Boomo Bugg Show 051426

[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 into 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 where the surprise, surprise, surprise the day is.

Everybody's wanting to go to 24 teams in college football when it comes to playoffs. Guess who's the big boy who's standing in the way. That and more coming up in just a short. But in the meantime, welcome in and how are you? Happy Thursday to you and the listeners. I think Paul Feinbaum's one. Greg Sankey might be the other one. And our next guest may be the third one. The Atlanta Braves extended baseball's best record to 30-13 with a 4-1 victory over the Cubbies last night. Zach Pounders of the Shoals Sports Report will update us a little bit later about high school baseball semifinals and who is advancing to the finals in softball at the Sportsplex.

But Bill Bender is here right now and he believes, Harold Bugg, expanding the college football playoff to 24 teams is an ideal that needs to be eliminated. Well, he's going to have some pretty big boy company there. Double B in the huddle with us. Bill Bender, the national voice of the Sporting News. Bill, welcome in. First of all, the big question, has the temperature finally climbed above freezing in Ohio yet? How are you? It's cold today. It was better. It's just, it's the old Forrest Gump box of chocolates thing.

You really never know what you're going to get with Ohio weather on a day-to-day basis. I think I used the analogy right on a day-to-day basis. But you guys are right, man. Everybody's talking, this 2014 playoff talk is nonsense in my opinion. But we're headed in that direction, unfortunately. Or are we, Bill? Because let's face it, we understand why the schools want to go. Well, the coaches want to go because basically it's like getting four or five mulligans playing golf. You know, back in the day, the pressure was on.

Are you going to make the final four? Before that, the final two. Hello, Gene Stallings and some of those other guys and back then coach Paul Bear Bryant. But now it's at 12. They've been talking about going to 16. They've been talking about going to 24. The one big giant in the room could be not you and I, although you would be a voice. But ESPN says we are not in favor of 24. I mean, at first glance, you say, I thought everybody said TV wants it. Bill, your thoughts about that?

And could it be that ESPN is making money with their bowl games and you can only go to the well so many times to get water out of it? Right. And the bowl games won't make any money if you go to 24. And that's not a reason necessarily to pull back from doing it. But I do think you can't go. To me, you don't go to 12 to 24 without trying 16 first. You probably should try 12 a little bit longer. We've only been doing it for two years. And I haven't heard ridiculous complaints other than some of the logistical pieces of it, like that it's too long or that the bye weeks have kind of thrown things off a little bit.

But those can be tweaked. They made a successful tweak to it last year. So 24 is too many, guys. And if anybody thinks it's not, those that say it's going to change the regular season and make it more compelling, maybe for some. But I think in general, if you're talking about the tradition and the sanctity of the regular season, all those things can change by a lot. And it's going to be a different viewing experience for everyone if you do go to 24. I think you're exactly right.

Would you summarize an analogy you used in your article about Ohio high school football? They expanded too quickly, but they had no sense to realize, wait a minute, this is not working. And then they scaled it back. I thought that was a pretty good analogy. Well, okay, so the best way to do it quickly is like my senior year, which is around 1998, we put four teams per region, 16 teams per division, and we had six divisions. So basically just take one division, 16 teams. Then we put eight teams per region, and it became a 32-team playoff.

Then we put 16 per region, and it became a 64-team playoff. And I'm going to tell you right now, first-round blowouts were, I mean, you guys have been to high school games where they put up big numbers, 72-0, running clock, not competitive games, seasons too long. So what we did in Ohio is we went back down to 12 per region. I still think it should be eight, but now you have 48 teams, and there's some club complaints about the bye weeks. I think we're one of the few places that actually contracted its playoffs, and I think college football maybe could learn a lesson from that.

[5:24] I don't know how many you guys put in the playoff in each division in Alabama, but I mean, 64 was too many. To your point, Bill, we had a game last year. I've forgotten the kids' names, the teams. I want to embarrass them, but the score was actually that scored 100 points against another team. So the Alabama High School Athletic Association had to change the rules because it was such a mismatch. There's no sense in the embarrassing of 15, 16, 17, 18-year-old kid like that, or even for that matter, an adult, but certainly someone that age.

Bill Bender, the Sporting News. Bill, how do you feel about this? You love yourself some Notre Dame green. The ACC is not as enamored with Notre Dame. They're fussing, basically saying, in effect, they get the preferential treatment. Bill, put on the Notre Dame hat and take off the Notre Dame hat and address this issue. Well, I mean, if I'm Notre Dame, if somebody offered me what the ACC gave them, you take it. If somebody offers you your own TV network, you take it. And it's, you know, I have no problem with that.

And I was on their side in the playoff snub argument simply because the way that they were moved down at the last minute. But if I'm the ACC, I would pressure them to become a full member. And if they don't, but here's where the ACC has to be careful. If the ACC does that, says, all right, you're either all in or out, and Notre Dame says no, then the ACC loses that. And you could see Notre Dame going to, hello, the Big Ten. And that's exactly where they would go.

And the ACC would be a big loser in that event. So I think that's the kind of catch-22 on both sides of that relationship, which is a weird relationship, no doubt. Yeah, the thing is, though, Notre Dame drives the bus. It's like in Hollywood. You may not like Tom Cruise, but Tom Cruise is going to have his way. You're going to have to pay him more because he's a magnet. Notre Dame is a magnet. You may disagree with that. You can fuss all day, but the truth is they are.

Your thoughts overall about the ACC, they've got bigger problems than that because they just can't seem to get that baby on track. Even with teams that have been there and done that, like basketball with North Carolina. Let's face it, last year, an embarrassment, North Carolina, that is, in football. And Clemson, Davos fussing about the NIL situation. If you were going to sit here and wave the magic wand to fix the woes of the ACC, what would it be? Well, I mean, and that's for Tom Cruise.

You can complain about him, but I probably watch a few good men once every week. We all do. But as to the ACC, I thought they had a good year last year, honestly, on the football side. They do need Clemson to be better. They do need North Carolina to be better. But Miami did play for a national title. Florida State also needs to be better. They've had a bowl season, though, and they've had a good non-conference season. The basketball, yeah, they should be a little concerned.

But all it takes is one really good Duke team to break through. Had UConn not beat Duke, it might be a different story there. So, you know, it's the third wheel a little bit, but it's a pretty good third wheel. And Jim Phillips, I think, for the most part, has made some really good decisions. One of the best decisions the ACC made last year was putting us in the replay booth on the live replays. I thought that was awesome. But they're kind of – I feel like Jim Phillips and the ACC is a middleman of sorts to the SEC and the Big Ten and all these negotiations, and they're trying to keep their place in the sport.

One of the reasons the Notre Dame story came out – by the way, I want to give credit to Mike DiCorsi, one of the best writers in history. I believe he's going to retire from the sporting news after the World Cup. But he came up with the article, Is it time for the ACC to tell Notre Dame to hit the road? And the ACC had their spring meetings this week. The ACC is coming up, Bill Bender, and the coaches are not happy. Number one, they're not happy because of adding the extra conference game and staying at 12.

The bye week was a – they're disgruntled about that. And now the coaches are sniping at each other, and everybody's shocked that Lane Kiffin is in the middle of all this stuff. I think Greg Sankey's going to have to pull out a big stick like Mike Slime did years ago and tell him this, you know, what's going to stop. But I'm telling you, in two weeks at the Sandestin, that's going to be interesting SEC meetings. Oh, it is. Not for Greg Sankey and what he says about the playoff.

We're waiting on that for the response to Lane Kiffin and his Vanity Fair article where, you know, he ran into some trouble with that, as usual. With Steve Sarkeesian talking about basket weaving, which I saw a pretty good article. I haven't read it yet from AL.com. I would struggle in basket weaving. I would not be very good at it. And, you know, like some might struggle more than others. I don't have good hands. But it's been, it must, it's the time of the year where we don't quite have football.

[10:45] We've got to find something to write about. And obviously Steve Sarkeesian and Lane Kiffin piling on Ole Miss this week. I didn't, I didn't understand some of it. But, you know, the Vanity Fair article, as soon as you, Brett, you knew as soon as you clicked on that, it was going to generate that kind of reaction. Thing is, though, that Lane knew that, too. People say, why did he do it? Because Lane loves the attention. His theory is, it's like Hollywood. There's no such thing as bad publicity because it's like the old, remember the old Eagle song, Get Over It?

That he knows people will get over it. In the meantime, he gets some extra mileage out there. You mentioned Steve Sarkeesian. First, I'll just tell you about Nick Saban. Can you imagine Lane Kiffin and then Steve Sarkeesian back-to-back? And you've got to be the boss of those two. Are you kidding me, especially with Sark and his personal life? And like Tim Brando said, Sark, be careful. You live in a glass house, bud. I don't think you want us to talk about Sark. But let's do talk about Sark.

His payroll right now is coming up on $50 million, tops in the country. What possible excuse? He's got the rock star quarterback. He's supposed to be this offensive genius. He's got the roster to go around him. What excuse does Sark have not to win a national championship? Well, that's, you know, when you take a shot at academics at another school, it's like, what disadvantage does Texas have? There are a lot of disadvantages to coaching at Texas from resources, from, you mentioned, the millions of dollars in NIL.

The, you know, the talent element, the number of NFL draft picks, the high school football recruiting backyard that you're recruiting in. And so, yeah, I think that also landed pretty hollow with me, Harold, that he has all those advantages and that happens. Yeah, absolutely. Listen, we got to run to a PGA golf update. Always enjoy the conversation and discussion. B.B., where can we get online and get your stuff in the teams? At BillBender92 at SportingNews.com. I'll let you hit the update, and I'll talk to you guys next week.

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Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It's time to say hello to Michael Southern. He's co-host of the Blue Collar Podcast, basketball contributor for Locked on Bama, fine editor of Tide Hoops History, co-host of the Tide Machine, and also busy back in the day at the Tuscaloosa News and the Gadsden Tides. Michael Southern, welcome in. How are you? Hey, I am doing great. How are you guys doing?

Hey, bud. And we're doing all right. Michael, a lot to get to. There's plenty of football to talk about, but you focus a lot also on basketball. And before we get into the football talk, what was your take on the news this week with Amari Allen? Now, a lot of folks initially said he said he was 6'7". They broke out the ruler, and all of a sudden, like a lot of folks, as they get older, he lost a couple of inches. I don't think Allen's that old.

Your thoughts about that, and the other part, what did, as far as the T-leaves, did you read in, well, if I'm not going to go in the first round, I'm coming back to Bama and cashing those big checks. What's your take? Yeah, a lot of things. So let's all be honest here. When you look into any, well, now, I used to say when you look into a program or media guy, but now everyone just goes to the website. When you go to a website and you look at any of the measurables for college and high school players, yeah, you know there's a little bit of fudging going on.

Now, look, you know, I would like the University of Alabama to promote me because then I would be six foot tall. I'd be happy. I would love to say I was six foot tall. So, you know, normally you get – I think you guys, it would be safe to say on average a lot of times with basketball heights, they fudge at least an inch. Yeah, maybe Alabama was stretching it just a little bit. He was going about, you know, maybe about two and a half inches on that one.

That was a little bit of a surprise. I found it hilarious that Amar said, hey, you know, I say I'm 6'7". I don't know why Alabama said I'm 6'8". And when I'm measured with no shoes, I'm like 6'5". So, that was just a little bit funny. Wearing high heels. Yeah. And look, same thing with LeBaron Phylon. Alabama said he was 6'4". He measured at 6'2". So, it is what it is. He had the same thing with football with Bryce and Tua and all that. Oh, yeah.

The thing I found telling, though, as far as the comments that have been circulated around where Amari Allen basically said, you know, he needs a first-round promise from a team to stay in the draft. Otherwise, he would come back to school. I think that's pretty telling. I'm not, you know, absolutely saying it's a lockdown guarantee that he's coming back. But I think right now I would say it's a much better chance that Amari Allen does find his way back to Tuscaloosa. Now, look, he may get a promise from a team.

But, you know, you get a promise from a team and you're right now projected as a mid- to late-20s-round pick. I don't know if you're going to get that. Yep. So, and look, I'm almost positive that, you know, he knows what his role would be if he comes back. He's got to have that information before he even went up to Chicago for the combine. So, I think it's pretty much on the table that Alabama will give him every opportunity to showcase ball handling skills even more because obviously there's some holes there or openings in the backcourt.

[21:29] So, you, I feel pretty confident you will get a chance to see Amari Allen running the offense several times this upcoming year if he comes back. I think it's the same thing. You saw what LeBaron Phylon was able to do. Everyone knew Phylon when he came back. He had to work on his outside shot. He did. Look where he's at. Now he's a potential lottery pick. With Amari Allen, you know, he's got good size, but, you know, he needs to find or showcase even more skills so teams know what to do with him.

Now, look, the NBA is a different game now. You know, before, you know, 15 years ago was all about the super teams with two or three superstars. You're seeing teams like, you can see it right now with OKC and things like that. They just overwhelm you with athletes. They get young players. They get depth, and they just bring people that can do a lot of good things, and I think Amari Allen kind of falls into that wheelhouse. The other thing, too, is from a business standpoint, if you're not going to get that guaranteed first-round money, why would you not come back?

Because in the old days, you'd go to the NBA and roll the dice. You're going to pick up some money. And to illustrate that point, I know that we're talking basketball here. The kid down at Texas A&M had great numbers running the ball at A&M. Went undrafted by the NFL. He signed just basically a free agent contract. He walked off this week because two things. Number one, he was only making just over $200,000 in the NFL due to the fact that he dropped down so low in the draft, and he made so much in college.

Apparently, he's set for life. So, his option was, I'm not going to go in and just work for, quote, $200,000 and get killed. I'm just going to take that money and go elsewhere. So, I'm not saying that's what's going to happen here, but that is the different element with these kids, whether it be football or basketball now. No, absolutely. And, look, the introduction of revenue sharing and, more importantly, NIL has given far more options to the players. I mean, if you want to see the best players in college, you're actually seeing that now.

Now, what you're not seeing is, you know, maybe the longevity of a player at a certain school. What you're seeing is the sport is very, you know, migratory, but at least you're seeing, you know, a lot of the good players staying around for a good length of their college career. It's only the surefire first-round lottery picks that, you know, go out and perform basketball. Same thing in football. You know, if you're not like a first-round grade, maybe even a second round, if you're like a junior or a senior and you can come back as a redshirt senior or something like that, they're all doing that, too, as well.

So, you're seeing a better quality as far as the talent is concerned, but, you know, you're having a hard time keeping it with all the roster movement. How about that? Michael, I know that Nate Oates is in a little bit of purgatory. He's in a waiting position. We should know probably in the next 10 days, if not sooner, what Amari Allen's going to do. He mentioned again in another interview this week he wants to be the primary on-ball option. Only God and the judge slash jury know what Aiden Holloway's future is going to be.

But you described his staff, I think, very well and call them ninjas. Will they—do you anticipate in the next 30 days, be it the portal or high school or whatever, about bringing in possibly another guard? What's Nate going to do now if he knows what Amari Allen's going to do in 10 days where they pick up someone else? Yeah, I think it's really a domino effect the way I view it right now. We're in a holding pattern until you know first what Amari Allen's going to do.

So, once you have the Amari Allen decision, then I think it becomes more transparent of what the staff is going to do. I would expect them to pivot. So, let's just say this. Say Amari Allen says, hey, I'm going to stay in the draft, guys. I'm not coming back. Well, I expect the staff to pivot immediately, and I would imagine that some of the players—I think their first option would be that I know they've been recruiting heavily two point guards, which would have been technically in the 28 class—no, 27 class.

And maybe seeing if one of them could reclassify, if they can get some summer classes, they might try to push that option. But I think if Amari Allen opts to stay, then I think they may just stand pat. And while I'm not saying it's a sure thing Aiden Holloway is going to come back, I think they at least think there's a possibility that Aiden Holloway's career is not done in Alabama, and when it's all said and done, he'll find a way back on the team. The only thing that gives me pause on that—and, again, I'm not a lawyer.

I don't know the intricacies of the law enforcement and things like that. But if this arrest had been by the Tuscaloosa Police Department, I probably would have felt a lot better that a plea bargain would be worked out and that Aiden Holloway would be back on the team. But when you step it up one level and you go to the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force, and they're the ones who make the arrest, usually when agencies at a higher level get involved, they're looking for bigger fish to fry.

So that's, to me, thinking that, hey, yeah, they're probably not worried about Aiden Holloway and the fact that he had, you know, maybe two pounds of marijuana in his possession. They're probably wanting to know, Aiden Holloway, where are you getting the two pounds of marijuana in your possession? So that's the only thing that gives me pause on that one. Like I said, if it had been the Tuscaloosa PD, I might feel even better. But, again, that's still a little bit of a wild card. But, to me, it all depends on what happens with Amari Allen.

[26:43] Once that decision is made, I think you'll see the staff react accordingly. Michael, as always, football season two. Obviously, Alabama busy now, trying to put together a recruiting class. The most recent addition, Kenneth Simon II out of Tennessee. Papa, we know by now, we've talked about it ad nauseum with the routes to the University of Tennessee. Two things on that, your reaction to that. And the other one, a lot of people, when this staff came down here, said they're going to have some challenges. They're from the out west.

They may not be able to recruit. I don't know where they're getting their powers and when it comes to quarterbacks. But your thoughts about the staff and their recruiting clout. Yeah, I think the staff has held up extremely well when it comes to just pure recruiting. I think it's pretty obvious. They've been very successful. Now, are they recruiting at the level that Nick Saban did where you have the number one recruiting class every year? No, they're not. But they're still a top five, top ten stable recruiting class year after year.

And that's hard to do now because the biggest factor in all of this is NIL and revenue sharing. We know that. That's probably 70% of it right now. So I think it speaks really well for the staff. It boils down to, like, everything else, you know, a combination of money and then also relationships. I think the staff has proven they're really strong on relationships. And I think it's like anything else. You know, a lot of the kids that have come here, you don't see, like, the mass transfer out of the people they've recruited.

And I think they do a really good job of showing the kids they're bringing in, like, this is how we develop, this is what we promised, and this is how we fulfill the promise. We're not going to tell you anything that we can't do or, you know, give to you. And I think that works well. And they've had, what, two, almost three years or three recruiting classes now for that to resonate with everybody. Absolutely. You can argue that this team is, it plays finesse football, and there's a lot of merit to that.

Again, it seems to be a little promising after the spring. Clem, in particular, wants to be fiscal and run the ball. But you can't argue what you just said. They've been very successful in recruiting. Michael, the first big official weekend, Memorial Weekend, they got three five-stars coming in. Monsoon Sales, nicknamed Bama, even though Indiana's trying to go after him. John Meredith, Hayden Stale. I'll tell you one thing, Moe Lindquist is just a recruiting genius for cornerbacks. But that first weekend, in particular, Michael, they got some dudes coming in.

Well, look at the track record of the staff in the last prior recruiting season. They do most of their work in the summer. They usually have a lot of their recruiting class wrapped up before school even starts, before you even get to the fall. So it would be a huge recruiting coup if they could get one of the three, two of the three. And heaven forbid, if they get three of the three. Obviously, you know, I know there's a big emphasis on sales and there's concern about Indiana and Texas and those involved with him.

But, you know, if you were to walk away with what's perceived as the number one quarterback and the number one receiver in the class, I would say that's a pretty good testament. Now, again, let's not overlook what we talked about last time, guys. You better get that offensive line fit. Yeah. It's not going to matter what those field position players can do if you can't block somebody up front. So that still, to me, will always be the lifeblood of a football team. So we'll see. You know, something else that's a lifeblood, I think, especially this time of the year on a football calendar, is getting physical, which means you better have a good strength and conditioning program.

You say what you want about Scott Cochran back in the day. He might have been crazy, but his teams were pretty effective. Different ballgame, I know, back then. But your thoughts just about where Alabama is trying to overcome, if not a reality, certainly a perception last year. They just weren't very physical. Where are you as far as the strength and conditioning program here in the offseason? You know, that's a tough question. There's a lot of opinions on both sides on that. I know the coaching staff loves the strength and conditioning team that they put together.

They like the analytics. They like the data. You know, they just weren't able to get anything to really generate or resonate out of that last year. And so, obviously, that's a concern. You know, one of the things I thought was kind of telling, you know, I know Coach DeBoer had an interview with Greg McIlroy. And, you know, I think he made it pretty apparent that, you know, while he has a system and there are things that he's trying to do, you know, he knows that he needs to win games.

So, he's going to pivot to the strengths of what the team can do. I mean, let's just be honest, guys. The offensive line, and I don't know if it was a combination of coaching players. There's obvious talent there, but something just didn't work. And I think they probably knew they just couldn't run the ball consistently anyway. I want to see with this line when it comes in, now that they're going to have a whole summer working with the strength and conditioning, this is truly Kalen DeBoer's offensive line.

This is truly Ryan Grubb's offensive line. But let's see what kind of commitment and what kind of, I don't know, philosophy they're going to come up with for this year, because they're going to need to take some heat off whatever quarterback they put back there, because that's not their first time as the guy under center. So, they're going to need to have a little help there. So, very curious to see how that works out. And I want to see what the team leans into. I mean, is this team going to have enough versatility that they can run when they want to and pass when they want to, not when they have to?

[31:52] Before we let you go, tell us again about Tide Hoop's history. You mentioned during the summer, Nate's technicals. You're going to document Nate and take a day, every day for umpteen days or weeks, and go into detail about when he had it, et cetera. Now, is that still on the docket for the summer? It is still under consideration. It's not an absolute guarantee yet, but I have been researching and looking at, you know, what all I can put together as far as content. That is a leading contender, and I would probably like to do it.

We've been very consistent that we've had a good summer series with basketball, and we usually do it, you know, during June or July. And then, yes, there's no doubt, you know, there's 32 games that Coach Ace has had a technical foul in. There's 32 days of content that we just roll out there. And now, while not every game I can find video of the actual time he got fouled, or I can find the press conference where he talks about it, I've found several that I can. And then the ones that I don't have, like media to back it up, I can just do some pictures from the actual game and write about it.

But I'm really leaning heavily into that, because what I've found so far is pretty funny. I mean, there is video from the post-game press conference when Nate Oates got his very first technical foul, and it's pretty funny. So I think we're probably going to roll with that. If we do, we'll probably roll that out beginning in June, and it'll just be 32 days of just a lot of fun. I think people will get a kick out of it. Absolutely. Listen, where can we get online, get tied, Hoops History, and also Blue Collar Podcast?

Yeah. So on X, you guys want to jump on board for the summer series that we'll be doing here pretty soon, it's at Bama History. Like I said, we try to not let basketball kind of fall to the wayside. We try to keep it year-round, so we do fun stuff during the summer. So that'll be cranking up. Whether it's the technical fouls or something else, we will have something this summer to engage the fans with on that end. And then, you know, we did during the regular season, we tried to do a podcast.

We have not done one since the season ended. I suspect that once we get this roster finally settled, after we know Amari Allen, we'll probably try to do at least one summer recap as far as where the roster stands and what we can expect for the upcoming year. So still a lot of fun stuff, especially for basketball, even during the summertime. Sounds like Nate's trying to take a page out of the late, great Bobby Cox's book. Michael, listen, man, it's always good to hook up with you.

Thanks so much, and keep up the good work, okay? Appreciate it, guys. Always enjoy coming on. Thank you, buddy. Same right back at you. There you have it. Michael Southern, co-host amongst other places, the Blue Collar Podcast. Coming up. Guess what team has the most wins, the best late to date in the major league baseball world? I think you know. We'll talk about it next here in the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Did you know about one in three people with plaque psoriasis may also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling?

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Do it before the next headline, not after. Performance may vary. You should always consult your financial and tax professional. Less than 4 in 10 kids, age 6 through 12, are playing sports regularly. 4 in 10 kids? Let it sink in. Just 4 in 10 kids. ESPN is building a nationwide coalition powered by Disney called Take Back Sports with the purpose of training more coaches, expanding access, and creating community-driven sports programming that puts kids and fun first. We're working on that story. We hope you'll join us. Visit TakeBackSports.org to learn more. Okay, team.

[37:16] Huddle up. Um, why are you dressed like a hockey player? Because America's energy security is on thin ice. We're facing an overburdened electric grid, rising fuel costs, and severe weather. But here's your power play. Propane. It's affordable, abundant, safe. Propane is reliable energy, even when the grid isn't. Advantage Propane. Learn more at propane.com slash power play. Progressive presents the sports flash on 93-9, the score. Atlanta Braves winners yesterday to beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1. Eight hits for the Braves in the victory. The Braves are now 30-13 on the year.

The Braves and Cubs back at Truist Park tonight. Chris Sale on the bump for Atlanta. He's 6-2 with a 2.20 ERA. In college baseball action tonight, Alabama's at home. They'll take on Ole Miss in a top-20 matchup. And the Auburn Tigers are at home tonight. They'll entertain Georgia in what is a top-five regular season finale series. South Alabama's playing at home tonight. They'll take on Arkansas State. North Alabama's at home against Austin Peay. The Troy Trojans will be at UL Monroe. 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. The Colonels cooked up a new $10 bucket of the day just for you. Monday, 24 nuggets for $10. Tuesday, 8-piece fried chicken for $10. Wednesday, 10 wings for $10. Thursday, 8 tenders for $10. Friday, 24 nuggets for… Ooh, you guessed it, didn't you? $10. The $10 bucket of the day deal. Every weekday, only at KFC. It's finger-lickin' goo. Prices and participation very well. Supplies last not available on third-party ordering platforms. Tax extra. Drivers who switch their home and auto with Progressive could save money and time.

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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers not available in all states or situations. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back again, Brett. I'm not going to throw an algebra 2 trigonometry or geometry test at you. I'm going to make this pretty simple. Guess what Major League Baseball team has the best slate to date? I'm guessing they play and air on 93.9 The Score, the Atlanta Braves. Keep going. Well, they're 30-13, Harold Bugg, after beating Chicago last night, 4-1. What's even more impressive to me, they have an eight-game lead over the second-place team.

We're not even to Memorial Day yet. You know what's even more amazing about that? And we highly recommend you listen again tonight because they take on the Cubs. And on the mound is Mr. Sale. He's 6'2". That's his record, not his height. His ERA, a very impressive 2-2-0. But you know what's amazing about that? He's going to be taking on the pitcher with even better numbers. Chris Brown, Ben Brown, I should say. He's 1-1. His ERA is a mere 1-82. If you're anywhere near 2, certainly like in the sales part, he is, what, 2-2-0?

That's outstanding. Brown is actually a .2-0 under 2. This is going to be one heck of a pitching matchup. And probably the final score will be 10-8. But on paper, this is one of those matchups. Well, it's the top pitching matchup, no doubt. And, Harold, I've read this the last couple of days. And people keep asking me, well, why are they so good this year? Number one is pitching. The relief pitching has been Suarez last night, scoreless 8th inning. Iglesias came in and got his 8th save.

But everybody on this team plays well for two or three games. Mauricio Dubon had a two-run homer last night. Mike Yuskramski, who has struggled hitting the ball, had a key double last night. But, listen, Olsen has had a nearly historic year. Ball went with another fourth inning, 400-foot home run. Everyone on this team. Now, Murphy got hurt again, broke his hand. He's going to be out for six to eight weeks again. Again, he's got the Hee Haw theme song. If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

[42:19] But everybody on this team, Harold, has had a major input in this. And they are playing so well. Well, and back to some trivia for you, talking about Sel. How about these numbers? He is 17-2 with a .227 ERA at Truist Park since joining Atlanta in 2024. Not bad numbers. Again, a heck of a matchup coming up later on tonight. You're on 93-9, the score. But first, what's going on? Opening day, PGA Championship. It's a major on the PGA Lynx, the latest. Next, stay with us on 93-9, the score.

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You and a baseball is going to be busy this afternoon. As a matter of fact, tonight, they're going to be taking on Austin Peay. That game at 7 o'clock. And it's the first of three. What's significant about this, BB? This closes the regular season for a very good U and a baseball team. 7 o'clock tonight, 7 o'clock tomorrow night, and then 2 o'clock the matinee coming up on Saturday. So, if you haven't seen this team, nor this new stadium, this is it as far as the regular season, BB. Listen, it goes by in a hurry.

And listen, baseball, they've been bashing the ball. We're talking about Georgia hitting 140 home runs. Now, U and a's not there yet, Harold Bugg, but U and a can mash the baseball. The ASUN tournament next week in Florida. But, again, a chance to see U and a starting at 7 o'clock tonight. Again, 7 o'clock tomorrow night, 2 o'clock on Saturday against Austin Peay. But first, coming up the next hour, we're going to be getting the very latest when it comes to Auburn with Justin Ferguson. Ryan Fowler is going to be catching us up on the Alabama Crimson Tide.

And Zach Pounder, speaking of the shows, he's got some of us shaking in our own backyard. It's all straight ahead. Stay with us. 18-19 News. Earlier this week, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville spoke about a bill he was sponsoring that would provide more vetting tools for immigrants seeking to come to the U.S. Now the senator is talking to reporters about the redistricting case that has been in the news here in Alabama for weeks. Tuberville says that whether liberals here in Alabama like it or not, the state is a ruby-red state.

Tuberville pointed out that 65 percent of Alabamians voted for President Trump in 2024 and the state legislature has supermajorities in both chambers. Tuberville also said that left-leaning states in other parts of the nation have found ways to exclude representation for Republicans who live there, even when there's 40 percent of the voters who are Republicans. Tuberville says the state of Alabama should not put up with woke blue state c***. 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.

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Okay, team. Huddle up. Um, why are you dressed like a hockey player? Because America's energy security is on thin ice. We're facing an overburdened electric grid, rising fuel costs, and severe weather. But here's your power play. Propane. It's affordable, abundant, safe. Propane is reliable energy. Even when the grid isn't. Advantage Propane. Learn more at propane.com slash power play. Michelle Smallman here. PayPal is now the official peer-to-peer payment sponsor of the NFL, which means all the money moments that fandom creates, whether splitting tailgate costs or chipping in on tickets and game day food between friends, are covered.

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[58:09] From the crack of the first bat to the final out, this Atlanta Braves club has the rest of the National League on notice. Swung on and jolted high in the air, back to the wall, a sonic boom, Braves win it! Tonight, the Braves close out their home set with the Chicago Cubs at Truist Park as Atlanta looks to send them back to Chicago with an L. Braves Radio goes on the air at 6 p.s. central on the Braves Radio Network. Brought to you locally by The law firm of Johnson, Pesher, Medley & Virtual, J.C. Hammonson, First Metro Bank, Nationwide Insurance Agents, Michael Doe and Bill Cochran, Medford Jewelers, Valley Credit Union, Certified Alarm, Lost Pizza, and Alabama Health Guidance.

Atlanta Braves baseball tonight versus the Chicago Cubs on 93.9, The Score. 93.9, The Score weather. Today, sunny with a high around 75. Tonight, mostly clear with a low near 50. Tomorrow, sunny and breezy with a high around 85. Tomorrow night, partly cloudy with a low near 60. Ampere Saturday, mostly sunny with a high around 85. 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 Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.

Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Welcome back in our show of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Redbeard. Thank you so much for giving us your ride around the Tennessee Valley. And for Justin Ferguson taking time out of his busy schedule covering the Auburn Tigers at the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing all right. How are y'all? Hey, Boone. Man, we're doing all right. People are always wondering about the starting time for that season opener, especially in the South.

It can be hot no matter where you play in the Southeast. But I'm going to go ahead and go to the Lamb here and say when Auburn takes on Baylor in the opening game, it will be around 72 degrees. Would you agree with that, Justin? Yeah, it's going to be nice and climate controlled. I think that might be the only perk, I think, from a fan perspective of them moving this game from Auburn to Atlanta. But, yeah, 2.30, that traditional, you know, kind of bigger game window. Not the biggest game of the weekend.

But, yeah, you get that and you start getting those first few, you know, TV times rolling out. And, you know, it'll be here before you know it. Talk to us about that game. Obviously, all games are important. But any time you have a changing of the guard, people are going to sit here and form an opinion. Since what's the old saying, you don't get a second chance for a first impression. Talk to us about the vibe coming into that game and the obvious question, the significance for this coaching staff.

Set a tone early. Yeah, definitely. I think when you look at, you know, as much as Auburn struggled last season, they went to Baylor and took care of business out on the road. And you look at Auburn, you know, fell short of their expectations, really changed everything about, you know, who they were, especially on the offensive end, you know, with the new coaching staff. Meanwhile, Baylor decided to keep Dave Aranda, you know, after was, you know, there was a lot of hot seat talk with him.

And, you know, so it'll be an interesting kind of pivot there. You get a team looking, you know, already made the move. You've got another team where you've got a coach who's been on the hot seat and, you know, struggled to stop this Auburn team last year. So it'll be very interesting. I think it's a good opportunity for Auburn, you know, to get a solid win over, you know, a power conference program at the beginning of the year. You know, obviously Auburn will be pretty much brand new on the offensive side, but we'll see how all that goes.

Baylor didn't have a great offseason overall in the portal. Auburn obviously had to do a lot of work. So it'll be a very interesting matchup for sure. And I think, you know, again, Auburn, you know, most fans would have loved to have seen this game stay in Auburn. But, you know, the fact that they're going to do this for NIL purposes and get more money and all that, playing in Atlanta, Auburn should have a pretty good crowd just because it's right down the road. That's exactly where I was going with this.

Obviously, the exposure, big, huge alumni in Atlanta, game of the year, national TV. But one more caveat here is AFLAC will provide opportunities for Auburn players to promote the game and earn money through NIL. They will provide, and confirm this for me, AFLAC will provide $4 million up front and another $4 million if Auburn sells out its ticket allotment. Are those figures correct? Yeah, I mean, those are the numbers I've heard as well for this. And it's really interesting. You know, I had a one-on-one interview earlier this week with Auburn basketball coach Stephen Perlin.

[1:03:28] He was talking about how, you know, they go out and play these neutral site games in basketball now because you have that opportunity to make that NIL money and help your budget moving forward. And I think football, you know, obviously you can't do this a ton in football. You really have just one shot to do it. So you kind of want to blow it all out. And so for Auburn, I think they had to really look at it and say if they were willing to give up a home game and go up the road to Atlanta, it better be worth their while financially.

So they're just going to close dirt and hair for that deal going forward? Wow. It's like you can't take all of them away, but, you know, if you can sacrifice one, you'll take it. Justin, are you ready for some big cats this weekend? Yeah, it's a big weekend, obviously, for Auburn recruiting. They have gotten off to a solid start this, you know, kind of late spring, early summer. Got to pick up a couple of really good commitments. And I don't think Auburn is going to go out and sign a huge class this year.

I think a lot of, you know, a lot of these guys, you know, Auburn's really targeting. They look at them and say, hey, if we're willing to sign you, if we're willing to bring you in, knowing the transfer portal is the way it is, we want to feel like you have an ability to come in and contribute right away. So I think it's like a lot more of a quality than quantity kind of thing there for this class. And that's something Alex talked about, how he wants to, you know, have that approach moving forward.

And so you look at some of the names coming in in Big Cat this weekend, it's definitely that kind of on the quality side. And it always helps to get a quarterback. Gary Chapman, Jr., Brookwood, Georgia, 1,500 yards passing again, a lot of potential there. And so many schools want to get that quarterback early in April or May. So obviously that will attract receivers, maybe even offensive linemen. But Auburn picks up their 2027 quarterback. Yeah, you want to take a quarterback every cycle, knowing good and well that it may, you know, you have that kind of a revolving door at that position usually.

So when you go out, like if you're Auburn right now, you look at, you know, next season, you know, there's not going to be Byron Brown. But you will really like what you saw in Tristan Tia this spring. And you want him to maybe be that guy moving forward. Obviously the portal will be open spot. They've got a couple other young quarterbacks on their roster right now. Lachlan, you had Reese Brush among them. So they've got depth in that room, but you want to keep cycling, right?

You want to keep being able to bring those guys. So you go get a guy like Chapman and, you know, not a home run hitter-like type of like, you know, blow you away type of talent in terms of his star rating. But a guy that when you watch his film, you know, fits the system a lot. You like the mobility. You like the arm that he's got on him. He's got some, you know, he's got some real kind of go out there and get it done, like playmaker vibes to him.

And that's definitely something that, you know, Auburn is prioritizing a quarterback moving forward. So, you know, I think Auburn swung big for some quarterbacks in this class that ended up going elsewhere, committing elsewhere. So with that in mind, they go find somebody they feel like could stay and develop here for the next few years. Justin, let's face it, back in the day, you could sell this and you could sell that. Loyalty, the school's great. Let's be honest, it's a business decision. That's not to say that still doesn't influence guys, but it's money now.

I don't care what color jersey you're wearing. We saw the numbers this week. Texas leads the way, as far as their football cha-ching, at almost $50 million. Alabama's down the list of like eighth at a mere $37 million. Do you have a number as far as, because this is one of those things, people sit around the coffee shop and say, I wonder what Auburn's money is as far as football. Did you have a number in mind there? I don't have an exact number. I tell you, I don't think it's nearly as high as obviously Texas or not be quite as high as Alabama as well.

But they feel like they're in a position where their donations that made like, you know, the NIL and on to victory and stuff like that. I think Auburn feels like they can be competitive on the NCAA. They're not going to be a team that especially when you have had these losing seasons in a row are going to go like, they all in this championship or bust type of spending. But, you know, I think both on the football and the men's basketball side, Auburn has been pretty pleased with the fact that they feel like they can be really competitive in these sports with the amount of money that they bring to the table.

So, don't think it's going to be, it's up with the heavy hitters, but it's definitely something that can win you games in the SEC. Let me ask you this, one thing that influences that is, as you mentioned there, people still trying to get the bad taste out of their mouth, not only with you, but a series of bad coaches. That sets the tone for this staff to inherit. What kind of mess did this staff inherit from those guys? I mean, I think, you know, this team was not, you know, kind of off in terms of talent-wise.

I mean, I think Hugh Freeze did a really good job of recruiting. It was just, we weren't getting it done on the field. So, you know, I think one of the big things for this staff is, and why you heard a lot about this in the spring, is it's about culture, right? Like, losing can be contagious. Losing can kind of be a mentality. Losing can get you stuck, and Auburn's had that for the last several years. So, I think you have to do a whole lot of work finding new leaders, trying to kind of put your stamp on, these are the type of players we want in our program.

[1:08:48] This is how we're going to run things. This is how we're going to do things day in and day out. And so, I think that's kind of the thing. Like, I think any of us could have looked at Auburn last season and said, that's a talented football team. They've got really good players, you know, left and right there, but they couldn't get it done on the field. And so, for this staff, what they inherited is, you know, a program that has tried to, you know, recruit and spend its way back to the top.

But I think they've discovered these last few years that it's more than just, you know, the star power. It's, can you coach, can you execute, can you have a winning mentality? I think that's the priority right now for this team in year one. We talked about Big Cat coming back on Saturday, and we discussed this on our show Tuesday. Isn't it interesting now, I saw a list of 10 top offensive prospects for Auburn on one of the websites earlier this week. And this kid, Nico Kompas, K-A-E-M-P-A-S, well, he's originally from Germany.

He's now going to the NFL Academy in England, not New England, England. He's 6'7", 280, and I guarantee you if he's from Germany, he played soccer at some point in his life. But it's interesting, we talk about all these European players in basketball, but I'm seeing more every year. It's going to be interesting to see how the SEC works with the NFL Academy in England to acquire some of this talent, some of this European talent for football. Yeah, I mean, you have some kids that, you know, just quite frankly, if you're 6'7", and 280 pounds, you're just too big to play soccer at that point.

And you can't kind of control that. So, yeah, I mean, I think what you're finding is, you know, the NFL has really pushed into more into Europe over the last couple decades. And I think what you're seeing is you're seeing a generation of kids overseas grow up watching American football, liking American football. And, you know, if they have the right body type, they think, hey, let me go ahead and give us a try there. So, yeah, I mean, that's just one of those projects. I mean, Auburn's had a few international guys over the years.

You know, Killian Zerer was a pretty good offensive tackle for them several years ago. His little brother kind of got to grow up, you know, watching football and playing it a little bit more because of his brother. He's on Auburn's roster right now. So, that's another German kind of offensive tackle prospect. So, I mean, they've had some pretty good success with it. I think that's just a really good kind of untapped market for recruiting where, you know, you're just – I think there's just this new generation of kids that are aware of football and kind of know it and are willing to kind of make those moves overseas now that might not have been that case 10, 15 years ago just because, you know, the game hadn't really penetrated that market yet.

It goes both ways. Auburn's going to be hosting football next month, right? Argentina and Iceland. That football. Yes, yes. And it is – I can't really kind of understand, like, how big of an event this is going to be for Auburn because, you know, it's a way that I think this athletic department under John Cohen has really prioritized finding new ways to make more money and, you know, kind of generate revenue. Obviously, Auburn's got that big, you know, those big facilities, renovations they're doing, the north end zone and all that, and that stuff costs money.

And so, Auburn's trying to find ways with concerts and whatnot. But, yeah, I mean, we're getting up to it here next month. Argentina and Iceland, I mean, Lionel Messi's supposed to be playing in it. It's their last – it's Argentina, the defending world champions' last friendly before the World Cup. I mean, it doesn't get any bigger than that. Maybe one of the best athletes to ever live is going to get to play in Jordan-Hare Stadium, and that's going to be something that's going to bring a lot of attention and a whole lot of money to Auburn.

Yeah, we heard 75,000 tickets have been sold so far. Big, big baseball, young man, this week in Auburn, Georgia. All 140 home runs, 328 average. But Auburn's got leading the league in the SEC in ERA, 3.50, so that should be fascinating. All right, 6 a.m. emails, the mailbag. You've got an extensive interview with Stephen Pearl. I've seen excerpts on Twitter. The podcast, where can we get online to get all the good stuff? Yeah, AuburnObserver.com, check it out. Yeah, you mentioned the Stephen Pearl interview. He talked to him about an hour earlier this week and ran that.

So a lot of really interesting stuff in there about Auburn basketball and its future. I had some football earlier this week as well. I've got some Auburn baseball. Our guy Henry Patton is going to be covering it up at Plainsman this weekend. Like you said, Monster Series coming up there. So if you want the latest on all that and Auburn football, men's basketball, and a little baseball, go to AuburnObserver.com, sign up there. You know what they say, Justin, when Argentina and Iceland get together, you can throw the record books out the window.

[1:13:52] Yeah, you know, you can never expect anything like that coming down the road. I want to know how many of those 75,000 knows what's going on unless they're from Argentina. Hey, I'll tell you, there's going to be at least two because I got my tickets in it early. I got to watch it. His cars, we know that. Listen, thanks so much for your time today and just do it again soon, okay? Appreciate you. Thank you, buddy. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. BB, are you a golf fan?

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Welcome back in. You can run 26 miles plus and call it a marathon, or you can do like Zach Pounders and run more than that and not call it a marathon. It's called keeping up with everything that's shaking in the Shoals at the Shoals Sports Report. Zach, welcome in. How are you? Doing good. How are y'all? Hey, buddy. Man, we're doing all right. It's safe to say that you've run more than a marathon. It's a busy time of the year. Where do you start as far as high school baseball playoff action?

Could it be picking up what we left off the last time with two big bulls now having faced each other in Mars Hill Bible and Red Bay? Yeah, that series, I asked Coach Wilhelm this morning that he was at the softball game for Mars Hill, and I asked him if he had ever seen a first inning like Mars Hill had in that first game. He said he may have, but he can't remember it too well. But I have never seen a first inning have 11 runs scored and only one error.

Mars Hill barreled the baseball up like no other team has this year, I think, maybe. And it was just like barrels. It was basically in the center field, left field, far ground balls, and a homer also in the first inning. But 11 runs in the first inning, five in the second. Wow. To go up 16-1 after two, it was insane. And then game two was more competitive. Yeah. Four to three. But two really good teams. Playoff season is going to be weird. Baseball is a weird game.

It's based on failure. Great series, though. And that's played three, back-to-back-to-back. Really good series also. Last three is the playoff. The thing is, you can look at two guys. We talked about this in case you missed it. Both coaches coming out of the Major League Baseball world, Josh Willingham and Coach Donovan Hand. What was amazing, you summed it up well. Baseball is a crazy game. You get off to that start, scoring all kinds of runs, holding a 16-1 lead. And then in game three, here's why I should say in game two.

But in game three, actually, what, Mars Hill Bible fell behind. What, three-nothing and came back and won it by one. Yes. You know some of the details that both of the pitching staff, that Red Bay threw their number two in game and number one. And threw their number one in game two. My coach has had different theories on this. And I kind of like this strategy of throwing your number one in game two. Because it's one of those things. It gets you back into the series if you can win the game.

If you lose the game, you lose your best with the best one. But if you win game one, you can get back into it. Or if you win game one, you can win the series with it. If you lose game one, you get back into the series, you get to game three. Central, Westbrook, Christian split a doubleheader yesterday. Westbrook won the first game nine to seven, which actually snubbed a 15-game winning streak for Central. But the Wildcats rallied to win 14 to 10. Josh Fowler and friends are one game away.

I believe that game is today at four o'clock. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I knew this was going to be a great series. Listen, your thoughts on Westbrook and Central. Well, I thought going into the series that Central's velocity pitching-wise was going to be down from what Deschler has. Deschler's pitchers said about mid-80s to low-80s. Central's top is like low-80s to high-70s. So it's not like it's the same kind of pitching. And Westbrook had to play Madison County and Deschler back-to-back weekend in the playoffs, number one of three teams in PBR's rankings.

So you play number one, number three, back-to-back. That's tough on the team also. And two and a half hours up the road is tough as well. And stay in the hotel room. You never know how it goes to the hospital boys. But it's going to be a good game. It should be a good game today. All hands on deck as far as who all can throw today, as far as who didn't throw yesterday, who still has pitches available with pitch count rules. It's going to be all hands on deck, I think.

And if the wheels get rolling for Central, they have a chance. They should have won game one. They were up seven to four in the top of the seven. And Westbrook scored five back in and go up nine to seven. So Central could have been sitting pretty last night and won both of them and been done today. Listen, you have been watching a ton of softball. Hamilton and Heckelberg advance to the championships next week. I know Langston and Colbert County were one win away from joining them.

[1:24:10] I know Langston hit three inside the park home runs yesterday. I saw that on your Twitter feed. I got to ask you, by the way, Colbert County's got a pretty good pitcher. And I hear a rumor that she had 19 strikeouts this morning. Can you confirm that? Yes. Not just 19 strikeouts. The first 18 outs of the game were all strikeouts. My, in a seven-inning game. I mean, win one total out. That's hilarious. Yes, and the crazy part is, her season high is 17 in the season until today. So she's been at 17 like four or five times this year.

And I told the coach and her dad, I was like, she's stuck at 17 all the time. I was like, what? She didn't get 18 or whatever. She had 18 today. She didn't get 18. And the first out of the sevens were a ground ball out. And then went through a three-run home run after two hits. And then she struck out the last night for 19. But I don't think I've ever seen, and it's probably been a while in the majors, since anybody has struck out the first 18-back they have faced in a game.

Who needs defense when you can get them out that way? Talk to us about, we talked earlier, touched on it earlier in the week about, I guess the best way to put it, and when it comes to high school coaches, a lot throughout the shows are on the shelf of your reaction to what happened at Brooks, at Florence High, and other Plotterdale County. A lot going on. So if you want to catch us up to date on what's going on as far as our high school neighbors.

Yeah, we'll start at Brooks real quick. That's the most recent one. I think everybody's seen. Coach Tim Bowens stepped down from football to take the assistant AD job at Florence. Coach Meyer Miles, people might be familiar with her from Brooks. Yep. High level and a few more schools. She came back up here as the AD for Florence for the next few years, and Coach Bowens is going to be her assistant AD. I think Florence hit two home runs to those hires. It's a really good program, and when it's good, it's great.

And when you can have your biggest school in the area be good, it's like a rising tide, that's all both. And then at Lardot County, Coach Jeff Mason is retiring. He's retiring, first off, he has had 15 years up there, I think. Yep. 15 or 16 years at Lardot County. Yeah, 16. Ed coach. Yeah. Thank you. Multiple playoff appearances, made it to the third round a few times, second round a few times. Every year, they're using the playoffs in football. Lardot County is going to be in the playoffs, almost always.

Yeah. And they made that run a couple of years ago, and baseball made it run also. It's the third round in football and fourth round in baseball. Most of the same guys. And then at Mars Hill, Coach Junior Pounders sat down, I think, a few weeks ago and took the girls' job at Southside Gaston for next season over in Gaston. That would be the girls' basketball coach out there. I tell you what, Myra Miles is one of the best athletic directors. Harold and I have talked to her a couple of times over the years.

She is dynamite. Now, also at Florence, they hired former Auburn star, and he played with the Huntsville Stars, Hunter Morris. For the baseball coach, tell us a little bit about the baseball hire. Yes, I'm not too familiar with him, but I do know this. Florence was a mostly young team this year for baseball. They lose a few guys. I know one of the assistant coaches over there. Asked him how old one of the players was that had a really good year. He's a sophomore, and the coach put it pretty well.

He's a guy that cannot even light up. So, they have a really good young core coming up also. Lose a few seniors. I think they'll be easier to replace. The only issue is you get a new 5A now where it's hard, so the Muscle Shoals, the Cater, Coleman, and all those kind of skills around here. It's going to be a gone 5A this year for Florence. Yeah, absolutely. Listen, we sincerely appreciate it. You've been working your butt off this week, and you've got all of the recamps.

Baseball, I know you're going to have the third game recap tonight, and also softball, but who is advancing to the championship game. Tell us where we can get the recamps, the players of the game, the schedule, everything else on social media and Facebook. Yes, Facebook, Shoals, sports report, and on Twitter, at lowercase, S-H-O-A-L-S-P-O-R-T-S. And we will be live tonight recapping the last three days of softball and the baseball semifinals, as well as having recaps, stats, and basically whatever you could ask for, for previews for State next week, who all is going and what not.

Marziel plays in about 10 minutes for a chance to play for a chance at the State. And they've got to win. And Lexington has the game at 3-15 also to advance the State also. Man. Zach, as they say on the corner, the end is near only a couple of weeks left on the school calendar. So hang in there, and thank you so much for your time today. Thank you all, you too. Thank you, buddy. Zach Founders is looking up with us. He's busy there at the Shoals Sports Report.

[1:29:15] Coming up, pretty busy times down in a place called Tuscaloosa. We'll take you there next with Ryan Fowler. Stay with us. Did you know about one in three people with plaque psoriasis may also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Tremphaya, Gucelcomab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriatic arthritis.

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[1:34:16] To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com. Sleep number to a good life's sleep. Welcome back in time to take a little road trip down to a place called Tuscaloosa, where Ryan Feller drives you home every afternoon. There is host of the game with Tide 109 FM. Ryan, welcome in. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm glad I'm not covering Lane Kiffin. That would be a challenge. Because we remember those days in Tuscaloosa, right? I mean, we remember.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Wow. Wow. I never forget some of those text messages from the students out partying. And Lane was out there right in the middle of it. Right out there in the middle of it. Was he chaperoning the young girls? Or what was the deal there, Ryan? We didn't get that. Yeah. Yeah, that was one of those good old Nick's games. He was such a good guy. I mean, can you imagine the job of Nick Saban? You have Lane one day and Sark the next, and now they're going at it like two kids in the fourth grade.

The mama gave some of them $5 and didn't give the other one $5. Here are multimillionaires. They're 50-plus, and can it be said that they're acting like kids? No, no, they're absolutely. And listen, I put some of this responsibility on Greg Sankey. I know I've been hard on him for the last three or four months. No boundaries. But he's got to reel this back in. He's got to. I mean, it's his conference because, you know, as the Big Ten sitting up there, they're laughing right now. I mean, they're literally laughing at who's got the worst history because we all live in the South.

We've all got a history attached to us, right? It's which one's worse. And then they're arguing on academics. And the Big Ten, you know, in the meantime, they're getting their way in every turn that they make, whether it's the 2014 playoff, whether it's certainly winning three in a row. And they're sitting here laughing at us. And we look, and I don't know what's going to change it. I don't know if Greg Sankey, but remember now, he let this get out of control back during the playoffs. I mean, this fight started then, and he could have done something about it.

I'm not really, and guys, you guys can take a different approach. We're not conditioned to have the same exact opinion. But I've just not been impressed with some of Greg Sankey's latest moves. It just seems like he wants to put it on cruise control and just ride this thing, being the next commissioner of college football. Well, he got a lot of momentum from Mike's life. He rode that wave a long time, and now it's his baby. He's got to deal with it. But Ryan, just a fun topic here.

Can you imagine, because there was a big group of people out there, when the change came, they wanted Lane Kiffin to be the head football coach at Alabama. He had an option to go to Auburn. Can you imagine if Lane had been offered the job at Alabama or if he'd accepted the job at Auburn, what would be in this state right now? No, no, and that's where Greg Byrne, when we talk about leadership, because many times you want to listen to the majority. At least give them a stake, because they are stakeholders, right?

I mean, give them an understanding that, hey, your opinion is appreciated. We had about 80%, and you guys may have a different percentage, but it's fine, but it was an overwhelming percentage of people who wanted Lane Kiffin to be the next Alabama football coach. January the 10th, 2024, when Nick Saban retired at 4.03 in the afternoon, people wanted Lane Kiffin to come to Tuscaloosa, and Greg Byrne refused the majority and said, no, we're not bringing him back to Tuscaloosa, and that was probably a wake-up call for Lane, because Lane had his eyes on this Alabama job.

He wanted this Alabama job, and he didn't even get a phone call. I mean, he didn't even get a sniff. He had to look for another option, and that option was, obviously, LSU. He was looking for a way out, but keep in mind, there was multiple hiring cycles who passed over Lane Kiffin, and it also explains what we're fighting for with Lane Kiffin. I mean, college football fought over Lane Kiffin. Who was going to hire Lane Kiffin? You know, Florida wanted him. LSU wanted him. Certainly, Auburn wanted him a couple of years ago.

But if you think about Lane Kiffin, what has he really ever done? I mean, he built Ole Miss into a respectable brand. That's fair. And that's hard to do. But if you look at, I think this is all about Lane Kiffin trying to justify. And this is a pattern now. You get to the postseason, and what happens? He did it with Nick Saban. He's done it now with Ole Miss. And LSU, he'll leave you at some point. We don't know where that day is coming. But he will leave you, or he will do something so irresponsible that LSU has to stand up and make a decision.

[1:39:32] He did it with Nick Saban. I still think it's Nick Saban, one of his biggest mistakes, of firing Lane, because there was nothing Lane was doing in that last week that he wouldn't do in the previous two and three quarters of a year. It was, I mean, that was who he was. I mean, this is who Lane Kiffin is. Man, what a behavior. What a behavior. I hope I don't behave like that at 51 or 41. I didn't behave like that at 41. But, I mean, 51 years of age, still acting like a child.

Wow. And remember now, Lane Kiffin also tried to fabricate a police story over in Ole Miss. Now, some of that was kind of swept under the rug because it was the playoff time. But remember now, he accused Ole Miss fans of running him off the road. Now, see, there was investigations done on that, and none of that was ever proven. That was a false report. And if Harold or Ryan or Brett did that, there would be criminal charges. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, if I was Lane, I'd be careful about poking too many folks up in Mississippi because, I mean, he literally made a police report and said he was run off the road by Ole Miss fans.

That never happened. I mean, you guys remember that, right? Yeah. I do, yeah. I mean, multiple reporters followed up on that. Yeah. Remember, Lane, those statute of limitations are still in place. They can always go back and slap those on you because you made a false report. Absolutely. But, listen, let me ask you about three minutes before we get to the PGA update. How much buzz is there for Alabama Ole Miss baseball tonight, Alabama softball tomorrow, 12 p.m. on the SEC Network? In fact, you can hear it on 93.9 The Score.

What's the buzz for baseball and softball this week? Well, I mean, baseball, certainly, we haven't really got into baseball. We did feature Coach Patrick Murphy. There's been, listen, oh, this is going to sound like a shot. We get more calls around softball than we ever do. There you go. I mean, people just have a bigger interest. And I think it's crazy that it's more of an entertaining value because softball is such a fast-moving, you know, you can go out there and watch a game in a little bit over two hours, an hour 45 if it's two great pitchers going toe-to-toe.

But if you look back and you think about Alabama softball, Patrick Murphy, I think it's 25 or 26 straight regionals that he has participated in his 28th year. Once again, number one seed. And see, this Alabama softball team, they've got a chance to win it all. But now listen, let's go be fair to baseball for just a couple of minutes. They win this weekend. They could be sitting there in one of those four spots. That's right. In the SEC tournament there in Hoover. So if you just kind of backtrack a little bit, that's an option for this Alabama baseball team.

You know, I know it depends on everybody else, but if you go take care of business, you're in the driver's seat. So you can take full advantage of this weekend if Alabama baseball can take care of the Ole Miss Rebels. Absolutely. Listen, we've got to run to the update, but where can we get online to listen to your great show this afternoon? Yeah, tide109.com. Tide109.com. We do it every day, starting 2 until 6. And always, always appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of the show.

Have a great weekend. You too, buddy. I can't get you, my friend, Ryan Fowler, Tuscaloosa. The latest from the PGA on deck. Stay with us. When getting the job done right is job one. You need construction equipment that's built right. From compact track loaders to the world's number one selling compact excavator, the Kubota construction lineup features durable Kubota engines, more comfort, and the versatility to do it all and do it right. Visit your local Kubota dealer today. Go to KubotaUSA.com for full disclaimer. Stop by Brown Equipment, located at 826 North Military Street in Loretto, or visit them online at BrownEquipmentCompany.com.

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60 degrees, but the sun is out. And so is last year's PGA champion Scotty Scheffler, who opens with two pars. Cameron Young with a birdie at three. He is one under, two back. Four players share the lead at three under. Aldrich Potkeeter, Steven Yeager, Minwoo Lee, and Ryo Hisatsune all shoot 67. Garrick Higgo would be tied for the lead if he wasn't late for his morning tee time. Higgo penalized two strokes. He still fired a one under 69. Rory McIlroy stumbles to a four over 74, including four straight bogeys to close the round.

[1:45:05] And in his press conference, he was asked how to describe his opening round. He used a word that you can't say on the radio. Bryson DeChambeau, six over 76. I'm Ted Emmerich, Westwood One Sports. Well, now you can go and take that cruise. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty, yeah. It's your captain speaking to the passenger with the Mirafast soft shoes. Smart move. No way am I letting travel constipation ruin this trip. Can't blame you. Mirafast works fast, but without the harsh side effects. Since I'm such a smart traveler, can I move to first class?

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And here's the best part. All cake, no sugar. I bring these tiny bottles everywhere to cake-a-five my day with tasty caffeine boost. The Funfetti flavor is back on 5hourenergy.com or on Amazon. Crack open a Confetti Craze 5-Hour Energy shot today. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back here. Quickly, BB, did you catch the word that Roy McIlroy's in his post-tournament press conference, what was the word that you can't utter on the radio? Well, if I uttered the word, Harold, we'd probably be fined and lose the FCC license, so I'm going to pass on that.

I was just wondering if it was sugar, but maybe we can check on that. Have you seen the video of the day from Oxford? This is Pete Golding, and he's doing something, getting ready for recruits coming into Ole Miss. He is weaving a basket with Ole Miss on front. Steve Sarkees hasn't seen that yet, BB. I doubt it, but yeah, that's been one of the comments of the week. I would imagine Greg Sanky is going to have a talk with the SEC coaches in two weeks.

We need to have a listen tonight. One of the best pitching matchups of the year here on 93.9 The Score, BB. Yeah, Mr. Sale is pitching game three. The Braves have already won the series over the Cubs. They can sweep them tonight, and if you think, Harold, his ERA is what, 2.1? The Cubs can change. Yeah, the Cubs pitcher is what, 1.8? Yeah, Brown. He's on the mound, and both of them have a whip under one. By the way, if you see that name on the screen, whip, that means anything under one.

[1:50:21] It's like golf. The smaller the number, the better. So, both of them are under one, which means they're having Cy Young Award seasons so far. See what gives tonight. Later on, you're on 93.9 The Score. That's going to take care of us for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here, Harold Bogg. Thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again next time. Noon to 2 for the Boomhole Buck Show. Back here on Sports Radio, 93.9 The Score.