Welcome to the Big Blue and Sadderday. Gabriel with you on a Thursday edition of our program, and coming up tonight, Tony Cruz, longtime morning drive host at WHS Radio. We used to call them DJ's disc jockeys, but of course they don't play records anymore, at least most of them
don't on AM radio. But anyhow, Tony has been the guy in the chair for more than twenty years at AHS, but prior to that, he hosted sports talk radio on HAS was part of the UK Network coverage of UK Sports for a while, and was prior to that EKU Network coverage of Colonel Sports. He went to EKU. So we'll get caught up with Tony, who just retired, and he will join us from Montana where he and his wife are doing some traveling and good for them. Our number two, Jeff Picoro's going to join us here in
the garage. There's so much to talk about, the Vince Merrill move, the upcoming football season. Jeff, of course part of the UK Radio Network but also sports director of WTVQ, so there's a lot to discuss horse racing, so that comes up here in our number two. We begin tonight
with the comment for Mark Stoops. Regarding Vince Merrow, Stoops has been out of pocket for the last twenty four to forty eight hours since Marrow the news slipped out that he was going to Louisville, So a prepared statement for Mark Stoops, We're thankful for coach Merrow's contributions to our program over the past twelve years. As we look to the new season and a new era of college football,
we're focused on the opportunities at hand. Will continue to build a roster and staff that balances talent and experienced, maturity, physicality, and the attitude it takes to win in the nation's most competitive conference. I wish my friend in colleague nothing but the best. Yeah. Kind of a cookie cutter, rubber stamp sort of answer, but that's what you're going to get in a situation like this. He's not going to lash out, he's not going to show that he's angry
if he is. You know, they're at the bottom line is there's still childhood bodies and they're I'm sure more than went into this than just Vince Merrill finally saying I'm gonna grab a better gig, even though it's at the arch rival. So Mark Stoops has spoken and he will be asked a lot about this at SEC media days. You better believe it, and that like the season is coming up sooner than later. Right down the road, UK, of course, in the acc SEC Challenge draws North Carolina.
And when you think about UK and North Carolina of late, my mind immediately goes to Anthony Davis blocking that shot in twenty twelve to shut down to Tario's in one of the great games that year, maybe the best regular season game. Or Kentucky, but remember they played in December of twenty fourteen, that team, the Kentucky team that had designs on going undefeated. They walloped North Carolina eighty four to seventy. Kentucky up forty nine thirty four at the half.
And get this, Karl Anthony Towns in that game, and I don't remember why played only nineteen minutes. I know that was the Platoon season, but I would have thought he'd played more than nineteen. Willie colly Stein played twenty eight. Towns, did not attempt a field goal, had two free throws, two rebounds. Just those two points bought the shot. But Willie caley Stein had fifteen so did. Devin Booker was
five of eight, three for three from beyond the arc. Yes, he gave us a sneak preview of what would come in the NBA. The Harrison Twins combined for twenty five points, five assists by Andrew the point guard Andrew or Aaron was three of seven from beyond the arc, and Kentucky hit twenty seven of forty eight shots. Just thumped North Carolina back then. You know what happened after that. Wildcat's going to make the Final four but lose to Wisconsin.
We will never forget that one, will we. But we will also never forget the North Carolina Kentucky game back in December of twenty eleven, actually the twenty eleven twelve season, the national title season in Kentucky. On that one, seventy three to seventy two, Wildcats were ranked number one, Carolina was ranked number five, and it was in doubt until
literally the last five seconds. And remember I went back and watched the highlights on YouTube of the end of the game, and I had forgotten this that Anthony Davis made a great catch. I think it was from Michael Kidd Gilchris a pass and because Clark Kellogg raved about the catch that Davis made. Then he drops in a jump hook. Kentucky was down a point. Davis gave Kentucky the lead and everybody runs down the floor. North Carolina
does not call time out. They work it into the middle and they get deep into the paint to Tyler Zeller, but somebody tipped the ball away from him. He recovered and some of them managed to get the ball off on the baseline of John Henson, who went up for what would have been the game winning shot. But of course Anthony Davis said other ideas.
Marshall Pete Seller down low, loses the ball.
Picked up by handsome tenth butter blood by Davis.
Davis is getting the ball four seconds.
To play off the team.
He tribbles up to me in port tack.
What's over. Kentucky wins by one.
Aynstony Davis saved the day with the blood on Henson.
And that's our man Tom Leach on the call on the UK network. So that's the North Carolina Kentucky game that comes to mind. But again Wildcats walloped the Tarios back in the regular season of fourteen to fifty. Of course, they played in the postseason as well, Kentucky beating North Carolina thanks to Josh Harrelson in that group, but also and Fox spam at a bioteam losing a game that would have put the Wildcats in the Final four. And I still believe if Kentucky wins that game, for better
or worse, John Caliperry's probably still here. While we're talking basketball. The other day, I told you about the rule changes that might be on the way, mostly about video review and things like that, in the same report, and I didn't see this earlier. It really wasn't brought up until really recently, the last twenty four hours. Within that same report comes information that college basketball D one basketball men's
basketball is seriously looking out going to quarters. They're going to put a committee together or something like that so they'll take forever. But why they haven't done this. Men's college basketball is the only form in the sport that still plays twenty minute halves. It's ridiculous. And if they'd only go to quarters the way they do everywhere else in the world. You talk about a better flow of
the game, fewer free throws, that's what will happen. Bacers meet the Thunder last night SGA in company down two to one now in the NBA Finals. We're back in just a minute on the Big Blue Sider. More from otega Oway on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Bloon Sider. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, we're going to talk with Tony Cruz, former sportscaster on the UK and that worked with a longtime morning drive voice at
our sister station, WHS. He is just now retired, so we'll talk about how sports kind of evolved because he was a sports talk show host before he moved to morning drive radio. Then in hour number two, Jeff Bicoro with the UK Network will join us right here in the garage. So much to talk about with Jeff that we just decided to drag him in and talk to him face to face. So that's coming up a little bit later on. Of course, coming up tomorrow night is
the College World Series minus the Wildcats. They fell short in the regional as you know, and while that is disappointing, keep in mind no team from last year's College World Series field has returned to Omaha this year. That's pretty amazing.
One of the really interesting storylines in the world. So there's always great storylines, of course, not the least of which is Murray State, the number four seed from a regional, makes it to the tournament for just the fourth time since the current format was established in nineteen ninety nine. Now entering this season, a mid major has reached Omaha and won it all every eight years across two cycles
throughout the COVID year twenty twenty. But you got Fresno State in twenty oh eight, Coastal Carolina in twenty sixteen, so it can't happen. Other four seeds Oral Roberts in twenty twenty three, lost in the second round, did win a game, but lost in the second round. Stonybrook in twenty twelve lost both games, but I remember, and Stonybrook made it. I was amazed then. Of course, back in eight Fresno State won it all, had to come out
of the losers bracket, but won it all. So you know, any team at any time can jump up and win. And keep this in mind. Two of the national seeds, the top national seeds, because look at the draw, they face off in the opening round, Arkansas and LSU. And by the way, the only two SEC teams last year, half the field, four of the eight were from the SEC, the other four were for the ACC. This year, two Southeastern Conference teams and they square off Saturday night at
seven o'clock. They have played three times this year. LSU won twice, both in Baton Ruge. That series was in Baton Rouge. So that's gonna be one heck of a game. That game will feature eleven all conference players, including the SEC player of the year, Razorbacks junior shortstop. Well he will alloy amazing. So there's gonna be a lot of purple and gold and a lot of cardinal and white at Charles Schwab Stadium. But yeah, only two SEC teams
this year, pretty amazing. PAC twelve is dead, but three former PAC twelve teams have reached Omah, Arizona, Oregon State, and UCLA. And you remember Oregon State came to election and last year different team, you know, new personnel, and Kentucky beat Oregon State in two games to make the
College World Series. But it's amazing to me Tennessee, the defending national champ, losing to Arkansas, and in fact Arkansas won the Super Regional two nothing A and M national runner up last year preseason picked to win it all, didn't make the tournament. Virginia went to the College World Series last year, didn't make the tournament. Florida slipped in to the College World Series last year, was slipped into the nca Tournament. Really then won its way to Omaha,
you don't slip in, but lost at Coastal Carolina. North Carolina lost in the Supers to Arizona, NC State, which Kentucky beat in its opening game of the two home runs late one on the ninth, one tenth lost to Auburn in a regional. So just an incredible turnaround in college baseball. And if you're not all that interested, I can understand because the Wildcats aren't there, but take a peek at it. It's really compelling. It's a fun watch, even if your team is not in it all. Right.
I mentioned earlier otego Oway. We had a chance to talk with him earlier this week, So everybody has been kind of turning a lot of Otago Away and Brandon Garrison's stories. It was good to talk to those guys. Gave us something to talk about, something additional to talk
about here in the summer months now. And of course Away coming back from NBA tryouts essentially, and no shock that he came back to Kentucky because well, for one thing, he's going to make more money this year reportedly than he would have made as a late first or second round choice in the NBA draft, So it makes more sense. But now he's armed with that knowledge, he knows what he has to do coming back and playing another year
of college basketball. I asked him, though, if when it came time to make that announcement and when he realized he was not going to be playing in the NBA this year at least, you know, throwing his name in the draft, was he disappointed? And of course he said.
No, no, not at all, because I still could have gone, but it was more like I had one more year about to do it and then you know, try and do the things that maybe I didn't get to a complete last year, which was you know, win national championship. So you know, I feel like either way, either it says I would have picked I. Look, you would have been thinking about the other one because one, you know, like I said, have one more year of eligibility, and I feel like we saw so much more to complete.
Here, and that, to me is the perfect answer. And I'm sure he puts some thought into it, obviously, but and he's right, you know, it was kind of a no lose situation for him. He either follows his dream and plays pro ball or comes back here and plays for a national championship, which this team should be capable of attempting to win with a real shot at it, not the least of which is because of the return.
And so Tagan called me and he said, coach, let's do this.
I'm coming back.
Yeah.
And I was looking around him like I think the pilot is about to throw out the plane right now.
So I was like, oh, take.
Oh, you back later, but just hold that on.
Fifteen minutes later, called him back.
He says, come back tears.
Who was talking about face?
Yeah, I mean it's a lot.
Yeah. Pope said he was on a plane and somehow the call got through from old way and then he called him back and they talked some more and the tears began to flow. And this is what Otega remembered about that moment.
Because I mean, honest, like I want to say, like three days before, maybe two days, I already knew what it was. So I was just waiting to the last work out, you know, to tell him, but you know, it was great just finally get off my chest and then you know, just having that moment with him, talking with him and seeing the genuine excitement.
And what's not to be excited about. Otaga Oway was expected to be a good player for Kentucky last year, but when Jackson Robinson went down, he had to become a great player for Kentucky, and at times he was. There were times when he was a little inconsistent or
drifted a little bit. Remember the Oklahoma game. He was not super in the first half the game that he single handily won down the stretch for the Wildcats at Oklahoma, but well in the second half, especially in those last few minutes, he was the best player in America in that game. So now can he sustain that. Maybe not that level of play that he showed in the last five or ten minutes of the Ou game, That would be almost impossible, But to attempt to reach that level
is what he needs to do. But apparently he is happy enough to come back and try it. And as he said when he was talking to Pope, it's all about the happiness.
You're just going to be it is. Yeah, left Bebia. It's me too. Actually, no place I'd rather be.
And there you have it. And that's the kind of attitude that Pope of course is recruiting out there when he's pulling guys in through the portal, and obviously true freshmen as well. But when your bring a guy in through the portal, it can't be just transactional. And you can really say this about any school, but I think especially here, because of the high expectations and the outside pressures on Kentucky basketball players, they've got to really want
to be here. They've got to be willing to accept the pressure, the criticism, not just the adulation. But everybody he brought in last year to a person to a man, talked to us in the media in August and at every juncture after that about how much they appreciated being here, to the point where Kobe Brayle, when the season was over, prematurely said, I don't want to give my jersey back.
That's what he needs in every person he brings in here through the portal, And if you're a true freshman, that kind of feeling is cultivated if you stay here for two or three or four years. Yeah, I know, Travis Perry. You know what, maybe we'll see him again someday. Maybe you'll play a couple of years at ole Miss and decide if he can still do it. Maybe the rules will change, but you know, maybe he can jump back into portal play his final year here. Who knows.
But the bottom line is it's got to be people who feel the same way that'll take away fields and that is there's no place I'd rather be. We're back in the minute with Tony Cruz, the Cruise Man here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Moon. Sider joining us now is a longtime buddy of mine.
You might remember him as a member at times of the UK radio network, the EKU Radio Network, most recently the morning drive announcer for WHS Radio for many many years now retired, The Cruise Man, Tony Cruz, my good friend who's actually on vacation right now with his wife up in Montana. And good for you. Are you relaxing, big man? Are you able to not look at the clock all the time?
Yeah, I'm forgetting you know what day it is?
Good?
Of course, anybody that listened to anybody in my audience would say, you've forgot a lot of stuff. Kids.
Oh man, I just man, I remember meeting you and I think you were you might have been neither still in school at w A N E. KU. You're a proud colonel.
Yes, I was my sophomore year when I was just thinking about getting into radio and well, I know, I kind of started getting entrenched into it, and I met you at the press box and I was like, that's stick Gabriel and everything, and you were just so nice to me, and then you just started talking to me, and then you know, you're just a kind of mentor. You and Greg schallamyre two of my mentors during that time, two old farts.
And Scott's is still going strong on the Colonel. Isn't that amazing?
Yeah, he's awesome, great guy. We got we got some tut tut coming around here pretty soon. Our annual event I worked with Greg.
We alternated on the Sweet sixteen this year on the radio, and which I so thoroughly enjoyed because I hadn't done it in so long, and man, his level of preparation is off the charts. But I digress. We're talking to Tony Cruz, who for how many years were you Morning Drive at.
Has twenty one year.
Wow.
Yeah. And prior to that, one year.
Prior to that, Tony of course hosted a sports talk show which is no longer in existence. I hate to say on WHS started I think by Van Vance, wasn't it.
That's correct, Van Vance started that show. It became super uber popular back there in the day. And of course Van and Kwood two great legends that I got to know. And Van is not only a sports guy, but I mean he plays classical guitar. I won't give you his age, but he's still walks twice a day around park in southern Indiana and rides a bike. And the only time he won't do that is if there's ice and or lightning. Good every day, so you.
Were exposed to and Kaywood worked at WHS for the longest time before he moved to Lectioningon and worked with gym hosts. But just the fact that it's such a great radio station, fifty thousand. Watson for the longest time was the sports voice in Louisville, and really because of its power in central Kentucky had both UK and U of L games. And here you are doing the sports
talk show. How much has the landscape if at all changed with UK and U of L sports since you did sports talk, and really, how did it change while you were doing it?
Well, when I started sports talk it was ninety four, maybe somewhere between ninety four and ninety five, the little thing called AOL was starting to come around, and soon after that we're about to see it even explode more with AI about probably a year or two later, all of a sudden, you know, we would do these recruiting shows which were very popular for our audiences, the UK or U of L, whatever the case may be in Indiana and our case at HF. All of a sudden,
we had competitions. You know, we couldn't just have Clark Francis on or somebody else from all these different guys that would go out. You started seeing a real quick, you know, convergence of these different sites. So then you had to kind of change your game right about the way you go about doing your show. And it became a lot harder to you know, try and make it interesting because everybody was always interested in recruiting. It still are now, you know, payoffs.
And il but draft no, as you said, thanks to the interweb, it's immediate, you know, we're playing from behind on this show, on your show, I mean, unless something breaks while we're on the air. Yeah. And the hard thing too, Tony, is you remember and it was just starting, as you said when you were doing sports talk, was there's no accountability. So even though something might be on the internet, you can't trust that.
It's true, right, right. And it was interesting also because sometimes you got to trust of some coaches or even athletic directors, whatever the case may be. I did not tell. I mean I didn't have to beat somebody to a story, you know, or anything else. But sometimes you would find out things that you didn't want to hear, you know,
that were coming. Maybe somebody's going to be dismissed or or something like that, right, and you know there's those moments where you could break that, but I didn't want to break her lifelationship, right, So you know, I just didn't you know, a show and tell all the time. Yeah,
I didn't think it was right. I understand that it's not right to the family that are you know, about to be exposed to this, particularly they're going to be dismissed, you know, their husband's going to be dismissed or in women coach, whatever.
You referred to UK, U of L and Indiana. That's what I always I always respected you guys. All you got TV and radio in Louisville because you're serving so many different audiences, both high school and college. But the emotional ties that fans have. I don't know how many IU fans tuned into your show, but I know UK fans and U of L fans it was almost an even split. For the longest time, there were more UK
than U of L in the city of Louisville. But as Denny Crumb started to have success, the level of backing for U of L roles, and it's basically fifty to fifty, I would think in terms of the temperature of the room. But what was that like for you? First of all, you had to keep up because you would call me all the time. You had to keep up yet well, which was smart. Not that I'm any smarter, but I'm sure I wasn't the only guy you called.
But you gotta know what's going on, what's happening, and you got to, as I said, read the room and know how to talk to the fans. What kind of challenge is that like for you?
Big challenge because when I started, even though we had both universities on, Louisville took a preference, if you want to, because I guess we made the most money on that or whatever the case may be, and then UK would be on one of our sister stations or something like that. The UK came in with a big offer and they became you know, the BBN thing, and then Louisville fans got mad, and then we converted a radio station dedicated
to U of L sports. But what I did was, you know, Van, I suppose I think he called you, and he called some maybe Tom or at that time, Ralph Hacker or something. But there was wasn't as big a presence of the UK as there was U of L at that time, and Bob Knight was such a dynamite stick that you know, there's a lot of shows, yeah, with the Van with the Southern Indiana audience. So what I tried to do is try to split it as
much as I could. And I got known as a big UK fan by U of L fans or charged with that from the standpoint because I started doing a little bit more UK shows, like I could have dig gaber Lawn now or do that. I just wanted and you know, I would take some heat from some U of L people and I go, look, my job is to get the biggest audience possible and there's not just one team, and you know this isn't just a one team city. So that's why I did it. And let's
be honest. What do you do more than follow your own team? You follow who you think are put in an air quotes your enemy, you know what I mean. That's why we watched The Godfather. We're not going to be we're not going to be in the mafia, but there's something intriguing about something even though we would never do any of these things. And it's the same thing with sports. Sports fans, I think.
Yeah, yeah, but trying to understand sports fans quite the challenge, isn't it.
Yeah.
What I did find though, is when you just you know, talk to the players, there's guys wearing T shirts. A lot of times they didn't know anything about Kentucky or anything about Louisville or whatever the case may be. You start meeting a friend of theirs and certainly family members and things like that. So when I told people, yeah, I'm really a U of l UK or uk U L fan, however you want to, you know, displace it. They go. You can't be well, it's kind of like
in your line of work. If you're a salesman, you know you're going to sell your car to anybody. You didn't care if they were UK fan or U of L fan. If you're on the lot trying to sell a car. You know, I'm not saying that these people are tokens. I'm saying they're party of your job. Yeah you know, yeah, oh yeah, I just made it like that.
I'm with you. We're talking to Tony Cruz, longtime morning drive announcer, but also prior to that, sports talk host and at times a member of the UK Network the EKAU Network. He is now retired and we are We'll take a break, come back and talk more with a Cruise man on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're talking with Tony Cruise, my buddy, a long time morning drive host for WHAS Radio. Prior to that sports talk host at has has worked
for the UK Network, the EKAU Network. A proud EKU colonel. We call each other big Man. That is uh I don't know if homage is the right term, but that's a reference to Claude Bassett who called everybody big man because I'm sure he couldn't remember their names. But it's just it's just a real blast from the past, asked. But it also kind of underscores Tony what we have seen through the years with coaches coming and going, and
and you know, programs being up and down. I remember when when uh Rick Patino got the Louisville and people saying, we're never gonna beat Louisville again, and Tuffy Smith beat him five straight and then for a while there, Kentucky couldn't beat Louisville in football for lover money. And then the next thing, you know, Louisville couldn't beat Kentucky and football. So if you hang around long enough, you see it all, don't you.
Yeah, yeah, And that's why they call him rivalries. You know, when Patino came, Terry Miners and I were for it, and for you Wildcat fans, I totally understand why you wouldn't want Patino to come, because, let's face it, the one thing he was was a great coach. It is a great coach. He proved it again this year and
so uh. But when you're in a market and you know, great things with great people and winning uh means great ratings, you know, and income for the radio station uh and and that kind of thing, then you know you want you want that to happen. Well, of course we took a lot of guss for that, and understandably So, However, if you were in our positions and Patino could come to your city, or in your case, let's say that Nick Saban could go to Lexington. You know Offens coach
studis right now with turmoil, what's going on. But would you take him? Of course you would? Would you be would you be a lightning rod? Would it be all around the country that Nick Saban is going to be the coach at the University of Kentucky. Just look like Bill Belichick is doing it North Carolina and you know they've been a nothing burger. You've got to heard more about North Carolina football than what you're hearing right now.
So why wouldn't we want Rick Pettino to come to the city where we're making our living.
No, I get that. And my take on that finally was, Look, Rick Pattino could have taking a lot in fact, he took the Michigan job for two hours, right, could have gone to a lot of places. He wanted to be like you and me, And you know you weren't born here, but you are Tony Cruz a Kentucky and by now I am by birth. And you know he he wanted to live in our state, in our great state, and live in Louisville because he had obviously the job opportunity, but he had interest in horses and things like that,
and again did not come directly from UK. Now, Vince Marrow, that's a different story. And I'm sure that ripple has reached you in Montana, hasn't it.
Oh yeah, I don't say keeping up. I don't say using Twitter slash x is keeping up. But it's but it's you know, it's a show it Yeah, no doubt about it. Oh man, Yeah, yeah, that just seems it seems a bit odd. But I didn't know that Jeff Bram had the relationship with them.
I didn't. Yeah, I didn't either, But then we should have known him because everybody seen playing the XFL or the USFL of the World League or something. But Vince was a pretty Vince played in the NFL I don't know how long. But and he won't hesitate to tell you he was a great basketball player too. But again, this is a sign of the times. He's going to
be the GM and oversee the NIL operations. I mean, you know, since you gave up sports talk to move in the morning drive, you know, the changes in sports have been just staggering at times, haven't they.
Oh yeah, yeah, And you know I'm not one of those guys. I was one of those guys back in the day and people were just you know, crowing at me for saying, I think the athletes should be paid. If you can pay him, I don't have a problem with it. Yeah, you know, back my whole reasoning was that, you know, a guy that the music major can still give, you know, tuba lessons or drum lessons or whatever as a part time job, MAYUK seventy five bucks every half hour.
Why can't student athletes have an opportunity to do that. Of course, I had no idea that we were going to make them pro athletes, not to make pro if they're pro athletes. And now the NCAA needs to go ahead and put a little letter there L in CAA league and we get salary caps and we make it work. I don't think, with all due respect to Big ten and the SEC with the most viewership are going to
allow that to happen. But I also think that the well can dry up for what they think too, because at some point, if you're only going to have forty teams that can actually play for a championship for fifty teams and it's still going to be the same seven or eight decade after decade after decade after decades, guess what, audience ratings still get bored and they'll lose them. That's right, just as soon as they game.
But if it takes twenty thirty forty years, decade after decade, literally, you know, a lot of us aren't going to be around for that. But yeah, I fully agree with you, But Tony, I think it had happened within three or four five years. I really do. I mean audience fatigue for the same old teams. That's what's compelling about the College World Series this year, an entirely different field of
eight for the first time since nineteen fifty seven. I know you cannot have a level playing field, but things need at least to be equitable, and you know, That's why one of the things I don't agree with everything Mitch Barnhard does and says, but I like the fact that when he got here he said, I want all the athletes on all of our teams to at least have a chance to compete for a championship. That's all. I didn't expect every Yeah, right.
He did a marvelous job with it. He put it in and I'll say that for Tom Juris as well. Look what women's basketball dance, right, You know the Tenants was up to a high, high level back then. You know they've had some good golf team facility UK team Look at UKs track and field, u L swimming. I mean, both of these programs have had good athletic directors here of the last several years.
And in a time. I remember the day covering routinely just a UK Athletics board meeting when they announced that the budget had reached one hundred million dollars and I was stunned. It's one hundred and fifty. Now one hundred and fifty. You know what it is that your alma mater twenty three million, twenty three million, and yet done well?
It is, But but they're expected to compete for the same trophy, you know, and everything but football their D one and everything but football, and they're trying to get the D one. But again, I've told this over and over, but I remember Larry Ivy telling me that the high the fastest growing expense when he was AD many many years ago was insurance. Well, you know that's not getting any cheaper. And Barnard told me one day that he had just been checking on the price of jetfield jet fuel.
He goes, yeah, I got teams flying charters. I got to find out what the cost is for jet film. Like wow, you know, we think that it's just about tickets and facilities, but it's not.
You know, that's that's eye opening. I'm glad you brought that up, because I don't think about.
Our house those.
Kind of things. I have thought of this. We're in Montana, you know, it's two hours behind you there in Lexington, and and I'm going, well, how do these guys like Stamford being in the A C C. It's kind of ridiculous. And there are another you know, you know, hour or two away or whatever, you know, and and mid I know that uh, you know at U C L A Uh, I'm trying to figure that. I can't. I can't remember
remember they the basketball coach there that was under Tina. Anyway, it's been complaining about Nick.
Nick.
I'm sorry, try to make it beer if you're listening to to Di Gabriel right now. But he can play it out that I mean, oh yeah, think about it. You play three games, you know, and you're having to flip through schedules for these guys. That's getting a little too much.
Well, and I've said it before that that Patino. It probably wasn't the only guy, because I know Chip Kelly said it too, but they were the most vocal or at least the highest profile when they said, and it makes perfect sense. Let football do its own thing and leave everybody else alone. And I don't know if it's possible, but you know, go back to the traditional conference affiliations. Let football do this thing, but then with everybody else, go back to the way it was. And that to
me is the greatest solution. And you know what, it would be tough, but hell, they all went to college. They're smart people. They can figure it out. You know.
I think that is the best way to look at it. You know, who started all this. You'll remember this Vince Dooley at Georgia and that's when you started losing because they remember, the NCAA had this rule that you had to have some real game and make it fair for one A or one double A team to participate. In other words, you used to see Eastern Western games, used to see Eastern Murray games, those kind of things.
You know, TV.
Right for TV and things like that, and that that all went away obviously, and we're just so yeah, yeah and so. And CedarA Depsky said that this was going to happen. He was the head of the n C Double A you know what, forty years ago, I guess now. And he was very concerned about it, wrote a book about it.
Well. And Oklahoma also was It was a two prong suit Oklahoma and Georgia. They sued so they could sell their own TV rights and they won. This happened when I was moving down to Texas to Dallas because it affected my job down there. I won't get into that, but it's just complicated. But anyhow, they thought, oh, we're going to get rich, and you know what, they ended up taking a loss. They did not get They put their bids out, did not get the money they expected.
Had to pull them off the table and refigate. So be careful what you wish for, you know, Tony Kruz, a modern DA.
Yeah, the FEC network, the ACC network, you can thank Texas.
For that, the Lawyer network, that's right.
But what happened there? They said, how do we make this much content to go twenty four seven? Yeah, so it hasn't worked out as well as they thought.
No, and the Texas network indirectly or directly led to Texas leaving the league. Other teams No, actually the A and M leaving and that conference breaking up, and everybody thought Texas was going to the PAC twelve and that set really set the dominoes in effect for the team's changing conferences. But that's a discussion for another night. We will do that at some point with Tony Kruz. Right now, we're going to let him get back to his vacation
with his wife in Montana. Brother, Thank you so much. I'm so happy for you, and we'll talk again soon.
I hope I'll see a big man. Thank you. Until Thomas said hey.
To and up next, Jeff Bicoro joins us here in the garage. You're on six thirty w LA.
Two then.
Tact do.
Anything.
Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider. I renumber two and as I mentioned, jeffco joined us here in the garage' You've in in the garage a million times, that's right. So but I thought we would bring in jet because there is so much to discuss that a phone line just can't hold. Starting with the headline earlier this week, I mean, how shocked were you when you saw the tweet or text or whatever about Vince merriw?
What about him?
You know?
You know, it's interesting because I've talked to a couple of people over there and I can't name names, but I think this has been simmering, it's been on the pot for a while, and it just kind of boiled over. And I think that you've talked about this and everybody else had ad nausea about the change, maybe in the dichotomy of how things work in that football office with recruiting clearly where he had carte blanche for a long time, and now there's other guys that the coach and Eddie
Grant are listening to. Eddie one of those. But also I think that and we talk about this all the time, Dick. In any sport and in any business, you have to keep getting better people to keep to get you better. For for a long time, no, I mean coaches at are recruits. For a long time it was Vince and well this guy got a guy over here, and this guy got a guy. But Vince got this guy and this guy and this guy right. Well, now you got You brought in Chris College and the defensive backs coach
has done a fantastic job. Uh. You brought in the new wide receivers coaches, who's very good. You brought in Bulwear, who's very good. Each of them have different areas that they pursue Florida, Texas, Uh, things like that, mostly more the South than the North. Now they haven't really got a bunch of guys from Ohio in the last couple of years. Yeah, but I think Mark might want to change that. I mean, Eddie used to make bank everywhere
he has been in Florida. That was his fight, as Frank Cursey was too.
You remember.
So there's different guys and so now it's kind of like you're the four Beatles sitting in there and hey, I've got a song. Sit to the side. What do you got you know what do you got? Okay, now, what do you have?
Like a young George Harrison trying to make so everybody's trying to, you know, to get the room because you only have so much. But plus well, before we get to that, uh, stoops has let people go when they're recruiting, prowess has last. I haven't gotten the job.
Done correct because it's the lifeblood until a couple of years ago. And now with the passage of the bill that you can simply just pay guys, now it's changed everything. And I feel so sorry for people like Walt Wells, Eastern Kentucky's coach used to be on the staff here. Uh. But those kind of guys are just, I don't know what to call it now, your feeder system. It's just like the Reds and the Pirates and Kansas City Royals kind of are in baseball where you're just a feeder for the other teams.
It's almost like you're the miners.
Yeah, because you get guys that are okay players. We'll go, you know what, go to Eastern great coach, great coaching staff. Right, You're gonna get to play, You're gonna mature, you're gonna hit weights with real guys telling you, not the universal machines that they have at most high schools. You're gonna get better nutrition, You're gonna get bigger, stronger, faster, and in a year, we'll pay you one hundred thousand to come to us.
You could almost shop yourself, right.
And that's basically what's being done. And unfortunately, all the MAX schools, Toledo, Kent State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, all these schools, Bowling Green, their feeder systems now to Michigan, to Ohio State, to Michigan State, to Penn State. They're just they just grab whoever they want from there because those teams have no recourse. They ca can't come back and offer what these teams have. So it's changed the
way you stack a team. Old Miss has done it unbelievably. So you're not bringing in as many freshmen because would you rather have an eighteen year old kid or would you rather have a twenty one year old man. That's a big difference in those three years.
Literally, and you you go geographic on the MAC, and of course the D one school is in and around the MAC. The SEC it's national in terms of their portscope, isn't Yeah, I mean that's that's a great advantage.
Well, I mean, look at Kentucky what they've done and Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt got New Mexico State their best players. Kentucky said, wait a minute, that is a pretty good team. I'm going to take that offensive lineman looks like Lurch.
From You know that the h doesn't play that way. Yeah, I mean his body fat, It doesn't look like the thing is.
His armspan, wingspan whatever, You're caught, Sam Buie. So by the time the defensive end, just if he has to run a round him, Yeah, if the quarterback hadn't thrown it by then, then there's something wrong.
I help, his footwork is as good as booies.
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
But yeah, well, and you bring me to another point, the old line. But I want to double back though, to Vince. The Vince Meryll situation. Sure, so much discussion obviously, and he hasn't had a chance to speak publicly yet. Not that that will assuage ninety percent of the fan base. However, I think just the optics within the conference, within the country, it's really striking startling, isn't it.
Well, you know, you and I have been friends for forty years, right, I mean we've been friends for forty years. A great I've been friends with Kenny McPeak since we were six years old, really that first grade all the way through college. And in that time period you have up and down, you know, if fun yeah, or one guy's moves away or does this or does that. And I just think that it got to a point with those too. In their professional lives. Both of them make
seven figures. One makes a lot more seven figures in the other. But you can't be a buddy anymore. You know. There's a difference when you're when when it's an an underling. How do you how do you describe it? There has to be a clear deligation between you're the boss and you're underneath me, and guess what, we haven't been doing that great? And again I look back at Vince. Look I like Vince, great guy. You know, we get along well. I talk to him every Saturday. I go down on
the field of talk team. You know that. But how great were these tight ends? Was it the offense? Because none of these guys who have come to this school with all this great hoopblah around them every year, we get the best, you know, A c J was a great example, but unfortunately he had you know, a problem right to a heart or something with him.
No, it turned out there wasn't a problem, but but he did deal with injuries about it. But the other thing too is I never get excited anymore about the tight ends because the old line. Yes, and you talk about it with Tom on the ear. Yeah, you got to keep him in the block, and if.
You don't, it's just a it's, you know, a mad dash to the quarterback. But to get back to Vince, he what they're gonna miss is this, Vince was good cop. Every kid that had a problem on the team came to Vince. Vince had tentacles all over Lexington with people that he could ask favors for for his players and for him. Quite frankly, that's what they're gonna miss. I don't know if anybody else has that on this team.
Most of the other guys are are young, a little younger, married younger children, so it's a little different.
Or they're not built that way. Chris is built that way.
Yeah, Vince's Vince is almost like and yeah, an NFL kind of coach, a guy that.
You know, he's all that's a great point. He's also the NFL. HEAs yes for the program.
And then that's again, those are the things you have to replace. I think that's where it's going to hurt him the most is the kids all went to him. Now, who's their filter before they have to go to coach? You know, Yeah, because coach is a bad CoP's the way.
Yeah, you got to be.
I mean you think a kid when he had when he had a problem, went to Nick Saban. Nick's like the hell you do it in my host you know they correct? Yeah, you see him on the practice field seriously. And that's another thing I think that Mark has kind of learned is he's gotten a little bit more trusting of his assistant coaches. I think where he's letting them do a little bit more and he's doing a little
bit less. But I do like what he said after last season he's going to get back to the old school tactics and stuff.
We'll talk about that on the other side of the break, because that has been lacking. Evidently, well, the results on the field prove that. We're talking to Jeff piicorrel Or
the UK Sports Network also Sports director at WTVQ. We're back in a minute around six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider here in the garage with Jeff Piicorrel the UK Sports Network and WTVQ, and we're talking, of course about Kentucky football and before the break you brought up the fact and you're at the news conference when marks troops sat out and talked to us after spring practice and the kind of the middle of the season,
middle of the summer, I should say, press conference always like how he says, good to see you guys. I'm like, really, but I think he does like talking football with us, and I think to his credit, I keep me. I haven't had the opportunity to ask him at some point, but I would like to know how much did he have a chance to interact with media when he was a coordinator or an assistant, because, as you know, in
some places not allowed assistants aren't allowed. And I felt like stoops, you know, it wasn't great, But he was good when he got here at talking to the public, talking to the media, that kind of thing, and he's gotten better at it. But I thought his message this time, as you said, was really interesting. They want to get back to what what is they need to get back to.
I think that there's a fine line these days now once you start paying people in disciplinary terms, and my question is this, are you allowed to And this would be a great question for somebody that within UK are you allowed to penalize them with fines?
Good question.
If a kid is out, he gets he gets pulled over or something, he gets speeding tickets like we've seen one hundred of them at Georgia. I mean it's a racetrack down there. It seems like with his players. Can you find those guys? Can you say, hey, guess what you're making one hundred thousand dollars, Well, we're taking five thousand because of this. That will hit you. But I'm
talking about getting back to the discipline lack thereof. When you have pre snap penalties, that's all discipline, it's all mental. That's guys that are just not engaged in the game. The quarterback says the play right wing whatever, blah blah blah blah blah, on to on too ready break if you can't remember that in the three seconds it takes you to turn around. And most of the calls now are from the line and it's a word is when
the ball is snapped. Yeah, so what do you mean they'll they either clap or they yeah yeah, or or it could be two claps. But that's all pre snapped stuff where guys aren't sure of what the heck's going on and they they jump at that first. You know, inflection, that's all mental, that's all that is all disciplined. And his teams have become very undisciplined. And he knows it because we all see it. And that has to change. And you cannot have and I don't know this, but
you know I talk about this all the time. If you have a rule, it has to be a rule for the first teamer or the scout teamer. It can't change because you're the star wide receiver because that's the look. Ryan Lemon is a good friend of mine. But I'm sorry. Losing Dan Key is not going to hurt this football team. As a matter of fact, it helps his football team.
They're close.
Yes, he's almost like a father team Barry Unbrown. Not a loss on the kickoffs. Yes, if I'm a defensive back guardy, I cannot wait till Kentucky plays them. There's no way if he gets an outside release, that kid comes out of the game. You'll never play for me again. If he gets an outside release. Make him go inside. He can't and he won't. He's scared to death. It's not a loss for Kentucky. The speed, you can't replace that. But they've got some kids now.
I think Dan is a loss. I think Dan Key's a talent. You know, the program will not implode, you know.
But you can't see. I can't get into some of the things that I wish I could say during a game, if the ball is not coming to you as a receiver, you still have to do every because it takes eleven guys on every single play to work.
And and Dane not perfect. And I can't remember the game, but he made a knucklehead play, early.
Penalty guys helmet, Yeah, that.
Kind of stuff, you know he did. And he did that down at Vandy. You know, he had some growing up to do. Yeah, but I thought he did. I do think, yeah, he has he still has more growing up. He does.
He does, And I think the other players see that and they're like.
Dude, yeah, he's a star.
But I think that that that discipline has to come back, not fear your coach. That's when I'm talking about. But discipline. Guys want discipline.
I think there are kids and look, you've got children. I've got children. As they grow, you know, they have to decide you. All you can do is shepherd them. What direction do you want to go? You know? And I think you can see that in some ballplayer. Do you know what guys in the locker room do you want to hang with? You know? Do you want to go with this group over here? What they're out there having fun, they're doing this and that and they're not
getting their work done. Or this group over here, this is going through the tougher times. But I remember when there was a rift in a in a Tubby Smith team where you had a group over here that followed players X, Y and Z, or this group over here to follow Chuck Hayes. You know you need your.
Kids to I mean even more recently that look at Oscar and the point guard each other. Yeah, yeah, I couldn't think of his name. That's your two best players. And once it get me the ball and the other said, well I'm gonna take this. Yeah, it had to change, and it did finally. But but the other.
Thing you've been in those locker rooms. Not interrupt you, but uh, is that the kind of thing that can just take hold like wildfire, like you know, in a hurry.
Well, yeah there guy. You know you've got you've got guys who are serious about playing. And it's changed so much since I played, it's ridiculous. But you had the guys that wanted to party and play, and then you had guys that were.
And really, what about and you've played with guys like this? What about guys who wanted to party? And we're still great players?
That's I know, right, Look, everybody knows I'm not I'm not. Cam Jacobs was a perfect example. Couch CLAYVERDG just said, I what to do with this? That's I don't know what to do.
Yeah, here's a guy, and here's.
Here's a guy. I want to tell you one story about a guy from Lowell played at Bishop David. Maybe the best athlete I've ever been around in my life, and it's Paul Calhoun. Oh yeah, Paulcahem never lifted a weight never, he hated the weight room, blessed. He hated running. You know, in the summer we had to come back and run sixteen forties and the four to forty two twenty five. He would screwl around in the weight room and then he'd run his forties like it was nothing.
He'd lift his weights like it was I'm like, he sleeps all day, how do you do this? He wasn't a party. I'm not gidding about it, but I mean it was like, but there are just those guys that are gifted. Cam was one of those guys too. He could party all night and at the next morning. Dude, I just saw you at four o'clock in the morning when you crawled to your room and now here you are and you're ready to go and it's eight am. Yeah.
But those guys. But the other thing, the other point I want to make you have to call the game to win the game, not to appease players.
And I think that as a coordinator, as.
A coordinator too, And and I think Mark Mark understands that now because you've gone through it and see it doesn't work when we're trying to make this guy happy, happy, to make this guy happy, we're here to win. If you don't want to be a part of that, if you're going to be selfish, then you're not gonna be a part of this. And that's kind of what I was getting at with the two wide receiver.
Because if you're yeah, if you're a coordinator, you're like, well, we haven't thrown the bottle this guy in a while, or let's go to jet sweep again, because we haven't given the ball to Barrian in a while and everybody instead of knew it was coming right and that has to change.
Did I do? I really do, because I think I think Bush has implemented the system that he likes, and I think the receiver serve is going to be fine. There's a lot more depth than the way. See that's the other thing. You had really two guys at receiver, and then we saw at the end of the year, Wow, this guy's not too bad, and this guy's not too bad because two guys came out at the end of the year back and Farrier and Farrier and you're saying, okay,
and now they're deeper. Kendrick is going to be a real, real nice player. Law they got, so they got they have some nice size and nice speed, and.
We got to hang on to the football long enough to to run seventy plays so they can show what they've got.
This how about this point, who was the last three thousand yard passer for Kentucky?
Oh man, the last three thousand yard past And it wasn't Will Levis, was it Terry Wilson?
No?
Further, Oh, you're kidding, Mike Cartline. No, who's a coach? Wow? Wow? How about that?
Interesting? Jeff Percoro is in the garage from the UK Sports Network in WTVQ, will come back with more Kentucky football and more on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're in the garage with Jeff Picorrol the UK Sports Network in WTVQ. We've talked a lot of Kentucky football, of course,
and Jeff covers a lot more than just that. And by the way, is also the voice of you women's basketball on SEC plus and Kenny Brooks, just like Mark Pope, constructing a new roster does have some folks coming back though. He's got some talent and a team. Boy. I'll tell you were there in the coliseum when they lost in the nca tournament. But what a game, what an atmosphere. I firmly believe that's just a preview things to come to.
Yeah, the thing that jumps out at you is the size difference from just two years ago to today. You're like six seven six five six four six four sixty three the guards this year because unfortunately you lose Amore. But the two guards you have now are both six feet tall, just the size, and they look more like a South Carolina or a Notre Dame. And you know Stanford and those those teams that are perennial Connecticut just great teams. Kenny. The one thing I think that they
have to work on is toughness. I think they got pushed around the ncaament. But yeah, that's yeah.
But the team that beat him at a huge player.
Yeah, well even when they played Texas, you know, the bigger the schools that had bigger, stronger girls really South Carolina. Because again, and it's Kenny's kind of m O. It's a more of a finesse style that he plays. But you know, he even said in the SEC after after a couple of good lord, they let him go. Yeah dude, yeah, he understood. He's a great coach and us got a really good staff too. That's that's the.
Key, it really is. Matthew Mitchell hit that area where his team and his staff kind of fell apart.
Hey, sure is.
And uh, I'm curious to see what kind of staff he's put together there. But Georgia Amore you mentioned generational talent. Uh, you know, and and I'd love the story about how that Kenny told us preseason because remember how weird the schedules where you work game, you and Christy Thomas. You know, an eleven am game or a game three or two days after another. You're like, what's up with the scheduling? Because it was such a challenge to build a schedule together.
After Georgia Aymore transferred from Virginia Tech, he said at first of was Kentucky. Yeah, we'll play it, thought bubble Bee, and we'll beat the crap out of you, you know my words. But then when the Georgia Aymore transferred, I don't know if we're going to be available to play Kentucky. And we saw why didn't we?
Yeah, I mean Kentucky was almost I kind of equate them with remember Xavier about fifteen years Well, once Skip Prosser got there, Yeah, it changed savior every Yeah, we'll play Xavier. Yeah, we'll play they were a homecoming upon Yeah, yes, exactly. And then all of a sudden, nobody wanted to play Zavy, just like what can we get anybody? Yeah, it's the exact same thing because they're like, yeah, we'll play you at our place twice, you come here twice at Ohio
State will play you. Yeah, We're not gonna come to your gym and play you right away. That's the problem you have. And people don't realize that that, you know, all these games football and in basketball, there's a lot of you got to read that contract all the way to the bottom, and it's crazy some of the you know what these teams because I know a lot of people say, why do we have to play this team?
Right?
You know, why can't we just plays?
You need to play?
Yeah, and you need to play at home?
Yes, games you don't you don't return because of the money, Yeah, exactly. You know, and you and I talk we are going to delve back into football, but I know you want to see more of the high profile games and whatever. And I can understand why you don't want to lock in with all these SEC games to non conference home
and home beyond Louisville because that's your budget. The football games are so huge in your budget, and you're going to get the money you know whether you play Ohio stayed at home or Kent State at home, you got to play at home.
Yeah, And I just have a feeling, Dick that in the next three or four years, we're going to lose a lot of balls. There's what forty two or forty three?
You really? Yeah, I just think interrupt you. ESPN owns so many of them, and it's their programming.
But what I think's gonna happen is with the expansion of the playoffs, Okay, you just I just don't know. And especially if it goes to nine games, which I think is going to happen in the SEC because of the Big ten, does it? Yeah, and everybody else does it? I think it's gonna go to nine games. Everybody's gonna get another loss.
Yeah, you're right.
So and that's and I never even thought of it that way. And Mitch Barnhardt was talking to me, and he said, if we go to nine, that means half the teams in the SECU you're gonna get a lost. But now that it's expanded to now it looks like it's gonna be sixteen teams. The bulls are gonna be gobbled by those. That's gonna be all those New Year's Day Bowl games are now all going to be in the six the what eight games or a twelve games it's gonna be now. So that's gonna take take a
stand of thirty bulls. I just don't know how many teams are gonna get the six wins to be able to go to balls.
And we've seen it in some Bowl games. It'll take a team of the losing record because they've got to put something on TV. And it gets ratings. That's the thing. That's what's amazing about it. It does draw ratings. Getting back to what else is going on on campus. You covered Kentucky baseball this year, like the rest of us, probably surprise to see that name come up in the nca tournament. And then Wildcats A quitted themselves well a couple of times and then blew a couple of games.
Dick to me, and I said this to you guys about football, that I would spend every penny I had on offensive and defensive line. Okay, in baseball, same thing. Pitching, Yeah, I can find a second basement anywhere, right you can. I can find an outfielder anywhere that's gonna hit too eighty. I mean, their diamond does it, but you can never have enough arms. It's unbelievable to me. How many games
and you did half of them? How many games that Kentucky have a lead through the fourth and fifth inning and then you lose it through the sea.
Thirty one sec games? Kentucky had the lead early twenty eight times, and you factor in non conference you know, which included Murray State, which came to town and beat Kentucky. And now we know that wasn't a fluke, right, You know, I ran I ran this by listeners last night. Let me run it by you. You having played college ball
and been yelled at by a coach or two. But I remember the Murray State baseball game watching warm ups as we were Doug and I were preparing, and I don't know why I caught my eye, but it did. They warmed up really well. And that sounds like a goofy thing to say that, you know how guys been coaching. It really is, isn't it. I mean they were sharp, they were precise, they were very The word I kept coming back to was professional. That matters, doesn't Oh.
Dick, So you did this when you were in TV. You know that you preview the season on Friday, you know, and every every day leading up to the start, you go and you do Henry Clay Tints Creek, Alex County. Then you go to you know, all the counties around a Scott County club. Anyway, What again is you go to some of these practices and the head coach h yeah, high school and they're working with the offense. Everybody else is standing around, they're looking up. You know, it's like
a t ball game. Everybody else is just hanging out. And then you go to some practices and you've got eleven guys over there. You got eleven over here. You've got these guys. Everybody's doing something that's right. The whole part, you're like, this team is very well coached, it's put together well. And what happens that team usually wins eight, nine, ten games and goes to the playoffs. It's and it's
like that in baseball. You go and you see some of these and you're like, this is like the Bad News Bears and then other teams Murray State, Wow, these guys good.
You know, right, And it's more than just watching the catcher to see who can throw it a second or watching the outfielders is who's got an arm because sometimes they'll deek you a little bit there. But no, I mean, and I remember really when I started covering UK baseball and going to practice is Madison, Cohen, Henderson. Everybody's doing something.
And I loved playing little league baseball up until hell I played till I well, i've played adultly, but anyway, in terms of little League on the ship till I was sixteen or seventeen, the only thing I didn't like was and I like going to practice because to me that was playing baseball. But the standing around hated that man, and you get bored, you know, you lose your mental edge. But you know tip of the captain Murray State now you know, well I got to bed a minute left in this.
Second is the only state that has two teams?
How about that? I was gonna ask you about Omar and you and I went last year we rowed together.
Cool.
Isn't it something else?
I mean, it's like field of dreams. You know, I've never been there, but I would assume by watching on TV it's exactly say, because you get Dome on it. It's like it's like Valhalla of baseball. Everybody there is wearing a baseball hat. That's right, that's cool.
And well you covered final fours as well. Yeah. To me, it's like the Final four, only it's twice as big. Yeah, because there's twice as many teams.
This is so because I don't want to get into all that crap at the final four in the SEC championship game that's so commercialized. This is baseball.
Yeah, there's some commercialization to it, but but it's still But you're right, it's really cool. You're right. All right, we'll take a break, come back and talk more with Jeff Piicorro of WTVQ and the UK Sports Network in just a minute. Here on six thirty w l a p. Welcome back to the Garage with Jefpiicorro, the UK Sports Network and WTVQ. Final segment of our program. I want to before we forget about it, we got to talk
horse racing. Two things. Number One, you mentioned Kenny McPeak, who told me and my partner Tim we were over at his barn getting some autograph stuff for the Mark Studs, Boerban and Cigars event coming up this summer. He so, he said, I didn't get a chance to listen to his podcast pre Derby Sovereignty. He told us, oh, and he's gonna win the Belmont two by about four lengths.
Wait one by three? You know, really like and when you get a guy like that, as you want know, you were a horse racing you've been a horse racing guy forever. When a guy like that tells you how much he likes somebody else's a horse, that's big. Yeah.
That's one thing I always ask Kenny when he's when he has horses in a race and I'm there and I'm betting, and I'll say, what do you think? And he says, well, we got to deal with the three, you know, or we got to deal with the site. And he says, that's who I'm afraid of the others. You know, this one's no count, that's nothing. I had that one or whatever. But so you know, he's pretty
straight up about it. But yeah, you know, I remember growing up, I always loved like Bill Mott, and for some reason, when Mott's horses came on the track, you knew exactly who they were. They all looked exactly the same, you know, I mean just the way that the horses looked, the shadow roll, everything like that. It was just you're like, oh, that's a mot horse, and then you look down you see the m Yep, that's Bill Mont.
Yeah.
But yeah, he's he's just he's a great trainer. I mean, he's had some wonderful horses throughout his career, some of the best Cigar obviously, some of these others. But he's had great owners and I really like what he did for his horse. Uh good Dolphin had spent more money than anybody in the history of horse racing to try
to win the Kentucky Derby. We finally got it right and instead of going in two weeks to the Preakness, he said, and I'm sure shake and the others said, we have it, we want let's do what's best for the horse. Bill has always been a cautious trainer. He's not trying to push his horses.
So that didn't surprise you.
It didn't surprise me that he did not go to the Preakness, because now everybody's what if Oh, and then everybody says, well if we spaced him out, But that's not what it's about. It's it's me. I don't understand where everybody wants everything to be easy.
In well, you know, I finally did on on not that it matters, but on the Triple Crown. Because my thing is what's best for the horse. Okay, that's why I like poly Track. Everybody else hated it. I liked it. I mean, are we really into what's best for the horse. If you're a horseman and you claim you want.
What you know that place for the horse, I mean that's.
Yeah, test test show researcher and Nick Nicholson when Keenland and Stars it's gonna take five years to figure out to get this data and figure it out, and they lost, they lost patients with it. But uh no, Churchill's never was never. I knew it would never take all because
you can't run the Kentucky Derby on poly track. I get that, But if we really want what's best for dors Now, when you started covering racing professionally and and people don't realize this or they might forget that, Jeff, you were a fixture at Turfway Park with with horse Rat's really what your big break was.
Yeah, that's what got me up to the Cincinnati market.
Yeah.
It was going up there and doing the shows with Patty Cooksy. Yeah, people were with Mike battaglias, and.
Back then and before as you were growing up, as I was growing up, the breed was such that you didn't breed as much for speed as you did for stamina, because horses needed to run more often. So horsemen could win the smaller purses back then and make a living, you know, not live like kings on yachts and all that stuff, like two percent of them do, but they needed to race a horse every three or four weeks to try to make some money to pay the guys at the barn and gall and all that stuff. Well,
now with the purses being huge, what does that do. Well, look at Keenland in the spring, the jockey colony, the fans, the big person rate, those are fantastic, but you don't have to race your horse as much. So now you can be lightly race going into the Triple Crown series. But through the years, you know, the breed has changed and now it's all about the speed horses. So to me, I can see changing the calendar because that's what's best
for the horse. You know, are you on the other side of the street on that.
I'm a historical guy. It's not supposed to be easy.
You have it there. I don't think it would be still be easy July. I, I don't think that would be easy relatively speaking, you know, you know what the Belmont, Yeah, the no, the Preakness used to be running New York. It was running Cody Island at one point what sometimes some point it was run four days after the Derby. It has changed through the year.
Wasn't running Churchill Downs either, Is that right?
I don't think I knew that.
Yeah, it was Latonia was the big race track.
Yeah. Now the Derby hasn't changed much through the years, correct, But the Preakness has, the Belmont has, and.
Well the belmonts what to of the last four or five years, it's only been a you know, a shorter race. And at Saratoga. Yeah, and I think there might be. I think they're gonna be done by next year. The track is gonna be spectacular up there. It's gonna be really cool. But you're also losing tracks left and right, which is the scary proposition about horse racing right now.
Well, you're you're referring, of course, to the fair Grounds in Louisiana, which is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated. And that's you know, it's it's weird to Churchill downs and most fans don't really care, but it does affect them. You got the backside versus the front side, right, the shareholders and the people who have to take care of them versus change the horse.
They got bought out by the gambling exact.
Not for the better, am I?
Yes?
I mean the facility is better, but is the product better? Is a situation better for the horsemen? And now we may be seeing the fair grounds shut down. No more Louisiana Derby. Yeah, and job's gone and.
The problem yes, And that's what people don't realize, and that's what they were trying to tell. And unfortunately Louis Sell has kind of put a line in the sand and said we're not doing this. This is where it ends. They will not bow to Churchill and unfortunately if that closes, look it looks like Gulfstein is probably gonna close. She has it for sale. She also has Santa Anita for sale.
The the land alone around gall Stream is worth billions, doubt and unfortunately, you know she's not big into horse racing. Her father was Stronik's daughter, who now runs everything because he is mentally incapable and she's probably going to shut down. So you're gonna lose. You've lost Calder, You've lost Hyaliyah.
Now you're gonna lose Gulf Stream Park Racing's done, Arlington Park gone, one of the most beautiful racetracks, Hollywood Park gone, Golden Gate, I mean, all these race tracks and if if, if Oakland, I mean, I'm sorry. If fair Grounds goes away, that is a huge blow to winter racing. Uh. In the United States, Big Peak Cattle took most of his horses there. Oh, you're gonna have left in Florida's gonna be Tampa. Tampa Bay wows not good.
And like I said, you know, people think of that wrongly as the sport for the rich. And naturally, if you're rich, you can enjoy it.
But grooms, job, people that work on the track, right the all in every face of it, food, beverage.
Transportation for the horses.
Back in the late eighties, it's one hundreds of millions.
Of dollars in the late eighties when you were early, we were both early in our respective careers. But the state of Kentucky did a study on the economic impact of just the horse business in general in the state and the amount of the percentage was staggering. It's surprised even to people doing the study about how it just
reached throughout the state. So yeah, I remember, I remember Bobby Maxwell from Sally Horseman and you know, him just talking about how many people he employed just that one company devoted to moving horses from one track to another tech Suddon, yeah, tex oh yeah, airplanes and you know. So yeah, I think that some of the people don't really understand as much as as they might in the state of Kentucky, even if you're not a racing fan,
if you're a fan of people remaining employed. A couple of minutes left with Jeff Okoro, who is of course the UK football sports football analyst.
And uh well let me go to you go back to just one thing because we didn't really touch on this at the very start where you're talking about Vince. Is it tough, yes, because of what you said the optics aren't great. But I don't think it's the death knell to UK football that Vince left. I agree now, him leaving horrible, going to Louisville's horrible, but I think that they're gonna weather this storm. Look, Mark knows this
is a huge year for him and his staff. If they don't win that, he's in some he's gonna be deep into the pool, you know. So I I really think that you're gonna see significant changes. You're gonna see significant changes on the field. Yeah you know. And it's gonna start that very first game against Toledo because you jump right into it week two. So and Toledo's no pushover.
No no, no, that's gonna be a challenge. Yeah you know. And uh, last year beat Missippi State, beat Pittsburgh, and beat Pittsburgh and a boy and one at Mississippi State.
And you're not gonna beat Toledo scoring seventeen points.
No, No. Mac teams have come down here as you know, and pulled upsets and and make Kentucky work hard to win. So it's gonna be gonna be interesting, and it's gonna be on top of us in a moment. Uh, we're gonna turn around and there it is. Thank you for coming to the garage. Good to see you again as always, all right, and uh tomorrow night. Chuck Culpepper from the Washington Posts formerly with their leader not in the garage.
But anytime I get to see this one right here.
I'm happy my dog arc star that said good night from the garage and Lexington.
Bad guy in a little code, bad guy and a little cold.
Then any such tact Spennny.
Anything to.
Any slack Sea that slackens them from taping the donning