Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with you on a Wednesday edition of our show. And it is Wednesday, which means we will talk with West End Bureau chief Gary Moore, as well as unforgettable guard Sean Woods, who now has added the duties of head coach of the La Familla entry in the basketball Tournament. That's the team composed primarily of Kentucky players UK players that will play in that national tournament one million dollars winner take all.
They got to the SEMIS last year, beat the team from Louisville, but lost I think it was to the team primarily from Ohio State, which won the tournament. So Sean Woods was an assistant last year and as the head coach this year. Tyler Euless was the coach last year, but of course now he's living and working in Arkansas, so Sean takes over. We'll talk about that as well. Now at the bottom of this hour, we're going to
talk with Cody Feger. He's an assistant coach under Mark Pope, and we'll talk about that first year and now this year's team has come together. And fair warning, he grew up in Wisconsin. He's a Packers fan. There will yes be some Packer talk, but hanging there it's mostly basketball. You know by now, of course that Braden Hawthorne is a Kentucky Wildcat. Speaking of this year's class, you wondered was Mark Pope Donne And he kind of when he was asked about this last week gave it the evasive
I don't know yet, that kind of thing. Still going after Braiden Hawthorne, who chose Kentucky last night from among Duke Virginia Tech West Virginia, you know. And I would play his announcement for you from YouTube, but the setup just wasn't very good. Bless their hearts. The audio was terrible. Two four seven had it up on YouTube, but it just wasn't It was very difficult to hear, quite frankly,
but some of his comments were really interesting. And in fact I talked with Chris Fisher this morning on Tom Leach's show about this. But and he clipped part of the story. It was on the two four to seven website from Travis Brandam. One of the quotes but he
talked about he said, this is the Hawthorne. He said, I feel like I have the best relationship out of all the schools with Coach Pope, he said, he calls me and texts me more than anybody I have ever talked to in the past since he's been recruiting me. This is the kid who committed to West Virginia so had them in his finalists. I wonder was that really legit, but then backed away in the fall, opened to reopened his recruitment in the spring, and now was chosen Kentucky.
And not only that, Pope convinces him to come to Kentucky where you'll get the opportunity to play. When you look at this incredibly deep roster, one of the deepest in the country, and he is the tenth edition to next year's team, he's going to need more than one year. Every time they signed somebody you think is he wanted to know he weighs one seventy five, so he's going to need to spend at least a couple of years
eating well in the weight room. But at what six seven six eight, he's got a seven foot three wings span And according to the story a high basketball IQ Bill said about as he said, trying to help Kentucky win number nine. Good answer, kid. Speaking of Mark Pope, He and two of Hawthorne's future teammates or I guess now they're current teammates, will be busy with USA basketball at
in Colorado Springs. Pope is part now of the staff for USA Basketball's U nineteen under nineteen national team training at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. That all begins on June fourteenth. He will be coaching, among others, Malachai Moreno and Jasper Johnson. They will take part in the tryouts as well, everybody trying to make the twelve player roster for team USA squad that will compete in the twenty twenty five FOEBA Under nineteen World
Cup in Switzerland. Not too shabby. Moreno has done this before he was part and so is Jasper Johnson. They were both part of the USA men's Nike Hoops summit team earlier in the spring that defeated the World Select team won twenty four to one, fourteen in overtime. So Malachi and Jasper will get some bonus coaching from their head coach. Every now and then, we look at this day in sports history, and it was on this day we talked about the nineteen eighty nine, Preakness Yesterday and
Sunday Silence nineteen eighty eight. That Preakness on this day went to risen Star. Risen Star ran third in the Kentucky Derby in nineteen eighty eight. That was the year the Big Philly jumped out winning colors for Wayne Lucas and ran away st the Derby. Went back and watched that race. She took the lead three jumps and she was a big horse. Three jumps out of the gate and nobody caught her. I guess they all thought she was going to back up. She was. She was seventeen
hands high. And I remember the first time I saw her at Churchill Downs. First day I was there. I was walking to the track and I passed her barn and she came out with a rider up exercise rider. He had to hug her neck just to clear the top of the of the door in the stable. She was so tall, And I said to myself, handicapping, note, she's not a girl. But by Saturday, I'm like, I'm not betting the Philly, and I threw her out in like a dope and she won. Risen Star was third,
breaking from the three hole. He goes on to win the Preakness on this day in nineteen eighty eight. Then he won the Belmont just like his daddy, Secretary, who won the Belmont by thirty one lanks. You got that famous photo of his jockey looking back to see that there's nobody near him. Risen Star won it the same way, you know, And back then people were saying, we'll never have another Triple Crown winner. It's too hard. And if Risen Star doesn't let winning colors get away, he was
clearly the best three year old. He wins the Triple Crown. And I'll always remember that famous photo of Secretariat because I retweeted it when Kentucky was destroying UCLA during the twenty fourteen to fifteen season. Remember they were up like forty one to seven at half or something, and I tweeted a photo saying Ucla knows what the rest of the field felt like in Secretariat's Belmont. Thank you, thank you very much. We'll talk sec football next on six
thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Coming up in just a few minutes, We're gonna chat with Cody Feeger. He's an assistant coach under Mark popees who will talk about what's been going on along the recruiting trail, and of course we'll talk about the first season for Pope and his staff, and a guy like Cody Figure who's been with Mark Pope for we're going dating back to the Utah Valley State days. A little bit later on Sean Woods, The Unforgettable Guard and West End Bureau
Chief Gary Moore. Good news if you are a fan of Nick Saban, and he's got a lot of them now as an analyst for ESPN, not just Alabama fans. He has won a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Emerging on Air Talent for the work he's done at ESPEN. I guess it's like being the rookie of the Year. But Saban really did crush it on the anchor desk. And we talked about this back when Brady Tom Brady at first started doing games and just quite frankly, was not great. It was not the goat, you know whatever. I didn't
expect him to be. But he was catching a lot of flak because he really, quite frankly, wasn't that good. But as I pointed out, then it's completely apples and pineapples. I mean it couldn't be more of a different challenge, more of a different job. But people were saying, oh, Saban would have been much better at it, and you know, maybe he would have. But the job he does for ESPN, and I'm not diminishing it in any way, is completely
different from what Brady does. Brady's got to look at a play and instantly know why it worked or why it didn't. And when I coach up people, I've coached up a few people who have done color analysts jobs, primarily in football, but some basketball, and I tell them, your job is to say that whenever you break down a play that begins with in your mind. Don't say
it on the air. You don't have to, but in your mind you're thinking that play worked because and then start talking, or that play didn't work because and then start talking, And you've got to do it right now. Plus you got somebody talking in your ear, You've got the replay, you got to run the telestrator, all that stuff. It's hard. And I'm not saying Saban couldn't do it. I'm sure he could. He's a very smart guy. But the job he does on the Anchor Death is coaching.
He breaks down video. He explains it to the people in the room. It's not a meeting room, it's the anchor desk, and it's the cameras that take him to millions and millions of people. But it's what he's been doing his entire career, and to his credit, and he's going to because he coached the ultimate team game. He praised the people around him who helped prepare him will help him before, during, and after the broadcast. And he's great at it. And it comes at a really good
time because obviously Lee Corso is stepping down. Corso worked to stay apart a viable part of ESPN's game day coverage, but after a stroke, and he told me in an interview that it's just not the same because he can't be as extemporaneous. He can do the scripted stuff really well, but the remarks that used to come off the top of his head, it just doesn't work for him anymore. And I think I think he still contributed, but a little bit. I think he HASPN did the right thing.
They kind of eased him back a little bit, and I hope it was his decision to step down. But when he as he does, there's not this giant chasm on the desk because Saban's there, and maybe they'll put somebody in Courso's chair. They really don't need it. They've got enough people on that anchor desk. But a tip of the captain, Nick Saban. Seven national championship trophies and
now a Sports Emmy. Good for him. Speaking of sports on TV, there was a sports question at the end of Jeopardy I think it was last night maybe, and it was a really interesting question about population base for states that have NFL teams. And here it is. I'm going to play the clips. See if you know the answer this.
Game NFL geography. Here's the clue. It's the state with the lowest population density to an NFL team. Thirty seconds. Good luck, and right.
Here my mind immediately went, of course, Green Bay, not because I'm a Packers fan, but because it's the smallest market in all of professional sports. But remember he said state, and Wisconsin is fairly heavily populated compared to a lot of others. So I'm running through the cities in my head and I came up with the Colts in Indiana, kind of a rural state, got some big cities, but I decided Indiana was my answer because of the Colts, and here it is.
This would have been a different state a few years ago. We'll start with Wendy Powish, who had eleven thy nine hundred. She wrote down, what is Colorado because of the broncos. I think that is the second least dense state today. So you're going to lose eighty one hundred, leaving you with thirty eight hundred. Mitch Laughlin was in second place with twelve four hundred. His response was Indiana, and I'm
afraid that's also not it. Mitch will lose six thousand, one hundred and eighty, taking you down to six thousand, two hundred and twenty dollars. Brendan Lao had a pretty big lead with nineteen thousand, two hundred. Did you think of the right team in the right state? What is Minnesota now? I'm afraid not. In twenty twenty, the Raiders moved from Oakland to very sparsely populated Nevada there in Las Vegas now, so it's what is Nevada?
I say when he said it would have been a state a few years ago, he couldn't say that prior. That's a heck of a clue. But yeah, it would not have been the Raiders in Las Vegas, but it would have been Colorado, as he said, and I looked it up. Colorado has five point nine million people. Indiana has six point nine million. Nevada's only got three points something. You know there are there are more people living in
the state of Kentucky than live in Nevada. So anyway, interesting question on Jeopardy, I thought, and uh again, Indiana wasn't even close. He's sticking with football. Aaron Murray is the former Georgia quarterback who really good player. I mean in terms of college football and what he did at UGA A great player. He was drafted by the Chiefs out of college in the fifth round. He only played a couple of years in the league. He bounced around on practice squads and all but at Georgia he set
some big marks that still stand. He is still the SEC career passing touchdown leader head of Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford, and still the SEC career passing yards leader a couple of times. Was second team All SEC in twenty eleven and twenty thirteen. His senior year twenty thirteen ended against Kentucky when Zadarius Smith, who said a long NFL career, threw him to the turn and that damaged
his knee. He was on November twenty third in Athens and he threw for four touchdown passes but in the first half, but late in the half, Zadarius Smith sacked him and he suffered a season ending knee injury. George ended up eight and five on the year. This is before Georgia became a superpower again in the Southeastern Conference.
But anyway, that's Aaron Murray and he had an interesting comment about arch Manning, and this came after the story came out that arch Manning is considered the potential, if not probable, overall number one pick next year after he plays the season of college football at Texas. And remember he was the benchwarmer this year. We thought we'd see him against Kentucky, but we didn't. Quin Ewers went the
entire way. And remember, yours was supposed to be the greatest thing since school aid when he came out of high school, bounced around ni own money all that was never a college superstar. And Aaron Murray pointed that out when he pushed back against the notion that arch Manning is going to be the next superstar.
And I said this last year during the season too, because I was a big fan of quinn Ewers heading into the season. I thought Quinn did some good stuff at times last season, but let's be honest, Texas had probably the second or third best roster in America, probably the second or third. Why were they not competing for a national championship is because Quinn was holding them back. Quinn did not perform to the level that I thought he could. And then you're sitting down in the NFL draft.
I mean, he gets what drafted in the seventh round. So even NFL scouts we're saying, like, this guy's just maybe not as good as as anticipated coming out as a recruit or maybe even.
Two years ago.
So all in all, quinn Ewers had a disappointing season and it reflected in his draft stock.
If you were so good.
And everyone as you projected number one pick in the NFL draft come twenty twenty six, why in the hell are you not playing above a seventh round quarterback?
And that is fair. Where was he if he was so good, why didn't he beat out quinn Ewers? Or their politics? Involved. Probably did they not want yours to transfer again, I don't know, but the bottom line is Steve Sarkisi and the head coach of Texas, and we're down there. It's like Kentucky basketball. It's national championships or nothing. And if he had a quarterback on his sideline that could get him there, he's gonna play him. But he
didn't play Manning. He played yours. And remember the Kentucky game, it was never really in doubt, but Kentucky was hanging in there. But it looked to me like in the second half they decided we're going to put the ball in Quinn's hands, let him win the game. And he did. And quite frankly, Kentucky played about as well I thought as it could. Made some mistakes, but yours was the difference down the stretch. But he wasn't a superstar difference maker.
And that is why I really think Aaron Murray's comments were fascinating. Welcome back to the Big Bluin Cider and joining us now in the celebrity hotline is assistant coach Cody Fieger, Mark Pope's staff. Uh, And I got to warn you, folks, he is I was Conson Native. He is a Packers fan as am I, and we will talk Packers football before this interview is over. But coach, let's let's start with the Wildcats. Just tell me what was your first year like for you when you came
to Kentucky. You knew the brand, you knew the history, but you didn't really know it til you lived it, did you?
No? No, you know, it was kind of like a you know, when Coach Pope called and you know, asked if I was interested and wanted to come, and he has like a dream, you know, and you know, everything I kind of thought of at this level, just the people that care and how much they love it and the passion for it. The only thing that I experienced it like this is growing up as a Packers fan, you know, so that that's kind of very similar how it is growing up in Wisconsin, where all it is
Green Bay Packers all day long. That's the only thing you care about. And that's what Kentucky basketball is is to this state and to most people in the country.
You worked with Mark Pope at Utah Valley, then it'd be y you when he called you. Was there any hesitation or was it? Did he did he finish his sentence before you said? Yes?
Absolutely not. I mean I was, I was all in. I was so excited and you know, like I said, it's it's it's everything. You want to be a part of this place, he joked, I go ahead, Yeah, it's it's grateful for this opportunity and great people here to work with. And you know, I've been lucky to work you know, alongside him for for you know, three twelve years now.
When he was introduced. He sort of joked about how quickly his daughters said yes, because a move like that was especially with with teenagers, you know, they're gonna have to leave their friends and all that stuff. Uh, but they grew up Kentucky fans because of him, but they had never been here. Uh. What was was was was there a Kentucky presence at all when it came to Mark Pope working at Utah Valley, working at Brigham Young. I mean, I'm sure there were some framed photos or something.
But how much did you know about Kentucky and him?
Yeah? So, uh, you know, growing up, I would go to the YMCA and I had a good friend and we would He was actually a big Kentucky fan, so you know, we would we would play at the WYMCA and we'd end up pressing, would be the only you know, fIF sixth seventh graders pressing at the Yanta, just normal pickup ball, and we'd be like, so Kentucky defense time, and just like what coach Tino did it, you know,
Kentucky a long time ago. So like I knew Travis Ford, Jamal Mashburn, like all those guys were guys that I watched and I grew up, you know, really enjoying. And then you know, I grew up in Milwaukee. I'm a huge Bucks fan and and Coach Pope was on you know, some of the best Bucks teams ever. So he'd be starting in the Eastern Conference finals, and you know, I was just kind of grew up like watching coach Pope and and you know, it's it's it's kind of crazy
how it all all ended up. But yeah, he talked about Coach Patino. He talked about how special Kentucky was and the people there, and you know, when we're at Utah Valley, we played at Kentucky UH for a by game, and you know, you know, one guy gave him a sword when we were out here, We're like, well, he's the real out of here man. This place is awesome.
We're talking to Cody Figuer, assistant coach and er Mark Pope at the University of Kentucky. And again, you grow up, as you said, a Packers fan in Wisconsin, but you're a basketball guy. How did that happen?
Yeah? Yeah, so I just I honestly, I love playing football growing up, but I just I spent so much time just loving basketball. I would go to Yanta every single day when I was younger. I get to play basketball, you know, after school. My parents just dropped me off there and I hang out and play basketball for a couple hours, and I just kept on getting better. And I just enjoyed it, you know, and love watching the NBA.
At any time you could, you could play. I mean obviously I had to shovel my you know, driveway a ton of times in Wisconsin just to play. But I always really enjoyed it. And you know, I love to talk basketball and watch it. And you know, I grew up around you know, Rick and Jerris, going to his camps, and you know, he was he was so great to me when I was younger. He taught me a ton of the game, and yeah, it was just there's just so many great things that made me enjoy basketball.
How did you end up at the University of Utah and not at Marquette or Wisconsin or somewhere up there.
Yeah, So Rick majeris, you know, former coach at Utah, right, He's from Milwaukee. Originally he would do camps in Wisconsin. So I went to those camps. My parents signed me up and I was I went there when I was eight, nine, ten, eleven every year for and coach Majaris's would always remember me every year. But like because I was, you know, the hardest worker at camp. I'd die my loose balls and you know, take charges in camp, do all those sorts of things, and he kind of remembered me every year.
And then you know, when when I turned fifteen, I'd go in the morning session or sorry, when I was fifteen, there was you know, the younger grade and then the other group in the afternoon, and he asked me to coach the younger grade, the younger group. So I was fifteen years old and I was coaching you know, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve year olds. And then I'd be a camper in the second session, and you know, we just kind of
formed a great relationship. He asked me to walk on at Utah, but I'm too cheap, and I knew I wanted to coach because I really enjoyed those camps. And you know, then he said, all right, come work for me and I'll give you scholarship. And that's kind of how I wanned up there.
And began as a video coordinator as a student. And folks, you need to know this.
Yeah, go ahead, Oh sorry, Yeah, so I was. I was a student manager. I was with him twenty four steven every single daycha for a couple of years, and yeah, around them all day long. But I did every single type of job.
Starting as a video coordinator, among other things. People need to understand. I'm sure you know this. Frank Vogel, who coached the LA Lakers to an NBA championship, began as a video coordinator, or at least that was early in his career at the University of Kentucky. So you know, video coordinators going to great things. People need to know this. Yeh. And Cody Figures now an assistant at Kentucky and is on our Celebrity hotline talking basketball and again another warning.
We're going to talk Packers football a little bit later. But with this first year under your belt, tell me what it's like now on a recruiting trail working with coach Polk to put together the portal class. I don't want to use the word easier, but is it smoother now with the better lay of the land?
Yeah, I would. I would say, I mean this college basketball is changing every thirty seconds here to tell you the truth, but it is definitely a better feel of what we're looking for in the twenty five class, twenty six, twenty seven class compared to last when you know, we had to bring in a whole new roster in a month and uh, you know, it's it's ever changing navigating waters right now, so because they have as fluid as possible, but it's definitely, you know, definitely able to see everything.
The hardest part, honestly, was we were still playing and then we were you know, the two biggest parts of our jobs were at the same time, and it was recruiting and we're still playing. That part was was complicated, and we missed out on a couple of guys because we're more worried about, you know, our team, Like these kids are like I want to come on visits this
and that. We're like, we can't do that, Like we've we've got to do everything we can with these teams and and uh yeah, but that's that's that's that's kind of how it went. But we're really grateful with with the team and the roster we have, and yeah, it's uh it we had a better feel for this year. For sure.
It was a tough season. In some ways it was rewarding and others. You had a nice NCAA tournament run, not as deep as you like, of course, but won some big games. And Jackson Robinson goes down hurt that that was a huge wrench in your plans, I know, But then you had other guys begin to blossom like
otega Oway and and Maari Williams. You know, the thing you knew he could play defense, but the things he did with your All's offense, I mean, what was it like watching this team develop and kind of grow and blossom?
It was it was it was you know, you like you saw Maury Williams have a triple double. Yeah, but you said, you just saw guys just develop, developed develop all year long, and you know, Brandon Garrison, Colin Chandler, Trenton.
No.
I mean we can go down the line with every single one of these guys get better. Like you said, Otega Away, who just you know, we knew was going to be a great player. We recruit him at BUYU and then you know, it's a great, great transition here to Kentucky and we knew he was going to be really good and talented, and he just stepped up to the plate and he was a second team All League and you know, he got a chance come back, He's got a chance to be you know, SEC Player of the Year.
Or chatting with Cody Fieger, Kentucky assistant basketball coach, we'll talk more UK basketball on the other side of the break here on six point thirty, Wlap welcome back to the Big Bloon Sider Dick Gabriel with you. We are chatting with Cody Fieger, assistant coach under Mark Pope and a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native and Green Bay Packers fan. And he is a guy who has been out on the recruiting trail helping put together the transfer portal class. How
pleased are you? It's kind of an obvious question with the group you come in, he got coming in for next season. You carry over some really nice players you're waiting to hear from, will take an away, but strong freshman class, some talented kids coming through the portal. You got to be really excited.
Yeah, I'm really excited. And you know, we talk to these kids every day, every other day right now, and they're really excited to represent Kentucky. And that's that's the part that's really exciting that they want to come here and just be a part of this program and you know, our goals within the National Championship. But yeah, we're really excited about these kids. They're hard workers, they want to get to the league, and they want to win a
championship here. So really fun group of kids. We had them all come on a visit kind of together, at least four of them, and spend a lot of time with their friend their family, and and yeah, it's a great group of kids.
We mentioned earlier how long you've been with Mark Pope, and he has a really interesting style of offense. And I know it took a little while for the guys this past season to adjust. Do you think this group will better suit not that your last group didn't but will better suit the way you guys play offense and defense.
I think we're gonna you know, every year offensively and defensively. You know, we've kind of changed things, like we keep it pretty fluid offensively and defensively and what we're doing and what we're looking for just depending on personnel. And we'll do the same thing this year. Like we'll be in practices and we'll see you guys do certain things. We're like, oh, we got to add that, we got to add this, we got to take this way. This could be better. So every year we've kind of been
pretty fluid. And this team will this team will you know, they're athletic, good pastors, good decision makers. So well, we'll do a lot of things similar to last year, I'm sure, But like I said, we'll keep it fluid and make sure it fits exactly what we're looking for. Like I said, we didn't know, we didn't know how Mara Williams was going to be triple doubles and different things that he
could do. And just got to you know, do our obs and put them in the best position possible at the end of the day.
Coach Pope has mentioned on more than one occasion the decision making, you know. But that's true really in any sport, isn't it If you don't have to think about it, If you just inherently know, then you're two steps ahead of your opponent, aren't you?
For sure? For sure? And you know, we spend a ton of time with our guys. We sent them a ton of film, and they want to be great decision makers. They want to be efficient. We think we're pretty good teachers with that also, So it's you know, it's very important for us is decision making. We don't want to call a ton of plays. We want to we want to let these guys read and make decisions out there.
And because that's the best offense that that's the best players making decisions and making plays for each other.
Talking to Cody Fieger, assistant coach at the University of Kentucky. He is a Milwaukee native. Fair warning now begins the Green Bay Packer portion of our conversation. But you mentioned earlier just growing up and was kind in Milwaukee, and everything is all Packers all the time, just as it's for the most part in most of the state of Kentucky uk LT. I grew up in Louisville back back in the day when they didn't play each other, believe it or not, so you could actually root for both teams.
But it's a pretty even split in Jefferson County. But tell me what it's like on Packers Sundays in Milwaukee. In Wisconsin. I mean, and I lived in Dallas for two years. It's got to be like when the Cowboys are playing, everything shuts down. It's got to be that way in Wisconsin.
True, oh for sure. So you know, like I said, when I was born, my parents put me on the season ticket list. Of course, so I'm that was the first thing that happened.
Where are you now? And I was.
I was eighty thousand away when I was born, and now I'm not now I'm at forty two thousand, I want to say, So, you know, hopefully my great great grandkids could get season tickets. My dad's got season tickets though, so excellent, you know, so I have a chance there. But yeah, so that was the first thing that was done when I was born. And then my parents also bought me a stock in the Packers.
Just like me.
Okay, yeah, come on, there's there's not many owners walking around the city. Of Lexington, say, I own a football team.
We are NFL owners. You are correct, we are NFL. That's right. We're important. By the way, I also own a share, a micro share of a horse that won the Kentucky Derby. So I'm not just an NFL owner, but a Kentucky Derby owner. So winner. Oh my gosh, graduation, A pretty important guy. Coach sitting in here in my in my garage, recording this conversation. Uh, favorite player, favorite Packers player or players growing up?
I mean, Brett Farb was my hero, right and uh, you know, there's this new documentary that just came out yesterday and I'm about fifteen minutes into it and I don't know if I want to finish it because so we're talking about his good stuff right now, right, But I love him. You know, Robert Brookes, you know, you know Sterling Sharp, you know.
On defense, Reggie White there you girls.
Woodson, yeah, girls, Woodson, Yeah, Clay Matthews. I mean, there's so many, so many greats that you know that I enjoyed for years.
I have a Clay Matthews Jersey believe it or not. Yeah, oh yeah, no, he was, you know, and Reggie you know, I've been to Green Bay once and I remember I flew in with my buddies. We're all Packer fans, and
we flew directly into Green Bay. We didn't fly and then drive, and I purposely looked out the window and thought about Reggie White, because, as you know, when Reggie White signed, people followed because he couldn't sign anywhere, but he signs with a little bitty Green Bay, And I thought, what must it be have been like for Reggie White?
But then he was a country boy from Tennessee, so it wasn't that big a deal, you know, so, but I'm thinking when he flew into green band was looking around, and as you know, when you find a Green Bay man, it's farmland surrounding this tiny little city. But excellence followed, and the Super Bowl followed as well. A few minutes left of Cody figure, we are talking about our beloved Green Bay Packers. By the way, my favorite player I got some years on you mine was Bart Starr. And
so my dog's name is Bark Starr. She's laying right here. But it's just it's such a generational thing, just like Kentucky basketball, isn't it. I mean, you talk to any Kentucky fan, whatever the age, and from their generation, they've got favorites. And now you got kids who wanted to be John wall And it wasn't that long ago John wall was at Kentucky. But it doesn't make it's got to make you feel like it's all one and the same. Am I right?
Oh for sure? Yeah, I mean I got you know, Trent Now showed me a picture of him with John Walla. I'm like, wow, it looks like six seven years old. I'm like, this is this is insane, you know, it's crazy, it's crazy. Uh, next time, well, if you do go up to a Packer game, my dad's got season tickets, like I said, and the tailgates. He's missed like four home games in like forty years or something like that.
So wow, you got to you gotta go up there and uh and start tailgating with him at seven am if the games at noon, and then you know, the games at three. He starts sailgating five hours before, so of course, right across the street from Lambeau. It's it's a it's a great setup.
You know. Tailgating and the NFL is a real art. I mean, it's pretty good at Kentucky and the SEC. But it's it's nothing like the NFL, I don't think, and I think the Packer tailgate and you know what, you may have seen this. I've seen the Packers once in Green Bay, but I've seen him in Nashville, Cincinnati, Dallas, a couple other cities, and Packer fans, as you know, are everywhere. We're everywhere. And so it was the tailgating, isn't it.
Yep? Yep, yeah, oh for sure. Yeah, like I went to uh. I took my son to his first Packer game a couple of years ago in Edinburgh and good retailgated and had a great time and it was perfect hatching some other friends out there. So yeah, well it's so similar to Kentucky basketball man, it is so similar.
Yeah. Well, speaking of sons and Brett Farv, my son's team is the Denver Broncos, because when we played them in the Super Bowl, I spent that week on the radio ragging about how we were going to win. I was very obnoxious. So my son, being being a contrarian, he decided he was going to root for whoever the Packers were playing. It happened to be the Broncos and of course they beat us, so I have to and
I've actually purchased Broncos gear for him for Christmas. I hate to admit, but you know, you gotta you gotta be an honorable you know.
Yeah you're good, dad, Yeah you're good.
But when my first granddaughter was born, you know, she got a Green Bay Packers doll and that did not sit well with with her parents. So anyway, it's you can. I got to be the subjective journalist, but when it comes to the Packers, that can be a real jerk. It's a lot of fun. That's what I say about owning stock. Yeah, it gives you license to be obnoxious, which is so great, so great. Uh does your dad still live in Milwaukee or where does he live?
Yeah that my my parents still live in in Milwaukee, and you know they're uh, you know, my brother lives up there and they still go to Packer games. And then you know, I'm hoping going to get up to Lambeau this year, just gotta check out kick at our schedule. But yeah, they're still living up there and they you know, when the Packers lose, I try to give my dad a couple of days by smart. That's the way it's always been smart smart.
And by the way, I was overjoyed when Randall Cobb ended up with the Green Bay Packers. It was so great. And of course yeah the year the year prior, our punter for the Packers who won a Super Bowl, Tim mass Day was a Kentucky guy.
Oh I didn't know that.
Yeah, yeah, And I think he a team may be living back here in Lexington, So if I find out, I'll send him your way. Look, I know you have more important things to do. Uh, there's nothing more important than talking about the Packers. But in terms of your employment, there's probably more important things for you to do. But I do appreciate the time. It's good talking to you again, Coach. Hope to see you soon, my friend.
Thank you all right.
Up next our number two with unforgetable guard Sean Woods, now the coach as well as at Scott County High School of La Fama, the team involved in the basketball tournament this coming summer. Also West Nbera chief Gary Moore here on six thirty WLAP tact.
Can anything then.
Back, Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider, joining us as he does every Wednesday on our celebrity hotline is the unforgettable guard. Sean Woods, now the head coach at Scott County. But now another dude, he added to the resume, and you were part of Lafe A Melia last year's as an assistant coach. Now you're the head coach. I guess this has got to be another exciting assignment, am I Right?
Well, no doubt about it. Anytime you can coach, you know, anyone, I don't care if it's Pee Wee League, Junior Pro, junior high or whatever. You get an opportunity to coach young men and and and and try to you know, achieve a common goal and that's excellent, and trying to win as many games or a championship as you possibly can.
Bottom line is winning. But this is an entirely different type of coaching, isn't it.
No doubt? You know, I had an opportunity to be the head coach last year and I didn't know if I could, so I told twenty, you know, try to get someone else. And he got a good one and Tyler Uless, who did a great job. And I was there with him, and I realized that I can't coach pros, you know, I've never coached pros before, but it's coach in the same way. You know, especially guys that know how to play. You know, it's easier coaching pros because you know, all you got to do is give him
an assignment and they'll go out and do it. And the good thing about this situation, coaching, the TVT deal and with La Familia is these guys we made it a pride deal.
You know.
Anytime you put on that jersey that says Kentucky represent Kentucky, you know, it just moves through your soul and it creates another type of competitor. And that's the reason why we have success. You know, if Nate Cstina doesn't leave us, you know, I loved our chances on winning that deal.
Yeah, I remember that you guys were rolling and then you lost eight and you were just kind of a different team when you call it again, everybody on this roster either played in the NBA or overseas or both. And I got to think too, whatever the level, if you are a good athlete, in this case a basketball player, and you want to excel, you will accept coaching, won't you, no matter how high a level you've reached.
No doubt about it. And the good thing about coaching these pros is they know it already. They've been coached at the highest level, you know, and as long as they coming in with the right frame of mind, the coaching is easy because all we're doing is trying to strategize ways to simplify and create ways for us to be successful in the offensive end and then do things, you know, from a defensive end standpoint, to give us a great chance to win.
Well, you mentioned frame of mind, and I remember when Twany spoke to the media and he said when he put out the message looking for players trying to see he was willing to play and of course coach like you guys. You know, he basically said, in a paraphrasing, this is not just something to get together and break a sweat and have fun. I mean, you guys, really, as you said, you sort of rededicated yourselves, didn't you.
We did, you know, we had to kind of come, had to come to Jesus meeting last year. You know,
they kind of had that attitude at first. Then after about the second day, you know, we just told him listen, you know, you still represent Kentucky and you know, people still want to beat us, and you know, we we're asking these fans to come out and support us, and we got to, you know, put on a great show because when we're playing RUP or wherever we're playing at, no matter what, if you've been here five years, been gone for six years, these the people here in the
state of Kentucky still expect you to win. And this is still you know, and we're playing for something. We're playing for a million dollars, So that was the other character.
Also, it's more than the money though, isn't it.
Oh, no doubt about it. Is the pride, you know, still having that Kentucky on your chest a little bit, even though we're called a liah fa me, but everyone knows we're the product of UK basketball.
I was really pleased. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. You probably weren't that a lot of these guys were really moved and touched by the fan response. And as you said, a lot of these guys have been gone far far away, I mean, out of sight, out of mind for several years, but when they came back, it's like they'd never been gone, you know. And I guess you kind of saw that coming. But I got a kick out of that.
Well, what we had to do was and it was you know, everything happens for a reason. And you know, as an assistant coach, not only did I help with coaching, you know, I really had to, you know, teach these guys how significant they are to Kentucky. You know, most of those guys and these guys that are playing for US had only spent eight months in the Commonwealth because they they were one and done for the most part, so they didn't appreciate and know how significant they were
as far as an autograph session. You know, they couldn't believe that so many people would come back and want their autographs.
So after the yeah, it was it was.
Amazing because how can you get used to anything when you're only here to play basketball, you know what I'm saying, and then you go into the NBA. This was just like a feeder system for them, and I had to really emphasize, you know, like after the first game, I made everyone after the game go back out out in the arena area and sign every article rapped to the last person left.
Wow.
Interesting because they didn't you know, and I told them, I said, listen, you're not going to be more significant than any in any other place in the world. But here I said, you know, Tyler, you is Willie calistein you know Taler, this Phoenix Suns. They never forgot about you already, you know, Willie klostein Sacramento Kings that forgot about you already. You know all that. But Kentucky never forgets you.
That's right, That's right.
You know. And even though if you played six months, four years or whatever, you still wore that uniform and there's still a great appreciation for you in this place, unlike any other place that you will live or be at in your life. And that was my that was my call in last year, and it's going to be my call in this year too.
That's a great point, you mate, because in the pros you're a commodity. You know that some people, uh, you know, rise above that. But but ninety eight percent of the time, you know, and people sign up for that right as a pro You could say if you stayed one franchise for thirteen or fourteen years, that might be different. That doesn't happen anymore, does it now?
As you can see that, you know, the trading is just like anything else. You know, nobody's staying in one place. And look at it. It's in college now.
That's true. That's true. Hey, speaking of which I know. You notice Boogie Flann leaves Caliperi, dips his toe in the NBA waters, then goes to Florida. And it can't be a money thing because we know there's a bottomless pit of chicken money and more in Arkansas. But he leaves. The guy he said no thanks to Kentucky and followed Caliperiy to Arkansas, got hurt, but came back. They had a good run. But then he leaves for Florida. What do you make of that?
Typical? Typical? You know, there's just no loyalty in college athletics anymore, you know. And you could tell, just like anywhere else, he didn't care about Arkansas. That Arkansas in his chest. No one does, you know. And last year because it was the first year, you know, no one can leave after, you know, because they all stayed. But you're gonna see something leaving already here. You know, you had a freshman already leave. You had a in state
Kentucky kid already leaves. It's gonna be It's gonna be you know what I'm saying, And you can't knock coaches, you can't knock anything that is the layer of the land now. And that's the way these kids and their parents think. They're always looking for the next fix. They don't want the truth. They want people to tell them how good they are. And they're thinking that the grass is green on the other side where there's money playing, coaching, so on and so forth. You know, there's just no
stay power anywhere. And that's a prime example because cal actually we everyone thought, if you're a basketball person, that Arkansas didn't hit their stride until Bulley Flynn actually got hurt, exactly.
Yeah, and everybody might be a thing. Everybody had to become more involved and just not watch Boogie. But when Boogie came back, they were a better team for it, weren't they Exactly.
So now he's trying to penny back off the guard to Florida had last year. They may have to make that run, you know. And he thinks he's gonna step in and be treated the same way, which I'm sure you know, coach is gonna put the ball in his hands and expect him to get to expect the same results that he got from the guard previous. But that's the way this world is now.
Dick, You're right, You're right. He is Sean Woods. He is the in forgettable guard. His jersey hangs and the Raptors are up now. In addition to being the head coach at Scott County High School, he's the head coach of La Familla, like a UK based team, the Kentucky based team that will play in the Basketball Tournament. Those
guys got to the Semis last year. We'll see if they can take it a step further at least this coming summer, and we'll come back and talk more hoops with a coach in just a minute here on six
thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard, the head coach off on me, also the head coach at Scott County High Sean, you were talking earlier about the appreciation that the former Wildcats had when they came back last summer and signed autographs and they were surprised people still remembered them, And I'm wondering what
you've thought. We we kind of touched on this through the months, but the guys Mark Pope brought in this past year and now was building another team and we haven't had a chance to talk to these guys yet, but for instance, Kobe Bray made a joke, but he was serious about not giving back his Kentucky jersey. He said, they're gonna have a hard time getting this back from me. And he admitted to Ben Roberts as a hero leader that he kept it. That he said, he's always going
to keep it. You know, all of those guys had such a profound appreciation for coming from a decent school where they'd been with some success. But now they get to come to Kentucky. And Kobe's case, people told him one coach and said, you're never going to be good enough to play there. So all these guys who show up they adored playing at Kentucky. And we talked about the fact that that may dwindle a little bit. But I really do believe that I don't think Pope's gonna
take anybody. He doesn't kind of feel that way.
You know what I'm saying, Well, well, it's not what he's taking, it's what he's doing when he gets them. You know, he's really harping on unlike you know, the past coaching. I'm not knocking cal but caw was wasn't into the fans and and and and getting to know this guy in tradition, he was more into him. And you know, getting these guys to where he promised them he was going to get them to. So it's a
totally different look. But Mark he knows nothing. But you know when he sells and he goes into a place and then he's coaching, he's coaching out of pure, pure passion. And not only that, it's Kentucky basketball is in his soul, So anything that comes out of his mouth, there's nothing but pure Kentucky basketball. And when you're hearing that every day, all day, and then you're back and it's and he's backed up by the by the passion of these fans
and the commonwealth. They feel it. But when there's a nipp and tug about what's important and not important, you know, you get you can't get the full effect of what Kentucky basketball is all about as a player. Now you're getting it from Mark Pope because you know you he lived it and it's so much in his soul that he don't know no other way. And it's all about the passion and and and and what the task is at hand. That wasn't the case with Cal, and Cal
did a great job. But it's two different approaches and the but the one that we're used to as the Commonwealth is the one that Pope is doing. You know, we're selling the jersey, we're selling the front of the jersey. And Pope is allowed on his kids to indulge in the Commonwealth, where Cal didn't let allow his kids to indulge in the Commonwealth. That that makes.
Sense, I agree, And yeah, and then he was successful at first, had to run of bad luck and bad moves towards the end. But now you look at all the former Wildcats who are Cali Perry Wildcats who are still alive in the NBA playoffs. You know, it underscores the job he did recruiting getting the talent here, including Julius Randall. And I talked to Box story about this.
He wrote about this in the Harrow Leader. But I thought he made a great point, Seawan, and the Julius Randall has been I think, and again he was only here for like to like you say, about eight months, less than a year. One of the more underappreciated Kentucky players. You know, helped this team, who carried this team to a championship game. Now you see his game in the NBA.
He's a man now, but I think he's he to me is right up there, Sean with Keith Bogan's who was here, you know for four years, but really underappreciated.
You see it that way I do, and Keith Bogans is one of the most underappreciated. Keith Bogans was a solid basketball player and he proved his work in the NBA. He's probably the only two guards that played more than ten years and never average double figures. But because of it, because he was such a great locker room guy and
really devoted his his his prows to defense. Is allowed him to stay that long and everywhere he went he was you know, he he improved that team just because of his leadership and the hard work that he brought every single day. And I think Julius Randalls was the same way.
Bogans became a three and D guy at the right time in the NBA, didn't he.
That's right, that's right.
Yeah, we're talking to Sean Woods. He is a head coach at Scott County now the head coach as well a lot of me the TBT entry and getting back to that tournament last year. When you guys played over in Louisville, things got a little chippy, but that kind of underscore what you were talking about, you know, playing as much for pride as the money, right.
And you know what, that's when that pride really really came out, because it was just like a Louisville Kentucky game in the regular season, and then it felt just like it. You know, even though I was coaching, man, I still felt that I still got the chills in my body and the competitive spirit when we played. When they came out, you know, they had the little l's up with their fingers. I said, hold on, guys, we're
not coming out yet. We let them go out, and all of a sudden, when we came out, you know, they tried to tried to boguard tickets and everything. But what I put, what I should, what I told those guys, I said, let me tell you something. There's not an arena or a school or a venue that can keep Kentucky Wildcat fans from being in the getting in there.
And guess what when we came out that that place was electrifying of Kentucky fans, you know, and and and it blew their minds, you know, it blew their minds. And we put a whipping on him. And they were so bad that, you know, one of their guys had to spit in neck Sustina's face just because he put the l's down instead of als up. You know that it.
Got that hippy.
And guess what it was so good, Dick that two of the most prominent basketball players from each school was at the game. Darryl Griffith was there for them, and Jack Gibbns was behind our bench, and then Mark Pope and then Mark Pope went so far to bring his whole team to that game. Yeah, that's when it started. That's when his team looked at this and say, hey, we're at a different place. This is huge.
Yeah, what a great move. I had completely forgotten about that. Think he'll do it this year if you guys play, here's the deal.
We're gonna be going against you know, practicing at the at the practices at the Joe Craft Center, practicing with him again just like we did last year. And hopefully he will invite them. Because Louisville won. You know, they beat us again. They out soldas and tickets, you know what I'm saying, pre sale tickets. So we're gonna play that game again and both of us meet each other in Louisville. But I think it's a great venue, and I think it's going to be even more Kentucky fans
than it was last year. But man, it was half and half and Freedom Hall was jam packed to the gild for a a TBT game. It was the high. It was the highest UH turnout in TVT history.
I went to so many games in Freedom Hall as a kid growing up in Louisville, Kentucky. Colonel's games, watch U of L play there, watch UK play there, high school tournaments there. You talk about one of the great traditional venues, and I know it's it's it's old and creaky, but I love going to that place.
Richie Farman and I was talking about it yesterday. We were talking and we were talking about you know, Gym, you know the numbers he put up in the state championship. And not only that, it's a great venue. I mean, I love playing in Freedom Hall. I've had some of my great games against Louisville and there, you know, just the floor, I mean, it's just a great place to play. And uh, you know, rich and I talked about it yesterday for about thirty minutes. So yeah, I don't mind it.
I would like for us to be here in Lexington, but we got fans all over the state so that there's nothing in the world that can't keep Kentucky fans from getting there.
Richie Farmer versus Alan Houston in that state championship and in the Sweet sixteen was the greatest performance, uh, you know, one versus the other really in the history of Sweet sixteen. If you can find it, it may be on YouTube somewhere, but it's you.
Know, I watched it.
I watched it and I was yeah, and I told Richie, I said, guys, dog, they let you walk the ball up the court. It didn't start guarding you until you got to the until you got to the top of the key. You bounced the ball twice, either you got to to your pull up or they cut you off. You spin and you and you got to your pull up. And if they tried to double team, run somebody to ask you. You had Russ Farmer on one side. You have
Russ Chadwell on the other. And that was the only thing y'ard Ryan all game and you beat a really good baller team just not doing that.
Yeah, amazing, amazing. Shawn Woods, he is the unforgettable guard. We talk to him each and every week. Head coach at Scott Conny now the head coach of LA for me. We'll talk more as summer goes on about high school hoops and the basketball tournament. Coach, thanks so much, Thank you, Jack.
Looking forward to talking to your game buddy.
And up next, West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Boo Insider. It is Wednesday, which means we cast our eyes to the west to our West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore down I sixty four over in La Louisville area after many years in Los Angeles, and we chat each and every week. Two guys in the six packs.
What we call this thing, you and me and six things to talk about six twigs and we got one, two, three baseball things.
Right off the well.
I want to say bat, but pardon the punt. Here we go past rivalry weekend, the world champion in first place Dodgers. You may have seen were swept at home at Dodger Stadium by the lousy last place Crosstown Angels. Why bad Dodger pitching. Also over the weekend, Kentucky lost three leads late, then all three heartbreaking games to number nine Vandy. Why bad UK pitching? In fact, it's been kind of a trend this year. I think you mentioned
the stat before. UK has led in twenty seven of the thirty SEC Conference games in the regular season, but they only went thirteen and seventeen in those thirty and kind of the same deal yesterday in the sec A Tourney when thirteen seeded Cats had a won a nothing lead. That should be enough for you guys to win the damn game for twelve seed Oklahoma. And then the Cats, of course had swept them a couple weeknds Ago lost
to him yesterday five to one. So now gotta wait until Monday high noon when the brackets are unveiled on ESPN two plus. I know you've talked about this basis Small America says UK's a lock to get in D one. Baseball dot Com has the Cats a number three seed even with a twenty nine to twenty four record. You remember they have the ninth toughest schedule in all of college baseball. You've seen them all season.
Are they a lock? No? And I only say it is because having covered this program for decades literally, I have seen teams with better records not get in. Now, to your point, directly to your point, strength, to schedule, RPI, all of that is going to matter huge for the Wildcats. And you've got to credit Nick Benjee, and part of that is out of his hands. It's the SEC now. But he went a couple of years ago when his future at Kentucky was teetering, he went to school on
scheduling and RPI. He really did a deep dive because this was after a year where they had a lot of wins but didn't get in, and a team with an RPI that wasn't as good as Kentucky's was selected over the Wildcats. So he studied away or though various ways to keep it out of the hands of the committee members. It's just like basketball, you know, play a tough schedule, win games, and don't let them decide your fate.
You do it yourself. But as you said, there have been so many close losses and menji Owone was on with Paul Feinbaum two days ago and I broke this down on the show yesterday, and he and I have talked about this before you think about this, all the pitches that are thrown in every game, there are hundreds and hundreds of moments, and a handful of those moments
to side games. Yep. And as he pointed out, five moments stood between Kentucky and eighteen SEC wins and tack on another four nine moments stood between Kentucky and another SEC title. That's how close it come, so so thin, Yeah, exactly, So we got to hold our breath now, don't we? Exactly?
Well over and over here the same kind of deal our second swig here two weeks ago, yesterday, Dick, You remember then number nineteen Louisville beat number ten Vanderbilt Jim Patterson Stadium five to four. But since that point, the now unranked Cards gone two to five in the regular season, including losing city bragging rights to Bellermant, which hadn't beat Louisville since nineteen ninety one. Why did Louisville lose all those games? And when the bell awful pitching?
What else? I mean?
They scored eleven runs yesterday like yesterday the round one of the ACC Tournament in Durham lost to pit first time they played them all season and ended up losing thirteen to eleven. It was a bullpen game, but that's why they lost awful starting and relief pitching yesterday. But I ask you, does it all really matter? The Cards are listed as a two seed already by D one
baseball dot com. When those brackets come out on Monday, the end of the season, we know arms are tired, and if any pitching staff needs a rest around here, well, U of L definitely coming into Durham. Their tm ERA was five points. That's thirteenth out of sixteen teams. So you know what, maybe it's a good thing for both the Cards and the Cats to bow out early.
What do you think? Well, I think Louisville is playing in a tough conference. Not as tough as the SEC, of course, but the ACC is tough, and usually Louisville, well any team, the best teams are playing their best baseball right now, and usually that's the case for Louisville.
But I got to say, watching Kentucky sweep not sweep split with UOL that frigid game over in Louisville where the Cards won it in a walk off again, another game where Kentucky couldn't protect the lead, and then the Wildcats blew out the Cardinals, I mean destroyed them over here in Lexing and Gary, I was amazed at how poor Louisville's pitching was. You know, they've got some arms, but not nearly as many as it has had in
the past, and that's been a big problem. And that's what will keep Louisville, I think, from advancing, because it just seems like, you know, some of the guys are still playing in the pros and doing very well, they're just not as talented, to put it bluntly, as they've been in the past. So you know, you get the right draw, the right seed, you can do some damage. But I am amazed at how thin Louisville's pitching is as well.
Third swig continuing with baseball in the majors, and this kind of a footnote to last week. Even though the Pete Rose talk has died down here in the last ten days, whether you should get in the Hall of Fame or not one long deceased three time All Star, two time World Series Champion, and seven time Gold Glover. As you and I have said before, it should already
be enshrined. Yep, former Cardinals great Kurt Flood. Every single time a major leaguer signs any free agent contract of any amount, the ones they sign nowadays usually set them up in their family financially for life. Obviously, well, that player should utter these four simple words, thank you, Kurt Flood. But you know they never do. I never hear it.
Kurt Flood. For those who are kind of gray on the area sacrificed as playing career, fought the archaic reserve clause, sued MLB and Commissioner Koon, and we lost in the Supreme Court. He weakened their defense to the point that they would lose three years later in nineteen seventy five. I ask you, is there a player alive or no longer living, who did more for the welfare of other players than Kurt Flood?
No, bluntley, No, When people think about free agency, they might go back that far. They're going to think Marvin Miller. And that's fine. He was head of the union and he scared the dickens out of the owners, and rightfully so. But he is standing on Kurt Flood's shoulders. He's not with us anymore, but he and like you said, every player is standing on flood shoulder, and you know what, Flood maybe deserves to be in just on his playing
merits alone. I agree. And you know, was part of those great Cardinal teams of the sixties World Series champs a couple times, and you know, a great center field. Although he watched a play against the Tigers that cost
us the World Series. I won't go there, but he he refused to be traded to the Phillies and he said no, you know, and just thought it was just ridiculous that he had no say, we're talking about baseball's reserve clause, of course, So yes, he lost his case in a Supreme court, but ultimately they came around and now and some people think free agency is terrible, but think about where the players were prior to that, and the mere pittances they were being paid. And now are
they overpaid? Sure a lot of them are, but they've got the same freedoms that most people in the workforce have, and they should.
Go back to those days of the Cardinals. Stan Usual is even told to take a pay cut. Yes, well, you didn't have the same year last year as it went before, so you're gonna take less money this year, and you can't go any place else here.
Sign it like it, lump it.
Yeah, that was kind of and what you said, and to your point about, you know, combined his his you know, on the field stats with what he did later on, it's inexplicable why he's not in the Hall of Fame. Combining those two things, her fourths, wig and the six pack. Let's go to a basketball. The w NBA season officially underway, and for its number one superstar arena filling attraction, it's
really on. With her freshman initiation at Hazing season in the Yearbook, Caitlin Clark serve notice and set the tone in Game one that she will no longer be taking anyone's crapola.
This year.
She used the off season pretty wisely. She's returned with some added muscle, as did her team, the Fever, getting six time all start to want to Bonner plus some other tough players like Sophie Cunningham, Natasha Howard, Brianna Turner, as well as new coach Stephanie White, who already knows
how to get into the finals. In Saturday season opener, if you saw this, it was the most watched regular season WNBA game in twenty five years, Clark was called for a tickie tac technical after a slight shove of Chicago's Angel Reese and after Reese really shoved Fever center a Leah Boston for an offensive rebound. As for Clark's foul, I've seen more pushing in the men's room, but Reese's hysterical reaction was the highth no pun intended of hypocrisy.
After you remember she cheered her teammate Kennedy Carter's cheap shot on Caitlin last year. Darling, if you're gonna dish it out, you're gonna have to eat it later on too. Okay, so last night the Fever loss to the Atlanta Dream. They're gonna play him again in Atlanta tomorrow night. Last night's game was an indie. I'm not that crazy about the NBA Finals. I don't really care about any of the four teams, but this Caitlin Clark revenge tour.
Bring it on, baby well in the Atlanta Dream of course a little bit. Ryan Howard, former Kentucky Wildcat, maybe the greatest player in the history and definitely I think in the history of UK basketball women's basketball. But you know what's amazing about this Caitlyn Clark Angel Reese feud. And now you've got two ESPN analysts bickering, going back and forth, hurling personal insults, you know, Robert Griffin third
and Ryan Clark. So it's very entertaining, and it's you know, it's it's going to probably for the wrong well not probably, definitely for the wrong reason. Bring some attention. But if it does get people watching, hey, Mare is the better? Right?
Absolutely? Fifth wig Here, let's go into the home stretch. We've got some horse talk. Did Maryland's governor really call the Preakness the crown Jewel of the Triple Crown? Oh yeah, you wish pal that jewel happened two weeks before your little rhinestone deal at the pretiness. Okay, and you know his last name's more he should know better, right, dug Sure, I have not seen any of the Belmont odds yet. Maybe you have seen some inside stuff. Could potentially be
quite the field. We're talking Derby winners, sovereignty, who is already going to be there? Preakness, Winter Journalism I think will.
Probably be there.
Is it the Baieza that's going to be also possibly in there? Maybe Preakness runner up Gosger. However, fretty one listening. If you want to see some really beautiful and some very famous thoroughbreds up close and way more personal than watching them on TV, may we suggest a visit to the Old Friends Retirement Home for Thoroughbreds right up the road from you in Georgetown. It's about three hundred beautiful breads, from three Kentucky Derby winners to horses who never even
started a race. Got some Breeders Cup winners up there too, Big Brown is there? Silver Charm is up there, open daily for tours, and right now the weather is perfect. School's going to be off for everybody here pretty soon. Takes a family and friends and go the website to check it all out and make reservations. Old Friends Equine dot org. That's Old Friends Equine dot org.
God bless those folks. They're doing some good work up there, aren't they. Yeah, And it was overdue, and I was so overjoyed when they built it. A Silver Charm? Is there a nineteen ninety seven Derby winner or one of
my all time favorites. I actually picked a trifecta that year, and it was pretty simple that chalk came in, but it was a great ray Kentucky Derby battle and Silver Charm and Captain Bodget who didn't like each other down the stretch, and it's just, yeah, it's a great idea, it's well executed, and I've been buying there a couple times. But yeah, the folks they need support quite frankly, but this is the best place for it.
Great time a year to go out there, our sixth and final swig in the six Backs the time year. Also in minor league, teams started announcing their their wacky alternative identities for a given night, and nobody does it wackier than the Madison, Wisconsin Mallards of the Amateur north
Woods League. Last year, you may remember, for a night the Mallards became the motivational speakers in honor of Madison native the late Chris Farley, who's Saturday Night Live sketch the sketch as a speaker named Matt Foley yep.
Who also lived in a van down by the river.
It's still my favorite SNL sketch I think of all time. So this coming July the fifth, they're gonna be the Madison never minds an homage to the groundbreaking grunge album of the same name by Nirvana, which was recorded in part in Madison at their Smart Studios. There, their game Night Jersey mimics the album artwork, but instead of a baby underwater reaching for the floating dollar bill you they remember a cartoon duck is submerged reaching for a hot dog.
And it's kind of sort of anatomically correct too. Go check the picture I have on X. Of course, there's gonna be plenty of Nevermind's merch and some proceeds are set aside for charity, but it's all in good fun. And besides, like the teen Spirit song from the album, Nevermind says, here we are now.
Entertain us love it. I think that the creative minds at work in minor league baseball are fantastic, and having a chance dub flinning me for a couple of summers to do those games was one of the great experiences of my career. Such as it is, I look forward to this every year. Gary Moore is our Western bureau Cheap. We'll come back with a couple of hot regions. Just a minute here on six point thirty WLAP, welcome back.
We are talking with West n BUA chief Gary Moore, we've gone through six two guys in a six pack now for a couple of hot reads. And I guess we shouldn't be surprised by this, Gary, But Hard Knocks was supposed to happen the series at North Carolina. They scrapped the project, and now, according to The Athletic and The New York Times, one of, if not the reason, was that belichick girlfriend Jordan Hudson demanded content approval and
partial ownership of Hard Knocks. I will say that you can't blame her for the Chritz book, right, I mean, all they can do is say no. But right, North Carolina fan, you're like, what the what we wanted this and now exactly you're gonna get it.
I'm just I still every time I see this woman and I hear the stuff like this, I'm thinking, who is this?
Yeah?
Where did she drop in from? I mean, she's trying to control that one week, she's trying to be Miss Maine in some beauty tests. She's trying to control the the CBS Sunday Morning stuff. Yep, it's well, and I think people say well about the age difference.
No, I think they're a good match.
They're both control freaks, think about it, and so now and he's seating a lot of control apparently to her, and she's taken it. And that's, you know, I believe the reporting that happened. I'm not surprised that that that's the story that.
Came out of that.
It sure sounds like something that they said that there was an unfortunate turn that happened at the very last minute and that's why they pulled out of it. So that sounds like there's some there's more smoke and fire there.
Who could possibly expect that production company to say, sure, here, here, take our money and take control over our project and you know, getting a chance to see them in action hard knocks when they were at the Bengals camp. The number of people cameras, editing equipment, it's massive. And you're going to turn that over to the twenty four year old girlfriend of the coach. I don't think so.
And you have experience in this one where.
Exactly exactly let's see that resume tape. Our second hot read involves my beloved Green Bay Packers who have been ridiculed, and I will say probably rightly so, Although there is some merit to this. But that was the anonymous team and it came out instantly that was trying that it proposed to ban the tush push play. And now they're talking about it in the spring league meetings. They have kind of altered their request for how this was going
to be changed. And basically, you know what, this was helping a runner lifting, pushing pulling was against the rules up until twenty oh five. Then they changed the rule. So now they're tweaking it saying, well, let's make it so that any runner that has push pulled or lifted is called assisting the runner and that's against the rules. Well, again, not a hill I'm gonna die on. But it's kind of a bad look for my boys, isn't it? It is?
And I saw that Jason Kelsey's in Minneapolis at the meetings and he's gonna try and lobby to keep it as it is. And and to your credit, full disclosure here, when you sent me a link about this, you sent me the Eagles of h SP Nation link with the headline sore loser Packers submit revisedush push band proposal.
I'll give you credit for that.
You didn't send me the Packers SP Nation one. You sent me the Eagles one. Good on you, man.
Yeah, well, everybody's everybody's just a play harder figure out a way. I don't know if they'll ever figure out a way to stop this play, especially if you Jason Kelsey was the key. He was the best center at getting low and making that drive. But yeah, I mean, if you know, is it good for football? It's good for the Eagles. It was a good A lot of teams have tried it, Gary and they failed at it. I know, Coach Push, you know, but if it's fourth and one and it's almost an automatic yard that's not
necessarily good for football. But the fact that other teams are failing, I think underscore is the fact that it's not automatic. No, it's not.
And it's been going on to some degree right for decades when there has been like a fourth in inches or forth.
What here's supposed to do? Yeah, you know, you.
See guys now that are like they're still in the shotgun. When it drives me crazy. When it's fourth and one from the half yard line and you've got six inches to go to get a touchdown and you're still in a shotgun, drives me crazy.
Oh yeah, and about the touch push as well. I'd be okay if the auloge pulling people. Pushing is one thing. I know it may be splitting airs, but uh, you know, pushing is one thing, pulling at another. But we will revisit here on the Big Blue Insider is Gary Moore. Watch him on X or Twitter at at nine to five to five. Gary, I've seen you there too at this Big Blue Insider one. That's right, have a good one, see you next week and that'll do it. Thanks so
much to all my guests tonight. Cody Feger, Kentucky assistant coach and or importantly, well it depends on where you're coming from, but a Green Bay Packers fan. When I first met him, Mark Pope saw my Green Bay Packers phone case said you got to meet coach Figer. He's from Milwaukee, and that's where we went from there, so a good time talking to him, as well as as always our Western Bureau chief Gary Moore and Seawan Woods now the coach of La Familia in the basketball tournament.
That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.
Don't you have some kind of a line that you keep open for emergencies or for celebrities. I'm both. I'm a celebrity in an emergency. Can you catch me through on that line
Please, such statu