Boomo Bugg Show 021326
93.9 The Score WYTK - February 13, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-021326/

This transcript was generated automatically from the broadcast audio. Names and some words may be misspelt; the audio is the official record.

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Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee.
It's time for the Valley's Exclusive FM Sports Voice.
The Boomo Bugg Show.
Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC.
Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score.
Good afternoon and welcome in to the Boomo Bugg Show.
I'm Hill Bugg alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
Brett Beaird, welcome in where Auburn picks up a big one on the recruiting trail.
Ole Miss picks up a big football win in February.
And SEC baseball teams say play ball.
Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?
Happy Friday to you and the listeners.
The Mississippi Judge grants Ole Miss cornerback Trinidad Chambliss an injunction for an extra year of eligibility.
We'll discuss that throughout the show.
Zach Pounders of the Shoals Sports Report preview Shoals teams going to Wallace State next week.
Jimmy is here right now to talk about a new tight ends coach for Kalen DeBoer, 8A and a little Alabama basketball.
And that ain't all.
Jimmy Stein's co-host of Locked On Bama.
You guessed it, part of the Locked On Network.
Jimmy, welcome in.
Happy Friday to you.
How are you?
Oh, I'm doing great, guys.
I appreciate y'all having me back.
Hey, Jimmy.
Man, we appreciate you taking time out to join us.
Let's go to what Brett alluded to there.
A lot of Alabama fans say, we need some help with our assistant coaches.
Jimmy, did they add to answering those questions and picking up Richard Owens from Louisville?
He's actually arguably maybe my favorite hire of the new hires for a couple of reasons.
Number one, when the offensive line job came open, coincidentally, that day I was contacted by a guy in football that said that he strongly urged Alabama or hoped Alabama would hire Richard Owens from Louisville to coach the offensive line.
And then I started kind of digging into him and thought that he would be a really good candidate, you know, for that job and thought there was a possibility that might work out.
But then when Adrian Clem was ultimately hired, I certainly thought that was a good hire.
I wasn't disappointed at all in the Adrian Clem hire.
I thought it was really good.
But at the same time, I'm like, wow, I thought that Richard Owens thing would work out.
And then lo and behold, he ends up being the tight end hire.
What I really like about it is, first of all, even though I realize he's just leaving an offensive line coaching position, he actually has extensive experience coaching the tight end position.
He was a tight end himself in college and the NFL before embarking on a career largely coaching tight ends.
In fact, Alabama's last tight end coach, Brian Ellis, he had never coached the tight end position before getting to Alabama and working for Kalen DeBoer.
So you've actually got a more experienced tight end coach than you had the last time around.
But even more so than that, what I really like is his time as an offensive line coach and as a run game coordinator.
To me, it's just another overt sign that Kalen DeBoer and Ron Grubb realize what has to be fixed.
And they're putting a lot of resources into fixing what they know what has to be fixed.
They must have been listening to Locked On Bama.
Jimmy, he's paid his dues.
You look at his resume two times at Louisville, but also stops at UAB, Georgia Southern, and South Alabama.
He's worked his way up the ranks.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
A lot of promotions.
He's also worked, ironically, he worked with Brian Ellis at Georgia Southern.
I think that's where some of this has come from.
He also worked for Kane Womack or worked with Kane Womack at South Alabama.
So there's a lot of tie-ins there.
So I think this is someone that they were familiar with.
But, hey, you know, I don't know what the exact number is,
but I think people might be surprised to know how many coaches interview for a spot like this.
Don't be surprised, for instance, and again, I don't know this,
but don't be surprised if the number is like more than 10
and maybe even as high as 18 or 19.
In terms of coaching, they get to an interview process.
There's always tremendous interest when a job at an Alabama opens up.
And, ultimately, this was the choice.
But, to me, the choice speaks out loud to you've got to run the ball better than you did a year ago.
I think so many point to the offensive line as the main reason Alabama struggled to run the ball in 2025.
I do think that was a factor.
No question it is.
But I also think a factor that's not talked about enough is the blocking and tight end.
Cuevas is an excellent pass receiver, and he's an okay blocker.
But they switched from 12 personnel to 11 personnel, meaning Cuevas was usually out there by himself.
And he's not really what I would call an edge setter.
In fact, if Cuevas was an outstanding blocker, he'd probably go in the first round of the draft.
Because he has first, second round ability as a pass catcher.
But he's more likely to go third or fourth round because he's still got to work on that physical aspect of it.
Alabama's got to improve its blocking from the tight end position.
And, boy, hiring a guy with the offensive line background that Richard Owens has is a step in that direction.
Good points.
Jimmy, a day announced earlier this week will be April the 11th, 1 p.m.
A lot of people thought it might be the 18th, which it normally is, the third Saturday.
But there's a big country western concert literally being held inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday, April the 18th.
Jimmy, Brian Fowler told us yesterday practice may begin around March 9th.
But what are you hearing as far as the date that practice begins?
And, Jimmy, will it be more of a traditional spring game this time?
Yeah, I believe it will be March 9th.
It will be practice number one.
That's what we believe in lockdown.
Alabama's not announced that.
So they haven't announced that it could change, but I believe it will be March 9th, which is a Monday.
And that will allow them to practice and then still spring break, I believe, is the following week.
So it'll be – Alabama's done this traditionally where spring break's in the middle of spring practice.
But all that really does is allow you kind of an extra week to have some amount of control over the team.
It's also a good reminder to the team not to go too crazy on spring break because you're just leaving practice.
You've got to come back to practice.
But in terms of what's going to happen on A-Day, again, no announcement from Alabama.
But I just get the general impression from talking to people that the lean is that it's going to be some type of game.
Now, I don't believe it will be a practice.
Last year, it was a practice.
I mean, what they did on that day was just similar to what they would have done on any other practice day.
I think this is going to be more of a game or more of a scrimmage situation.
Now, what I'm expecting is also there might be some sort of modified game.
And that's not crazy.
In fact, DeBoer basically did this year one at Alabama.
There was an A-Day game.
In his year one, it was a game.
But it was modified with a different type of scoring system and all that.
It could happen that way.
But I do believe fans will be treated to more of a traditional game than they were last year.
Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked On Bama, part of the Locked On Network.
Tuscaloosa judge says no to Betty Iaco.
An Oxford judge says yes to Ole Miss.
Jimmy, what's the difference in these cases?
We haven't seen all the fine print, but it's very interesting how one person can go to court and get the green light.
Another one goes and gets the red light.
And by the way, he gets two red lights because the boss of the SEC says, go for it, NCAA.
Say no to him.
Yeah.
Yeah, that part of it is extremely frustrating.
Here's the frustrating part of it for me.
And then I'll talk about the part that's not that particularly frustrating.
The frustrating part is the NCAA fought this.
The NCAA says, under our rules, as we write the rules and enforce them, Chambliss is not eligible.
And Ole Miss had asked the NCAA four or five different times.
The NCAA said no every time.
Now go back a year, year and a half to the Diego Pavia case, where JUCO years had always counted.
That was a rule that the NCAA had, that JUCO years count.
It was a rule that the NCAA member institutions were in support of, and the NCAA fights it, and Pavia gets a local judge to say,
okay, your JUCO should count, you can play.
What frustrates me is that Pavia was a national darling of sorts by both the media, and he even got a couple of game days.
And to some extent, Pavia is a national hero of sorts when a judge ruled him eligible against the NCAA's wishes.
Betiaco tried something similar, and now he's a bad guy.
And Alabama's the evil empire, you know, for basically fighting the NCAA to get a player eligible.
Other players fight the NCAA, win, and they're celebrated.
That part of it is frustrating to me.
But obviously, case by case, cases are largely decided on their facts, applying the law to the facts.
And the Chambles case, the Pavia case, the Betiaco case, they're all wildly different, you know, facts-wise.
And I get that, and I understand that.
But it is frustrating how the NCAA says none of the three should be playing,
and two of them will be wildly celebrated while the third one is shunned.
Yeah, Jimmy, the trend in that Chambliss, to me, is more of a medical red shirt.
He had a terrible case with tonsillitis.
In fact, they had a physician as a witness who documented very strongly the issues that Chambliss had,
and that that's much more of a medical red shirt.
Jimmy, before we let you go, Alabama trying to get win number four against South Carolina tomorrow night.
And if Rachel scores 21, I'll predict right now Alabama wins the game.
I love that prop bet type prediction, and I agree.
I think with Alabama, they have a pretty deep team.
And by deep, I don't mean the numbers.
The numbers aren't great.
But what they're deep in is they have more than five guys that are capable of helping you win big SEC games.
They actually have eight or nine guys that can help you win big SEC games.
But the big three to me are Phylon, Reitzel, and Holloway.
Holloway's been banged up.
He's got a bad wrist.
And he is able to play.
But I think those that have seen Holloway play a lot realize he's not really 100% or he's not at the top of his game.
Phylon also banged up.
Reitzel also banged up.
But they're a little closer to 100% than Holloway is.
But point being, I'm still waiting for the day or the night that Phylon, Reitzel, and Holloway are all healthy and all having a great night.
I don't think we've seen it yet.
For Alabama's sake, I hope it doesn't happen against South Carolina in a home game.
I hope it happens in the second or third round of the NCAA tournament because I do think Alabama is going to be extremely difficult to beat when all three of those guys are healthy and playing well.
As good as Alabama has been, and they'd be a four seed today, according to Joe Lenardi, against the number one schedule in the country.
So they've been good.
But we still haven't seen those big three healthy and all playing well at the same time.
When we do, we're probably going to see a heck of a basketball team.
Jimmy, they'd score 130 points in that game, if that ever happens.
Listen, great stuff, as always.
You and Luke Robinson do a superb job.
Jimmy, where can we get online and get the best Alabama sports podcast on the planet?
Locked on Bama, you can find us on YouTube.
We have new shows virtually every day, six, seven days a week, a new 30-minute show, again, on YouTube, Locked on Bama, or you can listen to it in podcast form wherever you get your podcasts.
Locked on Bama with myself and Luke Robinson.
Sounds great, Jimmy.
Listen, man, thanks for your time, Dan.
Have a great and safe weekend, all right?
Hey, appreciate it, guys.
Thank you, Jimmy.
Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked on Bama, part of the Locked on Network.
Coming up, he's the legend in Alabama, Doug Segrist.
Don Dax, stay with us.
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Alabama baseball starts its season
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
The Score.
Welcome back in.
Just this Big Mac is a household word
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Doug Sigrist is the sports fans
in the greater Birmingham area.
He is busy all over the place.
Been on there at 3340.
50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association,
and his book is called A Storm Came Up.
Doug Sigrist, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm great, Harold.
How y'all doing?
Hey, buddy.
Man, we're doing all right.
We're coming out of the woods,
starting to fall out a little bit,
so keep sending those southern winds our way, Doug.
We appreciate it.
Listen, man.
Alabama basketball,
is it a more interesting story on the courts
or in the courts these days, Doug?
I will say on the court.
I think they're actually a better team
without Charles Bediaco
because of the style they play.
Now, that said,
Bediaco was the piece
that might get them over the hump
in the tournament
where they don't match up against the big teams,
Arizona to produce the Gonzagas,
but their pace is much better.
You know,
and while I feel for Charles Bediaco,
I just, you know,
it wasn't the right decision.
So, I think it worked out for the best.
I think they're actually playing
some of their best basketball
the last few games,
particularly because they kind of overcame stuff
that's been haunting them all season.
Look at Texas A&M.
The turnovers are a big problem.
This is a team that forces your full court.
They forced 15, 16 turnovers a game.
Alabama only made four.
And then against both Auburn and then Ole Miss,
pretty much they can't get a three-point shot
the first half.
And they adjust to that.
And all of a sudden,
the spacing improves.
And the pace improves.
And it bombs away in the second half.
So, I thought those were both good wins as well.
Doug, I agree with you.
I thought the spacing in the Ole Miss game
was much better than they had
earlier in the season.
And Reitzel is not going to score 21 points
every game.
But, Doug, if he could score 12 to 15,
he may be the difference in Alabama
getting a three-seed or four-seed
instead of a five-seed.
Absolutely.
And, you know, he's, what, 12?
His last 24.
I mean, he's just red hot now.
It's incredible.
Yes.
Yeah.
He wasn't shooting well earlier.
You know, it's that third person,
whether it's, you know,
it could be Latrell on some games.
It could be Houston, Millett,
and other games.
They need that third spoke in the wheel
because teams are so focused on keeping
Phylon and Holloway off the line.
Now, they can get to the rim.
But in terms of three-point shooting,
I mean, how do you defend when three or four guys are red hot?
Yeah.
Doug, some people in this conversation are sold.
They remember Ray Stevenson, the great song,
Streaking.
You've got to go down.
It's one of the great songs of all time.
I mean, the lyrics in that thing make Mozart and Shakespeare
go to the farm.
But, Doug, is Auburn singing that song?
They win four in a row.
Then they streak the three losses in a row.
Doug, your thoughts about this Auburn team in transition
and what about the NCAA tournament for the Tigers?
Well, I think they're still in good shape.
I know a lot of people are kind of moving them
into bubble category because of the record,
because of three losses.
But the bottom line is their metrics are still incredible.
They played the second-best schedule in the nation.
Only Alabama's played a better schedule.
You know, when both Pettiford and Hall are on,
you know, it just totally changes their offense.
Their problems are like polar opposite of Alabama's.
Alabama's obviously is they don't play defense consistently enough.
Auburn's problem is the offense isn't consistent enough.
But when they do play defense, they can disrupt.
And I think if Steven Pearl can kind of get that focus back
because it feeds, you know, it feeds everything else they want to do.
And they've had a couple lapses in the last couple games in particular
where it just hasn't been there.
I agree with you.
Their strength of schedule, they've got good wins.
But it was interesting that Steven Pearl decided to binge
Keyshawn Hall, what many people consider one of the better players,
in the SEC for the final 12-38 the other night against Vanderbilt.
They're going to need him down the stretch.
Yeah, they really did.
And I get it.
I mean, you're playing the long game.
And, you know, Nate Oates has done that at times with some of the players,
including Pylon.
And it's paid off.
But, you know, Pylon gets benched for three minutes.
And then he's back there with a better attitude.
You know, it was a gamble.
But, you know, if anybody's criticizing Steven Pearl for this,
you know, this, I mean, he basically takes over,
facing one of the toughest schedules in the country,
with almost a total rebuild.
And I think what he's done so far is remarkable.
And that's why I'm impressed even more with kind of the message
he sent the other night.
Thanks for jumping in for the Olympics update.
Your thoughts about the other football coaches,
the new kid in town, Alex Gullis,
fresh and picking up Donovan Moore, who's he,
many consider to be the number one recruit in the state of Alabama.
He's a prize DL.
Folks said, how'd you do it?
Well, according to reports, he's a lifelong Auburn fan.
But that doesn't always work out.
Your thoughts about the big pickup for Auburn?
I think it's huge.
You know, we pay so much attention now to the portal,
but you've still got to recruit.
You've got to develop players.
And you've got a better chance of retaining a guy for four years
who's been a lifelong fan.
I think this is huge for Auburn.
And, again, I think Alex Gullis has really made inroads
with high school recruiting very fast.
Absolutely.
Well, now, listen, young man,
we're going down the stretch of basketball here.
And we need to be talking to you on a fairly frequent basis.
So we will be calling very soon.
Listen, have a great week.
We always enjoy the conversation.
Thank you, guys.
Look forward to it.
The one, the only, Doug Segers.
BB, it's going to be a huge weekend for area basketball play.
Some of them already off and rolling in the SEC,
a slate of dates.
And as we mentioned, SEC baseball.
Are you ready for a huge weekend
of basically a Heinz 57 menu of sports?
Boy, isn't this a great time of the year?
And if you need more variety,
what's the latest in the Olympics?
Right ahead.
Stay with us.
Westwood one sports presents this special update on the 2026 winter games.
The U.S. women's hockey team has been great and consistent.
Three of their four wins by the same 5-0 score.
And the other was 5-1.
So a combined 20-1 as they take on Italy today in the quarterfinals.
It has been a great game.
So the host nation, Italy, leads with 18 medals.
Got a bronze today in the women's snowboarding cross.
Was hoping for one in the speed skating, the 10,000 meters.
That's the long one, over six miles.
Davide Ghiotto is not only from Italy, but from northern Italy.
But he finished sixth.
Italy won two golds yesterday and got a silver in the short track
from 35-year-old Ariana Fontana.
Her 13th career medal.
She's won medals in five straight winter games in the 500 meters.
The U.S. is at 14 medals.
One almost certain to get one today.
Likely a gold from Ilya Malenem in figure skating.
John Stashauer, Westwood One Sports.
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The score.
South Alabama picked up a road victory yesterday in men's basketball.
They won at Southern Miss 84-78 in the victory.
Jaden Cooper had 34 points.
The Jaguars improved to 13-14 on the season and 6-8 in the Sun Belt.
South Alabama's back in action tomorrow on the road at Arkansas State.
Alabama will play tomorrow night.
They'll host South Carolina.
The Crimson Tide 7-4 in the SEC.
South Carolina is 2-9 in the conference.
Troy's on the road at Southern Miss.
The Troy Trojans are 9-4 in Sun Belt play.
Auburn Tigers are on the road at 21st-ranked Arkansas.
Auburn is 5-6 in the Southeastern Conference.
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I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93-9.
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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in TGIF, and would it be the same without the fine voice of Bill Shanks on the radio with you as you drive around the Tennessee Valley.
He's host of the Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM in Macon and on the line at thesuperstations.com and on the tube at 41NBC.
Bill, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
Good afternoon.
How are y'all?
We're good.
Man, we're doing all right.
Are you a big fan of figure skating in the Olympics, or do you prefer baseball, Bill?
Well, I had to do a television thing yesterday, and we talked about our favorite Olympic events, and I said the closing ceremonies.
As quick as it gets over, the better.
I don't have the wardrobe for some of that stuff.
Bill, I do have an old cow mint somewhere around here.
Baseball season.
It's hard to believe, is it not?
Camp opening up this week.
First game of spring training next weekend, a week from tomorrow.
But here we go again, Bill.
Hawkeye in the MASH unit.
Talk to us about what is going on with his pitching staff, Spencer Schwellenbach and Joe Jimenez, both on the 60-day IL.
Not what Braves fans want to hear.
Well, no, not at all.
And today's a great day.
Today's the start of college baseball.
Baseball gets started for good on the college ranks, which is outstanding, and the SEC is full of talented teams.
You know, it's incredible that before they even could take the field for their first official workout for pitchers and catchers, they already had two pretty major injuries.
I mean, we knew about Joe Jimenez.
He was not, he's not, I don't know if he's ever going to pitch again.
He's just got a really bad situation with his knee.
And it's, I mean, I heard even last year when they had to go do another procedure, whatever, that he was really in trouble with ever playing again.
But Spencer Schwellenbach, obviously more of the question that he had from last season because of missing half the year with a broken bone in the elbow, for it to come out that, well, he's got to possibly have a surgery or scope or whatever you want to call it, have bone chips out of his elbow.
It's like, you've got to be kidding me.
And because the last two years have been defined by the injuries.
I mean, you can't write the history of 24 and 25 for this franchise and not have the injuries in the first sentence.
So to start with this kind of news, the first couple of days of spring training, it's not what you want, for sure.
You had a great article in the Savannah Morning News about this.
And we've been talking about this now for what seems like three years.
A couple of your stats to emphasize this.
19 Braves pitchers started at least one game last year.
The ERA, they led the National League in ERA in 2024, failed with 3.58, failed 11th in 2025 to 4.36.
And again, we've discussed this for the last five or six weeks.
I give Enthaloplin some credit.
He has filled some hoes.
He has brought some guys in.
But as you've indicated in the article, as far as pitching, he's brought in veteran Martin Perez to a minor league contract.
And I know you get asked about this every day, and you had a podcast about this too.
It's the same thing again.
You know, will he bring in a durable veteran pitcher, at least one, before the season begins?
Well, he met with the media earlier today down in Florida and said that he's trying to find a playoff starting pitcher.
I'm sorry.
Did I miss something?
Have the Braves already made the playoffs for 2026?
We'll double-check that for you, Bill.
I mean, I just, I'm sorry.
I just don't agree with that philosophy whatsoever.
You're basically saying, well, if we've got somebody that I know is going to be in the top three of our rotation, fine.
But if not, we're going to go with who we have.
And, you know, who you have includes, I mean, he said there are four pitchers in the rotation that are set.
Chris Sale, okay.
Chris Sale, when he's pitching, is one of the best in baseball.
But he turns 37 on March 30th.
And he has not been durable at all, even in the two years with the Braves.
I mean, he couldn't finish the first year because of back issues.
Couldn't pitch in the playoff series against San Diego.
And then last year he dove for a ball, broke two ribs because he's too d*** skinny, and was out for 10 weeks.
And then you have Spencer Strider.
All right.
Well, Spencer Strider has had Tommy John and internal brace, two elbow procedures.
Okay.
Well, that, you know, maybe he can hold up, but that's a gamble.
And then you have Reynaldo Lopez, who was only able to pitch one game last year before he was out for the season
because of shoulder surgery.
You got that.
And then you've got Grant Holmes, who's got a partially torn UCL in his elbow.
I mean, that's a big gamble to try to say that's your rotation for 2026.
And then he said we're going to have competition for the fifth starter spot.
So it's like, good luck.
But, I mean, I don't know why you're only going to get a playoff starter when your a** ain't even close to the playoffs.
He's my friend.
Yeah, I quote you on that, Bill.
That's Bill Shanks, thesesuperstations.com.
Bill, we had to find voice of the Braves, our mutual friend, Ben Ingram, on earlier this week.
And, obviously, no one is as connected with his team as Ben, his broadcast team there.
And if you listen and read between the lines, it seemed like even in the building, when Walt Weiss's name was said,
he is going to be the new skipper, I think a lot of folks are pleased because they're familiar with him.
He comes off the bench.
But even they were a little bit taken aback.
Your thoughts about Walt Weiss as the new skipper of the Braves?
Well, I heard Walt's press conference earlier this week when he first met with the media.
I thought he did very, very well.
And I think he is a good manager to put in there.
You know, look, this is a team, whether we think so or not, that believes they can compete for a playoff spot.
They forget they pitched in fourth place last year, but nonetheless, they want to make it back to the playoffs.
Well, so, you know, do you want to kind of keep what's been going on going, or did you want to totally push reset with a brand new everything?
And that's when you have a brand new manager, that's what you have, a brand new everything, pretty much.
And so, you know, especially a brand new manager, first-time manager, first-time doing everything, yeah, that's wiping the slate clean.
So this is obviously a little more of a transition type compared to a start over.
And I think Walt did fine.
I think he'll do fine.
And I think, you know, there's got to be refreshed a little bit because of the newness of everything.
And I think that'll be good for this team and this organization.
Well, let me ask you a couple of things.
Will the Braves be more aggressive and run more?
Will they hit and run more?
Will they play station-to-station more?
Will he leave starters in the game a little longer?
And, you know, we've been hearing that for 25 years.
In other words, what would be different from Walt Wise than from Snit?
Well, they did bring in a guy by the name of Anton Richardson,
who is going to be the first base coach.
And he was with the Mets last year.
And he is thought of as a very heralded and very respected base running coach.
And he actually, he made Juan Soto have like 30-something stolen bases.
And Juan Soto's not really a base dealer.
But he, you know, he got Juan Soto and improved the Mets.
So, I think that's going to be something to watch, Brett,
is whether the team will kind of run a little bit more and be a little bit more aggressive on the base runner.
And that's nothing on the previous staff.
But, again, that's what happens when you kind of refresh the staff a little bit.
You know, you can bring in someone who may have a specialty that can help you a little bit.
So, I'm anxious to see that.
And, you know, I'm not saying Austin Riley is going to have 30 stolen bases.
But, you know, can he get – and I don't think Ronald Acuna needs to steal 70 either.
I mean, I don't think that's a smart thing to do.
But, you know, can he get Ozzie up to 20?
Can he get Harris to 30?
Can he – some things like that that I think will help this team a great deal just to be more aggressive and smart.
And with his tutelage, hopefully that can happen.
And it puts a lot more pressure on the defense, gets them out of double play situations if you take that tack too, Bill.
Your thoughts, a lot of folks are asking right now about broadcasting rights.
We've touched on it before.
It looks like Gray Media is in the middle of it.
And, oh, by the way, Gray just picked up another station.
If the Braves do go on Gray, they're going to invade Cardinal territory because apparently Gray bought an Osayan vehicle station over in Jackson, Tennessee, WBBJ.
So that's going to go to a Gray family.
What is the latest – pardon the pun – but what base are the Braves as far as broadcasting this summer?
Well, they announced this morning, Harold, that they are going to have 15 spring training games on the Gray station.
So they have not announced a full partnership yet.
I don't know why.
Obviously, it's not complete yet.
But they did go ahead today and announce that the Gray stations will, in fact, televise 15 spring training games, which is great.
I mean, that's great.
That's what you want to do.
And so that's a lot.
That's more than half of them, you know.
And so, I mean, they play around 30.
So it's about half the exhibition game.
So that's great.
That's what you want.
And so – but I'm sure they're finalizing things.
I mean, I'm sure, you know, it's a big decision and it's a big –
you know, you don't know if it's going to be a short-term thing because of having to kind of do this on the fly a little bit to a certain extent.
I mean, again, they've been knowing this was coming.
I don't think they knew of the abruptness of it coming right now.
They probably thought that after 2027 when the contract was up was when they had to plan for it.
But I think that we'll probably see something in the next couple of weeks out of there about what's going to happen.
But I think Gray will be a part of it, if not the main part of it.
Who are you looking most forward to hearing about or seeing in spring training?
I know you normally go down there for a little while.
I know you love J.R. Ritchie, but I know you want these guys to season a little bit in the spring.
And talk about the catcher situation.
You tweeted about this again about Sean Murphy.
And I don't know if he's hitting his weight.
And you mentioned they should have already traded him.
Who are you looking forward to seeing or hearing about?
And what's the catcher situation?
Well, I mean, J.R. Ritchie, you know, if we want to look at, all right, why have they not got a starting pitcher?
I could use as part of the answer J.R. Ritchie and the potential for him.
Now, I'm going to assume that Hurston Waldrop is going to be in the fifth starter competition with Bryce Elder, with Martin Perez, you know, with Joey Wentz.
I think they would have preferred Hurston to start in AAA.
They may still prefer that.
It may have changed a little bit with his Schwalbach injury.
But I don't think there's any doubt J.R. Ritchie, for me, is someone to keep an eye on.
I mean, we saw a glimpse of Hurston last year.
I want to see more.
But J.R. Ritchie, when J.R. makes his debut, I think we're all going to be pleasantly surprised at who that is.
And that may – I know that Alex Antopoulos loves J.R. Ritchie like I do, okay?
He's a very big J.R. Ritchie fan.
And that might be why he's holding off on getting a starting pitcher, because he may think J.R. Ritchie might do just as well as some of those guys.
I don't know.
But I think that's the big thing.
As far as the catcher's concerned, obviously, Drake Baldwin coming back after his Rookie of the Year season.
And they signed Jonah Heim a couple of days ago, Brad.
And he's a switch hitting catcher, 30 years old, who was the starter for the Texas Rangers when they won the World Series a few years ago with Bruce Bochy.
Very good receiver.
Gold glove winner a couple of seasons ago.
And, you know, I think he'll back up Baldwin.
And it's a shame that, you know, the most expensive catcher they've got is Sean Murphy, who the last two years has hit 197 combined, and it's making $15 million a year.
And he's hurt.
And he's hurt.
So that's a shame they didn't loosen up more funds by trading him when they should have.
Bill Shanks, the Superstations.com.
Bill, as you know, a Tuscaloosa judge said no to Mediaco.
An Oxford judge said yes to Trinidad Chambliss telling the NCAA when they walked out of the room.
That's not how we do business around here, boys.
Your thoughts now that shapes the SEC with Chambliss now getting a green light, and won't it be fun when LSU comes to town now?
Well, Harold, I don't know if you've heard this news, but we've got a judge in Georgia that's going to allow a petition.
Herschel Walker's coming back next year for Georgia Bulldogs.
For the next four years, right?
No, he's only got one year left of eligibility because he went to the New Jersey Generals in 1983.
That's right.
Donald Trump, yeah.
Yeah, that d*** Donald Trump, whatever happened to him, the only bad thing he's ever done in his career is he screwed us with the situation.
But, yeah, you know, it's crazy.
I mean, it's just crazy of all that's going on.
And, you know, there's no – I mean, for those judges to be fans and supporters of the program, it's crazy.
I mean, you know, that's just ridiculous.
It really is.
Did you see the 24 – I sent it to you.
I know you've been busy.
The 24-team playoff format that Padetti at the Big Ten, quote, sent out.
Pete Thamel had it on ESPN this morning.
You know, it was just a Pentagon Secrets, and Padetti sent it out to ADs and a few coaches, and, of course, he leaked it to ESPN.
Some of it actually makes sense, and I kept thinking – Bill Shanks did this on the napkin in the Mexican restaurant about six weeks ago.
Did you copy that?
I don't know if you had a chance to look at it or not, but a lot of it was that the two rounds at home, the semifinal games would be played sooner.
They would compress the schedule.
Again, it's what we've been talking about for weeks.
Well, I'm glad that there's some stuff out there.
I mean, to be honest with you, Brad, I mean, when I saw the 24 and looked at the bracket, I'm like, give me a break.
Yeah, I know.
Because the teams that were listed in there, I mean, I personally think that if they're going to continue to include group of five, group of six conferences now, I guess it is, that they're wasting my time.
And until they split off, I just – I don't get it.
I don't.
And I think 24 is too much.
I think 24 would be too much if you're talking about the Power Four conferences.
I just don't think we want that.
I think who are the best teams in football?
24, you're going to thin it out a little bit.
And, I mean, 16 is just cleaner as far as – all right, one through 16, two through 15, three – I mean, h***.
I mean, I'm from South Georgia.
I can figure that one out right there, you know.
So, I just – I mean, but, look, if it generates conversation, Brett, that is important for that to happen.
And I think that's what we've got to see here moving forward.
So – but I think they're going to get a lot of pushback on their plan for 24 teams.
Well, yeah, yeah, I agree with you, but you've got a very valid point.
Let's start somewhere.
Yeah.
At least get the conversation going, and let's start somewhere and start wheeling this thing down to a framework that everybody can work with.
Well, I know you're excited about college baseball beginning for the Dogs and the Braves.
If some of our esteemed listeners would like to listen to your award-winning program this afternoon, where can they go?
Well, they can't listen to me because I am taking the day off and going to have Georgia baseball on the Super Station.
Okay.
We will – I'll be listening to the game and enjoying the sound of baseball.
But normally from 3 until 7, we are on every day from – in those time periods from 3 to 7 Eastern time on theseuperstations.com.
You've got a very good boss over there, Bill.
Keep him happy, okay?
That's right.
He makes the rules now, let me tell you.
That's right.
See you, bud.
You've got three of them, me, myself, and now the one, the only, Bill Shanks, at theseuperstations.com.
BB, lots of area basketball team rocking and rolling.
The latest on the foreign side, Falcons, BB.
Yeah, they lost, unfortunately, last night to 73 to 65 to James Clemens.
James Clemens, one of the best teams in Herald State.
But Florence came back, made it close at the end.
But James Clemens will move on to play Bob Jones in the championship game of the area.
And, unfortunately, Florence's season is done.
Hard to believe it's going to get rocking down at Hansel and Jack State coming up in the next few days.
But first, coming up in the next hour, Justin Ferguson on the Auburn Tigers.
Zach Panter's got the show's report in the house.
And Mike Hugen and I'm going coast to coast in the second hour of the Bumo Buck Show.
Stay with it.
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U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville says it's time to break with Senate tradition because it's more
important to stop election fraud that's occurring across the nation.
Tuberville wants to do away with the filibuster rule in order to pass the SAVE Act.
The SAVE Act is a bill that requires a person to be a U.S. citizen and show proof of that
when registering to vote.
Tuberville spoke about the SAVE Act on the Dan Bongino podcast.
We see all these blue states.
There are about 15 blue states that they're cheating the h*** out of the American people,
especially when it comes to federal elections.
And that's the reason we've got to bust the filibuster.
Enough's enough about tradition in the Senate.
We have got to make sure that next November we have a chance to elect people,
even in a blue state, whether it's in Congress or whether it's in Senate.
Because if we don't do something about voter ID, harvest balloting,
all this nonsensical things that they do when it comes to voting for two weeks,
I mean, we have no chance.
American people have no chance.
So we have to get this done.
It's the number one thing I think that we have to do between now and November here in the Senate.
Because last night they passed it in the House and we've got to do something.
I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.
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The driver of an 18-wheeler has died after going off the road and crashing into trees.
The victim has been identified as 58-year-old Evelio de Jesus of Florida.
The crash occurred on Highway 231 in Dale County
and required several emergency agencies to respond to the crash.
An autopsy of that driver will be conducted by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
I'm Andrea Tice.
For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.
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Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score.
Welcome back in.
I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Valley.
And for Mike Kugin and taking time out of his busy schedule down in Orlando, Florida.
As National College Football slash Basketball Analyst.
Mike, welcome in.
Happy TGIFT.
Hopefully, you've thawed out by now.
How are you?
Yeah, doing well.
Looking forward to an interesting weekend of college basketball.
Mike, before we jump on the hardwoods, your thoughts about the Judge Judy show over the past few days.
Obviously, we know what happened in Tuscaloosa.
We know what happened yesterday in Oxford.
And I think Aguilar and Tennessee, as they say, is a work in progress, even as we speak,
barring some type of late-minute problems there.
But your thoughts on the ruling, I know the fine print's different in every case.
But nonetheless, the sharp attorney can find the fine print.
I saw, what was the other day, Mike, a quarterback at Montana.
He's coming back for his ninth year.
So if you've got a good lawyer and know how to work the fine print,
you can still do business at the NIL level.
Your thoughts about that and how the shameless news may affect the SEC.
And let's face it, Deuce Knight was not exactly going to Ole Miss to sit on the bench.
The D.C. quarterback situation in a two-day stretch went from what's Ole Miss going to do without Chambliss
and what's Tennessee going to do without Aguilar.
I think Aguilar is going to be going to get his extra year.
So those two teams all of a sudden have good quarterback situations.
I wonder about Ole Miss without Kiffin.
I think Aguilar, if you're a Vols fan, you're ecstatic, obviously.
I think a second year in offense, he'll be more attuned to what Heifel wants.
He threw a heck of a lot of picks this year.
If he goes back on that, maybe they'll look back and say, hey, we can make the playoff again.
And I think that's the case.
Again, I've got more questions about Ole Miss.
The dude you mentioned in Montana is actually a linebacker.
He'll be a ninth-year senior.
Ninth-year.
He's already earned three degrees.
He started at USC.
He was there for, I think, seven years.
Only played on the field for two of them.
Had an incredible run of, I think, four years.
He had injury issues.
And one year, it might have been the COVID year, he was sick and missed a couple months.
So he has legitimate medical things.
I'm not sure.
You know, the Chambliss situation, he's saying it's medical.
I sort of can't believe that Ferris State, given how good he proved to be, would not have already asked for those two years.
But, you know, who knows?
But the interesting thing about college athletics, as much goes on in the courtroom in the offseason as it goes on in weight rooms.
So that's a problem for college sports going forward.
Yeah, he is.
Yeah, I think it was the 2022 year in dispute with a severe case of tonsillitis at Ferris State, which was the question as far as he's more of a medical redshirt than Bediaco.
Mike, the Alabama-Ohio State, they had a two-year series that was going to begin in 2027, home and away, of course.
And Paul Feinbaum was on a radio station in Ohio earlier this week and said he didn't know if he was going to come off.
He had heard from Greg Byrne, the Alabama athletic director, with some of these schools, not just Alabama, realizing that if strength of schedule is not going to be a priority for the selection committee, why do we need to play the top teams?
Now, the fans are the ones who lose this.
But, Mike, your thoughts, they haven't made a decision yet.
Your thoughts, that would be a shame if that series is canceled.
It would be game two this fall.
That's the kind of stuff that you're right.
I mean, if you're a casual fan of college football, you get ginned up for those kind of games.
And obviously, if you're a hardcore fan, that's, you know, like catnip to a cat.
I mean, those two premier programs, oh, my God, this is fantastic.
It's a key early season game.
It's, you know, I think Georgia has canceled one of its series going forward.
Florida State, I think, has canceled one of its series going forward.
That kind of stuff, yeah.
You know, and I think one of Georgia's reasons was, well, we're playing nine SEC games now,
so, you know, we don't want to play the extra tough game.
Well, yeah, as a fan, that kicks you off.
I can see it to an extent, but I think the difference, and we all know the difference,
if it's not going to be Alabama, Ohio State, it's going to be Ohio State, UAB, and Alabama versus Ohio.
And that's where fans lose out.
I do give the SEC some credit.
If they're saying nine conference games plus one power four opponent, you know, if you're Florida,
if you're Georgia, if you're South Carolina, and if you're Kentucky, your power four opponent
is your end-of-season rivalry game.
So you're sort of, you're okay.
But, you know, if I'm an Alabama fan, if I'm an Ohio State fan, I would much rather see the Tide
play the Buckeyes than the Tide go play a Wake Forest team.
So to meet that power four requirement.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Mike, you're getting in the huddle with us.
National College football slash basketball analyst.
You mentioned round ball.
What strikes you fancy this weekend, Mike, as we get closer and closer to March Madness?
Yeah, Auburn playing at Arkansas.
Boy, Auburn needs a win big time.
Lost three in a row, all two good teams.
But at the same time, I know their net rating is good, their Ken Palm rating is good, but you
need another big win.
You got the Florida win on the road, which is impressive.
You pounded Arkansas by 20-plus at home in January.
I think a season sweep of Arkansas puts you in great stead for the NCAA tournament, especially
when you look at some of the, you know, four, I think they have six games left after Arkansas.
Four of them are just not good SEC teams.
And those are the kind of games that don't really gain you much.
So, tomorrow's game, if you're an Auburn fan, you want them to complete the season sweep of
Arkansas big time.
Mike, is Florida the best team in the SEC?
I think so.
They're playing, they can't shoot the ball, which is sort of staggering considering how
well their guard played last year.
They are the worst power four team in the nation in three-point percentage, 29.2%.
But they are winning because their front court is really good, and they play great defense,
and they just embarrass you on the backwards.
They are relentless with their rebounding.
They only go eight deep.
They're athletic.
They're big guys play defense.
They can switch.
It's a really good team, not nearly as good offensively as last year's, but the defense
is better than last year's.
Mike, is Auburn a poster child for the SEC this season?
You knock off Florida at Florida, comparatively with relative ease.
You win four in a row during that stretch.
Now, you're losers of three in a row.
Is that not the poster child for SEC basketball this season?
Auburn, you look at Texas A&M, which, you know, heck of 10 days ago, oh, my God,
they might win the league.
That's right.
Oh, my God, they might finish under .500 in the league.
So, yeah, I mean, I think that there are bad teams in the SEC, really bad at the bottom.
But I think that there is a lot of parity in the SEC.
And in some respects, you're right.
Auburn is sort of like the typical SEC team.
You can win on the road, and you can lose it all.
Now, no one's losing to LSU, Oklahoma, or South Carolina.
Right.
But, yeah, I don't think anybody who follows the SEC would be shocked if Auburn won in
bad football tomorrow.
Yeah, you're probably right.
Well, listen, have a great weekend.
It's a fun time of the year, Major League Baseball getting started.
College baseball begins today.
College basketball going down the stretch, the Olympics going on.
Very interesting time of the year.
Mike, have a great weekend.
Hopefully, it's a little warmer for you, buddy.
Mike, you're going to hook it up with us.
There you go.
There's Mike.
Mike, you're going to hook it up with us.
National College football slash basketball.
And coming up, if you love yourself, some great high school basketball area play underway.
Zach Pounder is the latest next.
Stay with us.
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United Way of Northwest Alabama is thrilled to announce the return of its signature fundraising gala,
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
You talk about a fella who's busy as a bee.
He's Zach Pounders there at Shoals Sports Report.
Zach, welcome in.
How are you?
Good. How are y'all?
You're juggling a lot in the air right now with all these respective area matchups.
Let's start with the Florence High Falcons on the road to Madison.
Zach, your thoughts about Florence High's game last night.
For the Bullies, came up short, but once again, they were undersized this year.
Nobody ever picked three this year on the roster.
So, you know, it's going to be a tough year for them this year.
They're also replacing all four of the five stars from last year, or three of the five from last year,
and losing Jalen Chandler, Jalen Blackwell, Bryant James, and a few more of your teams.
But still, I thought, just for them, a lot of guys that have valuable reps this year in 7-8 ball
that will benefit them going down to 5-8 ball next year with the runs of all the Cators, Coleman,
and all those, and most of those next year in their replays.
Instead of playing the Huntsville, Gools, all the time.
Now, talk about Florence Girls, too.
Why are you talking about Florence?
Yeah, Florence Girls really had a comeback win-win tonight, and it kind of got out of hand late.
They were up by 6, 36 to go.
James Simmons' coach has got double technicals, and it was in a personal foul, two free throws,
double technical fouls, four more free throws, six free throws, and the ball for Florence.
Turned a six-point game, and it left them to an 11-point game.
And it was really a death knell for the game, also.
But they were down by three at halftime, had a third late second quarter, and got back into it at halftime.
And Jordan Ricks deserved the second half, had 25 points, 13 rebounds, 9 of 12 on free throws,
I think, and half of those come in the last 30 seconds of the game.
Wow.
Zach Patterson's show sports report.
What's good for most of the shows is bad for Decatur in the Area 15 Championship, Zach.
Yes, and also on the girls' side, it's right off the set.
Decatur boys won the girls' championship, and most of the shows are running up on the girls' side.
So, most of the shows boys get Gardendale tomorrow night, and Gardendale has died, as I've heard.
And most of the shows girls are going to play chalkboard tonight.
The plays like 23-1, I think chalkboard in the state, and 56-8 girls.
Very tough matchup for most of the shows girls, again, in the sub-regional round.
Knowing you, you've seen Brooks beat Dessler three times this year, and they did it the third time the other night,
capturing the Class 4A Area 14 crown.
They won 52-47.
Brooks wins his third straight area title and will host a sub-regional game tomorrow night against Haleville.
Garrett Breed, what a surprise that is, led the Tigers with 23 points.
Thurk Hill had 13, Dessler will travel to Fayette County.
But I know you've seen a few Brooks and Dessler boys' basketball games this year.
Yes, and if I'm Brooks, I am praying I'll take Dessler again at Wall Street for a fourth time.
Exactly.
All right, you can win somebody three times, but at some point, that one's going to run out.
Right.
Even Wilson Dessler girls come out to play four times this year at Wall Street if they both win the night.
And even that, it's scary if you're Dessler girls who's like, at what point will they come through and pull through?
Yeah, Dessler and Brooks, so if they were all in the high school games, they would both be a favorite this weekend in their sub-regional games.
However, Dessler on the road this year and Peter missed, and then Brooks at home hasn't lost this year.
Boy, Haleville came into Brooks two years ago and beat that Loder Brooks team with Noah Gray, R.J. Gurley, and Tyler L.M. as a junior and senior.
However, it's a different Brooks team this year and different Haleville team as well.
But I still like Brooks and Dessler mostly at Wall Street.
Yeah, it's always fun to see traditional high school power towns, I call it, to be in rocking and rolling.
And is there a better place for high school basketball than Rogersville, a.k.a. Lauderdale County?
Both the boys and the girls, they're costing the fans some money.
It's postseason.
These guys are always rocking and rolling.
The fans don't mind spending it, but congratulations to the Lauderdale County boys and girls.
Yeah, saving Marshall as well, but both fan bases are also saving money tonight as well, with both schools playing the celebrationals on the same night.
Between Friday and Saturday, the same school was involved.
So, Marshall and Lauderdale County both tonight are starting at 6 o'clock, with the girls at 6 and the boys at 7.30.
L.C. has Phil Campbell and Marshall has Carbett County.
Carbett County boys and Marshall boys, that's interesting matchup, I think.
I think Carbett County could get them this year.
Marshall is down this year, but their record is deceiving.
Carbett County had some scores.
Lauderdale County boys, maybe too much for Phil Campbell.
What I've seen Phil Campbell this year.
And on the girls' side, I think it's Marshall, Lauderdale County on the collision course for Wallace State, possibly in the lead eight.
We mentioned this last week.
Mars Hill with Bell Hill, the 3,000-point milestone.
She reached, according to the Times Daily, she is now at 3,066 points, which moves her ahead of former Shoals Christian player, Sarah Davis.
We had 3,048, and we talked about Reese Davis at Dasser and Bell Hill several times during the course of the season.
But, my goodness gracious, congratulations.
Again, according to the Times Daily, she is the all-time leading scorer in Lauderdale County history.
She is that now.
That is confirmed.
And at this point, she's chasing down Anna Claire Knoblet for the Shoals area from Governor Christian from about 10, 11 years ago.
And Reese Davis is hard on her heels for 3,000.
Reese should hit 3,000 next season with ease if she plays her average every night of this year.
But, Bill, it's about to become pick a random record that she'll set in the two years.
Like most LeBron stats, most points on January 13th at 4 p.m. or whatever it is, random arbitrary stats.
But a very impressive player already has a sophomore, has 3,000 points.
She should hit 4,000 next year, if not 5,000, then she's a senior.
And maybe the state record even at like 5,200 for girls or whatever it is.
I don't think she can track down the boys record, but I'm not doing it at all.
Yeah, your thoughts about another team.
We mentioned Lauderdale County and Morris Hill, but the Red Bay girls, if it's late February, guess what?
They're getting ready to rock and roll.
Your thoughts about the Red Bay girls, correct me if I'm wrong, they take on Cold Springs and the 2A girls Northwest Regional.
Yeah, Red Bay girls, kind of a down year, but they've won enough games to get here.
And if you're from Red Bay, the Red Bay area, or a 2A person, if you remember this matchup from years ago at Wallace State,
it was always like Red Bay, Cold Springs, Tanner, some way, some order, those four hands at Wallace.
However, Cold Springs and Red Bay this year, only one of them gets to Wallace.
And on the boys' side, Red Bay talk to the boys, Red Bay should get to Wallace,
and then it should be a bloodbath between them, Tanner and Covenant, Tanner Heritage, possibly, and Cold Springs boys.
Who have we not mentioned in this segment?
We'll get to Wallace.
You've already mentioned two or three.
You thought Deser and Brooks would win tomorrow night in advance to Wallace State.
Who else in the shows do you believe gets to Wallace next week?
Waterloo has it been in the wild.
I don't know a lot about the boys' and girls' basketball.
A lot of Wallace get one thing in the wild, at least.
And Lexington and girls have a chance against Belgring.
They're very young, though.
Belgring's record is about 29 or whatever they are.
Lexington's record is not that great on paper, but they're still a solid team.
They have Brimley and White, who can give you 15 and 29, and then a few more girls that can give you 8 or 10 points here and there, and can add up quick.
Before we jump off, we've got to give some love to Waterloo and 1A Northwest.
Waterloo taking on Meek.
Your thoughts about that matchup?
Yeah, Waterloo girls this year, kind of up and down the year.
The rest are the same as usual.
Meek girls are 23 and 4, so it doesn't match up for them.
And Meek boys, trying to pull that up real quick.
Meek boys are 17 and 8.
Waterloo is 13 and 12.
Waterloo started out with Westside, but still, when you go on the road and it's our regional game.
I heard it this way.
That's always been the toughest game in the playoffs, because it's like you're in the playoffs, but it's also like you're not in the playoffs yet.
Listen, you recap everything at night.
Where can we get on Facebook, get online?
You've also got a podcast about it.
Where can we get all the good stuff?
Facebook, Shows Sports Report.
Shows Sports Report on Facebook.
And then on Twitter, at lowercase, S-H-O-A-L-S-B-O-R-T-S.
And we'll be live tonight to recap all the action from each time.
So, that's great.
Zach, got to get the latest in the Olympics.
Stay with us.
Westwood One Sports presents this special update on the 2026 Winter Games.
Johannes Haslett-Clabo, the Norwegian cross-country sensation, today won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter free.
Over the last two Winter Games, eight gold medals.
One more in Italy.
He'll have the most ever.
Three more next week.
He'll have six in these games, breaking the record of five.
Shared by Clabo from four years ago.
And Eric Hyden in 1980.
No U.S. medals yet today.
There's never been one in the men's biathlon.
In the 10,000 sprint, there was hope for Campbell Wright.
Actually grew up in New Zealand, but competes for the U.S.
He was second at the world championships, but he was 12th today.
Speed skating at 10,000 meters was won by 19-year-old Metsoja Jelic of the Czech Republic.
And the bronze went to 40-year-old Jorrit Bergsma, the Dutch skater, who won the gold 12 years ago.
Currently in the U.S., men lost to Canada 6-3.
The women beat Canada 9-8.
John Stanshower, Westwood One Sports.
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Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
The Score.
Welcome back in.
It's a pleasure for us to welcome in the hardest working man down the plains, Justin Ferguson.
He's got it all covered there at the Auburn Observer.
Justin, welcome in.
How are you?
All right.
How are y'all?
Hey, man.
We're doing all right.
Literally, in more ways than one, some big recruiting news for this Auburn's new football staff.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
They got a massive pickup yesterday.
Really, their first big, you know, recruit commitment of the, you know, really of the new coaching staff.
You know, it's exactly what Auburn, you know, wanted to go out and get in getting Donovan Moore.
Number one player in the state of Alabama.
Number five defensive lineman in the country.
Top 75 player in the country from Hueytown.
You know, and I think it's a really obvious sign that, you know, there's a reason why Vontrell King-Williams kept his job at Auburn with D.J. Durkin.
You know, he's done a great job with defensive line and defensive line recruiting since he got the job a couple years ago.
He's one of the only two coaches that gets to stay on this new staff and pays a quick dividend on the recruiting trail by being able to pick up a guy that they've been very, very familiar with, you know, throughout this recruiting process.
And, Justin, the other thing is, to be objective here, Alabama, I don't think they ever had any competition for Trent Seaborn, the quarterback at times.
He grew up an Alabama fan.
And where it is, this kid grew up a big Auburn fan.
But just that being the case, you've still got to close the deal.
It doesn't hurt that he's grown up.
I understand he's even got an Auburn tattoo.
But you've still got to close the deal.
Yeah, 100%.
I mean, we've seen, you know, Auburn, you know, fans in the past go play for Alabama and vice versa.
But, yeah, it does help.
That's why I think I've always said kind of over the years, you know, for Auburn.
And, you know, obviously recruiting has kind of changed with what everything's, you know, gone on with the transfer portal and all that.
But I've always thought, like, when Auburn's been at its best in recruiting, they go find guys that fit them really well.
They can't just necessarily go out and, you know, go star chasing.
You know, you've got to find guys that, you know, really fit what you want to do and want to be there with you.
And, you know, you have some of that here with Moore.
A really good example of that I always go back to, and obviously he was a phenomenal five-star recruit.
But Auburn had some of that, you know, when they got Derrick Brown several years ago.
He felt like he fitted Auburn better than he fitted Alabama or Georgia, and that's why he ended up there.
So I wouldn't be surprised if you're more kind of getting the same thing as a guy who's been very familiar with the program.
When you get to mid-February in basketball and you lose a couple of games, you start hearing this stuff about,
well, are they on the bubble?
And Auburn won four in a row.
Now they've lost three in a row.
And I've been hearing this narrative this week.
Well, you know, what's Auburn got to do to stay off the bubble?
In quad one games this year, they've beaten St. John's.
In fact, that looks like a bigger win every week for Alabama and Auburn.
St. John's won 10 consecutive games, beat UConn last week.
North Carolina State's 8-3 in the SEC.
It doesn't get any bigger than beating Florida and Gainesville.
They obliterated Arkansas and Auburn, lost by one point to Houston.
Everybody's lost to Michigan, Arizona, Purdue, along with the SEC losses.
Look, I get it.
I know there's some frustration.
We'll get into that a little bit in a minute.
But to me, it's just seeding.
Well, Auburn finished between a 6 seed and an 8 seed.
We'll see how the remaining seven games go.
But let's talk about the bubble for Auburn right now.
To me, when you look at their quad one wins and their 8-0 and quad three and four,
they don't have a bad loss, Auburn is going to be in the tournament.
It's just where the seeding is going to be.
Yeah, 100%.
You know, I think Auburn right now is just you don't want to keep making losing a habit.
They got some quad two games down the stretch that you can't afford to lose
if you want to be in the tournament comfortably.
But I'll put it to you this way.
This team reminds me a lot of the team from three years ago from Auburn
that was a 9 seed in the NCAA tournament.
It was kind of the same type of season for them.
Auburn's already got more quad one wins than that team had in all of the season,
three seasons ago.
And that team was a 9.
So for Auburn, I think you feel pretty good about your chances to make the tournament
if you take care of business.
It's some of these games they've got coming up.
You go to a team like you go to Arkansas tomorrow.
You play Kentucky at home next Saturday.
You've got BAM at the end of the season.
Oklahoma's kind of sneaking into quad one territory since they beat Vandy,
and that's a true road game for Auburn.
So, like, there are some opportunities to pick up some resume builders, you know,
moving forward.
And that's really what you've missed out on.
The three-game losing streak is frustrating.
I know fans don't like it.
I know the coaches and the players are even more frustrated about it for sure.
But you look at it and say, okay, what has Auburn really done in the grand scheme of things?
They've really just missed out on opportunities to make their resume even better at this point.
So they're going to have a stretch here coming up where they've got some kind of more must-win games.
But, yeah, right now you're still firmly in the tournament field.
It's just going to be a matter of how much you can help your seeding out.
And, you know, tomorrow would be a pretty big one if they were able to do it.
And the reason is, obviously, Justin, Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer,
coming in, Arkansas is number 21.
There's two ways to look at that.
Oh, my gosh, we're on a skid.
We're taking on a ranked team.
The other side is if you win, you get a lot of mojo out of it.
You've been to Bud Walton Arena, I'm sure.
To me, it's one of the – we've taught a lot of coaches, you know,
obviously Sonny and Wimp and everybody else.
In their opinion, it's one of the toughest, loudest places to play as a visiting team.
Yeah, 100%.
And Auburn does not have a great history at Bud Walton like a lot of teams.
But I remember the last time they were there two seasons ago,
and I went to that game, they hit Arkansas in the mouth early,
and that crowd checked out on them.
Yeah.
You know, when they bled Arkansas down.
A lot tougher to do that with this team,
a lot tougher to do that against this Arkansas team.
But one of the keys for tomorrow for Auburn against Arkansas is get off to a good start.
They did not get off to a good start at all against Vanderbilt earlier this year.
Last week had to play catch-up most of the second half, and they fell short.
Same thing happened to them against Tennessee a couple weeks ago.
So, for Auburn, I think you have to come into this game thinking,
you've got to get off to a better start.
You've got to be the team that sets the tone,
punches the other one in the mouth early, and plays from there.
You've got to do that on the road.
Auburn did that at home against Arkansas last month,
and they ended up blowing Arkansas out, running them out of the gym.
I don't think they're going to do that tomorrow in Fayetteville.
It's going to be a whole lot tougher to do that.
But the central theme kind of remains.
If you get off to a good start on this team,
it'll be very interesting to see if they're going to be built to come back
because that crowd is expecting a win.
And, you know, I'll tell you this, the pressure is on Arkansas.
They're at home.
They need to win the game.
And also, they're trying to stay in the hunt for the SEC title.
They can't afford to drop home games, so the pressure is on Arkansas.
Auburn's got to go out there and play their game
and see if they can go out there, you know, and be the aggressor early
and crank up that pressure on Arkansas.
To expand on that thought, sometimes,
especially when you're riding a three-game losing streak,
the best thing that can happen to you is get away from home
because you're putting so much pressure on yourself at home
to please everybody you know.
They're coming into this game.
They're playing with house money in a sense.
Arkansas is the ranked team.
The ball, put it this way, the ball is in their court.
They've got to satisfy their home fans.
So, in some crazy ways, this is a good situation for Auburn.
It's two ways of looking at it.
Everybody says you want to play all of them at home,
but I also believe sometimes when you're in one of these long losing streaks,
it's best to get away from that pressure
and put the pressure on the other guys to win at home.
Yeah, I go back to, you know, a few weeks ago
when Auburn started SEC play one and three,
and then they won kind of a real ugly game against South Carolina,
and then it's like, all right, here we go.
We're on the road.
They grind out a win over Ole Miss,
and then they did a huge win over Florida on the road,
and that, you know, being able to go on the road helped Auburn
kind of reset their season.
They might be in that same situation again.
Back-to-back home losses, tough.
You hate to have them if you're Auburn.
It's a brutal spot to be in at this point in the year,
but now you're going on the road and you're playing this Arkansas team,
and Arkansas is great at Bud Walton.
They've been playing really good basketball as of late,
but Auburn should have the confidence and look and say, hey,
it's pretty simple.
If we can beat Florida on the road,
we can hang with anybody on the road in this league,
and so they need to kind of tap back into what made them pretty successful
against Florida a couple weeks ago,
or a few weeks ago at this point,
and see if they can do that again against Arkansas
and have a shot to come out with a win that could be one of their very best of the year.
Let me ask you about Keyshawn Hall,
one of the best players in the SEC.
A lot of our listeners, of course, saw that in the Alabama game last Saturday.
He set out the final 12-38 of the game,
had some struggles as far as the two-point shots against Vandy.
Maybe not a good matchup against Vandy,
but listen, Nate Oates benched Mark Sears.
Rick Barnes at Tennessee has benched players already twice this year.
There's nothing wrong with benching a star player,
and I know a lot's been made of that this week.
Your thoughts, I think most people think Hall's going to come back
and play well against Arkansas.
Your thoughts on Hall not playing the last 12 minutes of the game?
Yeah, it was pretty simple.
He did not have his best stuff on offense at all.
He was 0 for 8 from 2.
Vanderbilt did a great job defending him
and taking away what makes him really successful,
which is getting to the free throw line, driving downhill.
He really could only get a couple of shots up that were good.
He just, Auburn's offense was not working really well at all
when he was in the game.
And his defense is just not a strong suit.
It's just not.
I mean, that's just,
he's been able to make up for a lot of the defensive problems this season
because he's so good on offense.
But obviously against Vanderbilt, he was not having that offense he used to have.
And so, Stephen Pearl made a pretty bold move and said,
hey, he's our leading four, but we need to win.
We need to try to get back in this game with defense.
And they did.
Auburn was down 14 at one point.
They cut it all the way to four without him ever even looking at the floor
at that point.
And so, it's going to be very interesting to see what kind of response
that's going to be moving forward.
That's something that's got to rattle your cage if you're a guy like T.
Sean Hall.
And, you know, that's the thing.
It's like, you can be a great scorer.
You can be one of the very best in the SEC,
but you've got to play defense and you've got to help your team out
in some other ways.
So, I would expect him to be a better offensive player moving forward for sure.
I think Vandy just had his number the other night.
But it is a pretty swift reminder that defense is what carries this
basketball team.
Defense is what wins games for this team, and you've got to have it.
Welcome to college as opposed to being a superstar in high school.
Justin, just what you need, something else on your sports buffet plate,
baseball.
Your thoughts about Auburn's baseball team this season.
Yeah, I mean, they started up today against Youngstown State,
the first weekend series for them.
A lot of expectations.
I mean, I don't cover Auburn baseball on a day-to-day basis.
We did have our friend Adam Cole, the Montgomery Advertiser,
who came on and did a podcast with us today, previewing this season.
But one thing I can't tell you is that as long as I've been around Auburn,
which has been a long time at this point, you know,
since I got to school in 2011, so I guess I've been covering this team
in some degree for about 12 or 13 years at this point.
This is the most anticipation I can remember for a baseball season.
Auburn's a preseason top-ten team.
Some people have them up as a top-five team.
A ton of hitters back.
A ton of hitters back this year.
Chris Rembert and Bub Terrell were all LSEC freshman-type of performers this past season.
They're back.
You've got guys like Cade Ballou.
They've got a ton of hitters on this team, hitters with experience.
They've got some transfers that are filling out some spots that they really, really like.
For Auburn, it's can they use the first month of the season to figure out their pitching?
Who can they trust on the weekends?
Who can they trust out of the bullpen?
They're going to be able to do that in this first month of the season
because they get some good home series.
They get to go on the road and play some really good teams in non-con.
They have the big tournament out at the Rangers Stadium here in a couple weeks.
So they've got to figure out what they're going to do on the mound
and just kind of who they can trust.
You would say, though, for a Butch Thompson team,
you'll trust that they'll figure it out on the mound more often than not.
I think the really exciting thing about this Auburn team is there are multiple
all-SEC caliber hitters back in this lineup this season,
and that gets people pretty, pretty excited for what's to come.
Well, one thing people have figured out is they need to get on your website
to get the absolute latest, the 6 a.m. emails, the Friday mailbag, the podcast,
recruiting, football, spring practice, beginning here next time we turn around,
basketball, going down the stretch.
Where can we get online to get all the good stuff?
Yeah, auburnobserver.com, check it out there.
Like I said, today we have a season preview podcast with Adam Cole,
previewing Auburn baseball season.
So you get your baseball fix there.
I had a story about Auburn basketball today.
Todd Pettiford having a couple good games here on offense,
despite the losses, how Auburn can tap into that a little bit more.
Did some football this week.
We talked to every position coach at Auburn these last couple days,
so you got some notes in there from that if you want your football fix.
And then I'll be heading to Fayetteville tomorrow morning for that primetime game
tomorrow night at Arkansas.
We'll have coverage of that all weekend long.
Auburnobserver.com, $6 a month, $60 a year.
If you subscribe, we've got a ton of stuff on the website right now,
and you'll get even more of it emailed to your inbox as soon as it drops.
When we talk next week, you'll still be hearing suey pig in your ears out there, Justin.
Okay.
Safe travels, okay?
I appreciate y'all.
Thank you.
Thank you, buddy.
Ferguson, the Auburn Observer.
Even as we speak, Joy Aguilar's hearing is underway in Knoxville.
BB, what do you think the verdict is going to be up there as far as trying to get his texture here?
It's interesting.
I've heard it's not the home field advantage as several people described it in Oxford.
Maybe 50-50, Harold.
We'll see.
Just quickly, Auburn at Arkansas is on ESPN at 7.30.
South Carolina at Alabama is on the SEC Network at 7.30.
You can hear the pregame beginning at 6.30.
By the way, UNA Men host Eastern Kentucky Sunday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.
Wow.
Making the first time a game inside CB&S Bank Arena on an ESPN network.
And I know they've been on the ESPN network quite a few times in tournament play,
but it should be exciting, UNA Eastern Kentucky Sunday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.
And on 93.9, the score, a lot's going on this weekend.
Kentucky and Florida, 145 pregame tomorrow morning.
And then, of course, tomorrow night, Alabama, South Carolina, 6 through the pregame Sunday.
Sunday.
Washington State, Alabama basketball at 1245.
That's the pregame followed by Alabama and Oklahoma in women's basketball.
Another busy weekend here on 93.9, the score.
Enjoy and stay safe.
It's going to take care of us for now on behalf of BB, Greg James Blair, the entire crew here.
Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today.
Let's do it again Monday, noon to 2 for the Boomer Buck Show.
Back here on Sports Radio 93.9, the score.
Thank you.