Boomo Bugg Show 032026

[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. New exclusive inside track to the Tide, 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 to the first day of spring and the first low and high point to the NCAA basketball tournament. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?

Happy first day of spring and back in college basketball NCAA tournament. The SEC goes four and one yesterday in round one of the men's NCAA basketball tournament. Five more SEC teams play today. From 2007 to 2019, Alabama played in just three NCAA tournament basketball games. Today will mark the 17th NCAA tournament game for the Crimson Tide since Nate Oates was hired. Jimmy is here right now to break down that therefore mentioned Alabama and Hofstra game beginning at one o'clock on 93.9 The Score. Jimmy Stein is busy and getting even busier. Tip time just over two hours away down in Tampa, Florida. But in the meantime, a pleasure for us to open the door and say hello to Jimmy. He's co-host of Locked On Bama, part of, you guessed it, the Locked On Network. Jimmy, welcome in. TGIFT. How are you?

Oh, doing great, guys. Enjoying this great weather and ready to watch Alabama take its part in the tournament. It's going to be an interesting matchup, Jimmy. I just listened to some of the stuff there from Brett. This Nate Oates, guys, he's pretty good, is he not? Yeah, you know what Brett mentioned. I mean, the fact that Alabama's played in three NCAA tournaments from 2007. I mean, three NCAA tournament games. Incredible. From 2007 to 19, just three. That's incredible. And the fact that today will be Nate Oates' 17th NCAA tournament game. Also incredible. But in the other direction, there's just no doubt, regardless of what happened today. It wouldn't change my mind.

I don't even think it's controversial at this point. I mean, Nate Oates is just simply the most accomplished coach in Alabama basketball history. These are the best collection of teams in modern Alabama basketball history. And that's regardless of what happened today. Though I do believe Alabama's going to find a way to move on to the second round. Jimmy, everyone knows about Aidan Holloway's absence today, having been arrested earlier in the week. Who needs to step up? We've talked about this the last couple of days. Jalil Bethea, can he continue to get some productive minutes and play within himself?

Amari Allen, three of the last four games hasn't seemed to be himself. And I'm guessing Latreia Reitzel is not going to go 0 for 5 today. Taylor Bo Bowen seemed to improve a little bit against Ole Miss. Jimmy, how does Nate Oates compensate for the loss of Aidan Holloway? I have a general answer and a specific answer. And the general answer is, whenever you lose your second leading scorer, there's not some magic answer off the bench that's just going to show up and start scoring 18, 19 points a game.

If that was the case, that player that was sitting on the bench wouldn't be sitting on the bench. So there's no one person that's just going to all of a sudden replace what Holloway does for the team. So the general answer is, everyone has to step up. There can't really be bad nights from your best players. LeBaron Phylon, Latreia Reitzel, Amari Allen, Taylor Bo Bowen, Aidan Shirell. They all have to have good nights to compensate for the fact that Holloway is gone. But specifically, if I was going to point to one guy who has to really step it up and become more productive, in my mind, it's Latreia Reitzel.

I know a lot of people might look to Jahlil Bethany, and it's true. I think he's going to play more minutes. I think he's going to become a more critical player for Alabama than he has been to date. That's all true, but Reitzel is the one who's most capable of replacing the production. He's a senior. This is going to be his last game. Whenever Alabama loses, it will be his last game at Alabama. And while I wouldn't at all say this season has been disappointing for him, considering he's stayed healthy for a lot of the year, I think people did expect a little more point production from him and a little more fireworks from him.

[5:07] So now would be a great time for him to deliver on something that every one of us knows he's capable of. Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked on Bama. A lot of folks have thrown down the argument. What's the advantage of playing on a Friday as opposed to the opening Thursday? I guess there's a thousand answers to that. One, to me, would be what happened yesterday to Wisconsin, what almost happened to Duke. Don't look at the front of the jersey of the team across from you. Go play your game.

See if you agree with that, Jimmy. I don't think after what happened against Ole Miss and what's happened off the court over the last few days that you want to think Alabama would not be going down that lane. But, Jimmy, what is your strategy between the ears coming into this afternoon's game with Hofstra? Yeah, I want to say, well, first of all, in terms of strategy, it's going to be play fast. I think Hofstra, this is going to be a battle of tempos. Not the first time Alabama sees this.

They see it quite a bit throughout the course of the season. But Hofstra wants to play slow. Alabama wants to play fast. If you get them playing fast, they're out of their comfort zone, and you're right in Alabama's. If they control tempo, slow the game down, make it a half-court game, that's not Alabama's comfort zone, and there's a better chance of an upset. So, to me, it's just about forcing the tempo, playing the game at a high rate of speed, and knowing that if the score gets up in the 90s, probably even the 80s, Hofstra's going to have a very difficult time scoring with Alabama.

If they can drag it down to a game where both teams are in the 60s and lucky to break 70, that's Hofstra's game. So, we'll see who wins that battle of tempos. As to whether playing Friday is an advantage, I think so, because the coach can use as motivation, okay? We all saw what happened yesterday with fill-in-the-blank. It's because they didn't take the game as seriously as they should, and this is what happens. Do you want to get bounced out of here the way Georgia got bounced out last night, or worse, the way Wisconsin lost to a much lower seed?

So, in that sense, I think it is an advantage. However, I've never been shown actual statistics that there are fewer upsets on Friday. So, I'm not so sure about that. Jimmy, I know Hofstra, for some, has been a trendy upset pick. Yes, they've won 11 of their last 12 games. Speedy Clankston is an icon there. They've got some good players. They've got some good guards, led by Cruz Davis. But I still say, Jimmy, they haven't played in the SEC schedule. No, that's right. They've played three, what I would call three good teams.

Two teams that have an impressive name in Pitt and Syracuse. So, this won't be the first time they've seen, you know, big body, you know, good teams like Pitt and Syracuse, which have lineups sort of built like Alabama's. They also played Central Florida, who's in the NCAA tournament, who's a really good team. So, it won't be like they're looking at dinosaurs for the first time. I mean, this is, they've played against good teams. But they haven't played a lot of great teams night after night after night.

I think for Alabama fans, the thing to be worried about simply is this. The last time we saw Alabama play basketball, which was just seven days ago, that was their worst loss of the season. It was the only loss to a team all year long that's not playing in this tournament. And that was the last time we saw them play. I think a lot of the upset picks are coming from people who are putting a lot of, casting a lot of doubt on Alabama based on what they did seven days ago.

And that's fair. It's more than fair, really. You think, hey, you are what you were last week. But Alabama has a history now under NATO's of there has been times where they did not play well at all in the SEC tournament, but then did play exceptionally well on the biggest stage. So, after all this talk, Jimmy, what is going to happen at the end of the game as far as a final score this afternoon? Yeah, I'll go with Alabama winning fairly big. I'm going to say even, you know, 90-72.

I think Alabama scores a lot of points. I think they do control the tempo. I think they get Hofstra running the court. I think Alabama's team rallies around Holloway's absence. I think it will be a rallying cry and not a reason to just cash it all in. If Holloway's absence is felt this weekend, guys, that's going to be Sunday and not today. Jimmy, switching over to football, I know Alabama, the university, has been on spring break. Of course, it means the football team is, too. I know the first week, Ryan Grubb had a lot of very good things to say about some members of the offensive line.

[10:08] They'll get back to it again next week. What did Jimmy Stein learn from Alabama football the first week of spring practice? Yeah, the big story has to be Ryan Grubb basically naming 60% of the offensive line that will start against East Carolina. A bit of an overstatement, but it was also a bit of an overstatement of what Coach Grubb did. But you went into the spring with the biggest question marks being not just the offensive line, but who's going to win four open competitions. We already have winners, apparently, at left tackle on redshirt freshman Jackson Lloyd Center and redshirt junior transfer Rayson Delgati.

And, of course, the returning right tackle from last season, Michael Carroll. Those three appear to have their spots on lockdown. While no one was expecting it to happen this soon, those were the favorites to win the job. And no one should be shocked that they ultimately won the job. It's just how quickly it happened. But that's good news for Alabama. The offensive line of the team within the team and the fact that they can start gelling together as a unit, the quicker that happens, the better.

Jimmy Stein, let's ask you this question, too. It's been described as a coach's good problem, and that is the quarterback room right now. From everything we're able to gather, at least in shorts, without somebody coming trying to knock your head off, both quarterbacks, it looks like an even race right now as far as spinning the ball, if you will. Your thoughts, what are you hearing about the quarterback competition? Yeah, I'd heard that Austin Mack had a couple of really good days out of the gate the first couple of days.

I've yet to hear anything negative at all about either player. I doubt that we will. I think in terms of the spring is unlikely to settle this. I think every expectation is this will be a battle that goes into the fall. If there is a separator, it's going to happen during the scrimmage process. The scrimmages, there's three of them this spring, March 27th, April 3rd, and, of course, a day, April 11th. It'll be those three days that, hey, let's just say that those three days might emerge, there might emerge a leader, or it might emerge a, hey, it's the battle still ongoing, but one or the other appears to have a lead.

I would say it's going to be based on the scrimmage performances and not what happens on typical Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-type practices. Jimmy, I'm guessing you and Luke Robinson are going to be having a podcast, recapping, hopefully, Alabama's win over Hofstra late this afternoon, and maybe another one Sunday afternoon with another win, hopefully, Alabama advancing to the Sweet 16. Jimmy, where can we get online to get the best podcast about Alabama sports on the planet? That's right. Locked on Bama on YouTube if you want the video, or you can just listen to the audio podcast wherever you listen to your podcast.

Locked on Bama with me and Luke Robinson. We did a show this morning. It will be post-game after Hofstra, win or lose, and assuming it's a win, and we don't want to assume that, but if there is a win, Sunday, there will be a new show, Sunday morning, and a post-game show, Sunday, should Alabama be playing Sunday. Locked on Bama, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. First things first, Jimmy, kick back. Enjoy the tide and pride this afternoon, okay? Hey, thanks, guys. Enjoy the weekend.

You too, Jimmy. Jimmy Steinick with us, co-host of Locked on Bama. BB, can you introduce in a second the other BB? I will be glad, too, and like Doug Segras, who took the day off Thursday and Friday. My brother has done the same thing, I can assure you. That March Madness flu is spreading like kudzu. His name is Brent Beard, and he's next. Stay with us. I'm Chris Stewart for Elliott Johnson Insurance. Elliott Johnson has a great partner in Auto Owners Insurance. Auto Owners makes it easy to get life, home, car, or business insurance.

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It's next man up mentality, and it's a team that does have depth at the guard position. Latrell Reitzel is an outstanding shooter. LeBaron Fallon will have to take on a little bit more responsibility. Jaleel Bathia has been a player who has shown a little bit of spark as far as his energy is concerned. Amari Allen will have to take his game to another level as we've been able to see this season. So they definitely are equipped to continue to play at a high level, but it's definitely a blow that's going to be significant for them moving forward.

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Stop in for a free, personalized fitting today. Roll to victory at goodfeet.com. That's goodfeet.com. Roll Tide. We've got you covered for Alabama men's and women's basketball in the NCAA tournament. The men's first round game against Hofstra will tip off on Friday at 2.15 with our coverage on the network starting at 1 p.m. Then for the women's basketball team, Alabama's first round opponent will be Rhode Island on Saturday with coverage starting at 1.15 from Louisville, Kentucky all across the network. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by the Good Feet Store.

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, Dan. Quickly from the NCAA tournament, Kentucky fans do not like Bucky the Bronco. That's the mascot of Santa Clara. And right now in the half, Santa Clara leads Kentucky 31-29, BB. Well, Kentucky fans are hoping for a better result in the second half because I can assure you that they're not very happy right now. Now, Harold, if our next guest coughs a little bit during this segment, as you mentioned, March Madness flew.

Right. He's just been rampant throughout the country. So, if he needs to cough a little bit, we certainly understand. And I'm guessing he did the same thing Doug Segrist did yesterday, our good friend. He just, quite frankly, took off Thursday and Friday, went to the grocery store. And if his TV's working, he's ready to go. Brent Beard is the college football analyst for first coach. And he's co-host of Second Helping Podcast on the SEC with Travis Reier. But if you need to get a clean extra call during the interview, go right ahead.

[21:02] Yeah, it should be an interesting day today after yesterday. Now, as you guys know, a couple of quick things. One would be, there would be plenty of Alabama fans in Tampa. Tampa is a hotbed for Alabama. People may not understand that, but there are a lot of Alabama grads in the Tampa area. So, they should have a good crowd. And, of course, the Gators are bringing, Lord knows how many people to that game tonight. That probably would tip off about 10 o'clock at this point. But, anyway, that's what you deal with with the tournament.

But both those teams are doing far better today than the Georgia Bulldogs, who were blown out last night, that people may have seen. 102-77. And, look, that thing was over, guys, at halftime. I mean, it was virtually around 30-point spread. Mike White, and listen, Alabama lost to Mike White. Georgia is absolutely beyond me. I know they played them on a Tuesday night, if they had played them on Wednesday night. But they may have won the game. But, guys, that was, I mean, Georgia won 20 games. And they won 20 games, I believe, three years in a row.

But that performance last night, but Georgia was just nonexistent. They could have played the guys at the end of the bench and done much better than Georgia did. Ben, I saw, and I'm sure you did, too, some of the comments from the Georgia starters in that game. And I'll paraphrase here. It seems that we didn't want to be here. That's still just, I can't wrap my arms around that. And if I am Nate Oates, I'm looking, I'm putting that quote right up there in big letters.

Guys, do you want to be here? Don't look at the name of that other team. No one knows Hofstra outside of Estrada, who transferred from Alabama to Hofstra. But, to me, that should be motivation enough right there. You take what happened with High Point. Nobody had heard of High Point until yesterday outside the local community there. To me, that's a good thing if I'm Nate Oates, a team right now that needs some motivation with all the obvious going on off the court. Well, the point you guys made a few minutes ago is important for Alabama to have played Friday instead of yesterday to see how, frankly, these other teams have done in these games.

And the SEC, frankly, was spectacular in these games. I mean, Texas winning two games in the matter of a few days. Arkansas playing very well. And, oh, by the way, guys, what if Arkansas wins a couple of games and Kentucky goes out today? I'm sure the Wildcat fandom will have plenty to say about what Cal has done amazingly well in Arkansas. Let me ask you about Alabama and Hofstra. We broke it down throughout the week. Obviously, Nate Oates is not going to replace with just one guy, as Jimmy Stein mentioned.

But Alabama is certainly capable, in particularly beginning with the right sale. But they, I think, can give them a little bit. Your thoughts on Bama and Hofstra? Well, the thing Bama's got to do is they've got to control the tempo. Instead of letting Hofstra control the tempo and crawl the ball up the court, that's just not going to work because they will get impatient. But they are the better team. There's no question about that. Now, if they can play a lick of defense, that would help them immeasurably, too, unlike they did in the Ole Miss game, or at least they didn't play any defense against Ole Miss until the length of the three-minute mark, frankly, of the game.

But Bama's got capable players. Now, frankly, they can advance to the Sweet 16. I think they're capable of doing that. That remains to be seen. But you've got some of these guys who have not given them very much production that they really need to step up and depend on some of these guys. And, by the way, I know you were talking a few minutes ago about how Nate Oates has done, saw this yesterday, and I may be off a win, but Webb Sanderson has, like, 12 NCAA wins, and Nate Oates already has 11.

[26:04] So it's just going to be, and maybe this year, where he's either able to time or surpass him. And that would say a lot for the job that Oates has done. Brent, obviously, if Alabama goes to scripting and they take care of business this afternoon against Hofstra, they would take on the winner of Texas Tech and Akron. Right now, they are in a dogfight, even as we speak, near the end of the first half. Texas Tech leads by a half dozen, 40-34. It's that classic 5-12 matchup, so anything can happen in the second half.

But let's assume that Texas Tech wins, which most folks think will. Your thoughts about Alabama taking on those dudes without Holloway? Well, look, they lost one of their best players, Sue, earlier in the season, Texas Tech did. So it's going to be crucial, again, for Alabama to do the little things that they're willing to do that in order to win. Look, I mean, it's a shame about Holloway and where that's going. Maybe he can play next year, but they've got to have some guys be able to step up.

So you're either going to have to do one or two things if you're one of the role players. You've either got to score more than usual or you've got to play better defense. And, again, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, it's really going to help Bama playing in Tampa instead of going out west, which I've seen they've done like 10 out of 12 years or something like that. So, look, being able to just go from the state of Alabama to the state of Florida is a big plus for Bama.

Tell us about the other two games. As Harold mentioned, Kentucky struggling with Santa Clara. Some people thought that would happen. Tennessee, a nearly 11-point favorite over Miami. Miami's a pretty good team. We know Tennessee can play well, but they have these offensive droughts that Rick Barnes is known for. And then a game really flying under the radar is Miami and I met Miami of Ohio. Miami, Florida is playing Missouri. Your thoughts on both games? Yeah, Miami and Missouri is going to be a really good game.

Now, that is schedule started 9-10, which means it'll start at 10-10, frankly. But, look, both those teams have done well. Miami is one of the better teams in the ACC that no one really knows about. They've got a new coaching staff that has worked well for them. But, again, Gates has done a good job in Missouri. And they're playing about as good a basketball as they could. The thing with Tennessee is that they're playing Miami of Ohio, who's the darling, as you guys know, in the tournament.

And so sentiment may go to them. But the problem with Tennessee is, and I don't know what happens to Rick Barnes, is that Tennessee plays this up-tempo style during the season. And they get to the tournament, and they slow it down to the point where they're almost unrecognizable. And they easily get beat with that. So that's something that they've got to watch. Now, Florida plays tonight. They will beat Prairie View. I don't have any doubt about that. But in Florida, it wants to really play better than they did in the SEC basketball tournament.

And I think they will. But, guys, I'm just telling you, if Florida does what they did during the season, and, look, that Florida coaching staff is merciless. They love to beat teams 20 to 30 points. And if they can do that, they will. But with their front court, the thing to watch for Florida is, if their guards are shooting well, Florida will be back in the Final Four. Again, I'm not saying they're going to win the national championship. But that's going to be fascinating to see where they go.

And believe me, they are over the moon about playing in Tampa. They are. Well, hopefully the SEC can have another four in one day and keep it rolling. We've got to roll to Bill Shanks in just a few minutes, bud. But where can we get online and get your good stuff? Yeah, certainly at Brent Beard on Twitter is probably the best place to get it at this point. Do a lot of different radio shows around the south. And Brent Beard is probably the best way to get in touch with me.

But, look, it's a – again, it's one of the greatest weeks or three weeks of the year. And, you know, next to autumn, you've got spring football going on and you've got the basketball tournament. Right now, there really is no reason to go anywhere or even get off the couch, frankly. Well, we hope you get to feeling better down there, Brent. Let's break out the cough drops. We recommend if it's loose, you take the cherry over the menthol. So, hope you get to feeling better there, Brent.

[31:30] Good. Thank you, guys. Take care. See you, bud. Brent Beard. That's not catching to a twin, is it, BB? That's a good question. Let's go from BB to some BS. Mr. BS, Bill Shanks, next. Stay with us. Carter Oil Company in Sheffield has been serving the shoals and surrounding areas for 60 years. And they would like to thank everyone for their support. Carter Oil has an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau, providing diesel, gasoline, and motor oil locally for six decades. Call us at 256-383-0194.

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[36:59] 44-42 Kentucky, 16-12 remaining in the second half. Yeah. And at halftime, the winner of the Akron-Texas Tech game will hopefully be playing Alabama at some point Sunday. And right now, the Red Raiders are leading Akron 40-35. Speaking of dogs, Mr. Dog himself, Bill Shanks, host of the Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM in Macon, Georgia, online at thesesuperstations.com and on the tube at 41NBC. Bill Shanks, welcome in. How's your bracket doing so far, Bill? My bracket sucks because my team sucks. So, what are you going to do?

Bill, I would imagine as a Georgia fan, you saw some of the comments. I mean, in this modern era, these kids are making more money in their early 20s, and a lot of people it's going to make in a lifetime. To see, to paraphrase a quote, it's as if we didn't really want to be here. Help us understand the lingo, Bill Shanks. I wish I knew. I mean, it was embarrassing. It was, you know, they went to bed against Ole Miss last week in the NCC tournament and you're wanting to, like, give them a little bit of a, I don't know.

I mean, you want to give them a little bit of a benefit of the doubt and say, okay, well, you know what, they've been ingrained in their head by the world. The conference tournaments don't matter. So, all right, fine. Go get ready for the NCAA tournament. And then they play like that, and you're like, well, you guys just had your mind on something else. You didn't want to be there. And then the comments were not very flattering, but at least they were honest about it. And, you know, but, I mean, they're starting five, scored 24 points.

Wow. And Cannon Catchings, who we had a couple people on the show this week say, you really need to have Cannon Catchings play with, even score a point. So, I'm going to be the real, their main big man did not score a point, had one rebound. I mean, they had nine assists. They got out-rebounded by 11. I mean, they shot like 35% from the field. I mean, it was just about the worst performance you'll ever see. So, today, Georgia fans are more worried about who the third-string cornerback is on the left side.

I was going to say, are they blaming Mike Bobo for the basketball team? Oh, yeah, it's all Mike Bobo's fault. We decided we're going to send Mike White to a Iranian parliament meeting and see how he comes out. Before we get into the Braves, and you had a great article on the Savannah Morning News, and I know you've heard this, Georgia Tech's getting a good basketball coach. They reportedly have hired Scott Cross from Troy. Wow. He coached Troy to back-to-back Sunbelt Championships in two NCAA tournament berths.

Now, I know they got beat yesterday when he was at Texas Arlington, won 225 games, and I know you'll talk about it on your show today. Georgia Tech's getting a good basketball coach. I think so. I think it's a good selection. But you know what? Not take anything away from Scott. He may be the best coach in the world, but every Tech fan is saying, all right, fine, but you need to put more resources for getting players in there. And it's funny because it's almost like a team in the NBA or the Major League Base.

It's almost like when you hear something like that about a college program, it's almost like you're listening to a Tampa Rays or a Florida Marlins fan or a Pittsburgh Pirates fan saying, put more in the payroll. Well, yeah, right now, the Cardinals, I mean, they're rebuilding. But still, I mean, the point is, you know, when you have a team that is viewed as not putting enough resources into its program, well, you know what? The results are going to show. I saw a chart the other day on Twitter, and the main seeds in this tournament are spending the most money.

So, I mean, it equates to success. Not always, obviously. I mean, you're going to, and I'd love to know how much those Georgia players were making last night because they owe us our money back for crying out loud. Yeah, I think Scott is a really good selection, and he's got to go to work because he's got a lot of work to do with that program. Yeah, I agree with you, but that's a great point because I'd like to see, you know, some of these dudes that are managing the Dodgers and the Yankees and some of these other, I'd like to see what they're going to do with the Marlins and the Pirates, some of those lineups.

Speaking of baseball, Bill, let's switch gears this time next week. Guess what we're going to be talking about, Bill Shanks? I know. It's awesome. It's here. It's a week away. I've got to find me somewhere to go in the battery to get a home since Murphy's closed down. I don't know what I'm going to do. I may just be out in the parking lot in the back of my d*** truck, you know, with a lawn chair, which I've done before, believe it or not. Over 19 years, I've done a lot of shows like that.

[42:03] Next Friday is my 19th anniversary, which means if I've been on my show 19 years, I've been coming on y'all's lousy show for 20. How about that? But anyway, yeah, I'm ready. I tell you, I'm excited. It's a great month of the year with baseball, basketball, football, with spring football, and then the NFL, the free agency, the golf, of course, the Masters around the corner. It's just, you know, I'm just waiting for the Atlanta hockey team to come back so I can pitch about them. 17-6, Bill Shanks.

I don't care when it is. I don't care what league it is. And again, the point you made in your article with the Samana Morning News, when you start the year last year 0-7, and people poo-poo what you do in the Grapefruit League, to me, if you've got momentum going into the season, yes, it is important. I know for some teams, they don't pay any attention to it, but the pitching has been good. Sal, Strider, Lopez, Holmes, and your young boys, J.L. Richie, I tell you one thing, Fuentes has been unhittable.

We'll see where that goes. I know you feel more optimistic about the season. How do you feel the week away? Well, I feel good. I do. And, you know, I've harped on that winning record a lot in spring training. And, you know, Walt tried to back me down, be careful about it. And I understand that. But you know what? And I did not put it in this article. But I mentioned it to him when Walt was on the show the other day. And, I mean, look, I've been watching him for a long time, so I can provide some history lessons.

But in 1982, Joe Torrey took over as the manager of the Atlanta Braves. And they had not been very good for four years. They had one season over 500, and that was the 81-80 record at one game right now. And that was why they were able to have a winning season at 81-80. And that was the only year, the four years of Bobby Cox's first tenure, where they had a winning record. So they had a losing culture. And they really hadn't done anything in their first, you know, 15, 16 years in Atlanta.

And Joe Torrey came in, and he said, you know what? We've got to win in spring training. We've got to do something to be successful. Well, they went 18-6. And then they won their first 13 games of the regular season instead of a new National League record. And many people don't remember that year. And, you know, and I think it was because of Joe Torrey saying, I mean, I distinctly remember the quote, paraphrasing here. But he basically said, we've got to establish something different here and new and successful, and we want to win in spring training.

And they were like 18-6 or something like that. And I think Walt Weiss, to have a team do the same thing, is very valuable. You know, I mean, they've had a hellacious two years. And then they go and have a losing year. They run their manager off. They bring in Walt. And now it's like, okay, well, if we're going to push reset, let's do it by being successful from day one. And they've done that. And everything is looking very good with the pitching. You know, knock on wood, in spite of the five things that have happened with Kim, Profar, the three pitchers who have gotten hurt, I think it's been a very good camp.

And I think they're going to be ready to go next Friday night against Kansas City. I'm proud you brought up that 82 team. This is no trivia here. The pitching coach on that 82 Braves team is a fellow by the name of Bob Gibson. How about that for former Cardinal teammates, Joe Torrey and Bob Gibson. You mentioned Profar. How's that going? Obviously, it's kind of like asking the question, how does Alabama sit here and replace Holloway? Well, that's a good question. The answer is going to be more complicated.

Your thoughts so far on trying to fill those shoes? Well, he's definitely out for the year. The suspension was upheld yesterday, so he's gone. And so, you know, I think from a left field perspective, it's going to be mainly Mike Yastrzemski. He's going to be out there for the most of the time against lieutenant pitchers. We may see Eli White. We may see Kyle Farmer. We may see several people. I think for the DH spot, when Baldwin's not catching, it's going to be him. And when he is catching, I think it's going to be a combination of people.

I think Dominic Smith is the first baseman, rather. They brought him into camp on day one. And I think that he's got a chance against right-handed pitchers to see some time. He's a left-handed batterer who has success against righty. He was pretty good last year for San Francisco, and so I think he's a possibility. Eli White from the right side against lefties could be a possibility. So, I mean, Mateo, Jorge Mateo is a possibility. When Kim returns, Dubon could be in the lineup as a DH.

So, there's a lot. They're going to play around with it. And I don't like that, to be honest with you. I like having a stable situation. And I think right now, this is a good thing to do. And I'm anxious to see how they're able to pull it off. You brought up a good point with the everyday position players. Austin Riley, who has been hurt on and off for the last couple of years, it's early, 379 with three home runs. Matt Olsen, who had a dry spell last year, four home runs.

[47:31] Drake Baldwin just keeps doing what he's doing. Hitting 333. It is so key this year, and we've talked about this all nauseam, but the position players have got to stay healthy. But I'm glad to see these guys getting off to a good start in spring training. Yeah. Just, you know, hit the ball. I mean, let's get going early. Let's not have struggles. You know, Cunha had a great WBC. All right, carry over into the season, right? So, I think it's good. I think it's a really good thing to have that type of success early on.

It just sets the tone for the year. And, you know, it's just been such a rough two years. And, to be honest with you, with those five players, like I said, Bofar and the four that have been hurt, Kim and the three pitchers, it's – you've got to overcome that, too. You've got to overcome that and not let that just absolutely bring you down and cause that much of an issue. So, you know, I feel good about it overall, considering – I mean, I didn't feel too good early on.

I'm like, holy c***, here we go again. But, I mean, I think they have been able to really play well and, you know, the J.R. Ritchie and Didier Fuentes, it's always good to see young players kind of show out spring training a little bit, even if they're, you know, pitching against minor leaguers late in the games or whatever. It's still good to see that because you hope that they'll be able to go down to minor leagues, get a little bit more diseasing, and if they are called up and are needed, that they'll be ready to go.

So, they've checked a lot of boxes this spring in spite of the five things that obviously have happened. But, you know, there's not any camp in Florida or Arizona that doesn't have something going on, some issue or some injury or some – well, we're waiting on the pitcher, we're waiting on that player. I mean, that's just – it's universal because that's spring training and that's how it goes, really. Absolutely. Well, everybody's excited about it, March Madness this week, opening day next week. Now, if any of our incredibly intelligent, esteemed callers will like to call in and make their Braves predictions, how far Alabama's going in the March Madness, how bad they're going to beat Georgia next year in Tuscaloosa, where can they get online to call in?

I just wonder if there's a judge that's going to file an injunction to allow, you know, and Tony McDyche to come play for y'all this afternoon. What would be wrong with that, Bill? What would be wrong with that? It's 2026, Bill. You know, y'all come up with all kinds of stuff all of a sudden. TheSuperstations.com will be on 3 o'clock Eastern time, 2 o'clock Central, and we hope they'll join us. Bill, as always, good to hook up with you. Kentucky fans says, Bill, you're Catholic. Can you get the Pope going at Kentucky, okay?

I picked Santa Clara, so go to Santa Clara, whoever you are. Bucky the Bronco, by the way, just happened to pull that one out. Bill, listen, man, it's always good to hook up with you. Can't wait till next week play ball, as the late Ernie Banks would say. Let's play two or more, okay? Sounds good. All right, guys, have a good weekend. See you, buddy. Mr. Bill, Bill Shanks, TheSuperstations.com. BB right now. Bucky the Bronco is back on top. He's kicking the Cats, 56-55, with about eight and some change to go in that baby BB.

Yeah, hopefully the Cats can rally in that game and keep the SEC going, actually, at 5-1. And again, Akron takes his tag. The winner of this would play Alabama if they beat Hofstra this afternoon. On Sunday, 43-35, Texas tag over Akron. Well, it's going to happen to Alabama in the hospital as they get ready to play here on 93-9 to score, BB. Harold, I think my brother hit on this. Dictate the tempo. Come out and, again, play defense, rebounding, and play with some intensity. Notice I didn't mention anything about shooting.

If they do those three things, they're going to win by 20. Kick back and enjoy again. It's Alabama. It's Hofstra, the Tide, and prize. Straight ahead, pregame here on 93-9 to score. But that's going to take care of bids for now. On behalf of BB, Greg James Blair, and the entire crew here, Harold Boggs, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again Monday, noon to two for the Boom on Buck Show, back here on Sports Radio, 93-9 to score.