Boomo Bugg Show 012726

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in. Well, the question of the day is, has Alabama fixed their offensive line problems?

Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you? Happy Tuesday to you and the listeners. Alabama is expected to hire former USC and New England Patriot coach Adrian Clem as this new offensive line coach. Las Vegas insider Bruce Marshall will preview the Super Bowl in some SEC basketball. But Roger is here right now to preview tonight's Missouri and Alabama men's basketball game. Roger Hoover is on the Alabama Crimson Tide Network, but you know that if you listen to 93.9 to score any time that the Crimson Tide is playing.

Roger, welcome in. How are you? Really well on this Tuesday. Hope you all are. You're good? Man, we're digging out, Roger. We're digging out. Did you have any problems with old man winter over the weekend? Not really, to be honest with you. A lot of rain, but no, everything was safe and sound here in Hoover and Tuscaloosa where I've been. So, yeah, we had no issues. The freakout was unwarranted down here. Hopefully all you guys are all right. We are. It must be nice to have a whole city named after you, Roger.

That's nice, is it not? It made it feel so much more like home. It's going to be interesting when my son gets into school. That's what's going to be interesting. You know, if he's got Hoover High across his chest when he's playing sports down the road. That'll be interesting. Roger, obviously Alabama, a little stormy time of late playing at Coleman. The latest Tennessee. You have one of the best seats in the house. Where do you start breaking down the game, Roger? You could really tell Alabama was missing Amari Allen, I think, first of all.

Definitely you miss Aiden Holloway with the scoring. But I think Allen you missed from the rebounding perspective. And just kind of the toughness in doing all the blue-collar things that they don't style teams have to have to win. And I think that made it really tough. And then just with Holloway on the floor, you know, that takes the tension away from LeBaron-Fylon. I thought Tennessee defended against LeBaron-Fylon really well. And it's tough just not to have his kind of running partner in the backcourt there. Yeah, Alabama did some good things in the frontcourt for sure, especially with Charles Budiaka returning and Aiden Schrell playing another good game.

But you could really sense the loss of Allen and Holloway in that game. Hopefully we're getting closer to a Holloway returning tonight for the Crimson side. Murray Allen may still be a game or two away from coming back from what it sounds like from Nate Oaks yesterday in his press conference and on our show, Hey Coach. But really missed Aiden Holloway in that ballgame. And then you just have to tip your cap to Tennessee. Made some good defensive stops down the stretch against Alabama. And they may have one of the best players, not just in the SEC, but all of college basketball, Nate Amen, with what he did, getting a career high and scoring.

And he looked every bit of a lottery pick the other night. That's what I was going to say. Rick Barnes, I know some people say, well, he's got Nate Oaks' number, and you can't deny that, that they won five games in a row. But he did a very good job of creating mismatches. Phylon had to guard 6'9", 6'10", a mint, several times down the court, and he took advantage of that. But I've mentioned in several Tennessee media. I don't know how in the world they started 2-3 in the SEC.

Now, we heard they played with more of a sense of urgency. But, yeah, listen, we'll talk about it the entire season. This is a deep, talented league. And you saw it again Saturday night with Tennessee. Oh, absolutely. And I think you're going to see it tonight against Missouri. The Missouri team that really nobody was talking about going into the year. You know, they're ahead of Alabama in the standings. And I don't have a full breakdown on their roster or anything like that just yet. But just hearing from what Nate said yesterday, I mean, this is going to be a very tough challenge coming up tonight.

And, oh, yeah, it gets to take on the defending national champion Florida Gators on their home floor in a very rare Sunday men's basketball game at noon on ABC. So, it's a tricky week for the Crimson Tide. And I think it shows the depth of the league. And I think it shows that really nobody is going to run away with this SEC championship in the regular season. So, that's going to make the final weeks a lot of fun as we get into the month of February.

And especially make that SEC tournament in Nashville about as wide open as we've ever seen the first week of March. Well, as the old coaches say, on any given Saturday, anything can happen, or in this case, any given Sunday. Roger, obviously, the elephant in the room is Mediaco. It's a two-edged sword, I would imagine. Obviously, any time you bring that guy back at a position of need with his experience and his maturity and everything else, that's the plus side. The other is, obviously, those folks who disagree with that, that can be a distraction.

[5:24] Roger, your thoughts. Where do you break it down? The latest I saw was he has gotten yet a little more green light. Maybe you've got different information than us to keep on playing, at least for now. Yeah, they were not able to have the full hearing that they were supposed to have today due to the NCAA attorney not being able to travel down from Tennessee to Alabama due to weather issues. So, the temporary restraining order that allows him to be eligible to play has been extended for at least 10 days, I believe.

So, good to go this week against Missouri, against Florida. Sidney Dots has fully said, you know, they're going to continue supporting Charles, and as long as it's allowed by the courts for him to play, he is going to play basketball for Alabama. And I thought he made a tremendous impact for this team the other night, and it's still going to take some time probably for him to fully gel and feel comfortable with his new teammates. Because, again, no one on this roster was on the Alabama roster when he played for the Crimson Tide in 2023.

But he looked good. He looked like he was in great shape and ready to go to impact the game and give Alabama a presence of kind of rim running and making sure he's a rim protector like Alabama needs. And I think it's only going to make Aiden Shirell better. It doesn't take away Aiden Shirell's opportunities. I think it only enhances what he can do, especially if they're both able to play on the floor at the same time. Aiden was kind of classically trained as a guard even before he became a big man.

So, I think this really benefits him in a huge way. So, I think it benefits his team in a huge way. What an impact he can make, and he knows what the legality of his eligibility will mean, not just for Alabama basketball this season, but this could be a critical case coming up that really impacts college sports down the road, and especially in the sport I'm getting ready to call in a few weeks baseball. I think baseball would be the one to keep an eye on with all this because there are a lot of players who go on to play pro baseball that maybe should have stayed in college, and maybe they'll have the chance to come back one day if the pro route is not working out like they feel like.

So, keep an eye on everything that's coming up with that because you can see a lot of college sports affected, which is baseball, but even ones like volleyball and soccer where really there isn't a great professional league beyond college sports in this country. You could see some really interesting eligibility cases coming up down the road. Let me ask you this, Roger. Obviously, you look at this team and every game is like, oh my gosh, more injuries. This guy's out. This guy's out. Your thoughts, what's the latest MASH report?

You talk about a challenging year just trying to field a team, and your point's well taken. Anybody who's ever played sports, they know it's one thing to have talent. It's another thing to mesh. You've got to have chemistry, and if you are sitting there like Forrest Gump and playing with a different box of chocolates every game, sometimes it's hard to get on the same page. But as far as the MASH report tonight, and from your vantage point, how soon do you think Alabama will be playing with a full deck again?

It's getting closer and closer. Again, Aiden Holloway, it seems like he's closer to returning. He's just been dealing with a nagging wrist injury really all throughout the season, even going back to game number one on opening night. So hopefully some good news for him coming back. Amari Allen's been dealing with kind of a hip pointer injury, and both of these were really aggravated, not in practice, but more so in the game that Alabama had against Oklahoma just over a week ago. So it's not like Alabama, you know, being gladiators in practice, fighting with swords and stuff like that, getting injured left and right.

All this stuff is happening in game. So it's just one of those crazy things where just the luck has really not helped Alabama so far this season, though, with how those things have gone. But it's a group that's still pretty optimistic. All the players I've talked to for my Crimson Drive interviews say, just look out. When we are fully healthy, we are going to be a very tough team to beat, and I think that should make all Alabama fans really excited about what's ahead. Roger, when teams play the Alabama women, they need to look out right now.

The Alabama women, 18-3, 4-3. They had a back-and-forth game against Mississippi State, came out on top, 85-79. Jessica Timmons, 28 points, and there was balance scoring throughout. Diana Collins, 15. Carly Weathers, 13. Ace Austin, 10. Naomi Jones, 10. Now, they played Georgia, I believe, on Thursday on the SEC Network. But once again, the women winning a close game in the SEC. They did, and it was great to have Essence Cody back, preseason All-SEC second team selection. She had been out with a lower leg injury. It's just good to get her back on the floor and plugged into what this team is doing, because she makes Naomi Jones better.

Jones has been tremendous. Six blocks in this last game against Mississippi State, and Alabama is starting to be fully healthy in that sport. So, that's really good to see, because all these players that you mentioned are starting to shine and play their best basketball. And we've got a tough week ahead of us. Georgia is very good, just ahead of the Crimson Tide in the standings in the SEC. So, that'll be a tough road trip coming up on Thursday, and then I'll get to go with them as well, not just to Georgia, but to Baton Rouge coming up on Sunday when Alabama has to take on sixth-ranked LSU, a team that looks every bit as good as the national championship team that Coach Mulkey had a few years ago.

[10:43] So, it's a tough week away from Tuscaloosa for the women's basketball team, but I think they're excited for this kind of challenge. Roger, let me ask you a little bit of victory about the hometown girl, in a sense, your Carly Weathers. I mean, obviously, she's been her time. She's come out. She's having a great year. But just think about, to me, I've always said, the smaller the high school town, the greater the support. Talk to us about some of the support you've seen from Loretto and your thoughts about Carly.

Well, I believe they had four busloads come down to watch Carly play against Tennessee. Just over a week ago, it was remarkable. We had a great crowd, probably the best crowd we've had in a long time for that Alabama-Tennessee game, but it was made even better by all the fans from Loretto. Now, you guys have got to help me out. Is it Loretto or Loretta? When I hear Carly speak sometimes, she sounds like she's saying Loretta, but I've always said it is Loretto. Well, it depends if you're before five or after five, but it's spelled Loretto.

Okay, that's what I thought, yeah. It's not Missouri or Illinois. I've been in an interview and been like, wait a second, what do you say? But no, it's really cool to see that support, and it was very fun. We had a baseline out-of-bounds play where she threw the ball, kind of like Grant Hill and that famous shot. Like her daddy. Yeah, it looked more like Ryan Weathers and David Weathers with the way she threw, and I immediately chimed in on the SEC Network to be like, oh, that's a Yankee-style throw, you know, from Carly Weathers, is what she did.

So, she's tremendous. She's everything you want in a student-athlete. You know, we highlighted two players in our broadcast open on the SEC Network on Sunday. Carissa Richardson of Mississippi State, who is on her third SEC school in the last three years. Meanwhile, Carly Weathers, four years at Alabama, just kind of represents kind of the kind of more old-school values that you used to see all across college sports. And I love the fact that she's able to represent that and represent this school so very well. If you knew her, Pat, folks, you'd understand why they are the salt of the earth.

Let me go the other way with it and talking about the kid on the block, Ace Austin. Sometimes these phenoms in high school can put up big numbers, and then when they get to this level of play, they have to kind of get up to speed. Your thoughts so far about Ace Austin, the high school phenom, coming in? Well, she reminds me a lot of Carly Weathers. Carly, when she came off the bench as a freshman, was able to impact the game, first of all, defensively.

Get some quick steals and, you know, would make a few shots here and there, but wasn't really known at that point for her offense. It was more for everything she was doing defensively. I think Ace is pretty similar in the way she's come off the bench and impacted the game with her defense, but she can back it up with her offense as well. Now, I still think finding a downhill drive either side of the lane against SEC guards and forwards is going to be tough for her just based on her height.

But from the outside, if she gets an open shot, she's going to bury it. And I think you can continue to see more maybe of her evolving into a pass-first point guard because her assists are unreal. She has just a great core vision, great IQ, but I think she's impacted this team in a huge way and very good at the free throw line, very good on her three-point shooting. She'll make some huge shots, I believe, for Alabama down the road, especially some of our talented guards like Carly Weathers, Diana Collins, Jessica Timmons getting in foul trouble.

There's going to be a game maybe on the road that Alabama has to win thanks to Ace Austin this season. That wouldn't surprise me at all. Tell us about your week. You've already mentioned the two, basketball, women's basketball. I'm sitting here looking right now on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Jaleel Bethea was your guest on Crimson Drive. You do it Tuesday and Thursday among 500 other things that you do during the course of the week. You're right, baseball starting here. I know you're salivating in the mouth.

Hopefully the temperature's going to be above 32 degrees the first series. Tell us about Roger Hoover's week and the guest on Crimson Drive this week. Yeah, Jaleel Bethea joining us later this afternoon and probably Aiden Shirell on Thursday's show. So some great men's basketball interviews coming up this week, along with taking a look back to Hey Coach last night. We had Patrick Murphy on with Chris Stewart along with Nate Oates to talk about the start of softball season. So we're really excited about that. As you mentioned, the basketball road trip's coming up.

And then just now, once we get to Friday, two weeks away from opening day for baseball, another softball team will get going next week. So it's a perfect time for fans to check out the Crimson Tide Sports Network on any of your social media platforms at UA underscore CTSN. Follow us for the very latest on the Tide. Absolutely nothing going on, but if you ever get a break, come see us in Loretto. Okay, Roger? You got it. I'll be there. I look forward to having a good time with y'all.

Have a good week, buddy. On the Crimson Tide, Roger Hoover, coming up, Alabama, how close are they to what many says is the answer, or is it, to their offensive line rules? The Tales next. Stay with us. Getting the kids to practice on time. Remembering if it's your day to bring snacks. Making it to the game with a clean jersey. Why are simple things sometimes so complicated? Thankfully, with auto owners, insurance doesn't have to be one of them. Auto owners works with independent agents who answer when you call, so you can worry about more important things, like whether your kid is going to run toward first or third base.

[16:13] That's simple human sense. In Florence, see Luke Brown at Hinderger-Johnson & Layton Insurance. Call 256-764-8682. Woo-hoo! Hear that? That's what having fewer hot flashes and night sweats can sound like. Vioza! Vioza is the number one prescribed hormone-free treatment FDA-approved for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms, also known as hot flashes and night sweats, due to menopause. Vioza can cause serious side effects, including liver problems. Your doctor will do blood tests before and during treatment. Stop Vioza and call your doctor if you have symptoms of liver problems, such as feeling more tired than usual, decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, itching, yellowing of the eyes or skin, pale stool, dark urine, or stomach pain.

Don't use Vioza if you have cirrhosis, severe kidney problems, kidney failure, or take CYP-182 inhibitors. Ask your doctor about Vioza. To learn more, call 1-866-239-1637 or go to Vioza.com. That's V-E-O-Z-A-H dot com. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can test your sports IQ in real time with Robin Hood Prediction Markets. It's not you against the house, it's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions all game long. You know the game? Put it to use.

Trade every play with Robin Hood. Download the app today. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood Derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband Ryan died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance. The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage.

No medical exams, and you can get up to $3 million worth of coverage through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash game. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash game. Time spent on application may vary. Online health questions required. Well, here we are again, and I gotta tell you, Jim, this match has me really concerned. Here we have a powerful heavyweight, a train, weighing in at 6,000 tons, and this hasty lightweight challenger, a car. At just one and a half tons? This does not bode well for the car or the people in it.

It's no contest. Every day, people are injured or killed trying to beat a train at rail crossings. See tracks. Think train. In a world in need of a hero, one man rises to the challenge in style. He is just driving the kids to soccer practice. Make every day feel epic in an all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid with up to an EPA-estimated 619 miles of range on select trims, advanced tech, and class-leading interior space. Because when you're hauling kids' gear, snacks, and backpacks, space matters. And so does comfort.

Just make sure they keep their cleats off the seats. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for details. For delicious meals, you could go out to eat or spend hours in the kitchen. Or you could just make a Marie Callender's meal. Yeah, you heard me. Marie Callender's classic chicken parmigiana bowl is delicious with scratch-made marinara sauce, creamy mozzarella cheese, and no preservatives. It's high in protein with 30 grams per serving. Marie Callender's what having it all tastes like. Ah, the most beautiful time of year is upon us.

Tax season. And TaxSlayer is here to help you file with 100% accuracy for your maximum refund. Guaranteed. TaxSlayer even has support from real U.S.-based humans if you have any questions along the way. File your federal return by February 8th for $22.99, and I'll help you get the refund you deserve. Take it from me, a talking calculator speaking to you through the speakers of wherever you are. TaxSlayer. File fearlessly. What if your instincts could pay off? With Robinhood Prediction Markets, you could put your sports IQ to work on the games you know best.

It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. Buy or sell your predictions all game long. Trade every play with Robinhood. Visit Robinhood.com slash predict. That's Robinhood.com slash predict. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. The new era of UFC on Paramount Plus continues with UFC 325 live from Australia. Catch featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in a rematch of his epic title fight against Diego Lopez and the always dangerous Dan Hooker throws down with dynamic finisher Benoit St. Denis in a high-action lightweight showdown.

UFC fans pay-per-per-view just got knocked out. Catch UFC 325 on Saturday, January 31st. Only on Paramount Plus. Stream every fight live with one subscription. Visit ParamountPlus.com slash UFC to get started. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in, basically, BB. We basically heard a lot of complaining last year about Alabama's offensive line coach play. And within the last few days, strong winds of the answer coming from out west, Adrian Clem is coming over. It looks like this is not official unless you've got some information that I haven't seen, like a 99% chance right now.

[21:53] But it's 20-26, you can blink your eye and everything fall apart. But what are you hearing about Adrian Clem coming in as Alabama's new offensive line coach? Well, multimedia reports indicate that he has been hired. Now, it is not official, and I'm guessing the SID office will send this out a little bit later this week. Why is he being hired this week? Because Alabama has a big junior day coming up this weekend, and that's one of the reasons. But you and I have heard this since early in the season, or really certainly midway through the season.

Why can't Alabama not run the dadgum ball after they've had a history of this under Nick Saban? Well, Kalen DeBoer is trying to do something about this and hiring an offensive line coach. And I'm also going to be curious to see, and I've heard the same thing you did. You mentioned this yesterday. They may even hire two of them. That would be interesting. I'm going to see where this goes again. I still think they need to get another running back out of the transfer portal. They've got pretty good guys.

I think AK Deere is going to have a pretty good season. Crowell is a five-star, along with Jet Tamala. In fact, I sent our buddy Tom Lemming, who's been covering this 40 years ago, and I said, you said this a year ago, and he said, yeah, you're right. But right now, it won't be official until later this week. But Adrian Clem, he was at USC, coached with the Patriots, coached with, I think, SMU and two or three other teams. His very good reputation was recruiter of the year, I believe, when he was at Oregon.

But I think that will happen later this week. So who is Adrian Clem a little deeper? First of all, he is 48 years old. He'll be 49 come May. He's a California native. He went to college, played all four years at Hawaii. So he's pretty smart. If you're not going to play for a national powerhouse, just go to Hawaii and enjoy four years there, right? Basically, he went to get into coaching. And after that, he said, SMU, I'd like to come on down. What's the connection there? June Jones.

Where did June Jones coach? Hawaii. So he gave him a shot to come in as an assistant there. Worked his way up. He went to the NFL before that. Was drafted in the second round, a 2,000 draft by the New England Patriots. And wound up playing. Also picked up, by the way, three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots. And that's not bad. Bling, bling. In Super Bowl, a couple of weeks, you're bringing in some of these recruits. He also played with the Raiders and Green Bay. As far as stops along the way, UCLA and the Pittsburgh Steelers had some issues.

According to the reports at both stops, UCLA and Pittsburgh. Then he went on to Oregon, as you mentioned, was like the Pac-12 recruiter of the year. But I think in addition to that, I think the one thing that I find interesting about this, in the 22 season, the offensive line led the FBS in sacks allowed with only five. Translated, in other words, the quarterback's going to like it. The quarterback was only sacked five times that year under his tutelage. And the Ducks rushing game was rated the 12th best.

I got a feeling that might be music to the ears of a lot of Alabama fans. And also, he was interviewed to become the New England Patriots offensive coordinator. And who beat him out? Bill O'Brien at the time, coming up from Alabama. And just one caveat to it. He's also personal friends, according to the reports, with one, Courtney Morgan. Who's that? He is the Alabama general manager, BB. I think that had a lot to do with the tire, too. And you mentioned the success running the ball at Oregon.

12th among all FBS teams in rushing offense. 216 yards per game. That's music to the ears of Alabama fans. Well, you've got to, to me, I agree with you. To bring it in, are you surprised that they haven't already? Or is it one of those deals where maybe they want to bring somebody in and say, listen, before we pull the trigger here, we want to bring you in and get your thoughts. Who fits your mold? We know he's probably chomping at the bits of the potential of a Crowell coming in.

And I got to believe with you, AK Deer, last year, in all honesty, I saw some of the play in the kids. Sometimes it looked like he had lights like a deer in the headlights at times back there. As a lot of kids do coming out of high school, particularly trying to pick up the blitz and everything. But I think he's going to be better. The potential's there. But I agree with you that they desperately need some experience at the running back spot. They thought they had it until Texas came involved.

Well, Hollywood Smothers had committed to Alabama. And I've heard various stories on this that the compliance staff screwed that up, to be honest with you. And then others, Texas just came after him with, obviously, a lot of money. And he ended up going there. Daniel Hill's another one. I think if he's healthy, along with Crowell and along with AK Deer, Kevin Reilly is still there. Now, again, they can still have visitors and get people out of the portal right now. And particularly, visitors can come in before February the 2nd.

[27:13] But, again, for frustrated Alabama fans, they are working to do something about this. I think they did a decent job. Jevin James, who started 13 games in his career, I think the offensive line will have a better push than what they've had. But, yeah, this was the one Alabama fans were clamoring about was getting a new offensive line, coach. Well, and you mentioned about Hollywood Smothers. To me, hats off to Dalbo. A lot of people get in a pool pit and they preach about this and that, but they never follow through with practicing yet.

And Dalbo basically called out Ole Miss and Pete Golding for going after one of his guys. And he said, enough is enough. I'm going to the NCAA. And I don't know if you're caught or not, but the NCAA is siding with Dalbo. They're going to be looking at Pete Golding and Ole Miss for tampering charges, BB. Yeah, Dalbo had an eight-minute rant. And Dalbo's had a few in his career, like Nick Saban did. They literally, he came out and just publicly documented the tampering of Ole Miss.

I mean, even giving times. Yeah. As times and dates, Cal linebacker Luke Forelli, who they had talked with him over and over again. And then, of course, at the end, he didn't answer a couple of texts and they got suspicious and found out that he had done that. But the NCAA has noted, yes, they are looking into this right now. Would you like some better news? This is from a guy named Greg Thornton. Share some information with us. Proud to say, if you love Alabama and you love 93.9, the score, the marriage will continue.

Alabama athletes in Learfield. Obviously, we've been a part of the Alabama network for many, many years. And guess what, BB? Mark it down. We've got a multi-year renewal, which ensures extensive coverage of Alabama for all of you fans across the entire area. Well, it is, again, 93.9 has been the flagship in the shows for years. And it's not just Alabama football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, et cetera, and even a couple of softball. So, yes, I'm sure a lot of Alabama fans in the shows, Southern Tennessee and Northwest Mississippi are delighted to hear that.

We can trust that source on that, right? Yes, I think we can. Let's make sure. Coming up, let's go to Vegas and check in with the man, Bruce Marshall on deck. Stay with us. Just as successful offenses and defenses are built on teamwork, Woody Anderson Ford is powered by our people. Our sales and service teams are well-trained to save you time and money. Because we want your business again and again. And no one will work harder to earn it. Proud to be locally family-owned and at your service for over 64 years.

Woody Anderson Ford, roll tide. It's the wall-to-wall clearance sale going on right now at Story & Lee Furniture. Save hundreds of dollars off floor samples, one-of-a-kinds, and even as-is items. We are drastically reducing prices to make room for the 2026 inventory coming in. Sofas, bedrooms, dining rooms, leather furniture, and so much more. With hundreds of items marked at liquidation prices. And get up to 12 months no interest and free delivery, too. It's the Story & Lee wall-to-wall clearance sale going on now. Highway 43 in Leoma, Tennessee. At First Metro Bank, we're more than just a place to keep your money.

We're a proud part of this community, committed to helping you achieve your dreams. Whether you need a mortgage, a car loan, or just some sound advice, we're here to offer a friendly face and a helping hand. Come see us at First Metro Bank, where your neighbors are your bankers. First Metro Bank, member FDIC. Why choose a Sleep Number smart bed? Can I make my sight softer? Can I make my sight firmer? Can we sleep cooler? Sleep Number does that. Cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side.

Your Sleep Number setting. J.D. Power ranks Sleep Number number one in customer satisfaction with mattresses purchased in-store and online. And now, the more you buy, the more you save on beds, bases, and more. Plus, get free home delivery on most beds with base. Limited time. For J.D. Power 2025 award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Check it out at the Sleep Number store today. A KFC tale in the pursuit of flavor. The colonel made his $10 Tuesday bucket so full with eight pieces of juicy, crispy chicken or tenders that it might just last you until Wednesday if you've got that kind of self-control.

I mean, some people want leftovers. Others are more into right-nowers. The colonel lived so we could chicken. Ten bucks, eight pieces, one big deal with KFC $10 Tuesdays. Prices and participation may vary. Taxes, tips, and fees extra. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband, Ryan, died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance. The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage.

[32:34] No medical exams, and you can get up to $3 million worth of coverage through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash game. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash game. Time spent on application may vary. Online health questions required. Hey, Team Wendy here. If you're looking to consolidate your high-interest credit card debt with a personal loan, take a look at SoFi's stats. A SoFi personal loan comes with low fixed rates, no fees required, and as soon as same-day funding. That looks good on paper, but SoFi also passes the eye test, having helped its members pay off over $33 billion in debt to date.

Score. View your rate for a SoFi personal loan at SoFi.com slash stats today. Loans originated by SoFi Bank, NA member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply at SoFi.com slash stats. L-S-6-9-6-8-9-1. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score. Mids basketball action tonight. 23rd ranked Alabama's at home. They'll take on Missouri. The Tigers 4-3 in the SEC. Alabama 3-3 in the conference and 13-6 overall. You can hear all of the action right here. Auburn back home tomorrow night. They'll host Texas.

Auburn is 4-3 in the SEC, while Texas is 3-4 in conference play. Bundle auto and home, renters, or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash, presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score. Taxes was feeling so stuck. Sitting in traffic, squeezing into a parking spot, all to squeeze in getting tax help during your lunch break. Now Taxes is a TurboTax expert who does your taxes for you. While you go about your day getting real-time notifications about their progress. And the most money back guaranteed.

Now this is Taxes. Intuit TurboTax. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com slash guarantees. Only available with TurboTax experts. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband, Ryan, died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance. The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage. No medical exams, and you can get up to $3 million worth of coverage through Ethos.

Get your free quote at ethos.com slash term. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash term. Time spent on application may vary. Online health questions required. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. It is an absolute pleasure for us to welcome in the man who is the super voice when he comes to upcoming on the Super Bowl. Bruce Marshall, busy there at Las Vegas Insider, BAM Sports.net. Winners and whiners, picks and parlays, CBS Sportsline, and also busy at Vegas Insider.

Bruce Marshall, welcome in. How are you? Hey, pretty good. Just one more to go in football, and we'll finally be over with it. Are you a fan of this, Bruce, this waiting, or would you like to just go ahead and jump in this week with the Super Bowl? I'd rather jump right in with it, to tell you the truth. That's actually happened. There have been a couple of Super Bowls where you've had just the one week. Actually, back to Super Bowl 4, the Chiefs-Vikings, that was just a week, believe it or not, the year before the merger.

And a couple since then, the strike years did that, 82, and then I think 87 did that as well. But it's happened a couple times, but it's always this two-week gap. And by the time you get to the game, we're just sort of ready for it all to get over with. Bruce, only you, the historian, would know that. I don't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning. You're going back to the Super Bowl 4. I am totally impressed. But I tell you what, there's all kinds of, there's always the X's and the O's, but it's also a chance to get into the Jimmys and Joes.

And who has a better story than Mr. Backup, Sam Darnold? I don't think he's missing the New York Jets these days, do you? And the money he was making then compared to now, not only being no longer a backup, he is up front and center with Seattle. Yeah, he is. And that really convinced me last week because I had been a Darnold doubter up until last week. But he really stepped up good. And this is sort of an interesting angle, the way Seattle played this year.

They were okay to move Geno Smith out. And they didn't spend huge on Darnold. They spent pretty good money, but it's not Mahomes-like money on the quarterback. So, and that's sort of a new way of thinking around the league is that maybe you don't need to, you know, get the Josh Allen of the Mahomes, you know, spend all that money on the quarterback. You can spend good money, but not break the bank and get a guy like Tarnold who can manage it, manage the team well enough and just get the rest of the team right.

And the rest of the team is right for Seattle here. So I'm actually, I don't think he's a detriment anymore, not the way he played last week. Speaking of offense, Alabama fans want to know, how did Seattle get to the Super Bowl without Ryan Grubb, Bruce? Yes, I know. Oh, I know. That's true. That's true. After his one year there last year. But it's a little different mix here with Seattle and McDonald's second year there. I think they sort of figured it out. And Kubiak's done a really good job with them this year with the offense.

[38:06] So it's just the pieces just seem to fit this year for the Seahawks. I think that's one of the reasons why they're in the Super Bowl. I know they've had some injuries of running back with Charbonnet, Kenneth Walker. In fact, they had run, I think, until that Rams game. They'd run for 170-something yards a game. And they've been much more balanced. All right, now, historian, I got one for you. Alabama's had three starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl. Yeah. Mark Dar, 67 through 68. Joe Namath, of course, with one of the greatest stepsets, if not the, in the Super Bowl history in 69.

Yeah. Ken Stabler in 1977 when the Raiders beat Minnesota. I found this amazing. USC, and Harold mentioned Sam Darnold, and no question, he's really come on. All right, now, confirm this for me. USC, with all of their quarterback tradition, has never had a quarterback start a Super Bowl. Is that correct? I think that's true because I'm looking at all the SC quarterbacks in the past. I don't think. Here's one for you. There was an SC quarterback who played in the first Super Bowl. In fact, he is the only quarterback still surviving from the first Super Bowl.

Pete Beathard came in. Oh, yeah, of course. For Len Dawson. But you're right. All these, you know, all the SC, you know, the quarterbacks they've had there, I don't think, you know, they have. Carson Palmer never made it, you know, and, you know, various others, various others. So, Darnold, yeah, I guess he would be the first. And if you ever go to Jeopardy, remember that. Bruce Marshall, Vegas Insider. Let's go to the other side of the equation. The New England Patriots. And speaking of quarterbacks, one-time Alabama commit, Drake May.

Bruce, help us with the pronunciation of the former Patriot coach. Is it Bill Belichick or Bill Belichick? What's he thinking this week? Well, whatever you call him. It's funny we bring it up. This is the only time we're mentioning Belichick now because after North Carolina lost that opener to TCU, we didn't talk about him anymore. But, yeah, here is a New England back. This is interesting. I think it's just a very, very odd confluence of factors have contributed here to New England, making it all the way to the Super Bowl, including last week.

And, you know, and I'm not making this up if you listen to Denver Talk Radio or read the sports pages this week. Sean Payton is really, really getting it. Not picking that field goal in the second quarter in a game that figured to be a low-scoring game. A two-score lead is gold, especially when your defense is playing that well and you've got bad weather on the way. I mean, that was a no-brainer to kick that field goal to go up 10-0 before the conditions really got bad.

It's going to be like a 30-yard field goal. Let's can make that 10-0 in a game like that. I mean, everything changes, and they went, and they said there was just a collective gasp out of the stadium when Payton went for it. And he sort of said, yeah, maybe I should have, but he's not really saying. He's saying I should have called the run play and not the pass play. He's missing the point. Kick the field goal there. It's obvious, and he's really getting it in Denver this week.

But, you know, you look at the Patriots, you know, what's happened in the AFC this year. You had Patrick Mahomes get hurt. You had Joe Burrow get hurt. You had Lamar Jackson get hurt. You had the conference sort of collapse around the Patriots. The schedule broke incredibly well for them, including all the way through last week. You get Denver without Bo Nix. You got, you know, they had Cincinnati right before Joe Burrow came back. Baltimore was vulnerable when they got them, even when they beat Buffalo.

Okay, they're winning these games, so I don't want to take that away from them. But that was the point in the season. Buffalo was losing some games in midseason. They lost a game in Miami. They lost a game to Atlanta. I mean, they were sort of a little flat period there. Everything has just fallen so perfectly right for New England. And if I'm the Patriots, I'm a little concerned. I don't want to get down on Drake May last week because no quarterback was going to put up good numbers in those conditions.

No. But he hasn't played a good game in the playoffs yet. He's been sacked five times each of the first three games. And they've sort of just survived. They've been the last one standing in the AFC. But I think this is a much, much tougher test they're going to get in Santa Clara. And not only that, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but how many touchdowns has this Seattle defense given up in the playoffs? The last time I looked, Bruce, it was a big fat goose egg, zero.

[43:23] That's amazing. Yeah, I mean, they're really, really tough. And I really think the Rams are probably the only team that could have beaten them. And, oh, by the way, I mean, talking about strategy, this is not a good weekend for Sean's because I really wonder why McVeigh did not go for a two-point conversion there, especially the second touchdown in the fourth quarter. When you get down 31-26, it's pretty automatic. They're going for the two. It's still a one-score game if they kick a field goal the other way, and you've got a chance to get within three.

And that would have certainly helped them late. And they sort of, you know, wouldn't have had to go for broke, and they could have probably forced overtime. So strategy-wise, I think McVeigh really dropped the ball in that game, and Seattle took advantage. And I really think that was probably the Super Bowl West on Sunday we saw up in Seattle. I know everybody wants to talk about these two quarterbacks and the offenses, but both of these guys have got very good defenses. Brable was known for it when he coached the Titans in Nashville.

Christian Barmore, who really, one of the games came into his own, was the national championship game in 2020 when Alabama beat Ohio State. He's been disrupted. They've got two good linebackers in Ellis, in Spillane. Give me your thoughts on Brable. I think Tennessee fans, or at least the administration, got bored with him. And he's gone up there, and you're right. They've just had one of those years to where the schedule failed just right. Your thoughts on Brable? Yeah, I think he's coach of the year. And this is a – I mean, McDonald would be in that mix, too.

And you've got Ben Johnson in Chicago and Lincoln and Jacksonville and some others. But I think this is a masterpiece by Brable. I mean, his first year there, I think he is probably really glad to be out of Tennessee. And how do they feel now? They're going to be on their third coach, you know, since they moved him out in just a little over a year. No, he's done a magnificent job, and that defense is very good. I mean, the defense turned around both of those first two games.

They really kept the Chargers in check and really got into C.J. Stroud's head in the second game. I thought Houston was actually sort of a little in control that game in the second quarter. And then they just got to Stroud, and he completely imploded. So, they can do that. Now, they have those two games at home. And, you know, last week once they – well, the snow helped out last week, too. By the way, one thing I just brought this up to some Denver guys, too.

And, again, knocking Sean Payton a bit, but when that – the conditions got really bad there in the second half, no passing game was going to work. And New England, I knew it was May, you know, New England's offense was about three or four runs by May, including that really clever bootleg to kill the clock right at the end. But what's wrong about running some Wildcat and use Sam Ellinger in there in the fourth day where Denver was not going to move an inch with Stidham in the second half?

You know, they got – Ellinger's a really good running quarterback. Do something a little different. You know, you had to make something happen. And May's ability to run saved the game for New England. Denver could have used that with Ellinger. I thought I'm not second-guessing this because I texted some people at the time. I said Denver should do this, but they didn't. But bottom line is Rabel has pushed the right buttons. He is going to win coach of the year. He should. And, you know, they probably – they wasted that year with Jared Mayo last year.

They probably could have brought Rabel in last year, but they felt like they owed that to Mayo after being there under Belichick. But, man, that's turned out to be a great hire. And he's a great coach. He really is. Bruce Marshall got it all going on in Vegas as well, Vegas Insider amongst other places. I want to make sure I'm clear. I said that the Seahawks defense hadn't given any touchdowns. Obviously, I meant before taking on the Rams, they scored some. But the Seahawks, at that point, have been pretty stingy.

Let's switch gears if you don't mind, Bruce. Go basketball. Alabama doing something they haven't done in a while. And that's lose back-to-back games at home. Your thoughts about this team, injuries and all. But, nonetheless, they had the home cooking. And tonight, a chance to go against a team from Missouri, which, if you look at the numbers, has a better slate to date than Alabama. Yeah, I mean, it's been a little, you know, bumpy here for Bama. You know, the recent losses. I mean, they're close in all these games.

The Texas game and the Tennessee game close. The Vanderbilt game was close. But they are falling a little bit short. So, this is, I mean, we're still talking, I think, 11, 12 SEC teams probably in the dance. But this might not be easy tonight. Speaking about close games, Missouri's playing a lot of those lately. And they have done a little better than I thought. I mean, they've come on and done some things in recent games. Mitchell, the forward, is putting up some pretty good numbers. He used to be at Duke, and now he's really coming into his own with Missouri.

[48:51] Dennis Gates is getting some wins. I think it's going to be a tough game for Bama, like they all are. I think they've got, they're not going to play themselves out of the field. But I think you're probably looking like a sixth seed now, probably. And that could drop down a little bit further if they don't win a few of these games coming up. Auburn may have had the best win in the SEC the entire year. Ending a 30-year losing streak to the Gators. And they really and truly did a masterful job.

Condon at one point. Chinilu, who has had 21 rebounds twice. He did his thing in the first half, but they slowed him down in the second half. Now, Auburn hosts, I think, an improved Texas team who beat Alabama a couple weeks ago. And Sean Miller, when you give this some time, he's going to do very well at Texas. Alabama plays Florida in Gainesville on a rare Sunday afternoon game. I think it's noon on Sunday. Your thoughts on the Auburn win in Alabama. Florida is a bad matchup for Alabama.

Yeah, Florida. I was shocked by that game with Auburn winning. And they were really in control of that game in the first half. And you're right. They kept condon to basically nothing. And it was Huff that was doing all the business for them. The guards, Boogie and Xavier and Lee, didn't do much either. So it was just an all-around great effort for Coach Steven Pearl there to win that game. I still think, you know, Florida had been looking really good in a nice win streak in the last week.

And I think they probably bounced back tomorrow at South Carolina. They're going to have to play some points. But at home, I still wouldn't. I don't want to say that was an outlier effort against Auburn, but maybe it was. Now they're at home again this weekend against Alabama. I would not probably bet against Florida. I still think they have as much a chance to make a deep run in this league as anybody. And especially since they seem to have figured some things out. That front line is very good.

And if those guards start to play, they're going to be tough to beat. But that was a great win for Auburn. Yep. Let me ask you in two minutes, your thoughts on Charles Bidiaco, what Nate Odds is trying to do there. We see both sides of it. And a lot of Alabama fans did not like it. But in today's climate, they understand it. And Charles was going to have a hearing this morning. It's been postponed because of the weather for 10 days. Bruce, your thoughts on that situation?

Yeah, the whole Bidiaco thing is strange. And we've seen a couple of other of these players come in. I saw one the other night in Santa Clara. I saw one of them. Garland was a G League guy. But the degree of controversy about this, I find kind of, if it's not ironic, it's sure curious. We're in an environment now where Nill is paying these players a lot more than what they might be getting if they get drafted into the gym. That's right. So what is the brouhaha about here?

I mean, the college players are effectively pros now. So I don't see what the problem is here for a guy who got drafted or whatever in G League and didn't play in the NBA. If you play in the NBA, I can understand that. But guys who didn't, you know, the college guys are pros now. So what's the controversy about? This is much too big of a deal made about this thing. And it's a couple of guys trying to stand on a hill like Izzo and a few others about what's going on with college sports.

This is not the problem. The problem is the runaway Nill and the problem is everything else that goes on with college sports. And I think this is so far down the list, and I really can't believe they've made such a big deal. I hope that Iaco, you know, gets back in there, and then I guess he has, and they'll let him play. What the heck? They're paying the Kentucky. Kentucky's been paying their guys for a long time, too. Yeah, that's an institution in Lexington. You're exactly right.

Great stuff. We'll pick the Super Bowl with you next week. But a lot of good basketball going on. I know you covered all the National Hockey League, NBA, everything. But big college basketball tonight and last night. Big win for Arizona coming back to beat BYU or holding on, more or less. Where can we get online and get those 27 platforms that you're on? Yeah, Tuesday's a good night. I love this night in college hoops because it's not too overloaded with low major leagues. And it's a good mid-major action.

[53:51] You've got A-10, you've got Missouri Valley, Mountain West. It's a good Tuesdays are good and a couple SECs tonight. Like Kentucky Vanderbilt. That's a good one tonight, too. Anyway, picks I got up there. Basketball, hockey, and the rest up at VegasInsider.com. Also, CBSSportsLine, SportsLine.com. And picks with a different twist up there at WinnersAndWiners.com. Sounds great, Bruce. Send us some sunshine. Let's do it again soon, okay? Have a good week, boys. Thank you. You too, Billy. Thank you so much. Bruce Marshall hooking up with us.

We'll see you there with the Las Vegas Insider. Quickly, remember the name. Brian Dable, BB. Oh, yeah. He's a former Alabama offensive coordinator, head coach of the Giants. Looks like he's going to be moving back close to us. Word is he'll be the new offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans. These coaches just go to the closet and add another shirt to the coordinator. They've got a closet full of different teams. Coming up the next time, I'm going to be taking you all over the place. Joe Cox all over the SEC.

Thomas Ashworth trying to make sense of what's going on in the high school world of sports in Alabama. And Kurt McNair back and more straight ahead. Stay with us. How will you protect your family if you're no longer here to provide for them? Show them you care with a life insurance policy from Alpha. Our affordable policies can cover a range of expenses upon death, including mortgages, death, and education costs. Life can be complicated, but protecting your loved ones shouldn't be. Call Alpha and take the first step toward protecting your loved one's future.

In the Shoals area, call Mike Mitchell at 256-383-0678. Or stop by his office at 211 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals. Or in Killen, call Matt Henry at 256-757-5006. Or stop by his office at 1717 Highway 72. Hi, I'm Michael from the Warren Treaty. You know the jingle. Now discover the facts about Ozempic, a GLP-1. Only Noble Nordisk makes FDA-approved Ozempic. Learn about the real thing. Talk to your healthcare professional today. Call 1-833-OZEMPIC or visit ozempic.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about Ozempic.

Semaglutide injections are a 0.5 milligram, 1 milligram, and 2 milligrams. Welcome back to Winter Hack Radio, the place for clever hacks to survive the season. Icy driveway? Well, try spreading sand or bird seed to help with traction. Snowy puppy paws? Well, grab a whisk, brush it off. Done. Catch COVID-19? Well, just get… Actually, there's no hack for COVID-19. But if you test positive, prescription medications for COVID exist. Ask your doctor if they're right for you. Visit pfizerforall.com to learn more. Sponsored by Pfizer. Earn an accredited MBA in as few as 16 months for about 21K at University of Maryland Global Campus.

Explore 10 specializations including finance, HR, cyber technology, and more. Plus, showcase the value of your MBA with a comprehensive learner record. And digitally demonstrate in-demand skills and credentials to employers. No application fee if you apply by February 11th. Learn more at umgc.edu. Certified to operate in Virginia by show. Save more on the brand's pros trust at Lowe's. Right now, get up to 35% off select major appliances and choose from our wide lineup of top brands. Plus, save $100 on a little giant 22-foot multi-position ladder. Now just $189. Built for strength, flexibility, and job site versatility.

Pros, these savings will only be here for a limited time. Lowe's, we help. You save. Valid through 130. While supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for more details. Welcome back to, uh, yeah, that's a pepper thing. First up, we've got Harrison wrapping his Dr. Pepper in a tiny quilt so it feels at home. Oh, how tender. That's a pepper thing. And over to Becca who's whispering affirmations to her can. You're sweet. You're unique. You're the best thing I ever poured over ice. She swears it makes it taste better.

It's not a science thing. But it's a pepper thing. Why do they all do it? All for that sweet, delicious, truly one-of-a-kind taste of Dr. Pepper. It's a pepper thing. 1819 News. A task force has been created by a group of Republican senators, including U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville. The mission of this task force is to investigate fraud within federal funding that is connected to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Senate Committee. Tuberville said that the issue of fraud has to be tackled aggressively on all sides so as not to abuse the American taxpayer.

Tuberville referred to the $19 billion fraud schemes that have been exposed in the state of Minnesota that have been conducted by Somalian refugees. Tuberville also blames Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for allowing the federal funds to flow unchecked to these fake Somalian daycares and other businesses. Tuberville says this task force will work to ensure that every cent allocated to programs involving education, health, labor, and pensions are being used for their intended purposes. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Some of the greatest blessings is just having the people that care about you, to have someone that's just going to love you and make you feel important.

[59:10] They encourage you to be in church. They encourage you to be in prayer. They encourage you to be in your Bible. Now it's a part of my day every day. My house parents planted seeds in me that you can see where those seeds have sprouted in my life and helped change my life. Big Oak Ranch, a Christian home for children needing a chance. A dentist from Evergreen is facing arson charges and insurance fraud charges. Dr. Douglas O'Connor was booked in the Connecuh County Jail as a result of a 10-month investigation into an explosion that occurred at his dental practice.

The Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office and the Alabama Attorney General's Office worked together on this case. The National Weather Service is confirming another tornado landed in Alabama during the severe weather that entered the state this past weekend. The EF2 tornado hit the downtown area of Geneva with winds of 150 miles per hour. It created a three-mile path of damage and was on the ground for four minutes. I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter.

Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores, Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Join us for U&A Basketball Night from 7 to 8.30 p.m. on Monday nights from Lost Pizza Shoals. Go inside the U&A Basketball Programs with head coaches Tony Pujol and Candy Whitaker. Plus hear from U&A players and get four recaps from Atlantic Sunplay each Monday night at Lost Pizza Shoals for U&A Basketball Night from 7 to 8.30 p.m. right here on 93.9 The Score. Roar Lions. 27 tournament trips, five journeys to Omaha, 72 major leaguers.

It's good to be a Bama baseball fanatic. Swing and a fly ball lifted high in the air. Deep left field. A go-ahead two-run homer over the high left field wall at Auburn. Alabama's favorite pastime plays right here on your home for Alabama baseball. The Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. 93.9 The Score weather. Today, sunny and breezy with a high around 40 and windchill values as low as 15. Tonight, partly cloudy with a low near 20. Tomorrow, sunny with a high around 40. Tomorrow night, mostly clear with a low near 20.

And for your Thursday, partly sunny with a high around 40. Your weather from 93.9 The Score. Now, get ready to roll. Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us your ride around the Tennessee Valley. And quickly, BB, just a quick reminder.

Some good news in this day and time. You've got to take it when you get it. And that is that if you love hearing Alabama sports, share on 93.9 The Score. Get ready for more of it. The contract extended going into the future with the Alabama Crimson Tide Network. So, good news if you love to see and hear the Crimson Tide rolling here on 93.9 The Score. Well, The Score is the voice for Alabama athletics. Again, football and men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, hey, coach, you name it.

93.9 The Score covers Alabama athletics. It's been a staple of what has been up and down and basically taken a bomb to it. High school sports over the last few days. Thomas Ashworth here to talk about that more from AL.com. Thomas, welcome in. How are you? Hey, doing good. How are y'all doing? Good, man. And we're trying to figure out. It's almost like they took this big jigsaw puzzle. You looked at the box. You saw the picture. They opened the box. They threw all the pieces in the air and it came down.

It's like, my gosh, how are we ever going to put this thing together? Thomas, your thoughts about where things are and your understanding of the central board approving reclassification for 26, 27, and 27, 28 school years. Yeah, just, I mean, going back even to a few days before the decision, it seemed like just nobody really knew what was going to happen. You hear from coaches and ADs and you kind of hear something different from everybody. You know, they're going to split. They're going to stay the same. They're going to kick it down the road a couple of years.

It's just kind of nobody really knew. But, yeah, like you said, just a landmark decision, obviously. First time in 104 years that schools are going to be playing for different championships in the HSAA. You know, it's surprising. I mean, I think a lot of coaches and athletic directors are kind of in that same headspace of, you know, it's a surprise, some disappointing, mostly disappointing results. But they're just going to have to see how it goes. And I think there's a lot that we can learn in the next couple of years from this.

[1:04:36] And, you know, there's nothing stopping the central board from the next reclassification cycle saying, oh, this isn't working, let's change it. You know, there's nothing saying that they can't do that. But, you know, like you said, for the next two years, and we'll talk about it a little more, but just a landmark decision. You know, coaches are seemingly and rightfully so in kind of that situation of, well, this is what we're dealt. We're just going to have to, you know, deal with it. And there's a lot of decisions and a lot of, you know, factors that are going to play into it.

What is the playoff going to look like? You know, how is travel going to work? Is there going to be some time to help with some of these schools that are having to travel four hours every single week? You know, there's just a lot of questions that are going to have to be answered. Ryan Thomas, just listening to that there, did the board ever come back with an old-fashioned approach to life? It's called common sense and communication. To me, what they should do is, if you've got a reason, state those reasons why you're doing it.

In other words, it means that the old system, at least in their views, was broken. What was broken about it? How are they going to sit here and tell these parents to spend money and time away from class going from three to four hours away? And what would be wrong with Thomas sitting down, especially in this modern era? You've got a smartphone. You've got the Internet. And doing a poll with the coaches and say, guys, we want to make some changes. But before we do, you're closer to the epicenter than us in some central office, sitting here with a bow tie on and making executive decisions and feeding their egos.

What would be wrong with the board, at least going initially the way to the coaches and asking them how to improve the old system first? Well, I mean, you're certainly raising some good points there. And, I mean, you think about, you know, even taking football aside, you know, you look at softball and how are you going to, you know, potentially justify Lee Scott having to drive to Broward with Christian and, you know, some of these schools. And, you know, I think Huntsville kind of got the good end of it as far as that.

But, I mean, still, you look at Mars Hill, that's his program that's going to have to travel some as well. There's a lot of schools that are just having to travel. Wynwood as well. They're in Phoenix City. Their closest is Montgomery, and that's like an hour and a half away. But you look at the central board, obviously, you know, it's made up of administrators, principals, ADs. You know, there's obviously Kerry Curtis is a football name and Bibb County's football coach, Matt Geohagan. He's an assistant principal and the head football coach.

But, obviously, I'm sure some other, you know, people on this board have been coaches before. But, like you said, I mean, it's certainly a decision that should have been factored in with the coaches. I mean, it doesn't seem like coaches, you know, have one way or another as far as this is bad, this is good, you know, as a conglomerate. But I think as we did our surveys and AL.com ruled that there were four options, and one of them was they should separate them. I think only 9% of coaches voted for that option, for what should happen moving forward.

But, like you said, I mean, it's unclear what approach we're taking to hearing these voices. There's certainly a lot of them. But, you know, it's certainly going to lead to evaluating for the future as far as, you know, what our decisions are going to look like moving forward, just because of how big of a landmark decision this one was. Yeah, Louis LeBlanc at Westminster, they interviewed him the other night, I believe, on Channel 48, and he said, Luke, we've got four road games that are going to be between two and a half to four hours.

And hopefully they're on Friday night, but that's still going to be, anybody knew it. I mean, again, the teams from North Alabama who had to drive to Mobile last year to play playoff games, Florence and Baker, for example, it's expensive and certainly time-consuming. Let's look at some of the teams that we talk about, that we cover. And I know you mentioned this. Man, I've mentioned this several times. This Class 5A Region 7 is just an absolute gauntlet. You've got teams moving up. Most of them have come down.

But in Class 5A Region 7, Athens, Austin, Decatur, East Limestone, Florence, Hartsell, Mustershells, Rustable with Darren Higgins. And we'll talk about that in a minute. That is a tough, tough region, Thomas. Yeah, it is. And, you know, it's ridiculous kind of looking at some of these classifications. Obviously, that's a really good one. You've got Muscle Shoals, Russellville, you know, like you said, getting Coach Higgins. Florence was pretty good last year, obviously. Austin's always good. Athens has Cody Gross. They're always going to be consistent. But you look at some of the makeup of these regions, and you're like, what is going on?

I mean, you look at, like, Clay Chalkville in Oxford and, you know, being in the same region as Douglas. Like, that's, I don't, you know, it's obviously no playing against Douglas. But, you know, it's an example of, you know, there's just some kind of safety issue, you know. You're looking at the, you know, obviously, Clay Chalkville won the state championship last year. And you look at some of these other regions, and you see some of these matchups, and you're like, how are these going to hold up?

[1:09:55] And especially when you're looking at some of these AA private schools, I mean, McGill-Tulin, obviously, is the biggest private school in the state. I think that their enrollment was near 500, and they're expected to compete against Glenwood, who I don't even know if their average enrollment is 200. You know, some of these schools are going to have double and triple on the sidelines. And obviously, that's one of the factors, and that's kind of a tangent in and of itself. But, no, like you said, that's going to be a really good region.

There's, you know, right across the way, Albertville is going to be joining a new region with that ARAB-BOAZ region as well. It's just a completely new look of teams, and I think there's some exciting matchups we're going to get back. I think Austin-Muscle Shoals is going to be a fun matchup. Muscle Shoals-Russellville is going to be really fun to have consistently on the schedule as well. You know, Florence playing Muscle Shoals consistently. And that being a region game, even more important, I think, is really interesting as well.

And then, you know, in that classification, they have 6A, what was the old 6A, lost Buckhorn, Hazel Green, and Gadsden City. So, it's a really interesting mix of teams in 5A right now with Clay Chalkville and Oxford and Parker. And, you know, you get Spanish sport and Benjamin Russell in there as well. So, it's going to be a gauntlet. It really is. And, like you said, that region is going to be really fun. Thomas Ashworth, AL.com. It's going to be interesting to see when some of these teams, certainly in basketball season, go three and four hours on the road.

What about class the next day when they come pulling in about 3 o'clock in the morning from one of those long road trips? I've got to finish the mamas and daddies. I've got to be right in the can once that starts to be a reality. But let me ask you this. There's a lot of questions out there. You know the answer. A lot of other people know the answer. But a lot of folks who have not been following it as closely may not. As far as some of the questions, can public and private schools still play each other, Thomas?

Yeah. I mean, we've seen some of the schedules already released. I mean, Madison Academy is going to open the year with West Morgan. I think that there's a couple of more that are coming up. I can't think of them off the top of my head. I know that is one of them that's going to happen. I think Pisgah is going to play Randolph as well. And, I mean, I think Deschler is going to play Marcello as well. Yeah, but more people. Yes. Yeah. I think that'll be, you know, good matchups to have.

And I think it's good that we're not losing those. I mean, there's a lot of, you know, really fun matchups across the state that would have been lost. I mean, you look at Deschler, Marcello. I think that's a fun one. You know, Murphy McGill-Toolin is a rivalry. Jackson St. Michael down south. Those are some school programs that are really budding rivalries. Rightfully so. There's some really good players. But I think that's good, obviously. Obviously, it's good because you don't want, you know, a new open Madison County having to drive to, you know, Fort Payne every single week or to, you know, Florence every single week just to play somebody.

But it's good because you're going to keep getting these rivalries and, you know, these matchups. And Madison Academy, West Morgan is another really good example of kind of budding rivalries that may be unofficial but still should be really good games. So, I mean, it's good that we're not losing that. And especially during baseball and softball season, it's impossible to schedule if you're not only going to be able to play public and private, especially for, you know, Mars Hill, who may not be around that many private schools.

So, it's good that that's still going to be a thing for sure. Yeah, Austin Burke, just some coaching changes. Austin Burke replacing Seth Parker at Priceville. Seth, of course, went to Bob Jones where he was on the staff there for years. But the one that's been talked about quite a bit around here is Daryl Higgins leaving at Mars Hill after four blue maps and ten years to go to Russellville. Goodwin went to, ended up going to Demopolis. But I know Daryl wanted to get back into the public system to get a retirement.

He was a medastler for many years. But Daryl Higgins, after a long and very successful tenure, will go to Russellville. Yeah, good matchup or a good match for both sides. Russellville, obviously, there was, it was obvious that they were going to be jumping, I guess, quote up in the next reclassification cycle. So, a huge challenge there, especially joining the region like we just talked about. You know, if everything stayed the same, there would have easily been a 6A. Joining that Muscle Shoals region that was already really tough with Athens and Jasper.

Obviously, there would have been some realignment there. But a really tough region regardless. But I think it presents a good challenge for Russellville. And, I mean, I think that Goodwin left it in a really good spot. I really do. You know, they have some talent returning over there. But, you know, Daryl Higgins, obviously, I think that it speaks for himself, for itself, just the work that he's done. You think about, you know, just like not that long ago when Marcel was starting. I mean, they went 0-10.

[1:15:07] And, you know, it's been absolutely rolling. Just, you know, and they haven't just been beating folks. I mean, last year, I think their closest game was like, correct me if I'm wrong, but it was like 34 points or something like that. No, that is correct. Yeah, just ridiculous numbers in the regular season. And then in the postseason, it was kind of a blowout in Birmingham, whether the score indicated it or not. Just ridiculous numbers that Daryl Higgins is putting up with that Marcel group. And he's leaving that Marcel job in a really good spot as well.

I mean, you look at it, I mean, they would be, regardless of who they hire, I mean, you could probably coach that team to, you know, a semifinal appearance. I mean, they've got a bunch of talent returning. They really do. You just kind of look at some of the frontrunners and single-A private, it feels weird to say that. But, you know, Bayside Academy is in there. Cusa Christian, Cusa Christian, you know, Tuscaloosa Academy is going to be really good. But, you know, they're an easy frontrunner, in my opinion, right now, to win whatever the new state championship is going to be called for the small private.

Just closing quickly with this, Power 10 boys basketball, Albertville 8, James Clemens 6, those Huntsville Crimson Panthers, number one in the boys' Power Bowl, and even more North Alabama teams in the girls. Gunnersville 7, Bob Jones 6, Scottsboro 5, Hazel Green 3, Albertville 2. North Alabama, well-represented in the Dessert and Morris Hill girls, and Priceville in Fort Payne in the teams, too. Watch great stuff this week. I know you've been busy. Where can we get your stuff? Ben Thomas, Craig Stevenson, Randy Kennedy, all sorts of dudes on AL.com. Yeah, we've got a bunch of stuff coming with a big meeting on Friday between private coaches and everything going on.

So, a lot coming. Follow us on AL.com. We've got tons of content coming from reclassification and, you know, a lot of transfer portal stuff is, you know, in the mix right now as well. So, a lot of coaching changes in high school as well. So, tons of stuff going on right now, for sure. Oh, and you mean into the rock and roll show when it comes to high school sports in the state. Thomas, thanks for your time to stay safe and warm out there, okay?

Yes, sir. Appreciate you guys. Thank you, Ben. Thomas Ashworth, AL.com. You mentioned Coach Higgins. Guess who's scheduled to be on with us tomorrow along with Martin High Coach Morrison. That's all coming up tomorrow. But first, Joe Cox and the SEC story next. Stay with us. At North Alabama Bone and Joint Clinic, our Shoals roots run deep. We provide quick access and familiar, friendly faces so you never have to feel just like a number. From sports medicine to joint replacement, expert care happens right here at home.

As UNA Athletics' choice for orthopedics and the trusted orthopedic team of the show's families for over 30 years, North Alabama Bone and Joint Clinic is here for you. Learn more at nabjc.com. Ah, the most beautiful time of year is upon us. Tax season. And Tax Slayer is here to help you file with 100% accuracy for your maximum refund. Guaranteed. Tax Slayer even has support from real U.S.-based humans if you have any questions along the way. File your federal return by February 8th for $22.99, and I'll help you get the refund you deserve.

Take it from me, A talking calculator speaking to you through the speakers of wherever you are. Tax Slayer. File fearlessly. Well, good morning, kiddo. I love that you're home from college. I've missed you. Still taking your Nature Made vitamins? Every day. A multivitamin and a probiotic. You better be taking yours. Still looking out for me, Mom. I'll never stop. Made to care for you every day. Nature Made. The number one pharmacist-recommended vitamin and supplement brand. Find us in the vitamin aisle. Based on a survey of pharmacists who recommend branded vitamins and supplements.

We all hear the radio ads about the IRS. They tell you to be afraid, to be scared, and they try to frighten you into calling. I'm not here to do that. Tax Relief Advocates is different. TRA is here to tell you that if you owe money to the IRS, whether it's $5,000, $50,000, or $500,000, we have a solution. It doesn't matter if you're sitting in your car, at work, or with your kids. No matter where you are. Call now. 800-575-6759. Don't lose hope. TRA can eliminate or reduce what you owe to the IRS.

There is zero risk to you. If we can't reduce your tax debt, then you pay nothing. Our passion is taxes and helping individuals fix their IRS problems. We have a five-star rating on Google and Yelp and an A-plus with the Better Business Bureau. You don't need to be afraid of the IRS any longer. End your tax nightmare today by visiting us online at tra.com or call 800-575-6759. That's 800-575-6759. Tax Relief Advocates. Real solutions for real people. Straight Talk presents The Math of More.

[1:20:15] Here's how it works. When you say yes to more with Straight Talk, you're left with more for all the other good stuff. So getting an unlimited plan starting at just $25 a month equals more savings for your family's weekend adventures. And with a network covered by Verizon, you can share more from wherever you go. It's simple math, really. More equals more with Straight Talk. Available at straighttalk.com and Walmart. Taxes and fees apply. The $25 plan requires a compatible unlocked device and a new line of service. Additional terms apply.

Enjoying a healthy dinner that tastes great means eating out at a pricey restaurant, right? Wrong. Healthy Choice Simply Steamers are delicious and healthy. The tray-in-tray steam technology delivers crisp veggies and tender protein and tasty selections. Like Healthy Choice Simply Steamers grilled chicken and broccoli alfredo. It's a satisfying meal with 28 grams of protein and nothing artificial. Healthy Choice Simply Steamers. What having it all tastes like. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama sports and it's brought to you by Vector Security Champions Lane.

Best pregame fan fest in college football. For more information, visit championslane.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hooper. On Tuesday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, we'll be joined by Alabama men's basketball guard, Jaleel Bathia. We've definitely been growing, like, from since, like, the beginning of the season. Like, it's been picking up ever since. Like, I feel like every day we get better and better than every day, the more time we spend together. And, yeah, hopefully that continues to increase as the season goes along.

We certainly look forward to that. What do you feel like your role is on this team right now? Well, my role really is just coming off the bench, really just having that energy, play defense and hit open shots. Really just make the right play. Yeah, about it, yeah. We go on the run. That's probably the loudest ever, like, the loudest atmosphere I've probably ever been in. I'll have more in a moment. Tide fans, are you ready for game day in Tuscaloosa? Don't miss the ultimate pregame experience this season at Vector Security Champions Lane, opening four hours before each home game.

This fan fest has everything you need to get pumped for kickoff. Located next to the Walk of Champions, you'll enjoy live music, player autographs, the best food trucks from all over Alabama, and ice-cold beer in our Legends Lounge beer garden, where there's never a cover charge. Check out ChampionsLane.com each week for the latest updates. Roll Tide! Join us tonight for Alabama men's basketball against Missouri. Tip-off from Coleman Coliseum has been moved to 7 p.m. Central, so our coverage on the network will begin at 6 p.m.

You can listen to the game on our full radio network, the Varsity Network app, as well as watch the booth cam presented by NASCAR, streaming live on all CTSN social media platforms at UA underscore CTSN. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Vector Security Champions Lane. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is an afternoon privilege for us to say hello to Joe Cox. Fine color, this was Saturday down south.

Joe, welcome in. How are you? Guys, this is day four of not being able to leave the house. I'm doing okay, but I've got to admit, the provisions are getting a little scared. It's kind of whatever we can find, we're eating at this point, so hopefully I'll be able to get out in the next 24 hours or so. Joe, I'm going to recommend don't read the book about Donner's Pass. I'll let you do the Google on that. How much did you guys come out okay other than just cabin fever?

I think a lot of us down here are going through the same thing, but you're way up there in Kentucky. How was it for you and the family? Yeah, so far that's the biggest issue. We've probably got about four inches of snow, but the ice, as I'm sure you guys are sympathetic with, is the scary part. And my daughter is trying to head to Orlando in the morning. That's going to be contingent on the school deciding that's okay and me being able to get her to the airport in Nashville.

So cross your fingers for her, and if indeed I'm going, cross them for me too. Joe, Alabama's had quite a week. They lose to Tennessee. And Rick Barnes just has Nate Oates' number. He created a lot of mismatches, and particularly LeBaron Phylon guarding Nate Ament, who had an incredible game. I think he's going to be one and done. And, of course, everyone's talked about Charles Bediaco, Alabama, playing Missouri tonight, hosting them at home, trying to rebound. Joe, your thoughts on the Tennessee game, and everybody's had an opinion on Charles Bediaco and his dilemma.

Oh, very much. Yeah, I was really impressed with the Vols to come out and kind of put one together. I mean, it is really as good as anybody. And, yeah, I'm with you. He's definitely a one and done. And I can see a world in which he ends up as the SEC Player of the Year. Now, they need to win a few more close games to make that happen, but that's there for them. For Alabama, you know, the X Factor, everybody's talking about the moral nature of this.

[1:25:40] Should it be okay? Is it okay? Nobody's really talking about the on-court part of it, which is it's not always the easiest thing in the world to just throw another guy into your rotation in late January. Right. And that might be what I'm more interested in. I mean, this Missouri game tonight is a real trap game. Missouri is not one of the most talented teams in the league, but they're very well coached. And they have an ability, if you let them hang around, to steal a game on you.

So, you know, I'm definitely going to have an eye on this one tonight because I think Mizzou could really give them fits. And, you know, boy, if you drop this game to Missouri, you go below .500. Again, yeah, at that point, I think everybody's going to be a little less concerned about whether Mediaco should or shouldn't be able to play, then with let's get our rotation right and figure out how to win a few more games, you know. And if they keep losing, they may want to call Larry Bird and see if he can come down to help them.

Joe Cox, center it down south. Joe, did anybody tell Auburn you're supposed to go on the road and lose at Florida over the weekend? And they didn't. No, I don't think they got that message because talking about a team, you know, we talked about a little bit with Tennessee, but another team that was just due for one of those complete efforts. And, you know, got to tip my hat to Steven Pearl, got to go to none of his guys. Keyshawn Hall has been kind of up and down, but if you can keep him on the floor and keep him involved, you know, he gives you a chance against anybody and to go down there and pull that one out, I think is certainly a big step in the right direction.

Auburn is another one of those teams that might be inclined toward the bubble a little bit at the moment, but that one I think probably puts him in much safer breathing space. Joe, I keep saying this nearly every week and I keep waiting for the shoe to drop. I don't know if it is, but am I wondering how buckyball would go over in the SEC quite well? 16-4, 6-1. They beat Mississippi State by 20 and then beat South Carolina by just about as much. AG had a really good game for them, but buckyball, you play defense, you hit the threes.

They've been very difficult to solve so far now after seven games in the league. Absolutely. I'm with you. You know, there's an element of, is this too good to be true? As long as they keep going on the way that they're doing, A&M certainly earns a lot of respect. One thing that really jumps out to me about this A&M team is how well they pass the basketball. They are first in the SEC in assists. They're right at 20 a game, so they distribute the ball really well.

And it's always just a really good reminder that whatever level of the game you play, and if you can pass the ball, you make everybody's job so much easier. Joe, are they going to let Mr. Pope continue to be one of your neighbors up there in the Bluegrass State? And what a matchup tonight, Kentucky and Vanderbilt at the unique home court advantages in the entire college basketball world. It really is. If you go back over the years, Kentucky and Vandy is one of those games that it really doesn't matter.

One of them can be up, one of them can be down. They might be both up or both down. It seems like there's always going to be something crazy going on with that game, and tonight really should be no exception. You know, Kentucky might be punching a little bit above its weight class. The schedule was friendly this past week, but at the same time, you know, it's funny. They've had a couple of injuries, and it's had the effect of kind of shortening the rotation, and maybe, you know, a couple of guys who wouldn't be getting minutes are getting minutes, and they're taking advantage of it.

And, you know, again, much like we just said about A&M, if you can pass the ball, if you can find open shooters, you can make your job a lot easier. Now, Vandy, you know, they've struggled here of late, but, yeah, anytime you're going into a place where you're coaching from the end zones, everything is up for grabs, and literally anything can happen. Joe, yeah, Denzel Aberdeen, the Florida transfer, dropped 19, and the other thing, they're winning close games. Beat Texas by five, beat Ole Miss 72-63.

Ortega Owe is playing like a lot of people thought he was going to. Muhammad Diabadi has really added some muscle under there. So, yeah, the jeers have turned to cheers after winning five consecutive games for the Cans. Always enjoy the conversation about the SEC, be it football or basketball. Joe, where can we get online to get your stuff and the teams? Saturday down south, we'll be bringing it wire to wire, and it feels insane given the weather to think about this. But, guys, we're only like three weeks away from SEC baseball, and we always dive in on that as well.

[1:30:44] So, assuming that all of this stuff ever thaws out and there's still some grass under it, we'll look forward to that in a few weeks, too. In the meantime, safe travels to and from Orlando and bring us all back some sunshine from down there. Okay, Joe? That sounds like a plan right there. All right. Thank you, Joe. Joe Cox, fine columnist, Saturday down south. Coming up, the man who knows about this week in Alabama football history better than anybody, Kurt McNair on deck. Stay with us.

Woo-hoo! Hear that? That's what having fewer hot flashes and night sweats can sound like. Vioza is the number one prescribed hormone-free treatment FDA-approved for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms, also known as hot flashes and night sweats, due to menopause. Vioza can cause serious side effects, including liver problems. Your doctor will do blood tests before and during treatment. Stop Vioza and call your doctor if you have symptoms of liver problems, such as feeling more tired than usual, decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, itching, yellowing of the eyes or skin, pale stool, dark urine, or stomach pain.

Don't use Vioza if you have cirrhosis, severe kidney problems, kidney failure, or take SIP-182 inhibitors. Ask your doctor about Vioza. To learn more, call 1-866-239-1637 or go to Vioza.com. That's V-E-O-Z-A-H dot com. Welcome to Guided Meditation. Close your eyes. You're at the beach. The seagulls are calling. You take out your iPhone 16E you got from Cricket and use Apple Intelligence to clean up that selfie you just took. It's a good one. You send it to your friends instantly, thanks to reliable nationwide 5G.

They're totally jealous. Get iPhone 16E for $49.99 when you switch. Smile, you're on Cricket. Requires new line on the Supreme Unlimited Plan. First service charge and tax due with sale. $25 activation fee, terms, and restrictions apply. Cricket 5G is not available everywhere. See store for details. Amy Cox did something smart. She saved hundreds on auto insurance switching to progressive. And with that money, she decided to treat herself to an anti-aging red light mask. Will she look like a horror movie villain every night? Yes. Will her boyfriend Kevin be scarred for life?

That's certainly a risk. But it's Amy's savings. And if she's willing to risk her relationship for smooth, wrinkle-free skin, well, bye-bye, Kevin. Switch and see if you can save with Progressive. And treat yourself. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Rich Eisen here. LinkedIn Jobs is stepping things up with their new AI assistant so you can feel confident you're finding top talent. Get this. Employees hired through LinkedIn are 30% more likely to stick around for at least a year compared to those hired through the leading competitor. Hire right the first time.

Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash Eisen. Then promote it to use LinkedIn Jobs' new AI assistant, making it easier and faster to find top candidates. That's LinkedIn.com slash Eisen to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Life is full of choices. Some big, some small. And when you choose an H&R Block Tax Pro, you're choosing the largest network of tax expertise to be in your corner. For when your big ambitions need help with the small details. For when your six figures come from six different places.

For when your gaming stream becomes your revenue stream. For when your business is year one, needs 70 years of tax know-how. At H&R Block, we've seen it all. And we're here to help you make the most out of your money. For life outside the box. Get started at hrblock.com. From 30 for 30 Podcasts. I don't know. He's on fire. Did you think I went back to you? Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's pregnant. An hour before he died, he was on the phone.

This might be a hit. You weren't the truth. They just made a conviction. They didn't place him to arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U, coming soon. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband, Ryan, died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance. The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds. Apply in minutes and get same-day coverage. No medical exams. And you can get up to $3 million worth of coverage through Ethos.

Get your free quote at ethos.com slash game. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash game. Time spent on application may vary. Online health questions required. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93-9. The score. Men's basketball on Thursday night. Troy Trojans will be at home. They'll host James Madison. South Alabama will host Coastal Carolina. Men's basketball action tonight. 23rd-ranked Alabamas at home. They'll take on Missouri. The Tigers 4-3 in the SEC. Alabama 3-3 in the conference and 13-6 overall. Auburn back home tomorrow night. They'll host Texas. Auburn is 4-3 in the SEC, while Texas is 3-4 in conference play.

[1:35:47] Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93-9, the score. Revitalize your bathroom with big savings at Lowe's. Get up to 40% off select vanities and free delivery during our bath savings event. Plus, get up to 40% off select shower heads. No matter what style you're looking for, we've got you covered. Shop for your bathroom refresh at Lowe's. We help. You save. While supplies last. Selection varies by location. When the deals drop at Kohl's, you feel it.

You see up to 50% off end-of-season must-haves, plus up to 85% off clearance favorites. And suddenly, your whole world narrows to one thought. Must shop now. Your to-do list gone. Your dinner plan's forgotten. It's just you and your car gliding through the store. Yeah, Kohl's deals will do that to a person. Save in-store and online now. Select style. Some exclusions apply. See store or Kohl's.com for details. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is a pleasure for us to welcome in Kirk McNair at writing for Bama 24-7.

Now writing for the Paul W. Bryant Museum. His book is called Game Changers. Kirk, welcome in. How are you? I hope you guys are well. Hey, Boone. Staying warm if you can. Well, keeping the batteries and the shovel up here, Kirk, we always welcome one more set of hands. So, if you have nothing better to do, we can always use another pair. Hopefully, you made it through okay in your neck of the woods. And I would imagine, Kirk, like a lot of us, when this week rolls around, we think back, where were we 43 years ago?

Nobody knows how to answer that question better than you, because I'll give a little hint. You're now writing for the Paul W. Bryant Museum. Kirk, your reflections. Well, I'm not sure what your question is. Do you want to know where I was 43 years ago? Yeah, 43 years ago. And just on that day and how it's changed the whole aura. I mean, I think a lot of folks who were around at that time, it was one of those moments where you remember where you were when JFK was assassinated, when the first man went on the moon.

I know maybe outside of Alabama wasn't the case. But obviously, in this state, people of a certain age, they know where they were at that moment. Oh, yeah. And, of course, I do. I was in my office talking to one of my recruiting sources. And Al Browning was working for me then and also doing a lot of work for Coach Bryant. And he came to my office door and said, I've got to talk to you. And it was 12.46, I think, something like that. I remember looking at my watch.

And, of course, he told me he had just gotten off the phone with Linda Knowles, who was Coach Bryant's secretary, and gave me the news, of course. And I don't remember for sure the order, but I just felt the need. I had to tell certain people. And I did. I picked up the phone and called a few friends of mine who were in the business, mostly, to tell them. And, you know, it was just sort of I was stunned. You know, kind of interesting, the way things worked out on the eve of Coach Bryant's funeral.

And my house had become sort of a gathering place for it. I had the bowl representatives from the Sugar Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Liberty Bowl, and a couple of other people that had gathered at my house. And I got a call from Bill Easterling. He and Al Van Hoos had come down. And Bill wanted to know, said, well, where is everybody? And I said, well, you're welcome to come here. There's a, and told them who's there. And they said, do you need anything? And I said, yeah, we're running real low on scotch.

Not tape, right? Just scotch. They came in with a bottle of whiskey and a bag of potato chips. In that order. But it was, of course, it's not a funny time, obviously, but that was, I just can't ever forget opening the door and see it then standing there. It was funny. I was cleaning out my office recently and saw my notes from Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Liberty Bowl representatives that had, notes they had written me afterwards. And House Brock is from the Cotton Bowl. Well, I'm not going to try and name them all.

[1:41:00] And that was one of the most, so many people were in such a fog. They had, you know, the football players who came to town for the funeral, ended up finally putting together a little, past football players, I mean, who had put together a little get together. You know, it just, it was a, everybody just seemed to be sort of in a fog, like, because it was not expected. Even though he was in the hospital, it had been ill. No one expected that, and it was, well, just, it was just overwhelming, really.

Well, it's one of those deals, it's one of those deals, Kirk, where he was one of those guys you never thought was going to pass away. And what was ironic about it, he died in his 60s. It's hard to believe that Coach Bryant never made it to the 70s. Yep. I was thinking about that today. I'm about to be 81, which is old. No, it's not how you look good at it, man. Yeah, but, you know, what I was thinking about was Coach Bryant at 69 seemed a lot older to me.

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And I feel about myself now. And I thought he was pretty old when I went to work in 1970 for him. So, you know, he was in his late 40s, I guess, or something like that, maybe in his 50s, maybe it was in his 50s. But it's just, it's still, not just on the anniversary. I mean, I think about him all the time, because he was so important in my life, obviously. And, you know, he did a lot more for me than I ever could have done for him.

And it is now, here we are all these years later, and Paul Jr. and I were having lunch one day, and he said, Our website is not very good. Would you mind taking a look at it and see what you can do with it? That was back in August. And I said, sure, that shouldn't take long, a couple weeks. I'll look at it and see what, make some recommendations or something. And next thing I know, I'm working for him. And we're working for the museum. And I'm enjoying it very much.

It's still a work in progress in some respects, but I do enjoy writing, particularly the history things that I'm going to be working on. More so when we get a little further along in it. But it's a fun place to work. I love when I go. I don't work at all. They ask me if I wanted an office. I said, no, if I have an office, I'll have office hours. But I go to the museum several days a week, and it's just fun to wander around and look at things and think what I can write about.

I think one of my upcoming articles is going to be on the sofa in his office that most people know about. But some of the memories of people who've made the mistake of sitting in that office sofa across the front and thinking down and down and down, looking up at him and at the clock behind him. It was always 15 minutes ahead of time to kind of rush people out. You had seen it before, as you mentioned to me yesterday, but Mark Edwards, the former sports writer for the Anderson paper, Decatur Daly and others, he's kind of recently semi-retired.

But he had a marvelous article the day before, the day of, and the days after the funeral. And you were prominent in the article, as you always have been. But I go back, and the funeral possession is what I will never forget. Again, it's busloads of people. There were people who probably never met him standing on the side of the road. And if it's January of the 26th, you know it had to be cold. People on the overpass, interstate, homemade signs, just literally everywhere, just trying to express some appreciation for what he had done for the state, nationally.

[1:46:00] And, again, everybody knows the socioeconomic issues in the 60s. And he just kept winning one national championship after another. But the two or three days after he passed away, the funeral, and the results, and seeing the impact he had on so many people was quite emotional. Oh, yeah, it certainly was. And still, you know, I mentioned having lunch with Paul Jr. that day. It was down at a barbecue place down in Greene County. And we weren't there right at lunchtime, but there were people that came in and out.

And everybody, it was like seeing a rock star. Yeah. And then Paul Jr., too. No, I'm serious. I'm just kidding. He's your wingman. People came up to him and told their story. And, you know, it might have been not a very close association with Coach Bryant, certainly, but I've always appreciated that in the Bryant family, that they patiently listened to all these people who come to him and say, Well, I was 10 years old and, you know, whatever. Yeah. Pardon me. And, I mean, this was just a few months ago, you know.

Everybody still that has a Bryant story wanted to share it. Absolutely. Well, it was incredible, and I was looking at some things the other day. I just, that's one of my regrets was not, I just started a job as alumni director at UAH. We were ridiculously busy doing some things. That's always one of my regrets was not getting down to the funeral. And, by the way, I just got an email. My goodness, Eddie Conyers, 90 years old, the official for so many years, what an incredible man, passed away this morning.

A lot of Alabama fans know him. Yeah. I know him so well. It's just absolutely amazing. By the way, I told you this last year when you, quote, retired from Bama 247, that Bryant Museum job is something that you were literally born to do. Well, I didn't know that. I felt like I got hoodwinked a little bit. I'm glad I did. I'm glad I did, of course. It was, I wasn't ready to just sit down and waste away, really. I still felt like I could do something.

So, that worked out well for me. And, yeah, Eddie, that's, I was thinking about him this morning. I got an email from Steve Sprayberry's widow, Carol Sprayberry. And she has hosted for many, many years the 1970 freshman at their late Martin home. And while the freshman of the 70 recruiting class, and that was also my first year, so they always included me. And I always have driven Eddie down to that with me. And, of course, he'd just keep me in stitches on the trip down and the trip back.

And, I mean, I knew he was very, very ill. And it's a sad, sad time. And he was, you know, funny up until the end. So, and just such a good person. You know, I don't, I suspect there are not too many people that, who don't consider Eddie Conyers to be a part of their lives from the time that he got linked into being the official for practice to way back when, when Coach Bryant first got back. I'll tell you one thing, if Nick, Kirk, if Nick Saban loves you, he mentioned that several times.

He just said, I just love Eddie Conyers and his wife. When Nick loves you, you're a good man. Yep, that's right. That's right. How could anybody not? He was a, he was a treasure, no doubt about it. Well, this has been, this, I hated the subject, but I wanted to talk with you about this because I know you were so close to him. I had so many fond memories of him. Listen, good luck with the Bryant Museum. Always great to talk with you. God bless you.

[1:51:11] And hopefully we can do this again with you soon. Well, I look forward to it. Thanks a lot. Terry McNair, who's going to be with us? There, writer for the Paul W. Bryant Museum. Maybe quickly again, we mentioned earlier in the show, coming up tomorrow, it's going to be interesting to see. Definitely a little more in-depth about all this high school stuff. Going to have Coach Morrison on from Florence High and Coach Higgins. This sounds crazy. Now the head coach at Russell High. So a lot to look forward to tomorrow.

In the meantime, Alabama basketball tonight. Yeah, that, again, the tip-off at seven, the pregame at six, it was at eight, but it's going to be on the SEC network. And Nate Oates needs a win tonight in the worst way. We've already got a win here. Again, just to make sure, if you're just now joining us, the coverage will continue here of Alabama sports on 93.9 The Score. The contract has been extended, so a lot to look forward to tonight and beyond. Going to take care of biz for now on behalf of B.B., Greg, James, Blair, the entire crew here.

Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow on noon to two for the Boom Old Buck Show, back here on Sports Radio, 93.9 The Score.