Boomo Bugg Show 060526

[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 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 where Tide and Tiger fans are gearing up for a super weekend.

And according to the Big Bear, it's goodbye Chicago and hello Indiana. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you? Happy Friday to you and the listeners. College baseball, as you alluded to, super regionals begin today. And we'll look at seven SEC teams involved in those. The one and only Bill Shanks talks Braves and SEC baseball with the Georgia Bulldogs. But Jimmy is here right now to talk some Bama baseball and a little recruiting. Well, maybe even a lot of recruiting as time will permit. We'll see with Jimmy Stein.

He's busy there as co-host of Locked On Bama. Of course, you guessed it, part of the Locked On Network. Jimmy, it's amazing how we can figure those things out. How are you? Hey, doing great, guys. Thanks for having me back. Man, we appreciate it. Here we are. Super regional time. Talk to us about the path. You know, you look at this team, before we get into the obvious this weekend, and how many baseball fans, Alabama baseball fans, and for that matter, baseball fans in general, said Alabama will be not only in the super regionals, but hosting after that first three games of the conference schedule with Kentucky.

Harold, I don't even know if the first three games against Kentucky, I mean, even late in the year this weekend, you were wondering whether this team was any good at all. They've had tremendous highs and very low lows. Defensively, they're terrible at times. I mean, they committed six errors. And that's putting it mildly. Yeah, they committed six errors in the game in the regionals, and it wasn't even the season high, although it tied the season high. So, they are, you know, the bullpen is inconsistent. The hitting's inconsistent for a long stretch of the season.

People were asking, what's wrong with Justin LeBron? And now you look up, and you look what they've accomplished, and it just goes to show that, yes, there's been some low lows, but the highs have been very high. And when it's clicking, they're a very good team. And I think it's because, really, you have to start with starting pitching. They're the only team in the SEC that had the same Friday starter, Saturday starter, Sunday starter, all season long. Now that's continued through the postseason. And you're getting consistent innings from them.

Maybe not always shut down innings. Maybe they're not a threat to throw a complete game shutout if those things really exist anymore. But they are, but they're very consistent at piling up quality innings and giving the offense a chance to win the game. And oftentimes, the offense responds. So, they've been consistent enough, and they're on the precipice of maybe being the first Alabama team in Omaha this century. That's hard to believe, Jimmy. Who needs, you mentioned inconsistent hitting, and I agree with you. Brady Neal, one of the heroes last week with a three-run homer to break that 6-6 tie with Oklahoma State.

Jason Torres, John Lim. Some of these guys are playing injured, and particularly with hand injuries. Eric Hines is on a little bit of a heater. Justin LeBron played a little bit better. Bryce Fowler, you can go on down the list. Jimmy, as far as hitting his concern, who needs to have a big weekend? I'd say Justin LeBron. I mean, I always think when it gets to the postseason, it's your best player. The best players. Because the best players are the best because they're the best in the biggest moments.

And this is a big moment. I mean, you're talking about one of the great players in Alabama baseball history. So it would be fitting if Justin LeBron is sort of a big hero in delivering Alabama again. Their first trip to Omaha this century. It's been the 90s since Alabama's been there. Justin LeBron being the face of it would be ideal. So I think him stepping up. Obviously, Brady Neal has been this team's best hitter all year long. What's crazy about that, if you told me in the offseason, Brady Neal would be Alabama's best hitter.

I would have said, did they finish 0-30 in the league? I mean, Brady Neal, he'll tell you himself. I think his own words, last year I sucked. That's his own words. And for him, the turnaround that he's had is remarkable. He's as responsible as any one player for Alabama being where they are. It's his tremendous senior season. And playing his way into a pretty decent spot in the upcoming draft. Jimmy Stein locked on Bama. To that point, Jimmy, just shows you what happens sometimes between the ears.

[5:28] Obviously, he said, I was bad last year. I got to get better. Is it safe to say that maybe LeBron went the other way with it? I was good, and I'm pressing a little bit too much. Because let's face it, this is not only for pride, helping Alabama win a championship. But for his sake, it's upping his stock, as Nick Saban always said, create value for yourself. If you get to Omaha, all eyes are on you. He's got to live up to the expectations. Could it be that maybe part of his problem is being trying to press too much?

And can he now relax seeing that this next few days or even weeks, it's going to really mean a lot in terms of money down the road? Yeah, I think with Justin LeBron, I think pressing is probably the best way to put it. I think what happens to a lot of star players, especially guys that are expected to kind of carry your ball club, they get behind the eight ball a little bit, and they think they can make it up with one at bat. And one at bat, they can hit a 10-run home run and make it all up.

I think that's what happens with a lot of guys at that level. And I think you can see with him defensively to where he had a disappointing year defensively, and really no one was talking about that going into this year, that there were questions about his glove. I think that's emblematic of how much I think maybe the pressure had gotten to him. But now he's been playing a little better lately. The talent is still there. He's so talented that despite the struggles, I still completely expect him to be selected in the first round of the draft because there's just a ton of talent there.

Again, he's come up with some big moments. I'm thinking he's going to be the star this weekend. Jimmy, it's amazing. None of the teams that appeared in the College World Series last year return. And Cinderella is alive and well in college baseball. Cal Poly, St. John, Little Rock, Troy. It's amazing. There are three teams from the state of Alabama here. Butch Thompson learned a hard lesson last week. Don't take Milwaukee for granted. And they got behind 10 to nothing, had to claw out of the loser's bracket.

Again, Jimmy, this is not a great team with St. John's. They started the season 1 and 10. They've lost the six teams in the Super Regionals. But once again, football, basketball, or baseball, you've got to respect your opponent and get up for the game. What's Bama's mindset going into this game? Well, certainly anyone can beat them. They've played bad enough at times to realize that no one's going to fall over when they get out. They've lost to some pretty average baseball teams. They've been swept by some good teams.

I don't think I'm taking St. John's lightly is something that's going to happen. But I think what's happened in the larger context, I don't think this is a one-off in terms of how crazy the results have been with all the Cinderella teams. I think baseball, much like football and basketball, NIL and the transfer portal have all acted to spread out the talent. I think a lot of teams before, the superstar dynasty-type teams, would have guys on the bench. Those guys at the bench are now starters at other schools where they can make some rev share money and even some NIL money.

I think just like football and basketball has seen more parity, baseball is seeing a lot more parity, and that's why you're having all these new teams. It is remarkable that not one team in last year's College World Series made it to a Super Regional. That's crazy. To me, that's what we are with is baseball, pickleball, you name it. Jimmy, let's switch gears. It's always football season. I know the calendar says June, but it's always a September mindset in this neck of the woods and yours. Your thoughts about where the Alabama is recruiting-wise and what's ahead over the next few days for the recruiting class?

Yeah, there's five official visitors in this weekend, including five-star quarterback Elijah Haven. He's been committed to Alabama for a couple of months and is coming off a really strong performance at the Elite 11 last week. He's the headliner this weekend. But Jay Thompson, a wide receiver from North Carolina, Alabama's fighting with Georgia for his signature. They offered a kicker based on his performance in a kicking camp. They offered a kicker from Texas, Luke Cody. He's going to be in this weekend. They'll try to add him to the special teams room.

And two tight ends, C.J. Johnson from Cookville, Tennessee. He's a really interesting player. Not ranked super high, yet count him up. He's 50 offers. So everyone that sees him likes him to some degree. Alabama kind of got on him a little late. He's rocketed up Alabama's board. He's in this weekend, along with Michael Nebuffey, who's a tight end from the Northeast from Baltimore. And he's committed to Syracuse. Alabama had offered him well before his commitment to Syracuse. They always liked him. He had been down the board.

[10:39] But as the board has shaked out late, he's moved his way near the top. That's probably a first to commit situation between the two tight ends that are there this weekend. But that's a smaller group, but the recruiting class as a whole is going to be a smaller group per Kaelin DeBoer. So it's sort of fitting with the theme. Jimmy, I saw a clip with you and Luke Robinson earlier this week talking about Tate Phillips, the running back from Columbia, South Carolina. Actually, he transferred there from Fayetteville.

I think Cape Fear in Fayetteville, and he missed five games, still ran for nearly 1,000 yards. He is going to, quote, commit Monday, June the 8th. And I believe he's going to be visiting Alabama the following weekend. And after listening to that clip, I think Jimmy Stein likes Tate Phillips. Yeah, Phillips is an – what I like about running backs myself, in terms of evaluating a running back, I'm more into the measurables there than I am at other spots. But I think running backs have to have some sort of minimum size and minimum speed on a sliding scale.

The bigger backs can be a little slower. The smaller backs have to be faster. So it's on a sliding scale. But I want verified measurables. I don't want to just watch a tape on huddle and guess how fast a kid is. I think it's too important at running back to – you need to know how quick that burst is. And with Ty Phillips, you have verified measurables. As a matter of fact, he's run below a 4'4". He has 100-meter track times that line up with that lightning quick 40 time.

And you know he's over 190 pounds, so he's not particularly small. Not the biggest guy, but he's not small. So once you have those verified measurables, the thing I would look to next is production. And, yes, he's missed some games. But if you count up his sophomore and his junior season together, he's averaging over 10 yards a carry. So you've got big-time production. You've got the verified measurables. He's a really good back. Now, he's not ranked super high, doesn't have the greatest offer list in the world. I can't really explain that.

I can just explain why I think most schools should be interested in him. Alabama has considered him a priority from the start. And Alabama's recruited him just as hard as they've recruited their other running back commitment, Nigel Newkirk, who's ranked the sixth-best running back in the country by rivals. But Alabama looks at Phillips similarly to how they look to Newkirk. You bring up a very interesting conversation there because we just got done talking about Elijah Havens, talking about Newkirk. They're all highly ranked. There's certainly those on the list.

But something that we're hearing more and more, he's a three-star. He's not that highly regarded. Is it safe to say that in some ways that's not only at Alabama, that's across the board. These coaches basically are looking for a diamond in the rough. In other words, they see what you see, the metrics, and they can go out, bring them in, and in their minds, they can bring that out that they may not be getting in high school right now as far as their rankings. And here's the deal.

They don't spend as much money as they do on a five-star. And if it doesn't work out, I mean, it's a cruel world out there. They can just cut their losses. I think that's exactly correct, Harold. I think if you see more of it or hear more of it, I do think it's rev share and NIL related where those three stars that you really fall in love with are more appealing because of the cost. That matters at every place, not just Alabama or Auburn. That's even at Texas, Ohio State.

I bring up all the time. Southern Cal last year had the number one class in the country, and it was the number one class by far. But it still included 13 three-stars. Yeah. Because even Southern Cal had to include some cheaper guys so they could make budget, too, right? So I do think that you see more of it. However, this particular staff at Alabama, they've been very good at identifying players that may have been three stars during the identification process, but they became four and even five stars later.

Two examples would be Keelan Russell, who was a three-star the day Alabama offered him. He ended the cycle the number one quarterback in the country. Jackson Lloyd, who's going to be the starting left tackle for Alabama this fall. He was a three-star the day DeBoer's staff offered him. He ended the cycle a five-star himself. So I think some of it is that some staffs, including DeBoer's, are very good at identifying the guys early, and maybe they're a little bit ahead of the ranking industry and knowing who are the top kids.

Jimmy Stein again, Locked On, Bama. Jimmy, you mentioned Haven being there this weekend. Your thoughts about his importance. It's one thing social media, but when there's no substitute for the old-fashioned way of communicating mano-mano, your thoughts about his recruiting prowess this weekend for Alabama and going forward in the process overall. Yeah, it will matter a little bit specifically this weekend because in addition to Elijah Haven, like I said, they have a wide receiver in Majay Thompson, who is a priority for Alabama. They would love to sign this guy, and it's going to be beneficial to them to have Haven there this weekend, who will be part of his recruitment.

[16:02] They don't have to recruit Elijah Haven quite as hard as they do the uncommitted kids. Elijah Haven then joins the recruiters in recruiting the uncommitted kids, also the two tight ends. That will matter. But Haven, you know, he has a phone. He's talked to Monshan Sales, Osani Gales, Xavier Saab, who's going to be visiting Alabama midweek next week. Those are the five-star type receivers that Alabama's interested in. And, yes, it's a big part of recruiting that happens, but the quarterback does join with the coaching staff in recruiting the class.

Alabama's got two in Elijah Haven and Trent Seaborn who are committed. Trent, in particular, I think is really eager to participate in that part of it. Seaborn will be making his official visit to Alabama next weekend. Jimmy, before we let you go, nobody does a better job of recruiting defensive backs than Mo Lindquist in this staff. Are you still encouraged with four-star corner Hayden Stelp of Las Vegas and another one of these 6-3, 6-4 freaks, corner Darius White of Fairbourn, Georgia, eventually committing to Alabama? Yeah, I would be particularly – I feel better about the Darius White situation for sure.

I mean, he's one that I'm almost a little surprised he didn't commit this week. I still think it's coming. Alabama's had an excellent, long relationship with Darius White. But Tennessee and Georgia down the stretch have been pushing him, you know, to more strongly consider their schools. Georgia lost a corner or two that they thought they were going to be in on, and they've kind of circled back on Darius White, and he's an in-state player for them. So Alabama's having to beat some good programs, but I still like where they are with Darius White.

Hayden Stelp, the cornerback from Las Vegas, that's a tougher kid to sign. But he was at Alabama last weekend, and he certainly enjoyed – he enjoyed his visit. A lot of people think Alabama leapt to the top of the list. He's not visiting anywhere this weekend, but he's going to go to Oregon next weekend, and Oregon is Alabama's primary competition for Hayden Stelp. I still think Alabama has a very good shot there, but between the two of them, I would be more likely to bet on White at Alabama.

But Stelp is very realistic, very possible. Tell you what, Jimmy, it's been a refreshing week for me. I've heard a lot of Alabama fans say, when you're falling, you've got a softball team that's one game away from a national championship series, and a baseball team that's still slugging in the super regionals. It's kind of a nice change of pace for Alabama fans, along with falling recruiting. Great stuff as always, Jimmy. Where can we get online and get you and Luke Robinson the best podcast about Alabama sports on the planet?

Yeah, Locked on Bama. You can find us on YouTube. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcast by audio. Easy to find. Locked on Bama with myself and Luke Robinson. We have at least six shows a week and often breaking news, live videos, when there are commitments, like there might be one, for instance, on Monday from Ty Phillips, Monday afternoon. We could go on live after that if he chooses Alabama, which we believe he will. As always, it's a lot to look to for Monday.

One thing you don't want to see is Alabama playing baseball on Monday. You want to wrap it up this weekend with two wins. Jimmy, enjoy. Thank you so much. Let's do it again soon, okay? Hey, appreciate it, guys. Thank you, Jimmy. Jimmy Stein, co-host, Locked on Bama, part of the Locked On Network. Coming up soon, just who is the richest team in the SEC as far as a program? Details on that and more straight ahead of the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Finding great candidates to hire can be like, well, trying to find a needle in a haystack.

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ZipRecruiter. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93-9. The score. The Atlanta Braves fell yesterday. They lost to the Blue Jays 7-2. The Braves had four hits offensively. Chris Sale took the loss. He drops to 8-4. Braves are 42-21. They'll play at home tonight as they start a series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In college baseball, Super Regional played tonight. Detroit Trojans are at home. They'll take on Little Rock in game number one. Also tonight, the Auburn Tigers are at home against Ole Miss. Tomorrow night, Alabama opens their series against St. John's.

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Are you ready for this? I think most people would say Texas, but you go right on ahead. Most people would be wrong. You're partly right. Texas A&M, over $19 billion with a B. Number two, by the way. You want to take a poke on who's number two, Brett Beaird? Well, I said Texas. Wrong! LSU. No, Vanderbilt. Here's the bottom line, baby. A&M's got almost $20 million. Vanderbilt's just over $10 billion. So they're second, but they're still only halfway behind Texas A&M. I just tell you how rich those oil wells out in Texas.

[26:14] Texas is third, Florida, Georgia around the top five, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama is eighth in the country when it comes to, as far as the SEC, then Oklahoma. I won't run through the whole list here. Time will not permit me to do that. Tennessee, by the way. They are 11th. Auburn at just over $1.1 billion is number 12. And before we get away, BB, the team with the least amount of endowment in the SEC would be? Answer, please. Would it be Mississippi State? Wrong again. At least you're consistent, Brett Beaird.

Are you ready for this? Yeah. At a mere $722 million, Lane Kiffin and LSU are 16th. Now, this is in terms of the endowment, which tells you how much money they're raking in from the NIL, believe it or not. Brett Beaird. Coming up, it's time to go jump over the Atlantic and go from endowments when it comes to football to the latest from the French Open. Stay with us. Your 93.9, the score. Westwood One Sports presents this special tennis update. It was to be a French Open men's semifinal match between fellow Italians, Flavio Coboli, a 24-year-old, playing in his first Grand Slam semi, and Matteo Arnaldi, who's 25, ranked 104th.

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But, B.B., we alluded in this opportunity to talk about it. At the top of the show, it's looking like goodbye Chicago and hello Indiana. George McCaskey, who's the big bear with the Chicago Bears, saying, you know what? Chicago, you would screw up a good sleep, amongst other things. How can you lose an NFL team, especially one that steeped in tradition? It just kind of makes a statement on the show up there. But would it not be amazing to see the Chicago Bears become the either Hammond or Indiana Bears?

They're going. One of the reasons, by the way, Bill Shanks has just joined us. One of the reasons is Frank Warren, or was, is, or was the president, the former Big Ten commissioner. Harold, he could screw up anything. Thank goodness Bill Shanks has never done that. He has never screwed up anything in his entire life. He can either confirm or deny that. Here's his opportunity. And Judge Judy's court, host of the Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM in Macon, online at thesesuperstations.com. And on the tube at 41NBC.

Bill, welcome in. Can you confirm or deny what we just said? How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys? Hey, buddy. Man, we're just sitting here talking about Chicago. Can you say the word cluster without everything else about how they're running that city? How do you lose an NFL team, BB? Especially, Bill, one that's steeped in tradition. Well, they're idiots up there. I mean, they're just, they're idiots. They have an idiot mayor. They have an idiot governor. They have no clue what's going on.

They have people dying left and right in the streets of Chicago. You know, I had a buddy of mine the other day, three days ago. He asked me, he said, man, I got some tickets for the Braves-Cubs game in mid-September. You want to go? And I'm like, I think I'm all right. Yeah. Yeah. If you want to see the beginning of the football season, that's a wise choice, Bill. So, in the meantime, baseball, Bill, are you taking the Bulldogs this weekend in your backyard to Super Regionals in Athens?

I'm taking my Georgia Bulldogs for sure. No question about it. It's going to be a great series. It's a lot of fun. These games, those Regionals last week were unbelievable. And it's going to be crazy this weekend. I think the first game started at noon, so I haven't seen the score of that yet. But it's going to be nuts. It's just a great time of year to see what all is going on with these games. The postseason of baseball in college is about as good as it is in major leagues.

And I just can't wait to see what happens. Georgia plays at 11 o'clock tomorrow, so it's going to be a little trying for that. But whatever. Who cares? They can hit home runs in the morning as well. Bill, let me ask you this. Obviously, Georgia is not known as a powerhouse in baseball. Ironically, Mississippi State is. But then you don't see St. John's, Arkansas, Slash, Little Rock, Troy, and either. Your thoughts about modern baseball, and since we're talking about it here, how NAL has affected it. And has that been the secret to Georgia now being the, pardon the pun, the big dog in the SEC?

What is their commitment to baseball with that share of the pie? No. Look, if Georgia wins the national championship, it'll be the third team in three sports that was predominantly transfer portal people. You had Indiana in football. You had Michigan in basketball, which was a predominantly, you know, transfer team. I think they're all five of their starting players on the Michigan bunch were transfers. Georgia, I don't know what the percentage is, but it's high. It's a large percentage. I had a friend of a friend who's got a son, and he's a prospect somewhere up near the Atlanta area.

[36:59] And somebody asked him if Georgia was after him, and they were like, no, Georgia just wants transfers now. And so that's how it is. You know, you've got to coach, and they've got their own reasons for how they do what they do. And I don't know if it's the right way or not. I mean, they're winning, so h***, it must be pretty good. They must have been strung to the pretty good roster. I think it's so interesting, though, because you never know with these transfer teams in any sport how the teams are going to come together.

You don't know if you'll have synergy and chemistry and makeup and all the stuff, the intangible stuff, that is always so important when a team's trying to win. So it's a gamble to a certain extent. But Georgia got a lot of pitching from the portal, and that helped a great deal. Daniel Jackson, I think he came from Walford, if I remember correctly. So, yeah, this is a transfer portal team. There's no question about that. It's going to be an interesting series. We talked about this a little bit yesterday.

Mississippi State's got their ace, Ryan McPherson, back. And I know Georgia, Trey Phelps, who got tossed last week for his, quote, taunting after flipping the bat with the home run. Now, Mississippi State wants to win these games 3-2. Georgia can do it 9-4. And as you mentioned, Jackson, he's probably going to win the Triple Crown. And I just honestly, State's a good team. You don't know what is going to happen in these Super Regionals. I just think Georgia sweeps this thing, wins 8-5, and they move on to Omaha.

Oh, I hope you're right. I mean, there's a lot of excitement about this team. It's fun, you know. It is. We get all caught up in college football, and rightfully so. But, you know, basketball and baseball, you've got a good team. It's so much fun. I wouldn't know what the h*** that is in basketball. It's been decades since that happened. But baseball, this is great. I mean, you know, Wes Johnson was a great hire. He's done a fantastic job. He's got pitching. And you've got to have pitching when you get this deep in the postseason.

You've got to have some pitching. And so that's going to be very key moving forward. There's no question about that. And, you know, they've got some guys who I think they've got to feel good about. And I think they do. It's just a question of, you know, matchups and teams getting hot at the right time. You've got to be careful about that. But, I mean, look, those teams that are playing, you know, Cal Poly and St. John, like Alabama's playing St. John's, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, they've got to be careful, too. I know. They've got to be careful. In the huddle, Mr. Bill Shane. He's there at thesesuperstations.com. Bill, let's stay with baseball, talk about the Braves, and obviously talk about the overall. But you mentioned pitching. A lot of folks may or may not know what's the latest as far as, as we call it, the mass report injuries. Your thoughts about where the Braves are right now, especially compared to last year when it comes to pitching staff. Oh, well, it's night and day.

I mean, last year for five weeks, they had their entire five opening day rotation on the injured list. Yeah. Right now, Creepsdale's healthy, knock on wood. I mean, he had his worst game last night of the year. That's okay. He'll bounce back. Yep. Major Strider missed the first month, but he's back, and he's done very well. Bryce Hiller's healthy. I mean, Martin Perez, his pitches tonight for Atlanta, he's done very well, and I think they are very thankful they have him. And so, yeah, it's been very important to see this team have some good luck, especially after it started very poorly in spring training with Schwellenbach and Waldrop.

Enjoy wins, getting hurt, to have a little bit of, you know, better luck here in the record season. It's very welcome. Let me ask you about the mass report. Now, Walt Weiss said, mentioned earlier, Waltrop begins a rehab assignment Monday. He said Smith-Schauver is, of course, again, he had a more extensive injury, but he is on track. He said Schwellenbach is on track. He said Drake Baldwin may come back, I believe, sometime in the next homestand, June 16 through 21. Is that pretty much what you've heard? Yep, that's pretty much it.

I mean, they, I think Baldwin will be back in a little less than two weeks. You know, they are very, very hyper about him. Yeah, go ahead. They're very hyper about him. They're very hyper about oblique injuries. And so they are very extra careful about that, which is fine. So I think Baldwin will be back at some point soon with that. And, you know, I don't really expect Schwellenbach. And that's not saying anything negative. I just think I'd rather be surprised by Schwellenbach. But even if he gets back, what's he going to be?

[42:07] We don't know, you know. And Waldrop and Smith-Schauver, if that's August, I mean, they could simply be additional options, which is good to have. The more options you have, the better. And so I'm anxious to see which one of those guys can contribute at some point during the regular season. Bill Shane, check him out, thesesuperstations.com. Interesting weekend series. Good news, Braves are hot. They've got the home cooking. But they're taking on the Pirates. The reason I call that interesting is everybody, if you don't follow baseball, it's like it's the Pirates.

The Braves have been great. And let's face it, it's Pittsburgh. But guess who's in second place behind the Brewers in the National League Central? It's the Pittsburgh Pirates. Your thoughts about the series this weekend, and in particular, you've got to like tonight's matchup. I was seeing here where Ronald Acuna Jr., he's hit .421 with three homers for his career against the Pirates starting tonight, Mitch Keller. Well, Pittsburgh is a very improved team. They've got Connor Grinton, who's a great young player that they've already invested in. They've got very good starting pitchers.

Their bullpen is kind of a mess. I read where they're looking for more bullpen help, so we'll have to see what that's all about. But, you know, they're a better team. Marcelo Zuno is back for his first game since leaving the Braves. He's had a horrible start to his season, but he's, of course, always dangerous to hit the ball out of the ballpark. So, you know, Martin Perez will go in their first game, and like I said, he's done really well for this Atlanta team. I think they've been very happy with what he's been able to do.

He's kind of a fist shotter type guy, and, you know, so they, look, they're 17. They've won 17 series. They've lost two series, and they've split one series. 17, two and one in the 20 series they've played so far this year. And that's all that Bobby Cox ever said to do. Win series. That's it. And they're doing it. There's no question they're doing it this year so far through the first 20. 42. If you do that, basically your percentage is going to be 67%. You're going to win 108 ballgames. And most years that's going to be a good enough to punch your ticket to the postseason, Bill.

Well, yeah, they'll definitely be there. I mean, they won 100, I think, four games three years ago for that offensive team that was so good. And so now, you know, they're a little more balanced now. The pitching is doing very well. The bullpen has been outstanding. You know, have the opportunity, I think, to keep this going. And, again, I think that's their mindset. Let's win a series. You get great. You want to sweep a team like Toronto after you've got the first two games. But, you know, you're not going to feel bad about 18, 18, or ballpark and 22 and 3.

There's no way. No. 42 and 21. They're eight and a half games over second place Philadelphia. And, again, I know a lot of people overlooked your comment. But I agree with you entirely. They started this by having a good spring. They have taken the momentum of being the best team in spring training. I know people laugh about that. And it's carried over to the offseason. As you mentioned, I thought they were actually 18-2-1 in the series so far. They stayed pretty healthy throughout. Michael Harris, again, he's my MVP, even over Olsen.

But, again, you look at so many of these guys, they've all contributed. But, again, I go back to that fast start. The start they had in the spring catapulted them to this. Well, it did. It's just been remarkable to see them do so well. And, you know, I think they've won 63 games, counting spring training. They've lost 28. So, 63-28-2. That's a pretty good win percentage. You're going to do pretty well if you're doing it. And, look, I know spring training doesn't matter. You're facing a bunch of, you know, minor league players.

You've got incomplete teams. But it just shows you kind of the mindset that started from day one that they've been able to capitalize on and continue with the regular season. And I think it's great. I mean, to me, there's two things that are the narratives for me with this season. Number one, they started all this in spring training. And number two, they've been outstanding since Walt Wise tackled Jorge Soler. That's right. Oh, man. Listen, how many – speaking of college baseball, which has been so refreshing this time of year, we talked about that yesterday.

Of the seven SEC teams, in your expert opinion, how many advanced to the College World Series? Hey, as long as it's one, that's all I care about. Oh, no, no. They can be more than one. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. There's only one team. Yes, it is. Well, they're favored against St. John's tonight, Bill, but we'll see what happens. If Alabama doesn't win against St. John's, I mean, it ain't like Patino's down there coaching that team. They better win. I mean, I think Auburn, obviously – Auburn's pitching is a question mark from an Auburn friend that I have.

[47:42] I do have a few Auburn friends. Really? They're all on probation, I want you to know. They have to check in with their probation officer before they even talk to someone as a sounding citizen as I am. But, no, Auburn's got to hit because, you know, they're pitching and they showed that a little bit in the regionals. They've got to be careful about that. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens. It'll be a strong SEC contingent. There's no question about that. I'm just glad Tennessee and Vanderbilt ain't there.

Oh, me. But tell us who's on the show today. Now, are you going tomorrow? Now, you've got to get up. You've had to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning to get there. They start so frigging early. Are you going tomorrow, and who have you got on the show? And if some of our incredible listeners would like to call your show, as they do from time to time, where can they jump online and do that? Well, we'll be on in one hour and eight minutes from the steakhouse restaurant in Hawkinsville.

We'll be eating some fried scraps and fried chicken and all, you know, very healthy. You know, everything in this restaurant is fat-free after 3 o'clock on Friday, so we're good to go. So we'll be on thesesuperstations.com, thesesuperstations.com. The F in Friday stands for, amongst other things, fried. So, Bill, listen, enjoy the meal. Enjoy the weekend, and thanks so much again for your time today, buddy. Okay. Thank you, buddy. Take care. Bill Shanks, host of the Bill Shanks Show, 93.1 FM in Macon and thesesuperstations.com. B.B., everybody thought that Texas Tech was just going to roll to the championship in the college softball world series, but another rich team had other ideas, B.B.

I'll tell you what, I really don't know why so many Alabama and SEC fans tweeted this, that they were delighted that Texas won the college world series. Yeah. I wonder why that's the case. I think it may have something to do with Texas Tech knocking out Alabama. And by the way, Texas Tech, always a bridesmaid and never the maid again this year. Coming up in the next hour, I'm going to be taking you all over the place. Mike Kugin is going to be on the board with us.

Doug Segrist, Justin Ferguson talking about tonight's big game of the Plains and Elmer Pierce and Morris right ahead on the Boom on Bug Show. Stay with us. Make the most of every lawn with Kubota commercial landscaping equipment. From the productivity-boosting Z700 mower to the reliable SVL track loader, it's a lineup built to get the job done right. Because when your reputation is on the line, you need equipment that will never let you down. Visit your local Kubota dealer today. Stop by Brown Equipment, located at 826 North Military Street in Loretto, or visit them online at brownequipmentcompany.com.

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Visit SoFi.com slash trick to learn more. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. 1819 News. Alabama National Guardsmen will be headed to Washington, D.C. in about a month to be part of the celebration of the nation's 250th birthday. Governor Ivey approved a request for 150 Guardsmen from ARAB to travel to D.C. for the July 4th events. The soldiers are part of the 123rd Quartermaster Company in ARAB. Governor Ivey said that the state of Alabama and the Alabama National Guard is proud to support Freedom 250, which is the name that has been given to the events that will be happening in the nation's capital in order to celebrate this momentous birthday of these United States.

I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Brian Dawson here, CEO of 1819 News. I'm also the host of 1819 News, the podcast, and we'd love for you to join us by listening to our weekly show on all the top podcast apps, both in audio and video format. At 1819 News, the podcast, we are in pursuit of a free and flourishing Alabama. Every week, we're having important conversations with guests from across this great state, all with the goal of equipping Alabamians to be in pursuit of a free and flourishing Alabama with us.

New episodes are released weekly. I hope you'll join us. A judge in Madison County has ruled that a restaurant must be closed down permanently due to the creation of public nuisances. The 708 Bar and Grill has been the location of repeated reports of gun violence, traffic problems, and safety issues. The owners of the restaurant argued in court that most of the incidences that were mentioned occurred after the restaurant had closed for the day. The judge determined that if the owners do choose to reopen under a new name, that the restaurant cannot serve alcohol.

The search for a missing Auburn University student continues into its seventh day. 20-year-old James Weston Higginbotham was last seen getting off of a train in Kyoto, Japan. He was there with his parents and brother on vacation and had decided to take a solo trip apart from his family on May 29th. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. T-Mobile has an exclusive bundle for customers 55 and up. I'm Sarah Bull. Yeah, I'm Frank Bull. A reliable network is key for us.

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It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. With that, we say hello to Mike Huguenin, the guru when it comes to college football and basketball down in Orlando, Florida. Mike, welcome in.

How are you? Doing quite well. Hey, bud. Looking at the count here, Mike. Not that anybody's counting, but 13 weeks from tomorrow for the first big weekend of college football, 12 for the warm-ups. How are you going to spend, how are you going to make it through the next 12-13 weekends, Mike? I think the key is to realize that we're already a week into June, and college football teams, there's going to be a bunch of them that open camp the last week of July. So, instead of focusing on the first game, focus on the camp's opening.

That's only about seven weeks away. There you go. Sort of incredible. You know, my back-of-the-day Jimmy Stewart, he was Mr. Smith when he went to Washington. This week, it was Mr. Saban going to Washington. Be interested to see. I always said, who was it? Humphrey Bogart should have played Nick Saban. I think that would have been a good matchup in Hollywood. But, Mike, your takeaway from Nick's visit to D.C. And to borrow a line from Willie Shakespeare, is that much to do about nothing. To an extent, yeah, I think it is.

I'm not sure that this bill is going to get passed, this newest bill, that it is bipartisan. And, you know, we talked about the idea that to save college sports, you need Congress to step in. That should scare everybody. And, you know, part of that, a lot of the things in the bill make sense. A lot do not and was challenged, I think, in court. You know, people are, I think everybody realizes there's problems. And there's been problems for two years now. But I think there's more of a concerted effort to get this stuff done.

And the CSC thing that oversees, rather, NIL deals was a major step forward. The problem with that is the same people who signed off on it are now saying, well, you know, maybe this isn't a good thing. And you're like, good Lord, you guys are – the reason this came about is everybody was upset with the way things were going. And now that there's a mechanism in place, you've got people whining and moaning. And the same people who are now talking about how great this bipartisan bill is, if it – you know, again, I don't think it's going to pass.

But if it is, I'll guarantee you within a week the same people now saying this is fantastic will be saying, wait a second here. This is not good after all. But I think we're in for a couple more years of the Wild West. Yeah, nothing's going to get solved soon. I think the key factor, if you're a college football fan, the games you watch every Saturday are awesome. I would argue that college football games are in a great place right now. It's the stuff that every other day of the week that's messed up.

But, again, Indiana's coming off a national title. Ole Miss was in a national semifinal. If that doesn't go to show that there's been a massive key change, I don't know what else. Mike, it's safe to say that – let's just have a little fun here and say that it does pass. How long is it going to take for the SEC and the Big Ten to say, see ya, we're not giving up control of those money bags to Congress and let them do what they want. We'll just go over and do our own thing.

[1:03:47] Yeah, you're exactly right. Part of it is I think there's a great pull with tradition. If you're a sports fan, the traditions are a big deal. But in the last two decades, three decades, college football traditions have mattered less and less. And I think that there is a certain segment of the population that's like, okay, there's 138 FBS football playing schools. It's important to keep all of them together, but that's part of the issue. Now, you cannot treat Alabama and UAB the same. You cannot treat LSU and Louisiana Lafayette the same.

You cannot treat Ohio State and Ohio U the same. Yes, they play the same sport, but you know something? They really don't play the same sport. So I think there are people like Cody Campbell at Texas Tech who think, well, if we have everybody on an even keel, Texas Tech will be the same as Texas. Well, you know something? Texas ain't going to allow that. Look what happened last night in Southville. And if you're being frank, they shouldn't allow it. So you're right. The minute something like that passes, the Big Ten and SEC schools are going to be like, wait a second here.

We're better than everybody else, and we don't need to share our toys with everybody else. Let me ask you about another component of this. You mentioned the College Sports Commission, which is, in essence, the NIL clearinghouse. I mentioned this earlier this week. A lot of these, and particularly the million-dollar deals, a lot of these have not been cleared yet. What if we get, you mentioned summer camp beginning, we get to the beginning of summer camp or the first couple weeks, Mike, and some of these deals are not done?

Are these higher-profile players going to say, look, I'm not participating in summer camp or the first game of the season until my deal's done? In other words, are they going to sit out? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you have an NIL deal that you were told would pay you X amount of money and you're not sure you're going to get X amount of money, yeah, I'm not out there practicing. No way. And you're right. That's part of the issue here as well. You know, we've talked about this for two decades, too.

The NCAA kicked the can down the road for so long that all of this came to a head basically at once. And the NCAA is not going to get dissolved. I don't think you need Congress to help you solve it, but I think that the schools have a lot of good ideas. And the quicker folks realize that the FBS ranks are going to be thinned out, the better off everybody is. Again, you might – you think you live in the same area, but one – let's get serious here.

Some people live in a one-bedroom studio apartment, and others live in a gated community where you have an eight-bedroom, 5,000-foot square house, square-foot house, and you're not the same. And that's causing a lot of the problems right now. If you've ever been to Houston, you see that it was a boom town. And on one street, you've got a mansion. Across the street, you've got a shack that didn't come in with any ordinances. So it's just they threw it up overnight. But, Mike, let me ask you this.

So we were talking earlier today. It just kind of illustrates the point. Nobody's surprised that – now, this is endowment, okay? They came out with a list about the SEC schools, who's the big dog and who's not. Everybody said Texas. Well, they're half right. Texas A&M. Here's what's ironic about it, Mike. They're approaching $20 billion in their endowment. Vanderbilt, shockingly, is number two. But they're basically – A&M's got two times the money. Vanderbilt, a mere $10 billion. And here's the point I'm trying to make. At the end of pulling up the caboose in the SEC, and this is, again, now endowment, LSU.

Where are they getting all that money? And what does it say about their priorities? Endowment's over here, but nobody's got more money to spend on NIL than LSU. Yeah, that is – and, you know, I have lived most of my life in the southeast. I did spend some time in Missouri and in New York City. My point was going to be that – let's just say that – and both my sisters are schoolteachers in public schools in Florida. Let's just say that there are other areas of the country that value education more than schools in the southeast.

Right. States in the southeast, I should have said. And then you come to the SEC, you know, Florida's an AAU school. Georgia's an AAU school. Vandy's an AAU school. Texas and Texas A&M are AAU schools. And the AAU is supposedly the most prestigious. Your point about the LSU endowment vis-a-vis the NIL, I don't think that surprises anybody. Let's look at – Ole Miss spends a lot of money on NIL. I don't, you know, I don't necessarily think there's a lot of, ooh, I'm a phenomenal student.

[1:09:17] I can go anywhere I want out of state. Ooh, I'm going to go to Ole Miss. You know, something that is never said. So, it is the priority aspect. And, you know, LSU spends a lot of money on baseball. They spend some on softball. They spend a lot on women's basketball. They got Will Wade, which means they are going to be spending money on basketball now, men's basketball. So, you're right. Where is all this money coming from? Not the endowment. Yep, I think I would say, well, they're spending it so they can be good at football.

Who cares about getting college degrees? Mike, this time of the year, and you kind of alluded to it, fans, of course, are looking forward to summer camp. Or they're reading Athlon or Lindy's preseason magazines. But in the state of Alabama, and some of these states, they're looking forward to a college baseball super regional. There are three teams from the state of Alabama. Alabama, Auburn, and Troy. Two from the state of Mississippi. Seven teams from the SEC. And, of course, I think these got started about an hour ago.

Mike, how many teams from the SEC advanced to the College World Series? I think it could be as many as five. And you mentioned Troy. Troy or Arkansas Little Rock is going to be in the College World Series. Yes, absolutely. And which, you know, in this era where you do have SEC schools spending money on college baseball, I'm pretty sure that Troy and Arkansas Little Rock combined don't spend money on baseball like the lowest spending SEC schools. So, that is a great story. And, you know, there were a lot of upsets in college baseball, which is good to see.

But the SEC, I think the ACC has been a big disappointment. I think North Carolina could be the team that wins it all. But there's going to be a lot of SEC baseball fans in Omaha next week. I agree with you entirely. Yeah, and Cinderella has been loud and proud in college baseball in the postseason. Listen, it's sheer delight to talk with you about so much of this stuff. I wish we had more time. Have a great weekend. Enjoy college baseball. But let's do this again next Friday.

Excellent. Thanks, guys. Thank you so much. And, again, only 12 weeks to the first weekend of college football, 13 to the next big one. There you have it. The man, Mike Hugan in the huddle with us. Let's go from Mike to Doug. Doug Segrist on deck. Stay with us. Hello, Shoals. It's Elmer Pierce from Garner Pierce Autos. Are you tired of being told that it will take two weeks to service your vehicle or even to look at it to tell you what's wrong with it? Are you tired of being told that it's going to be $200 to $300 an hour for labor?

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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. Harry Douglas here to help you get in on the sweet life with cotton candy 5-hour energy. It's that classic throwback cotton candy flavor, but with zero sugar and a 5-hour energy boost.

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That's right. Free. At ZipRecruiter.com slash free. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash free. ZipRecruiter.com slash free. ZipRecruiter. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9. The score. Last night, game two of the Stanley Cup Finals went to the Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime. That series tied up at one apiece. Atlanta Braves fell yesterday. They lost to the Blue Jays 7-2. The Braves had four hits offensively. Chris Sale took the loss. He drops to 8-4. Braves are 42-21. They'll play at home tonight as they start a series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In college baseball, Super Regional played tonight. Detroit Trojans are at home. They'll take on Little Rock in game number one. Also tonight, the Auburn Tigers are at home against Ole Miss. Tomorrow night, Alabama opens their series against St. John's. The winner of the best of three series will head to the College World Series. 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. Do Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms keep coming back?

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The last time we got together last week in the context of the time, Auburn baseball was playing Milwaukee. Their chances of winning was about the same as Brent and I getting a date with the homecoming queen at Alabama, if that matters, Zip City Elementary. What did they do? Did they do what Brent and I did, take a shower? Or what happened there, Doug? They just grinded it out. Yeah. Just very impressive. And, I mean, playing late in the night, in the early morning. You know, and the other elimination game was just wild.

You know, where they couldn't put in two state away. So, that's just, that's part of the nature of this time of the year. You just don't know what you're going to get in this tournament. How refreshing has it been for you that there are three Alabama teams in the Super Regionals. I think all three of them have got a very good chance of advancing to the College World Series. But three from the state of Alabama, seven in the SEC. There's just a buzz about this in the state of Alabama.

Huge crowds for all of these games. All three teams hosting. Hasn't this been refreshing? Yeah, it really has. And, again, you know, for the rest of the world, kind of things with Troy as Johnny come lately. You know, they're not that far above 500. But, I mean, they've got an RPI, you know, top 30 RPI. Because they've gone out and played everybody. And, you know, they've taken some losses in the midweek games. Which, you know, just, they've gone out and just played an incredible schedule. So, wouldn't it be something if we had three teams in the Super Regionals?

[1:19:40] Yes, wow. You know, I was there in 97. The rest of the world couldn't take it, Doug. They'd be changing the rules before they got down with the series, I guarantee you. Doug, let's start first things first. Tonight, two familiar old buddies. The irony is, it's Auburn and Ole Miss, the game of the Plains. And, looking at the schedule, they didn't face each other in the regular season. But, tonight, they will. The first of the best of three. What goes there, Doug? I like Auburn in this one.

You know, Ole Miss struggled a little more just to, you know, guarantee a good spot in the tournament. I just think with the home crowd, it's just going to be electric. And, again, you just wonder how distracted, you know, at least the Ole Miss fan base is to gripe about the rooms. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before. 2026, Doug. Oh, my God. They're staying in Opelika. That's at least 12 minutes away. I don't know how they're going to make it. Are they driving or is somebody going to drive them there, Doug?

Can you help us out with that? I think you're going to have to get a train. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's the only way we'll fly in at that point from Opelika. I just, I've never seen anything like it. But, I like Auburn in this one. You know, on that topic, Doug, one year we went down and covered the whole week, the Iron Bowl at Auburn when it was before. And, guess where we stayed? We stayed in Columbus at the Motel 6. I'm over six feet. And, guess where the shower heads were?

So, I would take Opelika. Well, and, you know, for the most part, you know, everybody plays Alabama, stays in Birmingham. Yeah. You know, it's a much for us. I don't get that. But, this brings back good memories. Because, in 97, Alabama and Auburn both made the College World Series. I was there. You also had LSU and Mississippi State. I mean, half your field was from the SEC West. Yeah. And, that was just really wild. And, that's why I'd just like to see some of these streaks continue.

Who was the Alabama star that stepped on a baseball and broke his foot? Roberto Vance. There you go. There you go. If he does not do that, I think Alabama wins that national championship in 97. Let me ask you about this Alabama team, their rotation. Tyler Faye, Zane Adams, Miles Upchurch, has started, as far as being consistent, started nearly every series this year. The hitting, at times, is very good. Brady Neal, Justin LeBron, who's been up and down, Bryce Fowler, Eric Hines, and friends. But, their defense is awful.

They committed six errors. I don't know if the Bad News Bears committed six errors with Walter Matthau in the day. But, if they can play, and again, I don't think they're going to take St. John's lightly. But, they've got the pitching and the hitting if the defense comes to play. Yeah, the offense just really turns on. Yeah, and when they do play defense, I mean, it's spectacular defense. It's just hard to fathom sometimes. But, you know, Hines has come out of nowhere. LeBron is back to being LeBron.

I really like their chances to advance as well. I just think they're the better team. Now, St. John's has gotten, you know, captured lightning in a bottle. But, over the course of the season, they just haven't played the same type of schedule. So, I just like Alabama to advance. You know, I mean, we haven't heard of St. John's baseball since we're in the 70s. And, I'm trying to think what the great pitching matchup was. Frank Viola and, I forget who was pitching for St. John's. And, it was just, like all the pro scouts went there.

Because, that was back when St. John's was the power. Yeah, it's kind of like Seton Hall one year came to Huntsville for the regionals. A guy named Craig Biggio was on that team. They had some names that basically came out of nowhere. Doug, your thoughts about the news of the week down the road from you there with Aidan Holloway. Your reaction to it and what it means for the young man. What it means for this Alabama program. I think with him and, if he and Allen are back, with the mix of talent that Nate Olsen has assembled.

I mean, they're going to be bigger. They're going to have one of the bigger front lines in the country. And, that was their weakness this year. If they play defense, I don't think they'll, I doubt they will shoot as well as they did last year. But, they can still play a frenetic pace. Because, I think they're back in the hunt again. You know, everybody's talking about Arkansas. They're talking about Tennessee. And, after that, it's kind of, you know, Alabama, Kentucky, Auburn, maybe Texas A&M. So, I think they're right kind of in the mix where you're looking at maybe Sweet 16 is the goal.

[1:24:52] Anything else after that can happen. I think that's how far he's taken the program. I agree with you on that. Yeah, Tennessee reinvented themselves. And, I've been asking the Florida beat writers that the Gators have got to be number one going into preseason, Doug. They've returned their entire front court. And, a front court that contributed to the national title two years ago. And, so, yeah, that Florida-Duke matchup in the SEC challenge is just going to be off the chains. But, again, you know, we saw this past year, it took them a while to gel.

So, you know, the SEC could be wide open because there's so many good teams. I think this is more like the SEC we saw two years ago. Yeah. And, it didn't necessarily translate in the tournament. Florida did win the national title. Auburn got to the Final Four. But, there was some disappointments along the way. So, we'll see if the consistency's there. All right, sports legend. There are seven SEC teams playing this weekend. How many of them go to the College World Series? Yeah, of course, two will be knocked out.

I think four is a legitimate number. And, again, when you look around, you know, UCLA's not around. You know, we saw some teams we expect to be there who aren't there. So, some paths got easier. But, I think four is the floor at this point. Absolutely. Listen, always great to talk with you. We've got a French Open update. Coming up. Listen, have a great week. Let's do this again real soon. Wee wee. I believe I will in the break. Doug, thanks for the reminder. Zach Seger's voted one of the 50 legends of Alabama sports writers.

You know, speaking of BB, the bottom line from that to BB, good weekend for Alabama to host some prime guys on the football recruiting trail. What better host than to have a super regional in your backyard, my friend? That kind of helps for entertainment, doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Can't hurt. I guarantee you that. Coming up, the latest from the French Open across the Atlantic. Stay with us here on 93.9, The Score. Western One Sports presents this special tennis update sponsored by Grainger, with professional-grade products for every industry Grainger has you covered.

Call, click Grainger.com, or just stop by. French Open men's semifinals started with a battle of big guys. Six-foot-six-inch Alex Zverev against Jakub Menchik, who's 6'5". Opening set, no service breaks until Zverev, held by two Menchik double faults, broke at five all. He won the first set, 7'5", then 6'2". He lost the third 6'3", but took the fourth 6'3", and Zverev, the second seed, is into Sunday's final when he'll face Flavio Caboli, seeded 14th. He was to play fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi, but shortly before the match was to begin, Arnaldi had to withdraw due to a viral illness that he said began last night.

For the women, Mary Andreeva, the 19-year-old Russian, seeded 8th, the only one to avoid an upset. She's in her first Grand Slam final, having lost only one set, and tomorrow she'll take on the Cinderella story. Maya Walensky. John Stash Hour, Westwood One Sports. This is the story of the one. The one who keeps multiple buildings running smoothly, day after day. Plumbing that flows, HVAC that hums, cleaning supplies that keep surfaces sparkling. That's why she counts on Grainger. With easy reordering online and 24-7 support, Grainger helps her keep the products she needs on hand.

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Liberty. It's an American thing. From AmericanThing.org. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back again. Really appreciate your ride around the valley. And for Justin Ferguson, taking time out of his busy schedule. They're coming to the Auburn Tigers at the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing all right. How are you? Hey, buddy. A lot to get to, Justin. But I'll tell you what. Brett and I have had the opportunity and the privilege of interviewing Paul Allen over the years.

Sad news. A man who couldn't be more Auburn. A very familiar voice with the Auburn family. Your thoughts about the passing of Paul Allen. Yeah, it was a sad story hearing that yesterday. You know, I grew up with Paul Allen being kind of the voice of Auburn's studio shows or pre-game, post-game stuff. And so, I mean, I've been hearing Paul Allen's voice my entire life. And that's, you know, he was a guy who had, I think, the perfect radio voice. And, you know, he was also just an incredible person, getting to meet him and, you know, getting to know him a little bit better in my time covering Auburn.

You know, just a guy that was an icon around here, and he's going to be terribly missed. One of the very best to ever do it around here, for sure. Did a great job with the scores. In particular, half-time in the post-game. Absolutely nothing going on in Auburn for the next four or five days. I was going to ask you if you considered renting out your house, parking cars on the side to make a little bit of money. It is going to be incredible in what's going on.

But baseball begins tonight with Ole Miss. It really has been exciting to have three teams in the state of Alabama with a chance to advance to the College World Series. Ole Miss is a good team, too. They have a play this year, which amazes me. Auburn did it the hard way. Your thoughts on Ole Miss and Auburn's series beginning tonight? Yeah, an incredible series coming up. And, yeah, it's kind of weird to think, hey, you didn't play this team in the SEC until the Super Regionals, if you're Auburn.

Really interesting team. I think the thing with this Ole Miss team that really stands out to me, pretty boom or bust offense. Not great in batting average, but they walk a lot and hit a lot of homers. So, a lot of strikeouts, a lot of kind of going for broke, hitting the ball, but they make you earn it. It work counts pretty well and really swing for the fences. And, you know, really, I think Auburn's got to just do a good job of throwing strikes and making sure that those guys don't get super deep on them in this game.

[1:35:32] Because I do think this series is set up really well for Auburn. I mean, you look at Auburn, what they did this past weekend. When you look at your three weekend starters and really three elite relievers who can handle two, three, four innings out of the pen, Auburn's set up really, really well for a best-of-three series on the mound. But those guys can't give Ole Miss any help because they will do a good job of drawing walks, getting on base, and then trying to just go for the hammer shot every time at the plate.

So, that's something Auburn's got to be wary of. On the flip side, Auburn's offense coming off a really good weekend. Scored, you know, they averaged about ten runs a game, you know, over this little stretch. Did a really good job of just hitting the ball and hitting the ball out of the park. Chase Raleigh had one of the best weekends ever for anybody that you're going to see with the amount of homers he hit. But I think top-to-bottom, Auburn got really good at bats from a lot of different guys.

They're really kind of living up to their potential, what we thought in the preseason. This could be one of the, you know, better top-to-bottom offenses in college baseball, and they've lived up to it. Ole Miss, pretty good pitching staff. Their number one starter who's going to go tonight is very experienced. You know, was on that national championship team a few years ago. Had Tommy John, missed a couple years, but he's back. Struggled a little bit last week in regional play, but when he's on, he's one of the best in the league.

They've got good depth out of their bullpen as well, really a league closer. So it's a really good balanced matchup for sure. I like Auburn. I like Auburn's ability to kind of hit for average more, a little bit more top-to-bottom thump in their lineup. And they've got home field advantage, but I'm expecting an incredible few games here between Auburn and Ole Miss at Plains and Park starting tonight. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. Back to that point about Ole Miss trying to work the count. A lot of it's going to depend on the strike zone for the umpire.

That's going to be key. It's kind of like in basketball. How sensitive are they with a whistle when it comes to fouls? Justin, your thoughts about, back to Auburn, the lesson they learned, it's interesting. Last, what, Friday we were talking, and in the context of that time, it was Armageddon and even worse for this Auburn baseball team with Milwaukee. Not the Brewers, but the Panthers. What did Auburn learn from that first game? Yeah, I think they just learned, you know, how to handle adversity. I think Milwaukee just jumped all over them.

It kind of shell-shocked Auburn. They were a little late to kind of recover, and it just kind of spiraled from there. They had to kind of dig into their bullpen and just, you know, kind of say, all right, well, we'll hand this one, but we've got to play. You'll play well from here on out. They played that NC State game right after that and gave up a good bit of runs, but their offense kind of came through. And I think really once they got that first win out of the way, they just kind of reset and just said, okay, you know, clean slate.

Let's get back to, you know, so let's get back to pitching the way that we've been in the past. And I think those six pitchers I mentioned earlier for Auburn just all did a great job of making it last for those last three games. So I think the offense did a really good job of bailing out the pitching. I think throughout the season for Auburn, it's kind of been the other way around. Your pitching staff's been able to kind of win you games when your offense hadn't been excellent.

It was kind of the other way around the first two games in this regional. And then when they kind of coincided, when you were getting really good offense and really good pitching at the same time, Auburn was able to kind of take care of business with their backup against the wall. So, you know, I think responding to adversity is the thing this team's done really well all year. And they got to show it, you know, in spades last week against a team like Milwaukee, having to beat them a few times when Milwaukee had, you know, all the momentum and confidence in the world coming off that first game.

So I think for Auburn, I think, you know, it just once again was a real test of how well this team responds to adversity. So when you think of a best-of-three-game series at home in Plainsman Park this weekend, you feel pretty good about the chances, even if things don't go quite as well for them, maybe tonight or early in this series. This team's done a really good job of battling, and I think they showed it in how they handled that regional. Quite a time of the year for football, but it hasn't been for the Auburn staff recruiting.

Picked up four-star Isaac McNeil from Biger earlier in the week. Aiden Wiggins, three-star defensive back from South Carolina. Another running back, Kingston Miles from St. Louis. Auburn's been doing pretty well on the recruiting trail. They've done an excellent job. I had somebody I was talking to earlier this week that said they felt like this past weekend for Auburn was one of their best official visit weekends in recent memory by any staff around here. You know, they walked out of there with seven and actually rode to eight commitments.

Now, not all those guys have announced yet, but they have done a really good job of just kind of catching fire on the recruiting trail at the right time. And I think for a guy like, you know, for a guy like Alex Goalish, there was a lot of questions of, okay, can he recruit in this league? How is it going to do? Can he hang with the best of the best? It's early. It's June. Still a long way to go for a national signing day, obviously.

But Auburn's got a top-20 class, top-five in the SEC. They're ahead of some really big teams right now. So I think they've done a really good job of, you know, getting off to a great start with this class. Got another big official visit weekend coming up. But, yeah, really, really strong class. To this point. And they feel like it's just kind of getting started for them. Justin, we checked the calendar. 13 weeks to the first big weekend of college football, including the Auburn Tigers. But according to the little fly on the wall, you've got football over the next few days at Auburn.

[1:41:02] Can you explain that? Yeah, Tuesday night, where you've got Argentina versus Iceland. The final tune-up friendly before the World Cup gets underway for Argentina, the defending world champion. So Lionel Messi, probably the greatest to ever play the sport. One of the biggest global superstars in sports history is going to be playing at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Tuesday night. And it's going to be a huge weekend. You think about it, you're coming off of this big super regional where, you know, they're expecting to have over 10,000 fans at Plainsman tonight, you know, and kind of blowing that out.

And then you get to kind of recover on Monday and then Tuesday. It's a big global sporting event where there are going to be people from all over the country and all over the world, really, coming to Auburn to watch this team before the World Cup gets underway. So it's going to be a really, really impressive, you know, day. They're going to do an Eagle flight before the game. They were practicing that today as well. And they're getting reinforcements. And like you were saying earlier, I probably need to, you know, find a way to, you know, rent out my house.

Yeah, I got a couple of spare rooms right now. We should probably be doing something with that. I do my, you know, I live a few miles away from campus. My parents actually live a mile from the stadium. And I know plenty of people who are going to be parking in front of their house and try to walk there over these next few days. So they're going to be getting a lot of traffic around there. Listen, you probably get $500 a night, you know that, for a couple of nights.

Oh, yeah. Exactly. No doubt. 6 a.m. mailbag, I mean, emails, Friday mailbag, podcasts, where can we get online to get all the great stuff? Yep, auburnobserver.com. We've got recruiting on there. We've got some football. This week we can add a lot of baseball from our guy Henry Patton covering for us. Get a mailbag episode on the podcast today. You can check all that out at auburnobserver.com. Sign up, $6 a month or $60 a year to get you access to everything. We'll have live coverage of Auburn's Super Regional this weekend, and we will roll right into next week with some more football and basketball coverage as well.

So sign up there. And let's hope the weather cooperates this week. Justin, have a good weekend, and thanks so much. Yeah, appreciate it, guys. Thank you, buddy. Justin, Ferguson, because you're there with the Auburn Observer. By the way, BB, how do you say Tumor's Corner and Toilet Paper in Argentina? Well, we may find that out next week. Maybe Elmer Pierce has the answer. We'll find out about that and more straight ahead. Stay with us. We'll find out about that and more straight ahead. Stay with us.

This is Keith at Cypress Creek Indoor Range. We're turning nine and want to celebrate with you all week from May 31st to June 6th. Representatives from Smith & Wesson, Browning, FN, Winchester, Dead Air, and more will be here. We'll also be having a suppressor class open to everyone with great discounts for all those that attend. Plus tons of door prizes and even a sidewalk sale. Each day we'll highlight different aspects of our business like training, matches, memberships, optics, suppressors, gun sales, ammos, accessories, and more. Our Facebook page will have all the details or sign up to be on our email list.

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Welcome back in. It is a privilege for us to open the door and say hello to Elmer Pierce, owner of Garner Pierce Autos. Elmer, welcome in. Are you ready for a five-star weekend out at Garner Pierce Autos? How are you? Absolutely, guys. Absolutely. Thank y'all so much for having me today. Welcome back in. Listen, we were talking the other day. You brought up something, Elmer, before we get into the good stuff that you got going on this weekend. You were, you know, you're not exactly a rookie to the business here in the shows.

What's it like to go from a big old company to saying, you know what? I think we can do this here on our own at Garner Pierce Autos. That's a leap of faith. Obviously, you've got the secret recipe. Talk to us about your journey to here. Well, guys, you know, I spent a lot of time in the franchise world, which, for those that don't know, means new car dealership. I worked with the Jim Bishop organization for 23 years, left there, went to the Bentley organization for two years before my partner and I had the opportunity to open this place.

And exactly what you said, it was just like all of these stores are going corporate and corporate and, you know, getting bought up. And they have a way of doing business that I don't think people like. And obviously, it's in the numbers that they don't, you know, people don't like because they're not selling as many cars now as we were 12, 15 years ago in much larger, bigger dealerships. So, you know, the numbers speak for themselves. We kind of run our organization here like a mom and pop, number one, and number two, kind of like a new car dealership because we have service, we have sales, we have accessories, you know, we've got parts that we sell, we have warranties that we sell.

We can actually sell customers' cars that, you know, hey, guess what, dealers only going to give me $10,000 for it. I really want $11,500. We'll put it out here, sell it for them. Get them more money than they can through the dealer, number one. And number two, we literally find cars all over the southeast, all over the country for customers every single day. I can't tell you how many customers I have call and go, hey, hey, Elmer, I'm looking for this car. And I'll send them five or six different, you know, pictures or videos, turn around, and they go, hey, I really like that second one.

I'll send them 40, 50 photos of that car. They like it. We buy it. And boom, there you go. Next thing you know, it's sitting on our doorstep, and we're delivering it to that customer right here without them having to go through six hours of trying to deal with a new car dealer or wait to get paperwork done and stuff like that. Elmer, that's what I was going to mention. We talked about this the other day. If I'm a customer, and I walk into your store and say, Elmer, I want a red 2023 Toyota Camry with 50,000 miles on it.

Elmer, y'all do that all day long, don't you? All day long. All day long, absolutely. And not only that, we delivered, I've still got a lot of connections within Toyota and GM, and we delivered three brand new Highlanders yesterday and took three Highlanders on trade yesterday. So we do stuff like that pretty often as well. Elmer, talk about what I mentioned the other day. I think you've got the most underrated service department in the shoals. Believe me, I'm quite familiar with the work you've done on my UConn.

[1:51:25] Talk about the best service department in the shoals, bud. Hey, and we feel that way. I mean, you know, 120-something years of service or service experience and the guys back there in service, we take good care of you. We explain it. We're not one of those service shops that are going to charge you $250 an hour, $300 an hour, then tell you it's going to be two weeks before we can look at it. So, you know, we've got a great team of guys back there. They're very knowledgeable.

They do a lot of training and ongoing training and stuff like that. So we can do anything from oil changes to engine and transmission replacements. And not only that, we literally do tons and tons of fleet service work. So we can handle any job, small or large. Elmer, tell us before we let you go, the who, what, when, where's location, address, hours, et cetera. Yes, Monday through Saturday, sales is open. Saturday, we're 9 to 2. Monday through Friday, 8 till 5. And, guys, if you need us here after hours, our phone numbers are on the front of the door.

They're on the website. My cell number is there. So 2261 Florence Boulevard, right next to Applebee's, right here in Florence, www.garner-pierceautos.com. And you can find all of our inventory there. It's got a service appointment there. Anything you need to do, we can take care of. No football this weekend, so no excuse not to get out and huddle with you. Would you agree, Elmer? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, please come and see us this weekend. We've got a good selection of inventory that's coming in the last couple of days.

We bought some more today. It'll be here within a couple of days. And if you're looking for something or need us to sell something for you, please come and see us here at Garner-Pierce Autos. Sounds great, Elmer. Listen, man, thank you and all the best this weekend, okay? Appreciate it. You too, guys. Thank you, bud. Elmer Pierce, owner of Garner-Pierce Autos. B.B., are you ready for some baseball tonight with the Braves, tomorrow night with them, and also tonight the Auburn Tigers? Going to be a super weekend, Harold Bugg.

The Braves, by the way, will take on the Pirates on the mound. Perez, he is 279 with the ERA, 3-3. The Braves will start the night 8 1⁄2 up on the second-place fields in the NL East. It's going to take care of business for business for now. On behalf of B.B., Greg James Blair, the entire crew here, Harold Bugg, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again Monday, noon to 2 for the Boom on Bug Show, back here on Sports Radio 93.9, The Score.