to bounce back when the Derby win the Preakness, which happened on this day in nineteen eighty nine, and in I number two, David Sisk of Cats illustrated Forrest Tucker of WTVQ back in a minute on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. It was on this day in nineteen eighty nine that Sunday Silence won the Preakness Stakes. This is the time of year when people pay attention.
Even if you're not a horse racing fan, you pay some attention, especially Derby Week, of course, but if there's a triple crown up for grads and sadly there is not this year, but there was in nineteen eighty nine, and the reason was because of a horse that was, by you know, usual thoroughbred standards, not the prettiest animal you're going to see. And his name was Sunday Silence and he was black, technically dark.
Brown, but black.
You know, you've got to qualify in a certain way to be in the jockey club black, but Sunday Silence jet black. Again, not the prettiest of horses, but man could he run. And it's a great story. This is why, if you'll indulge me, I'm going to share it with you, because I covered that horse as the Thoroughbred Racing Guy at WKYT Channels twenty seven, and to me, it was a great story because he was owned locally. He was winning his way to Churchill Downs out in California, but
Arthur Hancock owned him. Arthur of course, from Stone Farm over outside of Paris and Bourbon County, the brother of Seth Hancock, part of that Clayburn Farm family. It's a famous story. Bull Hancock was the great horseman who created Clayburn Farm, and then when he died, the board of directors named Seth the younger brother, to run the farm, not Arthur, the older brother. So Arthur set off and bought his own land, created his own farm called Stone Arm.
He liked the name Stone just because it was, you know, of the earth, that kind of thing. And I got to know Arthur and his wife, Stacy, who grew up in Louisville as I did. She went to Westport High School, which doesn't exist anymore. But Westport High School was one mile away from from my home. If I had not gone to Trinity, which was one mile this direction toward
the west, one mile east was Westport High School. In fact, I went to summer school there to take typing because I wanted to be a journalist.
All right, there you go.
So anyhow, I got to be very friendly with the Hancocks, and I began to really follow Sunday Silence his progress derby week. I got there on Monday morning, and I liked him because he had won the Santa Nita Derby.
But Easy Goer was the horse. Easy Goer was a son of the great Ali Dar, you know, the horse that came in second to a firm and all three legs at a triple Crown in nineteen seventy eight, and he was supposedly the greatest horse to look through a bridle in the last twenty five fifty years or whatever.
Big beautiful red horse reminded people of Secretariat was coming through New York, so he had New York height behind him and a great trainer in Suge McGee, and Sunday Silence was kind of he wasn't a little horse, but in terms of his reputation was, you know, shaping up
as the little horse that could. But the reason I bring it up is because the Preakness Stakes that he won after he won the Derby was probably still the greatest Preakness steaks that I had ever seen leading up to this recent one where Journalism managed to fight his way to the finish line two different types of races, because in eighty nine it was Sunday Silence and easygo or battling down the stretch one on one.
You'll hear that in a moment.
But when I was looking at this year's Preakness, asking myself, was it the greatest I've ever seen? I had to go back to one of my favorites in eighty nine. But let's back it up. Sunday Silence was lucky to be there. He got really, really sick when he was a weanling and survived this terrible virus that might have killed him, but he didn't pass the eyeball test. He was not the prettiest of horses, and in a great coincidence, he was bred and owned by oak Cliff's Stables, the.
Guy who owned that outfit out of Texas.
Oak Cliffe is a part of Dallas. That's where I lived when I was in Dallas. I didn't know that until recently. He was bred known by Oakliffe Stables at first, but as Arthur Hancock told Bloodhorse Magazine, there's a video on YouTube, he was not a pretty horse. And one of the people who worked for oak Cliff Stables, owned by Tom Taysam, There's a guy named Ted Keefer who made a pointed comment when the colt was just a
foal and hadn't turned black. And he was kind of silver gray running around the paddock and some people liked him, but this guy named Ted Keeper did not.
And one time they brought him out and Ted said, put that some bitch up said I've seen him enough. This was another time and Pete Logan said, Miss Pete said this. He said, mister Keith said the roses looked mighty pretty around his neck, and Ted said, the only time that sun bitch will have roses on him is when he's six feet under the ground. And I'm staying there thinking, what is this so eerie?
You know this?
He hated this horse, And again that's Arthur Hancock talking to the Blood Horse magazine on camera. Might have hated the horse just because the horse was funny looking, who knows. So they put him in the July Select sale at Keenlan, right, but they didn't think he'd get much, And sure enough the bidding came in and they didn't even get what they were hoping to get. So Arthur stepped in.
They put him in the sale in the summer sale at Keenlan and he was going to go for ten eleven, twelve thousand, and I jumped in, started bidding, brought bought him back for seven and I took the ticket out to Time behind the pavilion, said Time, I bought that cold back for the wishing Well cold because he.
Went too cheap. And he said, Arthur, we don't want him, because Ted doesn't like him. And I had I said okay. I handed him the you know, the.
Sales slip and I said okay, and I stuck it in my short pocket and I remember thinking, well, I guess I just blew another seventeen downs.
I owed a lot of money at the time.
And that's the part of thoroughbred racing that a lot of people who don't like it don't understand. It's not simply a bunch of rich people playing with their toys.
There are jobs on the line every week, every month, every year.
There are smaller farms and employ people and you know, provide for the tax base in the state of Kentucky and other states. So it's kind of a misunderstood sport in my opinion. And in talking to Arthur through the years, he made me understand that, you know, he had a mortgage he had borrowed against land, things like that, He's trying to make ends meet doing the one thing he
knew best, and that was thoroughbred racing. So moving ahead, they send the horse to California to try to sell him as a two year old, and once again he doesn't get nearly the money that they needed, so they decide to bring him back. Well, he's in a van with other horses and somewhere in South Texas, the driver of the van has a heart attack and dies, crashes. One or two of the other horses was killed. Sunday Silence was seriously injured. But he comes back and they
think he's never going to race again. They just turned him out the field and they thought, well, we'll just try to sell him as a saddle horse or something. But within a week to ten days he was racing around the field looking like a racehorse again.
It's the perfect tale of the ugly duckling turning into a swan.
So when he had fully recovered, they send him to cal to Charlie Whittingham, the Hall of Fame trainer since passed, but back then known as one of the greatest in the history of the game. And Charlie on the phone one morning told Arthur, you know this, this this black sob that you named Sunday Silence. Arthur pulled that name from a Chris Christofferson song. Arthur was a big songwriter anyway, Uh, Whittingham said.
This, this horse can run a little bit.
So they ran him at age two, didn't win anything, was second in a maiden, second in an allowance race. But at age three they raced him at Santa Anita. He wins an allowance race, then he wins the San Felipe, then he wins the Santa Anita Derby. So now the ugly duckling has become a swan, and now he qualifies for the Kentucky Derby. So obviously Arthur Hancock's excited, and they ship him east. And I will never forget spending a lot of time on the backside that week with
the Hancocks. And I was walking over to the barn on Thursday after Sunday. Silence worked a half mile in forty five and change of forty six, and Arthur had just left Charlie Whittingham side, and he was blown Arthur was blown away by the work, and he was more impressed after he had talked to Charlie as they walked back to the barn.
And we were walking back and Charlie.
Said, my boy, we will get the money Saturday. I said, Charlie, you really think so? He said, my boy, we will get the money. I said, what do you think of his work? He said, well, a good horse will work like that. He said, this is a good horse. I said, you really think we can beat easy Gore? He said it was the third time he said we will get the money.
And I didn't know this until I watched this video from Blood Horse. I didn't know that they had had that conversation. I probably should have because I come up to Arthur and I said.
How did he look? What did you think? And he told me the time.
He knew the time at that point of the work, and his eyes were bugging out of his head and he looked right through me and he goes, that's a heck of a work. I said yeah, and then he said it again. Arthur said, that's a heck of a work. That was the point where I became convinced this is the horse I need to bet on in the Kentucky Derby, not Easygoer.
Sunday.
Silence would be my key horse, my big money horse, right And at that point Arthur still wasn't sure the horse could win the derby and beat Easygoer, but he thought he could get a piece of the purse and pay some bills.
I mean, I owed a ton of money, and I had bought all this land, you know, and a lot of horses.
And then was eighty eight that.
Crash came and what was worth a dollar in a land or horses became worth about thirty cents. I thought, well, you know, if we run second, that that wouldn't be bad.
And then we got the previous minute.
I prepared myself, you know, for whatever eventuality occurred.
So then comes Derby day and again I'll never forget handicapping the race and asking myself which horse do I like? I mean, I had been swayed by recency bias, by being around the handcocks, by watching the horse, and I'd watched the Easygoer as well, and that was a great horse and a great trainer in Sugar McGahee. But I remember that Easygoer as a two year old had raced the Churchill Downs and didn't really like the track. And again two year old versus three year old, big difference.
But horses that show you they don't like the track at Churchill or really anywhere else, but I think particularly Churchill that's telling. That's why I kicked myself after the Derby. I mentioned this on the show when Sovereignty won. He had already won on that track.
I'm like, what a dope.
I didn't bet him, you know, the way I should have. And the reason was it was an off track that day, but the horse still liked the track. So anyhow, I took a big, deep breath and I threw out Easy Goer. And I mean I had him in an exact or whatever. But I bet big on Sunday Silence. And sure enough, on a cold, bitter day, it was spitting snow, really
uncomfortable out there. But I'm standing on the track and here he came, the black horse rider Pat Belnezuela, in kind of grayish silver and gold silks, lying down the stretch in the middle of the track, kind of weaving like a drunken sailor.
On the inside.
Thing comes Easy Goer and the awe inspiring come with a sixteenth of a mile to go, and here comes Sunday Silence. Do this pretch coming to the finish of the derby?
Sunday Silence?
What is this Comy Fight too.
Late and that's Dave Johnson Curtisy, ABC Sports. So Sunday Silence wins the Kentucky Derby, next stop Baltimore. We'll have that after the break on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider coming up David Sisk from Cats Illustrated Forrest Tucker from WTVQ. But right now we're taking a special look back at the nineteen eighty nine Preakness one on this day, all those years ago by Sunday Silence, and if you're just joining us, we
talked about how Sunday Silence survived in illness. As a weenling, he was in a terrible van accident in South Texas when he was being shipped from California back to Kentucky. Nearly died from those injuries, but recovered and prospered. As a three year old, Colt won the Santa Anita Derby, then won the Kentucky Derby. So now they ship him to Baltimore where he's going to challenge Easygoer once again. And a lot of people thought, well, you know, maybe
the Derby was a fluke. The time was terrible in the Derby was like two five or something like that, and Arthur pointed out to me pragmatically, and I forgot about this. It was an off track that day. It was kind of a muddy track because of the day, like I said, earlier, bad weather and off and on
rain and snow. And in the post parade, one of the horses threw a shoe and so instead of scratching the horse, they rushed the horse back in under the spires into the paddock, and you know, ferrier came rushing out and they reshod the horse. But meanwhile the Derby field, those horses waiting to run, circled in the mud for gosh, eight or nine ten minutes, and they.
Finally loaded him into the gates.
So those horses got an additional work at Think about that if you're gonna go sprint, but first you walk in the mud for about ten minutes in a circle. He was right, so a tiring Sunday silence. But all the other horses were tired too, comes weaving down the stretch.
Weaving in and out, but he was well.
Clear of the rest of the horses and wins the Derby convincingly.
But a lot of people thought it was a fluke.
The experts believe that this one would go to easygo Er. That Sunday Silence ran a nice race, but this time the big horse from New York is going to get the black eyed Susans. Well it didn't quite turn out that way. It was a great race, and as they turned for home, Sunday Silence was on the front end and an Easy Goer moved past him. And if you're watching the race, you thought, well, that's it. And I remember I was over at the TV station for whatever
reason on that Saturday afternoon, that Saturday evening. I ordinarily worked on Saturdays if we were really busy or had something else going on, or I'm filling in for one of the anchors or whatever, but I happened to be there, and I remember we were all crowded together in the main room watching the TV and I'm screaming at the top of my lungs. And as they were racing down the stretch, I see Easygoer put his head in front.
I thought, well, that's it. And then here's something that you never are you rarely see in deep stretch like a sixteenth of a mile ago, Sunday Silence retakes the lead. Oh I wasn't the only one who saw that. As they were coming down the stretch. Arthur Hancock saw it happen, and he admitted to the Blood Horse on camera in this video that he did ten or eleven years ago that he basically had resigned himself to the fact that easy Gore.
Was gonna win.
Sunday Silence was there and Easy Gore kind of swept past him. Looked to me like he might have shut him off. I was watching, but Sunday Silence dropped back a length or two and I dropped my glasses and said to Stacy, I said, Easy Gore just shut us off.
That's what I thought looking through that. He didn't.
He was far enough out there, but he swept past us, and I thought with a move like that, I thought it's over.
A lot of people thought it was over.
But Arthur's wife, Stacy, she had her eyes on the race and at one point she screamed to Arthur, he's coming back.
Stacy said, he's coming back. He's coming back. You want it buy a nose?
Yes, he did.
And here's the way Dave Johnson called it for ABC Sports.
Good way on the turn.
Heads on the outside of the front on the outside. Your comes Sunday silence to kelling down there heads of bark Sunday silence with Pat Plinzoela takes Sunay at the quarter pole, easy goer back into second position, Dancel's coming on third in the stretch on the upside of Sunday
silence on in the side, easy goer, head down. That's French say, come on the outside, it's Sunday silence, easy goer with pesday Bector Challis had a bark easy goar on the inside of a slight lead by outside Sunday silence.
Here at the far back, here's the fas of.
The preakness Sunday sign of an easy goar photo fat show you a park I can't tell, but on the outside Sunday side of for Pat Velinzuela, he's.
Waving a quippling. He thinks he wanted to time what fifty three and four fifty second tramatic photo finish either Sunday silent on the upside tinner of the derby, who will try to make it two steps to the triple crown or easy if you are at the rail with that day.
What a finish yad was?
And Sunday Silence wins it, and basically, as Arthur Hancock put it, saved their farm. Because of the money he made by winning both the Derby and the Preakness, a Handcock family was able to pay some bills and keep people employed.
Sunday Silence was a gift from God, and he saved us. He saved I had wife and children, and Sunday Silence saved us.
He saved the farm.
Of course, the two horses hooked each other again, and the Belmont actually went and covered that Belmont because I wanted to be there if the Hancocks won a triple Crown. But Easygoer racing on his home track, a bigger track with the wide sweeping turns which benefited a big horse like Easygoer, wins on his home turf and prevents Sunday Silence from winning the triple Crown. Arthur admitted he was disappointed, but he said when he got into it, all he
ever dreamed about was winning the Derby. I didn't dream about winning the triple Crown. Just get me a Kentucky Derby, which he did, and the horses hooked each other again in the Breeders Cup. The following fall and Sunday Silence won it again. And if you remember the story from earlier when Whittingham told Hancock, my boy, we're gonna get the money. Prior to the Breeders Cup, I was told a second hand that Whittingham was talking to a pr
person from the Breeders Cup. She said something to Charlie about you know, he's got a pretty good chance at winning. And he turned to her and he said, bleeping the bleep, we're gonna win that bleeping money. And she said, yeah, you got a big chance, and he said it again, We're gonna win that bleeping money, which is when they loaded up out there on Sunday Silence so a great horse, and again, as Arthur said, the ugly duckling that truly became a swan and saved the family farm. Now, business
being business, Arthur had to sell the horse. He wanted to keep him, but he at bills to pay, so he sold him to a group from Japan, and Sunday Silence went on to become the greatest sire in the history of Japanese racing. There are champion horses throughout Japanese racing now that trace their lineage back the Sunday Silence. Arthur brought him home at one point, and he spent a lot of time in his later years back here
in Kentucky, but eventually went back to Japan. And the horse actually died in Japan, but not until he had become, of course, a great race horse and a great sire. And again it was on this day in nineteen eighty nine at Sunday, Silence won the Preakness, the second jewel of racing's triple Crown. Coming up next, we'll hear from David Sisk of Cats Illustrated and Forrest Tucker from w tvq D on The Big New Insider six point thirty WLAP suact out.
Such Statuta sat out, such.
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Joining us now is a guy who makes the rounds on the radio talk shows because we learned a lot of basketball from David Sisks from Cats Illustrated. Part of the Rivals Network covers Kentucky and North Carolina recruiting. This is a busy time for you, isn't a coach? I know that the basketball season's over, but the recruiting season, well, it never really ends.
Does it.
No?
And I was getting ready to say, if you had to put that on and it never stops, and you know it doesn't, so you go from May. Now. The one thing about it the we we just got done in Memphis. We had a live period. I was at the Nike U y b L. But you know, Adidas was in uh, Iowa. I think under Armor was in
uh uh Cincinnati area, and then you had Poom. We've got like five shoe circuits now, so you know, Mark Pope was in uh he was in Memphis Friday night, he was in Iowa Saturday morning, and Anitas didn't turn around Saturday afternoon. He's back in Memphis, so you know he's he's back and forth. But that's kind of how
you feel right now. But you know, usually uh, you ended up to eyb you had four spring sessions, uh they au ball and the last one it will always always be around Memortal Day weekend and now you've got three and so that's helped a little bit. But to me, the biggest thing is getting the transfer portal over with. That's That's what I'll make you want to, you know, question your career choice is the never ending transfer portal.
But then you uh, you know, but then you're going to get in it'll be okay, and then about the middle of June they'll start reaching out directly to the twenty twenty six kids, and then all of a sudden, you're you're in uh aau ball in July, and then you've got official visits and all that getting set up, and then you've got the fall, and then you got your season and high school season, then you go through the whole thing all over again.
Tell me what your impressions are of the portal class that Mark Pope has put together now that things have settled down.
Uh, obviously a tremendous class. Everybody that I've seen has them ranked in the top three. And I think myself, looking at play now, I don't have I don't go down a list into a portal ranking look at everybody, but you know who the best ones are. I think they're probably right around number two. And you know, when when you take high school kids coming in, who should get on the floor. Overall, it's a very good class
that they brought in, a very good group. And I think not only did they address means, they they're deep, you know, so it's not like they've just got one guy this spot. They wanted to go at least too deep in every spot, and they've got versatility and flexibility. And I think last year they thought they were deep and then all the injuries that they got and they really found out, you know, they didn't have as much
depth as what they thought they had. I think he's approaching it now now that they kind of lifted the capital on the number of scholarships you can have. I think it kind of reminds me of an NBA team. So if you can put fifteen spots, if you can have fifteen spots, why would you have in NBA ten? You know, they fill off fifteen, whether it's the two
way deals or whatever. So it kind of looks to me like, you know, Pope's kind of taking that approach that you know he's going to try to fill you know, every spot and have a deep of a roster is what he can have.
Well, you cover recruiting, you've coached this game, and you know, Pope had to answer critics. They were very polite about it, but some Kentucky fans were a little i don't know, confused, myft whatever. When Pope would have a group on the floor maybe to open the game and would get out to this great start. Then he starts subbing and people began and you and I spoke about that during the season, and you talked about how you might be cutting down
on his subs. But he he was you know, I don't want to say stubborn, but he was confident in the way he's doing things and that he wants to play everybody keep him fresh, that kind of thing. As the season went on, did you see more value in that?
I did, because he built debt. Yeah, so that's the thing. You could keep that five out there. You know, Jerry Tartanian say, you only need to be about eight deep, needed six guys play and two be over in the bench's scream with yell well as they could. So Pope obviously didn't believe in that. So if he would have taken that philosophy and any injury set in, you go right in the middle East. See, and your your players are not ready, they've never been on the floor, but
you know, we'd already started playing. I think Travis Perry and Noah and and you know your freshman Chandler ended up playing a lot. No it was sporadic at times, so they may I think toward the end of the year That was the thing to me. You never know where it was going to come from. You could take Travis Perry for example. He may go three games and never get in and then all of a sudden when he does plays playing twenty five minutes and he has a big game, or you know that was the case, Well,
I think any of the freshmen. So I thought that was and I don't not privy to you know the thinking behind that. I thought that was a little unusual. But it worked out. But she definitely I think, took criticism like you said, but I think it did work out for and when all the injuries set in, and obviously we know they did at the end of.
The year, Travis Harry waited until literally the last possible, yeah, moments before he announced his transfer and did it with a little vanfare. How much did that surprise you if at all?
I think the timing I know this. I get so busy in the portal, and the thing that I hate about the portal is you have all these contents, Well, Kentucky's contacted this guy and this guy that guy, And it's not like scholarship offers where you've got a limited amount. You get into the portal and the next thing you know, you're trying to find out about one hundred and fifty guys in a too much span, it seems like, and
it's just it never ends. It's just twenty four hours to day, seven days a week, and you're just praying for it to get over. So what happens is you get in the middle of that and you kind of forget who's not putting you and you know, so you're not thinking Travis Perry. You're thinking about you know, all these guys that are going to Kentucky, and guys are in a hunt board to go to Indiana or somewhere else and uh a Boogie Land or somebody like that that's in now, and you don't even think about it,
so it sneaks up on you. And but then once you see that, I think it's a timing more than anything. And when it happens late, but then you're like, well, yeah, I guess it does make sense because it's like you and I talked about here. When you're at Kentucky, you're Mark Pope. You've got a responsibility just like John Teller Perry did it for him that he's going to You're
going to get recruited over. And I've made this statement before that the one of the best conversations that I've ever had about Kentucky recruiting with with Andy Borman, who ran the New York RN's AAU program and was Coach K's son in law, and he he had lance Ware, and I remember when lance Ware was committed and I called talked to him and he told me. He said, I told lance when you get recruited over year one,
don't come back. Don't don't come home. If you want to go to Kentucky or North Carolina or Duke or Tangen, You're going to get recruited over. When you get recruited over your sophomore year, don't come home, you know. And he made it three years that Kentucky constantly getting recruited over. And a couple of women told him, you go to a place like Kentucky, it's going to happen. You need to expect that and know that they're constantly going to
try to upgrade your position. So you know, that's what happened with Perry. I think he understood he was constantly going to get recruited over, and that's the nature of the beast. You know, it's nobody's fault. Nobody's the bad guy here, but that's that's just the way it works.
He is David Sisko, Cats Illustrated, part of the Rivals Network. Will come back and talk more hoops with a coach on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with David Siske is part of the Rivals Network. You see his work on Cats Illustrated covering and the recruiting for Kentucky and North Carolina.
Tell me about Mark Pope and his staff, which is important, of course, the entire staff, but their recruiting efforts, David, now in year number two, especially coming off year number one, when they answered so many questions, you know, because people wondered, can this guy and this to me was ridiculous, canny recruited and of course he can. They wondered could he win in the win in the NCAA tournament. Obviously he can,
but they put those questions to rest. And now it seems like they've got a ton of momentum.
Am I reading that right now?
You're correct, and they do. And I don't think into the Sweet sixteen necessarily makes you up a hot program. I think you need a deep run kind of do that nationally. But and what I'm talking about is I don't think yet they got the cachet that uh Yukon got, well two straight national titles, of Alabama got going to a Final four, or Houston's got right now. I know, like I said, being an AU event, when Kevin Sampson walk walks in, you see him, you just look at it.
As great as he was, he's one of my favorite coaches and has been, you just look at him a little differently. And it's just I think in your subconsciousness of human nature, it's almost like you've got to glower halo around defense. So it's it's that that's you know, like I said, that's just the way we're wired. So but I do think Kentucky's got like I said, momentum, I think the playing style does a lot. Players like
what they're seeing. They're constantly when they recruit, they're sending out there the way I take it, they're texting out these these video clips all the time of their playing style and what they do and how the player would fit in it. And the players really like what they're running. The parents like what they're running uh you know, and coach Popany's staff I think approached this and recruiting a
very good way. They put people at ease. So but now we know nil is such a big deal that even the guys that they're in on now and you think they're good shape for all it takes is one nil bit over the top and that, you know, the house of cards come down. So and that's the world we live in now. But yeah, they definitely you know, when you when you have a year ahead and you put together recruiting class like they had on top of it.
And if you look what they did even last year in the recruiting class now limited amount of time that he had to put together a team like that, I mean, I think they've been above board, you know, a recruiting class the season. In the second recruiting class he had knocked at Alla Park all three times.
What do you like about their playing style?
I like that it's a modern style. It is free flowing, there's a lot of reads. You know. He said that they didn't shoot as many three pointers last year. He said his press conference last week, did not shoot as many three pointers as he wants to shoot. I like that type. So the thing is, if you ask me going, who's your favorite coach in college basketball? Just from that you like the style was Nate Oates and so that kind of tells you how I'm wired. Yeah, yeah, so
I like the I like the modern day offense. I like the analytics of it. I think when you watch them play, there's a rhyme or reason for everything they do. There's just it's style based, it's it's percentage based. It translates into the NBA game. It's fun to watch for fans.
Uh.
So you know, I like all that I don't like, and they ran. I think they were a very You had a lot of imagination to be able to play all these bigs together like you did and still keep the wartch court spread out, and I think it's hard to do, but they were really good at it. And I don't necessarily like just the old traditional power forward and the high post centered down on the block and they never get out on the floor and it's just it's just pounded in there and throw it off the backboard.
Five guys try to go get it. You know. I just like this stuff of offense much better than than than you know what some of the alternatives are well, you.
Know, speaking of the Bigs and the way they played, I found it really interesting by the end of the year the value of Mariy Williams value, at least in the eyes of fans and maybe yours as well, it was more about offense than defense, because you know, they had their problems with defense early in the year, and Williams was three time defensive player of.
The Year in this league.
We knew that, but he wasn't quite the rim protector that we thought he might be for whatever reason. However, he was such a great passer in that offense that was such a good and when he had to run the point more than once, I thought it was fascinating. Coach, the way that script kind of got flipped. You know what I'm saying.
I think you could go to the shopping mall and Lexington or Louisville, Kentucky year one and have a microphone and grab the first hundred people and say what kind of center does Mark Pope want to have his offense? And they could give you a pretty educated answer. Just about everybody. I mean, if you watch them play, and we know that ball handling is a big part of that, so like, if we look into Malachi Marino that's coming in the first we're not looking at really what he
does down on a block. You're kind of looking at how does he handle the ball? Can he dribble it, can pass it, canny maneuver with it. And so I think that goes back not only the Pope's style, but that's because of Amari Williams. So when Mark Pope says, hey, when we go into the portal, we are looking analytically
for which players match our system. So if I've got a center and there's found to two guys or one's ranked number two and the portal and another guy's ranking twelve, if the number twelve guy fits us analytically better than what we do, we're gonna take the number twelve guy. We're not worried about the rankings. And I think we kind of see that cod with him from Drexel and maybe with a Kobe Brad and some of these guys maybe weren't quite as highly regarded that man. They really
matched what Mark Pope wants to do. And I I look at players now, and you know they recruited a kid in the Ukah they're looking at right now, Dean Rukert, and I'm sitting there. We're talking to a couple of National guys while he's playing, and they're like, man, he just looks like Mark Pope's kind of players. So I think even in year two, we've already got a good idea in all the different positions. What Mark Pope's taught the player really is sure. Uh, just one thing that's interesting.
I was talking to another SEC coach in Memphis weekend and he said it's going to be interesting because he's brought in some strong, physcal guys like Diabode might be one who are not shooters. They're physical. So I'm wondering if he's trying to adjust a little bit from that, saying, Okay, if we're in the SEC, we've got to be more physical. We may have to put some non shooters out there, even maybe more than one on the floor at the same time, playing extended minutes, because we got to match
the physicality in the sectate. So he may be making a little bit of adjustment. They're up right front of my eyes.
I can see that.
Just a couple of minutes left with David sisk if cat illustrated.
Uh, I don't know.
If I've asked you straight up yet your thoughts on malachaim Mareno, because I got to cover the state tournament all the way through his championship and really for a couple of years, and uh, you know, he could be the classic low post big man. But you know he also looks like a guy. Well, they tell me he can shoot threes and make them. They just didn't want him to in high school. You know, they needed him under the bucket. But yeah, just hear your impressions to him.
Well you just said there if they didn't have the rim protection last year, and you're right, Williams six eleven, but he really didn't get off the floor. So they got it. Now they got and they're gonna have acquaintance too. So you've got two centers right there, two guys playing a five who can absolutely protect the rims. So that gives you that.
I like it.
I think he handles the ball well out front. I think he's got a nice little jump shot. I don't know how deep it goes out, but I know around the elbow areas and stuff, it looks pretty good. You know, he can dribble the ball, he can pass it, he can handle it. That's a big prerequisite. So I think the thing you're looking at Kentucky, I don't think he's the one done. So is he a guy that you could get them to stay for year two? Perhaps you're three,
but definitely year two. And being a Kentucky kid, we say, and you can say, well, Travis Perry was a Kentucky kid, but that's apples and oranges and and you're talking about bringing a top twenty guy in here that was the second highest ranked high school center in the country in his in his group. So you know, I don't care if you're in Kansas and you get them out of Camarino,
you've got a big signee there. But you know, being in the state of Kentucky, you know, I think because of that, you get a chance that he doesn't hit the portal after year one and he sticks around for the second year and really develops because you know he's already you can't teach seven to one, you know, you can't coach it. You can't teach it. Only God give you that. So he uh so, yeah, yeah, I definitely I'm all in on it.
Sounds good to me.
And he's probably after a year could be looking at in a take a always situation, go off and get the information from the draft, and if you come back, you stand to make more money playing another.
Year of college ball.
Right, Yeah, And that's what we're looking at now, and I've seen some excellent articles on that as i'm time research. But you're basically to the point now. It used to be if you're in the second round, you might come back to college simply because you you didn't get any type of guarantees and your your whole motivation was there for if I'm a second round it doesn't work out daring and you're losing a college degree and everything else.
But now will be in al The difference is they can pay you more than definitely what the second round can, but they can pay you more than many in the first round picks. I think if you're at a place, if you're in an Otago Oway with what he'll be getting north three million if he comes back to Kentucky, unless you're a lottery pick and you're going to make
more coming back to Kentucky. Now, I understand, the first round gives you guarantees, but Old Ways is not going to get first round and I can understand, well, you get a two year contractor a three year contract and that turns out to the hill. But I had a guy tell me, and I think he's exactly right. He said,
you know, if you don't go come back. He said, if you're old way and you don't come back, you're spending about three years once you do go pro trying to make up the money lost by not going back to Kentucky. And I thought that was that was really an excellent quote.
Yeah, everybody wants to get to that second contract, but they forget that.
Yeah, he I've heard that quote.
You're chasing that money and it's going to take a while, and you got to stay healthy enough to recoup it. So yeah, it's big business, no question. David Sisk is big business and the interest of recruiting. And you should follow him on Twitter at Coach David Sisk. Look for him on the website Cats Illustrated part of the Rivals Network. Thank you, coach, talk to you again soon.
Absolutely, Thank you.
Up next, Forest.
Tucker from WTVQ TV channel thirty six, Here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider joining us now from ABC channel thirty six WTVQ Forrest Tucker, who is a guy who covers a little bit of everything, including the derby. I want to double back to that because I'm always curious about folks who come in from out of town and get a chance to cover that event. But you've been covering Mark Pope of late. And he sat down and then had quite the frank discussion I
think with the media the other day Forrest. Was there any one particular takeaway from that because there were a lot of good sound bites, weren't there.
Yeah.
I thought there was a litany of sound bites you could have gone with and you could have made into stories. And so when I think about the thing that I was was a bit disappointed about, but knew it was a long shot. I asked him, what's the nil valuation of your roster? And who jokingly said posted two hundred million, which I touched Lee K Howard from KYK on the Sour, I said, he's joking, right, like I just I'm sometimes a little bit slow to the trigger with understanding things.
And I was like, all right, he's definitely joking. But then he produced a very as a friend of mine put it, you know, steal clapping sound bite for BBN if we want to be the best in everything, and Lotty Dottie died and so yes, coach Beek. When Mark does coach speak, though, I think you don't know it's
coach speak because he just is so eloquent. Yes, And I think, really that's just kind of the thing for me, is you you want to know candidly from these coaches, whoever it is, what is the emphasis are players coming in and what is the question? What question numberre they asking about an ilan? Are they asking about this in the first five questions the first five minutes or with
from like Kentucky and Mark Pope. The way he's selling it is these guys kind of don't really care about that and said he's looking for guys that aren't fishing for that, And so I wonder really what the deal is because we can be told this all day long. And I'm not saying it's something bad, but it's good to know in this day and age. It's like a job interview. Are you going to care how much money you're going to be making right off the bat or can we talk about the opportunity first?
I agree, and I think there are still players out there like these guys who came through last year, and you were part of the media horde to descend it on these guys when we were allowed to talk to them in August and throughout the year, and without fail, every one of them you could tell how much they appreciated being at a place like Kentucky with the t tradition and the name on the jersey and all that.
I do wonder how many generations of players who come through here will keep appreciating, you know what I mean. I feel like, yeah, at some point that's gonna wear off. I worry for that, do you.
I don't know. I think it really depends on how parents are raising their kids these days. And really I'm not anywhere near being a parent, but I was raised by parents who were not, you know, telling you to go after certain things in life, but really value the intangibles. That made a big difference. And so I think if the kids are having a good head on their shoulders, then they'll come in and they'll want to work hard.
And I think we can criticize the next generation for not wanting to do that pretty easily, and some of that is warranted. But I do believe, you know, he being Pope mentioned that Denzel Aberdeen comes from military family. He is a very hard worker, and so that speaks to me because that's kind of my background as well well. So I think that it's not like Mark Pub's going to really go and recruit kids and doing deep guys
in their families all the time. But I think that when you look in the recruiting process and you see what's going on. I actually interviewed some people, some Kentucky bill Bakers about a documentary they did on Blue Ship football recruits. You know, sometimes the parents get involved and they really really are a bit over zealous with what they want, and that trickles down to the kids. And you can talk about looking vicariously through their child's experiences
with a lot of stuff. That's a whole of a conversation. But I think as long as the kids come from a good family and they've had good coaches as a basis during their youth days, then perhaps that goes well for their marketability as a really good recruit as a culture fit. Because I think Pope is going for the culture fit. And I guess your thought is, is there a chance where he may be like, Ah, this guy
might not be the best culture fit. I'm going to have to work with him to kind of mold him, you know what I mean?
Yeah, I do, although I think that in this day and age, especially with Kentucky's budget being what it is, I don't know that he's going to have to really really do that because he'll have enough funding, you know, in his background behind him. Rather to be picky, be as picky as he needs to be, you know, I can't think of a better We'll selective, you.
Know, I agree. I think that what we realize what the transfer portal is develops is it's kind of like just the wall of candy and BUCkies or something for the wall of beef's turkey, right, I mean, you can get any type of thing you want, and it doesn't matter if they're out of the one thing. If they're out of maple brown sugar, they have maple, they have maple bacon or something. Yeah, maple bacon beef turkey is something,
but don't that exists. But that's my point is there's an adjacent player that you know, you may have thought that will work and I didn't, And now we'll go with him because he still fits a lot of things. I mean, these guys. I wonder Mark Pope is ahead of it all, and you know he's important, but he's assistant. This is what I you know, get. I'm not trying to get into the access to some stations in the
market aver versus others. But the assistant coaches on this team are so important because they're doing all of this. It's not groundwork, but it's so much of the nitty gritty I think makes the hugest difference in recruiting it and everything.
No, I agree.
And now with the portal being what it is, and Mark Troops has talked about this, you've got a much better opportunity to know what you're getting in terms of playing ability, but also locker room presence, you know, personalities and things like that. You don't know about a high school senior how he's going to mature in the next two, three, four years, you know, but you've got a pretty good idea. Some of these portal guys, as you know, are in
their third, fourth, and even fifty years. That's a huge difference.
Yeah, I think that it's good because you can definitely get the guys that will be your lieutenants in the locker room. That's important. Especially on a huge team like Kentucky football, you need the guys that are going to hold everyone together to the blue. On a basketball team, it's different.
I think.
You know, we heard last season the guys everybody stepped up when they needed to. You know, everybody had a mutual trust and kind of respect for each other, which was great to hear about. And we saw it on the court. You know, we never saw I don't think we ever saw last season an instant between two teammates jarring at each other because they were upset. We never
saw that. And how many teams in America can you say that hasn't happened on now Maybe behind the scenes there was one or two things, but I think that, you know, we would have sent some sort someone would have known that. Now, not saying that anyone's a choir boy, I'm not saying they're not. I just think that it's important that Mark Pope keeps this brand of It's kind of like you know, Shaneview or South Carolina, you know, uses the word excited like every five seconds. Mark Pope
uses the word beautiful in the same frequency. So he's trying to keep He's trying to find people that aren't afraid to kind of not be this you know, rugged, rigged, you know, rugged, just like kind of you know, stereotypical masculine guy. He's looking for the guys that are in touch with their emotions.
Yeah, yeah, you.
Know, and there's nothing wrong with that. We're talking to Forrest Tucker of WTVQ. He's been covering, among other things, Mark Pope and the moves he's made with his roster. And I've already heard people for us say, maybe you agree.
I don't know.
This year's team may be more talented than last year's team, may accomplish more, which means, of course, a final four. I think, yeah, Pope already knows about the expectations. He he brought him up the day he was introduced. You know, he knows the assignment. But he didn't do himself any favors, did he.
I mean, he's.
He's he's already kind of worked himself into a corner, hadn't he.
Well, I think if you're Mark Popener at Kentucky, you don't believe in corners, You don't believe in being backed into a corner. You believe in being the top dog. And he said that a couple days ago last week with the presser about being the best with everything, you already mentioned that. Uh, but yeah, I think I'm going to hear for the rest of my life. We are here to win banners and his loud, just booming voice
around ruughs. You know about a year and change ago and uh that that's something where you say that day one and it's an expectation and so you have to be held to that. And I think that's the thing with BBN is they're going to wonder, so when is it going to happen? Yeah, you know when they're going to have to see a year over year progression and you know what one year is going to happen.
Uh.
But it's interesting just his his next team. We're going to compare it to this year's team, but it could be totally different. And I think that what we will see with the transport line. This is why it's a good thing is you can get high school crud saying where you want, right but your portal guys, we you kind of already see who they're going to be, you know, as far as who's going to come in. And I think that uh, Mark is never going to be upset
about losing in a Caden Lewis to the portal. He's never going to be upset about losing, you know, a couple targets that you know, just didn't work out for him. He's onto the next one. He knows he has what he has. And so someone said a lot there's a reason he shakes Joe and Kelly Kraft's hand every he
walks out there. And you know, I just think, I think we're about to see a lot of difference in everything in you know, what what we how we look at this athletic and these athletic departments and how the sports just based on what we're already already doing. They're already looking at it differently. But I think that it's it's we have to remember that these players are our
people and and even though they're getting paid money. I think that's what actually Pope's mentality maybe helps is he's not this he's not a fatino, he's not someone who's super super vicious. Sometimes he kind of he kind of is able to insulate these guys from the loud just noise outside of where they practice and play. But when they see Rapperina, they understand and they you know, they respect it, and so that's why I think a guy like Trendo is a big deal this year. Brandon Garrison's
a big deal. I think that, you know, I think they might. I would I would say there's a good seventy five percent chance of the yedt otego way back. I mean having him back. I mean there are guys that are like, they're just world beaters this year. They are just world class. So it's it's an exciting time.
We'll talk more with Forest Tucker on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Forest Tucker of WTVQ Channel thirty six, who has not been in the market all that long. But you're you ingratiated yourself. Of course by covering horse races. You had to learn how to cover the sport. It's intimidating,
I know. But also you you either had to or got to cover the Kentucky Derby, and I wonder how you because that is a tall task if you are working and just going there, fighting the crowd is one thing, but to work that event, and I've been to almost fifty of them, yeah, it's it's it's a challenge, but did you enjoy that?
Yeah, I enjoy I enjoy every challenge, Dick. I mean, there's not a day you can wake up and you can't be happy for what you do. If you're not, if you don't have a zeal for it, I think you need to stop doing it. I mean, it's just like people who say they need to retire from being
a pro athlete. So, yeah, we were more methodical with how we split things up this year, and that was something that I had, you know, I wanted to make sure we had our needs met and that the needs of you know, our management was met as well and what they wanted out of us, and so we were able to execute well. And you know, it's tough. It's it's hard. I used to work mornings as a news reporter. And when you get it at four thirty every morning, which was two hours later than I would used to up.
You know, you're you're working ten hours from that point. You know you're you're driving there, but you know, there's an excitement that builds, and it's it's crazy to see your pronounced transform. You know, you you you see what happens day in and day out from you know, about five am to ten am. And it's just it's it's it's a magical. It's a magical, beautiful Mark Poe word right there, you know, just experience. It's just there's nothing
like it. I think what you want to do is you want to be on the biggest stage you can. You want to be at the event everybody's talking about. And I made the most of it, which is great. You know, it's not about me, But I hope people enjoy our coverage because that's what matters is that they
learned something, they were able to get something. I hope they got a kick Outsy and Kenny Rice back on our air for about three minutes and change on Everily was Thursday, and and Kenny's great and I love him and everything, but uh yeah, just it's it's a great spectacle. We've had two years in a row of Derby doubles, Kenny McPeek last year, the God Dolphin team this year.
And I think that makes it easy for people in this day and age where we're talking about a lot about crown, frequency of races, we're talking about a lot of things related to just so many more things that I that I kind of see as as issues and touching points in the sport to have to have it easy to remember that a trainer won the Derby and the Oaks last year and then an ownership group won
the Derby and the Oaks this year. It's good because we're not getting in the weeds with things it's not inside baseball, and it is hard to think about just you know, everything that goes into the sport. I mean, I'm still learning, I'm still thinking, you know, trying to piece together stuff. But once you kind of catch the bug, it's hard to not think about it and it's hard to not I was.
I was.
That race yesterday at Baltimore was crazy. So you know, there's a there is. This sport may be a little bit of a cross road, but everyone has their own opinion and they say it's been there before, so you know that that's the next thing I'm just interested to see about is that. And yeah, there's like like the Derby, when you've done it once, you can kind of feel like, you know, it's good to feel at ease in those moments. You're like, ah, this is this is my element. So
I love thriving in those environments. There's nothing like it.
Well, the good news is getting a chance to Chad with the forest Tucker. But the bad news is you're leaving us. You're leaving the market, which happens all the time, and TV young men and women get a chance to move the bigger markets, you know, arguably better. But it's what you make of it. And how long have you been here in election? And what are going to be? What's going to be? Again the popular word? Your takeaway from your time here?
Two years? Dick Stanner two years? Deal Nothing that's crazy or abnormal about that. But you know, I've never been to Kentucky for I came here and I think that you hear about BBN and you hear about Kentucky basketball. And getting chances to cover cal for a year was an underwhelming experience for a lot of reasons, and for many people on the beat, it was an underwhelming year, but you can't have every year be an amazing time.
And then covering Pope was certainly an exhilarating journey and getting to kind of just see the transition and see things was interesting. I think that there's no beast like the fans of Kentucky basketball. It's them in Ohio State football, and that's what's just kind of crazy to me is you know, you go across the country you see fan bases and I think I'll probably be comparing fan bases to beat me in for the rest of my life.
And so that's what Lextington offers. It offers this interesting kind of people say, it's it's it's it's a cult. You know, it's like it's just crazy to see it blew everywhere you go, and not just you know, visually, but in every sense. So you know, I I will say I hope that I would hope that they're more Louisville fans out there, because it seems like in a lot of ways it's a one side of rivalry and you know that they're they're a minority of people in
the state are Louisville fans. I mean, I love to see more Louisville fans. I love to see, you know, a little bit more of their chests out with it because nationally they're a very well known brand. But in this state, you come here and they're kind of that, they're they're not kind of they are the and unless you're the football team this year, they are you know, their little brother.
Oh yeah, yeah, we've heard that term before and we'll hear it again, but appreciate it man. Thank you Dick, and that's a good night from the garage and lexing.
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