Boomo Bugg Show 051126
93.9 The Score WYTK - May 11, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-051126/

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 story.
Good afternoon and welcome in 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, simply put, a day to remember Bobby.
Good afternoon, welcome in, and how are you?
The listeners, Harold, really a horrible week for the Braves' family losing John Sterling, Ted Turner, and then, of course, number six, Bobby Cox.
And we'll be talking about these guys throughout the course of the week.
Randy Burns, the athletic director, Florence Sports Place, will update us a little bit later, North Regional Softball.
But Adam is here right now with an update on Missouri running back Ahmaud Hardy and SEC baseball and basketball.
We know you get busy over the weekend.
You say, Missouri football, it's May, what's going on?
Well, Adam Spencer on that and everything else.
There, it's Saturday down south.
Adam, welcome in.
Ooh, what a way to start the week.
How are you?
I'm doing all right, guys.
How are you?
Hey, Ben.
Well, it's crazy.
I mean, we got to the, like Brent said, what a week it's been for Braves fans and, for that matter, baseball fans.
We know you are a Missouri fan slash grad.
So, let's start with what's near and dear to your heart and what's shocking to a lot of folks out there.
And if you want to call it the offseason, Missouri running back Ahmaud Hardy, a dream season, toting the ball for your Tigers and a nightmare of a weekend.
Adam, I won't spoil your thunder.
Give us the latest in the back story with Ahmaud Hardy.
Yeah, I mean, there's not too many details now, but he was shot at a concert in Mississippi this weekend, according to the statement released by the school.
The shooting happened yesterday, and he underwent surgery yesterday, it said, in stable condition, so that's good.
But, you know, it doesn't obviously mean good condition.
So, just not a lot of details right now.
You know, they're trying to figure all that out, and I'm sure there'll be more information that breaks over the week.
But, for right now, just a real shame and a scary situation involving, you know, one of the, not only one of the best runners in the SEC, but one of the, you know, seems to be really liked by teammates and coaches and everything.
So, just a really great guy, too, it sounds like.
Yeah, Adam, that's what I was going to say.
He just needs to get healthy, be with his family.
I know a lot of Missouri fans would like to see him break 1,600 yards again, but God bless him.
He just needs to get healthy now.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, when a situation like this happens, you know, obviously football is the reason that he is, you know, in the collective public image here.
But, you know, you always root for the person to recover at a time like this, and football becomes secondary.
So, yeah, just thoughts and prayers with Ahmad and his family and his friends and the entire Missouri program where he's a beloved member of the team.
Adam, obviously, hooking up with us, Adam Spencer from Saturday down south.
Adam, let's talk a little bit about so-called offseason.
And, you know, this is, let's face it, every coach across the board, I don't care what color shirt they've got on, they've got one common worry, and that's what happens in the offseason.
And maybe especially now, kids have always been kids, but the difference between now, this generation, and generations past, they got a lot of bling-bling.
They can go a lot of places, kids back in the day couldn't, from a business standpoint, hats off to them.
But your thoughts just about some of the other effects of the modern era, and that is, back to our neck of the woods, Alabama canceling a home-and-home series with Oklahoma State.
They keep Ohio State, I think I saw where Georgia's canceling Florida State.
Your thoughts about what this does for college football, with the increased number of conference games, these coaches that say,
okay, if you're going to do that, then we've got to do some adjusting on the back end, because we just can't go out there and lose three or four or five ballgames.
You can, and still maybe make the playoffs, but let's face it, you're not going to please the fans.
I don't care, Alabama and Georgia fans ain't ever going to be happy with four and five losses.
Right, and I also wonder too, though, speaking of the NIL era and all this money grab that's going on in all of college sports right now,
I do wonder, I know that Georgia canceled the home-and-home with Florida State, but there was this, Duke agreed to play,
I forget who Duke agreed to play, maybe it was, I don't know, but they agreed, the basketball team agreed to play,
some big-name opponent, but it's only available on Amazon or something like that.
Oh, my goodness.
It's a one-off situation there, and I just wonder if that's something that these football programs are going to look into now, too,
is like, well, can we just bypass our media rights obligations and go directly to a streaming service like Amazon
and get, you know, a blank check, basically, to put on these games at a neutral site, you know, by ourselves.
So, you know, I wonder if that's part of the calculus here with this decision and some of these series getting canceled,
but, you know, I think the other side of the coin is you're right, that, you know, they don't want to have four or five losses,
because even if you make a 2014 playoff with four or five losses, what you're doing is, you know,
you're hurting your potential path.
So, you know, I think that, you know, because a team with four or five losses, I don't care how many teams you expand the playoff to,
that team's probably not going to host in round one.
So, you know, you want to make sure that the math is adding up here and you're playing good games,
but not too many good games and all of those considerations.
So, you know, we'll see. I'm glad that Alabama kept the Ohio State series, but, you know, we'll see how many more of these get canceled in the coming.
Well, to answer your question, will they keep doing it?
The answer is absolutely yes, until somebody somewhere says, here's the reason you're not.
It's going to cost them more to obey with those rules and what they're doing now.
We're not political here, but I saw the past few days where the president says, this is the NFL.
The blueprint is the same. More of these NFL games are now going behind a paywall.
And like the president said, this used to be free.
We get things changed.
But come on, man, you're making billions of dollars.
At what point do you say enough is enough?
And what about the fans who simply cannot afford to keep on paying for these increases to the prices?
Yeah, I mean, this all comes down to, you know, I just keep going on my business rants on your show to start Monday morning here.
But, you know, basically what we've done is with all these tech bros and these tech companies is recreate a more inconvenient version of cable that costs more.
And you can't just flip back and forth between channels.
Like the other night, there was MLB games on.
There were two playoff hockey games.
And there was NBA playoffs.
And one was on Amazon.
One I could watch on YouTube TV because it was on ESPN.
And the other was on like Peacock or something.
And it's just like how it's been, you know, the MLB games are on MLB.TV because there's only like three of those broadcast nationally a week.
So it's just like how, like, do I just need to become a wizard with my remote to try to watch these?
So, yeah, I mean, you know, to a certain extent, yeah, like the NFL grew because it was allowed to, you know, be broadcast on over-the-air channels like Fox and CBS and then eventually NBC where everybody with an antenna could watch them.
So, I mean, yeah, it's worth looking into if they're violating, like, antitrust stuff and, you know, time to start playing hardball with them as they continue to make their product less and less accessible for common viewers.
I think that that's fair and something that, you know, no matter who's the president, somebody should be looking into that always.
Adam, I think to answer your question, it was Duke and Michigan, the other team you were trying to think of.
It's now officially official.
We have gone to 76, expanded to 76 teams beginning in 20, 27.
Adam, I think we had one guest out of about 10 last week who said they were actually in favor of this.
Now, again, I know once you get through the expanded play-in games, it's going to be 64 and the tournament pretty much resumes to being normal.
But I don't know if I've ever heard so much negativity than I did last week as far as this move by the NCAA to go from 68 to 76.
Yeah, I just don't.
I just don't get it.
I mean, it's just more saturation.
It's more money.
And, you know, like we talked about last week, it's just if people are watching, though, it's just going to continue to expand.
And so, I mean, as consumers, we're the ones that have to stop it.
But, you know, it's going to be interesting because, you know, the first day of the tournament used to be such an event.
Even with the first four, like that first Thursday of the tournament is still like must-see viewing where, you know, productivity, jobs is down.
And, you know, everybody has their iPads that they're trying to secretly watch the games on and work and stuff.
Or you just take that day off and go, you know, hang out with your friends at a bar or something to watch the games.
So, you know, if that, if this expansion and the expansion of the first four, if that cuts into, you know, maybe it's still more net viewers overall.
But, you know, if it starts cutting into that Thursday spike and it's just a flatter transition where, you know, you have 30 million people watching the first four games and like 35 million tune in on Thursday instead of, you know, what it used to be, you know, 60 million tuning in or whatever for the first day.
So, you know, it's all going to come down to TV viewership numbers and those sort of metrics to drive whether they expand it to 84 or 92 or whatever, you know, 100, however many teams there are.
Let's get all 360 of them in there.
Adam, a very interesting story here.
Did you ever think we'd have this conversation where you come up with coaches in college football with a richest contract and you got two here making over $10 million and they don't make.
They don't make your top 10 list.
Florida State's Mike Norvell, Florida State fans saying, man, this guy's cashing checks.
And a fellow by the name of Eli Drinkwiz, so you may be familiar with it, Missouri.
They don't make it.
In spite of making 10 plus, that's because at number 10 is Dan Lanning at over 10 and a half.
Here's what I find interesting about this list.
You got Steve Sarkeesian.
Everybody thinks Texas just prints money.
He's making a mere $11 million plus.
Lincoln Riley talking about stealing money, $11 and a half at USC.
He's tied at six on the list.
But number one is Kurt Signetti, $13.2.
He makes $3 million more or $1 million more than Ryan Day at Ohio State and another million more than Kevin DeBoer.
Kurt, did you ever think a guy from Indiana would be leading the way when it comes to coaches' salaries?
No, that's hard to believe.
You know, that's been the biggest takeaway of the NIL era is that, you know, when you have those Mark Cubans in your alumni fan base and, you know, they have the willingness and the knowledge of sports.
You know, Cubans specifically, it was a big reason that they were able to get the NIL money to bring Fernando Mendoza to Bloomington last year.
So as long as you have that, you know, that is why I think part of the reason why we're seeing the Big Ten on this run because the Big Ten just has bigger alumni bases and, you know, bigger donor pools than a lot of these SEC programs.
And that's not saying that the SEC programs are crying poor by any means, but, you know, when you have the ability to do that, then, you know, that's a big step in the right direction.
And that's why you're going to see these schools like Indiana and Texas Tech who haven't had much historical success start to be real players in this era of college football.
Because, you know, Kirby Smart said it best.
You know, he was talking last week about how, you know, the mid-2000s, early 2010s Alabama teams would, you know, I think he said dog walk the current best teams in the country.
And it's true because you would just stockpile all these five stars and see who panned out.
But now, if a five-star doesn't get playing time, he's going to go where he can make the most NIL money the next year.
So, yeah, I think Indiana is the poster child, along with Texas Tech, of this new era that we're in.
Yeah, Harold and I laugh about this.
When Nick Saban was paid $4 million to start coaching at Alabama in 2007, he was wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Now there are 15 coaches who are making over $10 million, and it's just only going to go up.
Great stuff.
Always enjoy beginning the week with you.
Again, our thoughts and prayers with Ahmaud Hardy and the Missouri family.
Adam, a lot of good stuff going on baseball, softball this week.
Where can we get online to get all the good stuff from SDS?
Yeah, SaturdayDownSouth.com.
We've got a newsletter coming out tomorrow.
Baseball power rankings on Friday.
Another baseball column coming out later this afternoon.
So, yeah, we've got baseball.
We've got some football preseason rankings coming out here later this week.
So, yeah, stay tuned to Saturday Down South for everything.
Hard to believe we're coming up on just 100 days or so to the beginning of a thing called college football.
Adam, in the meantime, have a great week, and thank you so much for your time today.
Yeah, thanks for having me, guys.
Thank you, bud.
I really appreciate it.
Appreciate you very much.
Adam Spencer, Saturday Down South.
Well, if you're driving around the Shoals area, you're going to see a lot of cars here, there, and everywhere that you don't recognize.
Randy Burns may have a little hint wide next to Hyundai.
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The score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
It is that time of the year, BB.
If you love softball, I don't care what direction you go.
Life is good.
Over the weekend, a very interesting weekend for the Alabama softball team.
Do you agree?
Yeah, they lost to Texas, but they were named the number one seed, which is interesting.
Patrick Murphy's had a very good season.
By the way, Patrick Murphy and his team have been to the sportsplex.
That's right.
Previously, that I know our next guest knows very well.
Well, that may be the secret to the sauce.
Who knows?
We can ask the man responsible for that, Randy Burns.
He's the athletic director for the City of Florence, Parks and Recreation Department, overseeing a thing called the Florence Sportsplex.
Randy, welcome in.
How are you?
Doing great, guys.
How are y'all?
Man, we're busy, but I got a feeling you can top it.
We may be the king of busy, but you're the ace.
You trump us, Randy.
We were joking coming in to you that if you're driving around town, you see a lot of tags that you don't recognize.
There may be a good reason.
Basically, you're in the middle of softball heaven this week, are you not?
Yes, sir.
We have the Alabama High School Athletic Association North Regional Softball Tournament here at the sportsplex.
For folks who don't know exactly what that means, talk to us as far as the number of teams and who all may be represented.
I know you can't run down the specific list, but in general, the list of folks coming in.
So we've got 52 teams here this week from all over the North region.
I mean, right now we have two 7-8 games going on.
We've got Hewitt Trust for, we have Spartan, we have Huntsville, and we have Vestavia playing now.
We had 4-8, we had four games going a while ago.
Two of our local teams, Central, beat Cordova, and Wilson beat Dora earlier.
Randy, one of the things I'm impressed with, I saw this in the Times Daily, you're always working to improve the sportsplex.
You've now got 1,759 parking spots.
57 of those are handicapped.
That's actually more, and I was kidding with you yesterday, than they've got around Bryant-Denny Stadium now.
You've also upgraded the turf.
You had a contract with Pro Rain Irrigation.
It's a lot of work, Randy.
We talk about this every time we come on and talk about a special event.
You've got an army of volunteers.
Your staff works around the clock to get this done.
Talk about some of the improvements you've had at the sportsplex.
Well, this year, you know, when we have a tournament like this magnitude and stuff,
sometimes we have to use what's called sure-dry to help if it rains, dry the fields and stuff.
But once you do that, your texture is never the same again.
So about every other year, if it's for this tournament here for sure, or the World Series,
we have to put that chemical dry solution out and rake it in.
So this year, we had four inches of clay taken out of our infields and put brand-new clay in, laser-graded.
They cut the lips out.
They took warning track material out and got those back like they should be.
And then they come in and put our field conditioner on top of it.
So, you know, it's always something.
And one, we want our fields to look good.
We want them to be playable and we want them safe.
And that's for league ball, tournament ball, whatever we do, we want everything to look good.
And the maintenance guys do a good job once we do all that, maintaining everything.
The other side of that coin, Randy, is it's always, what's the secret to sales?
You want to keep the client happy and you want to keep going.
So when the state comes up and they see that, they say, wow, this is pretty impressive.
Maybe we need to sit here and renew the contract.
And a lot of folks are going to say, well, that's a lot of money.
But here's the bottom line.
Did we realize how much money comes back?
You got to, what's the old saying, got to spend to make.
And I would imagine hotels, restaurants, you name it, anything that's tourist oriented in the show's area,
they appreciate your investment.
I don't think a lot of people understand the word economic impact, if you want to know the truth.
Right.
I just don't think they realize the tax dollars from an event like this and the World Series and stuff
actually bring in to the city.
I mean, you know, you can tell them that, but they say, well, I just don't see that.
Well, you know, and a lot of our people don't see it that work here.
You know, look at our equipment we have.
You look at us renovating our fields.
We have all kinds of stuff we do that we couldn't do, probably, if we didn't do events like this.
So, you know, it even helps the restaurants, like you said, the hotels.
And then they're calling, you know, so here's the day I feed, I feed umpires every day, breakfast, lunch, and supper.
I feed volunteers, breakfast, lunch, and supper.
And schoolkeepers, bookkeepers, and anybody involved, we're feeding our maintenance guys.
We feed business.
They can't leave the field because they don't know when the game's going to get over.
Because they've got to flip a field, line it, drag it, pack, home plate, pictures, mouth.
So, if it wasn't for our restaurants, donating, and all that, this would be a big expense.
But thankfully, we make them a lot of money, and they give back to us.
And we can't, I'm not even going to start naming people because I'll leave somebody out, and I don't want to do that.
But I promise you, we couldn't do what we do without our restaurants and local establishments.
Randy, I think you told us your ground crew has got, what, six minutes to turn over a field?
You've got so many games.
I know you've got a lot of fields.
Talk about the ground crew, what they've got to do in between games.
So, in between games, they're going to drag the fields.
They're going to go out there to the pitching rubber, and they're going to pack clay in there and pack it
and get it back like it normally would without a game, you know.
Then they're going to the batter's boxes.
They're going to pack clay, new clay, pack it with a pound and all that.
And then they're going to line the fields after they finish dragging it and get everything ready to play.
Six and a half minutes, it's got to be ready to flip a game.
Not six, not seven, but six and a half, right?
They practice this.
They practice during the week.
Yes, sir.
Randy, obviously, this is an ongoing thing.
I guess, in a way, this event has prepared for the rest of the summer.
It's not like you can get down here and then go on vacation.
Talk to us about what you've got right around the corner with the Babe Ruth Softball World Series coming up in July.
Well, they arrive July 23rd, the softball side of it,
and we're expecting probably 12 international teams or more this year.
There will be 58, 50-something teams like that, could be more.
But they come in July 23rd.
They'll leave August the 2nd.
On August the 2nd, the Cal Ripken baseball side comes in.
The 8-year-old coach pitch and the 9-year-old kid pitch.
They come in, and they'll be here for 10 days.
So that's another 20 days of hotels and restaurants and everything being packed.
And, you know, and like I say, they help us in that World Series, too.
So, I mean, they donate food for us.
You know, there's just a lot of moving parts that goes into this.
And, you know, I'm just one piece.
But my guys and gals that work for us, our concession kids, are amazing.
I mean, there are a lot of them out of school today.
We got them excused this week.
I mean, that's big because we didn't have our high school kids here running the concession stand in our local schools.
And I'm talking about every one of them, all the county schools or city schools.
Mars Hill shows Christian.
Dashler, we got kids at work that go through at Dashler.
So, you know, it's a big deal that everybody realizes how big this is.
They love you, man.
I guarantee you those kids love you to peace.
If anything they get out of school, it's a good deal.
But talk to us about this.
We know that this is, for people who think big, they know this is an investment,
which means you've got communities all over the state of Alabama,
I'm sure bidding hard to get it.
Talk to us about the team, the process of just going to whomever.
And let's face it, at the end of the day, it's like Tommy Tubble says,
college football is about sales.
Everything is at the end of the day.
Talk to us about the sales they ever put together to outbid some of these other communities
trying to get the business.
So this was at the Hospital Kiwanis Park for 15 years.
And for six years, I went down there and made notes.
And just, you know, this is one thing that I had on the list that I would really like to try to bring to.
And, you know, making notes.
The last year I went, Rob Carnegie went, and Todd Nitz, who was the director of parking rec at that time,
I got them to go with me.
And then, so when we got there, me and Rob, we just went around to teams and asked them,
are you staying down here?
Are you staying?
I mean, no, are you staying?
And then, you know, you have to put together and just figure out, okay, I got to bid on this.
Well, the first year we bid, we didn't get it.
And so we knew, well, we got to do something different.
So tourism has always been a great partner also.
So we met with tourism, Rob and myself met with his board.
And now we split the bid, and we could go a little higher.
And I don't want to say how much, because I don't want nobody starting out bidding.
You know, so this is our eighth, ninth year, I think.
COVID hurt us one year.
We didn't get to host it.
And so we got one more year left on the contract.
And I don't see any reason that they're going to move this thing away from us.
Because I think we do a great job.
I think they see how invested we are and what we want to do for them.
Randy, these are the best teams in North Alabama.
They went here, they go to Choclocka Park and play for Blue Mouth.
There are a lot of good teams.
For example, 3A is on Wednesday, Mars Hill, Colbert Heights, they're 31-9.
Rogers, Colbert County, Colbert County's 45-8.
Malachi Davis is a pitcher for them.
She's got over 400 strikeouts this year.
These girls can club a softball.
You've got some of the best talent in North Alabama.
Randy, I know you can pay at the gate, but as far as can you get online, pay in advance?
As far as getting ready to come to a game, how can you do that online?
You could go to GoFan and buy tickets on GoFan.
And then when you come to the gate, they'll just redeem you tickets.
You'll show them your phone, they'll redeem you tickets and give you your wristbands for the day.
It's $5 parking to get in.
A lot of people sometimes complain about that, but they don't realize, we've got to make a little money because we spend a whole lot of money to get this.
But they can do GoFan.
They can pay cash at the gate.
And they can do that.
I think it's $12 at the gate and $12 GoFan.
So you can do either.
You can go GoFan.com and you'll search for Florence Sports Flex, the North Regional, because there's three other sites.
Make sure you click on the North Regional and buy your tickets there.
Absolutely.
Listen, good luck with your Army.
And again, we all appreciate a lot of the businesses in the community donating food, helping you with food for all the volunteers.
Randy, good luck this week.
Certainly wish it for the players and the coaches.
Have a fun week.
I think you got the rain out of the way finally.
Maybe you got sunshine the rest of the week.
That's right.
I hope so.
I really appreciate you all always being interested in what happens out here and stuff.
And thank you for always including us.
I appreciate what you do for Florence Park and Rick and all the high schools and colleges around.
Thank you very much.
You're more than welcome, Randy.
Happy to do it.
Keep up the good work and thank you so much.
Randy Burns, hard working out with the Florence Parks and Recreation Department.
Great week for softball.
Coming up, what's the week like for Auburn fans?
Brian Matthews, the latest next.
Stay with us.
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Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93-9, the score.
Atlanta Braves picked up a win yesterday in L.A.
They beat the Dodgers 7-2, holding the Dodgers to just two hits.
Bryce Elder earned the victory.
He's 4-1 as the Braves improved to 28-13.
The Atlanta Braves will have today off.
They're back home tomorrow to start a series with the Cubs at Truist Park.
College baseball action this weekend.
Alabama a winner yesterday.
The Beats, South Carolina, 7-6.
The win caps off a weekend sweep of the Gamecocks.
Alabama now 35-17 overall, 16-11 in the SEC.
Troy a winner yesterday over South Alabama, 8-1.
The Trojans with the victory improved to 15-12 in the Sun Belt.
South Alabama now 15-12 in Sun Belt play.
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I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash, presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score.
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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
Really appreciate giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
And for Brian Matthews, taking time out of his busy schedule as senior editor for AuburnSports.com.
Brian, welcome in.
Happy Monday to you.
How are you?
I'm doing great, guys.
Thanks for having me in.
Brian, we are almost in shock.
Is it true that the end of the regular season in SEC baseball is near?
We know George over the weekend clinched the top spot.
They are the part of the pond top dog.
But, let's face it, the season's not over for the rest of the folks in the SEC.
You've got the tourney coming up.
Talk to us about Auburn still being basically, if you will, speaking of George and the dogs,
in a dogfight with Alabama for that coveted top four spot.
Yeah, it's going to be quite a finish in SEC baseball, as you said.
You know, Georgia has got that spot wrapped up in clinched Saturday.
And I think it's seven teams for the last four spots, all within one and a half games of each other.
So, it could really go any way.
You know, Auburn plays Georgia.
That's probably the toughest test.
But then again, Auburn's won six straight SEC series,
which is by far the hottest team in the conference right now.
So, it's going to be a wild finish.
And it should be really exciting to sort of, you know, finish out the SEC,
figure out who's going to be top four and get that double-binded SEC tournament,
and also a fight for, you know, national seeds.
I think a lot of those are really, really close.
I think Auburn's in great shape with the number one streak in the schedule.
I think they're up to third or fourth in RPI, I haven't looked at this morning.
But it's really, really high.
So, they're doing a terrific job.
And, you know, it should be an exciting series.
I know Georgia's wrapped it up to there, I think, around 14, 15 RPI.
So, they still have a lot to fight for when it comes to a national seed.
Well, you mentioned something there.
And I think in any sport, it's maybe more so in baseball in some ways than any other sport.
Sometimes, a double-bind can hurt you.
In football, you get rusty.
It can in baseball, but it all comes back relative to the depth of your pitching staff.
Your thoughts, Brian, as far as how Auburn sets up here at this point in the season.
To me, it all comes down as no baseball boy with defense and pitching.
And you've got to have depth on both ends.
But your thoughts, where Auburn is as far as pitching coming at this point in the season.
Well, you know, Auburn is a team that could thrive in an SEC tournament situation.
Pat, play more than three games.
Now, you know, it's different.
There's not the, you know, double elimination anymore.
It's all straight, single elimination.
And if you get the double-by, you know, you get to wait and you don't have to play Friday.
And if you go all the way to the finals, you're going Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you're done.
It's just like a SEC weekend.
So, you know, even if you don't get a double-by, it's only four games.
And, of course, if you're one of the bottom teams there in the league, you have to play potentially five games to win.
But, you know, Auburn's pitching staff is as deep as it's been.
You know, they've got five to six guys who could potentially start, you know, a big game.
You know, some, of course, you know, like Alex Petrovich and Dre Alvarez and Jake Marciano, of course, have started just about every weekend here, especially in this winning streak, and have been really effective.
So I think that's a big advantage for Auburn to have those three guys going if they can.
And then have guys like Jackson Sanders come out of the bullpen because he's been so effective, he's been key since he's moved there, of being able for Auburn to close out some important games.
So, you know, I think if Auburn can get that double-by, they're in great shape to possibly win the, you know, make a run at the SEC title, first time since 1998.
And even if they come up a little short and they have to play on Thursday, I still think this team is built to make a run or if they get going.
It's amazing to me when I remember Alabama swept Auburn, and then they've won six series since then.
Brian, there are two games that stand out to me.
Winning the doubleheader against Texas A&M last Saturday, I think they scored 17 runs in the first game.
Then Saturday night on the road against Mississippi State, hitting that home run in the top of the ninth and winning five to four.
Again, it's just clutch, clutch hits, clutch pitching, and that's led to six consecutive series wins.
Yeah, you know, Mississippi State had come back and you're worried, you know, is Auburn going to be able to, you know, handle the momentum they had.
And then Chase Braylett stepped up Friday night and hit that big home run.
That was huge for that team to get that win and then set up another big rubber game in game three.
And then five of those six series have come down to that final game.
And Auburn has outscored its opponents 54-14 in game three.
So I think that says a whole lot about how this team competes, you know, when the series is on the line in these big games.
And they've been playing much better baseball.
I think the big thing early in SEC play was the pitching's been consistent all year, but the hitting, it just took a while to get going.
But that certainly changed here over the last couple of months.
Brian Matthews, senior editor from AuburnSports.com.
We know it's always football season in our neck of the woods.
And any time you talk in recruiting, it's always a hot buzz.
Any time you talk about recruiting and getting quarterbacks, that's even hotter.
Talk to us about Auburn adding to the 2027 class with a wide receiver and some other folks on the list.
Well, of course, they got their big, you know, quarterback, which I thought was huge.
And, you know, I know that Gary Chapman's not a highly ranked kid, but he was committed to Wake Forest.
And, you know, when you're doing this in recruiting, you've got to sort of kind of decide,
is this in this recruiting window, are we going to pay big for a quarterback?
Are we going to, are we feel good about the quarterbacks we think are coming back?
And are we going to invest that money in other areas?
So, it's a give and take.
Auburn has pursued some top quarterbacks, so it doesn't mean they might not go after one in the portal now.
But Gary Chapman from Snellville, Georgia, is going to be their high school quarterback.
He's about 6'1", 6'1 1⁄2", very athletic, close to 200 pounds.
He's got a really, really strong arm.
So, I think he's a guy that can develop.
I don't think he's an instant impact type quarterback.
I think Byron O'Dore, who received it from Riverdale in Missouri, Tennessee.
I think he is a guy that's 6'3", 200 pounds or so.
Maybe more of an athlete, but really grown into a receiver.
And moving into a new school that's going to throw the ball a little bit more, I think it's going to help him.
I would not be surprised to see him make a big step forward his senior year.
And I think he is a guy that can contribute right away just because of his great combination of size and speed.
And I just think Cody Burns has a really good eye for talent, too.
We have been talking with you, young man, about Big Cat Weekend since it started in 2009.
With Gene Chizik, golly, that's hard to believe.
Will Alex Golich, again, when you've got something successful, you don't want to change it.
And I know he's come in and just wanted to survey a little bit.
I know he's already put his DNA on some things.
Will he change Big Cat very much?
Will they continue to be just a fun, you know, watermelon eating contest, jump in the pool, stuff like that?
Will there still be a fun Saturday?
I'm sure it will be, and it is coming up this Saturday.
And, you know, we don't have the full list out.
We'll have that on our site, though, but we have been confirming people as we've gone on over the last couple of weeks, and it should be a really big event.
I have not heard exactly what they're going to do, but I don't see any reason why they should stray from the script, make it a big family event, try to get the kids down here and their parents and grandparents and whoever else is important to them.
And spend as much one-on-one time as possible with them.
So it'll be interesting to see, you know, how it looks on their goal list, right?
Because it changes a little bit from year to year as it grows, from coaching staff and what they view as important.
But I think, you know, the basics remain the same, getting your top guys in, treating them like a part of the family, and just letting Auburn sell itself.
Looks like two guys with roots to Auburn will not be attending that event.
That's Jason Campbell and Tommy Tuberville.
The reason they're both going to be inducted this weekend into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame is Tommy going to get a waiver from Washington to come down and be a part of that.
Your thoughts about Tommy Tuberville and Jason Campbell, I would imagine Tommy can't wait because I think he's running for another office in the state.
Your thoughts about the latest two from Auburn to go in to the Alabama Sports HOF?
Yeah, it's just a great achievement for both of them.
You know, that 2014 with Jason Campbell, one of my most favorite teams to cover.
Jason was such a great player, a great leader.
That team had a bunch of seniors on it, a bunch of great players, four first-round draft picks there with Carnell and Ronnie and Carlos Rodgers.
And, of course, a great coaching staff led by Tommy Tuberville, too.
So, yeah, it's just great memories, thinking back to those times and, you know, what that team was able to accomplish.
And Tommy, of course, had a terrific record at Auburn, had some really, really good teams.
And that 2004 was certainly the best of events.
I always enjoy Monday musings in the title of today's new 76-team NCAA tournament.
A foolish endeavor in this week's Monday musings.
Summarize Monday musings today for us.
Well, I think there's universal scorn for this, right?
I have not heard too many people speak out in favor of it.
So, you know, and so I'm just kind of piling on here.
I'm not providing great insight into it.
But it's just, to me, it's just a short-sighted move, right?
They need more money.
This is a way for them to get more money by stuffing more very average to below-average teams in a tournament that doesn't need that.
And then, you know, getting this money now, what's it going to matter two or three years ago if they don't start regulating the market better?
And, you know, the price of doing business is just going to go up.
It's just going to need it, and they're going to need more money.
And they're really not taking the steps to regulate things.
The only steps that I know of that are going to work is for them to sit down and work out some sort of employment agreement,
do some collective bargaining, start, you know, treating players as they are paid athletes to play for that school
and pretending that we have student-athletes anymore, especially with the revenue sports.
It's just silly.
It's gone on too long.
They've lost, I would say, billions of dollars, at least hundreds of millions of dollars in bargaining power
by continuing to delay this, and this will be just another delay tactic.
Yeah, you've been advocating collective bargaining for about three years.
So, yeah, and listen, 95% of our guests have said the same thing, and particularly last week,
that it was, again, once you get to 64, it's going to be pretty much the same tournament,
but everybody's more or less had the same attitude.
A lot of things going on, weekend, baseball is going on, recruiting.
Where can we get online and get all the great stuff?
Yeah, it should be a great week here at AuburnSports.com with coverage of all that.
I'll be at Jacksonville tomorrow night for a big game at Jacksonville State.
I think people are overlooking that, but Jacksonville State has been ranked.
They came to Auburn and run-ruled Auburn and plays a park, so this is going to be a big game for this team.
And, of course, I'll be there for all three games of the Georgia Series this weekend,
and Big Cat will have blowout coverage of that, including a big list of expected visitors
and coverage after the visits and much more as we continue to monitor the basketball portal and all that.
But check us out, AuburnSports.com.
You can sign up online.
You can follow me on Twitter, such as X at BMATAU.
Sounded like it's going to be a while before you get to the beach on that vacation, Brian.
Listen, in the meantime, thanks so much, and stay safe out there, okay?
Yeah, appreciate you guys.
Thank you, bud.
Brian Matthews, senior editor at AuburnSports.com.
BB, two words, Bobby Cox.
Yeah, Harold, he had a stroke.
He had fought through that, but passed away at the age of 84.
All of the comments, Bill Shanks, we'll try to get him on a little bit later this week.
He's got a lot of comments, but everybody, I got tickled at Terry Pendleton, Harold.
Instead of saying Skipper or Bobby, he just calls him number six.
Every time somebody talks to him about it, yeah, I love number six.
Number six did this, but there's no question the impressions that he made on so many people
around Major League Baseball fans, players, owners was just incredible.
I think he made an impression on umpires, too.
I think I saw he was ejected 162 times, and here's the funny story.
They let, of course, Bobby come back there at the end.
He was sick and everything.
He threw out the honorary first pitch, and all the umpires gathered around.
After he made the first pitch, he got together with the umpires.
They threw him out of the game.
H*** symbolic.
As an honorary first pitcher, the one, the only, Bobby Cox.
Coming up in the next hour, speaking of Major League Baseball players
with roots to the Tennessee Valley, you know Josh Willingham at Amara Seal.
What about his opponent, Donovan Tan, at Red Bay?
He's going to be on board the V-Man Talk in Tennessee,
and Ben Thomas says it's busy from one end of the state of Alabama to the next.
Ben's checking in from AL.com.
It's all straight ahead.
Stay with us.
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Less than four in 10 kids, age 6 through 12, are playing sports regularly.
Four in 10 kids?
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Just four in 10 kids.
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Well, in case you missed it, there was quite a disruption in the Alabama House last Friday
as a bill was being moved through the special legislative session in regards to Alabama and its congressional districts.
Those who were in the viewing gallery caused quite a commotion in opposition to that bill,
which led to the halting of the legislative process while police were sent to the gallery to deal with those protesters.
One woman with Black Voters Matter had to be removed physically from the gallery by police.
Two Democratic state lawmakers, Wondalyn Gavan and Mary Moore, ran up to help the woman
as police were trying to lift her off the floor where she had thrown herself.
State lawmaker Gavan could be seen physically jostling with another law enforcement officer during that process.
Now, State Representative Russell Betzel, who is also a current law enforcement officer within Shelby County, is commenting on the behavior.
Wendal says the actions from Gavan and Moore are concerning since this was a clear case of interference
with officers who were carrying out their lawful duties.
Wendal said that at no point should residents or state lawmakers place their hands on an officer as they're doing their job.
There were no arrests made after the fracas, and the House did continue forward and pass that bill.
I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.
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The Alabama Charter School Commission issued a unanimous vote to deny the expansion application coming from the Magic City Acceptance Academy in Birmingham.
That school promotes LGBTQ ideology to its students and was seeking to expand to the building next door of its current campus.
The school was seeking expansion despite its diminishing enrollment numbers.
I'm Andrea Theis.
For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.
And while you're there, subscribe to the Daily Newsletter.
I keep seeing celebrities' posts, me in the 90s versus now.
While the person staring at me in the mirror is definitely not the same person that could pull off bootcut jeans, time creeps up on us so slowly.
You don't see it until suddenly you do.
Same thing goes for your bills.
A dollar here, an uptick there.
It's a slow burn until one day you realize the price you're paying now is way higher than when you signed up.
But at T-Mobile, customers had the lowest wireless bills versus Verizon and AT&T over the past five years.
And with T-Mobile on their experience plans, you get a five-year price guarantee so you know exactly what your plan price will be for the next five years.
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The Atlanta Braves are on a mission.
And night after night, they're making their case as one of the best teams in baseball.
3-2 to Drake.
And he swings and hits a missile to deep right field to the chop house and out of here.
Tomorrow night, the Braves welcome the Chicago Cubs to Truist Park for a big National League showdown as Atlanta opens up a three-game set at home.
Braves Radio goes on the air at 6 p.m. Central on the Braves Radio Network.
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Atlanta Braves baseball tomorrow night versus the Chicago Cubs on 93.9, The Score.
93.9, The Score weather.
Today sunny with a high around 75.
Tonight mostly clear with a low near 45.
Tomorrow sunny with a high around 75.
Tomorrow night clear with a low near 50.
And for your Wednesday, sunny with a high around 80.
Your weather from 93.9, The Score.
Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee.
It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice.
The Boomo Bugg Show.
Your exclusive inside track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.
Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score.
Welcome back in, our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show.
I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
BB, is it safe to say that when you say AL, the initials BT come to mind?
Well, yes.
Yes, it is.
And you're talking about a busy time of the year, Harold Bugg.
You've got spring football games this week, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
And next week, we talked about softball, the Final Four, and baseball.
They had a lot of things going on.
BT does not stand, as we say down south, about through.
It stands for Ben Thomas, and he's anything but through.
Busy there at AL.com.
Ben, welcome in.
How are you?
Told you he was busy.
In a second, he's going to be able to pick up his.
He probably dropped it just for a second.
He'll join us here in a second.
But I'll tell you what, why were you able to get Ben on the line with us, BB?
There's so many games.
Where in the world do you start?
But one of the highlights that I thought was amazing,
it just shows you how some, what's the big word, tenacity.
That Mars Hill-Lindsey Lane series might have been one of the more dramatic series in the entire state.
Harold, it was.
And again, it went to three games.
Mars Hill scored five runs, I believe, in the sixth inning to win,
setting up the game with Red Bay.
But no, those are two good teams.
Lindsay Lane really impressed me this year.
They won 32 games and took Mars Hill to the limit.
Thing is, now it sets up a very interesting matchup.
And that is Josh Willingham, who played, of course, in Major League Baseball for a number of years,
including a World Series run with the Kansas City Royals.
And now they'll take on Red Bay.
Donovan Hand, who, by the way, BB, kind enough, like Josh did last week.
Donovan's going to join us today, a little bit later on, down at Red Bay.
How often, especially at this level of play, would it not be fun to go and do the research?
How many matchups across the entire country could you see two former Major League Baseball players?
As a matter of fact, they face each other.
Donovan was a pitcher of Josh, former Silver Slugger, award winner of the Major League Baseball world.
They face each other at the highest level.
Now they're going to be facing each other from opposing dugouts.
And no one knows that better than Ben Thomas at AL.com.
Ben, welcome in.
We said you were busy.
I'm amazed that you've got time to join us at all.
How are you?
Oh, man, I always got time for you guys.
Yes, I'm doing good.
I was actually just talking to Greg Sykes, former North Alabama graduate, AD of Jacksonville State, about something.
And so, sorry I missed your call.
But, yeah, it's been busy.
It looks like we might.
I don't know how y'all are looking up there weather-wise, but it looks like we might have good weather down here for this week.
I'm sure the baseball and softball teams are glad to hear that.
Let's hold our breath.
We were just talking about all these matches.
I don't care where they are.
They're all phenomenal.
To make it this far, and anyone who's ever played remembers just how tough it was.
So, you can't say one is more as far as tougher than the other because at this level, everybody's good or lucky or both.
But one of the more interesting matches, we were just talking about it, and that's, you ready for this?
Marseille Bible and Red Bay for many reasons.
You got two former Major League Baseball players facing off each other.
How rare is that?
Now, Josh Willingham, who played in the MLB, and Donovan Hand, he's going to be on the show with us a little bit later on facing each other.
It just shows you these guys are competitive.
They don't care if they're getting paid as a player or now as a coach at the high school level.
Yeah, that's going to be a great series, and that's the Tuesday series, right, along with Ayrton and GW Long.
I mean, we're going to have baseball every day this week because we've still got one series that hasn't even started yet.
That's right.
From the quarterfinal round, Auburn and Enterprise have yet to play the first game of their quarterfinal series.
They're playing it today at Troy, a doubleheader there, and so they could go to Tuesday before they finish that series with a semifinal series on tap for the winner.
So, there's going to be baseball, you know, rain, weather permitting, baseball every day this week until at least Friday and probably Saturday.
And then we start off, like I said, the semifinals, that Mars Hill, Red Bay.
Mars Hill with that great victory, tremendous series with Lindsey Lane going to Red Bay.
And then on the other half of that 2A bracket, two teams that know something about winning.
Ayrton, right, which won the state championship just a couple years ago, and GW Long, which has won about 100 state championships over the year.
So, man, those are four good teams competing for those final two spots in the 2A championship series.
Yeah, and BT, another team that knows a little bit about winning is Hartzell.
In Class 6A, they swept Health City 2-1, 13-5.
They're facing Hazel Green out of Madison County, which I think surprised a few people.
They're awfully good, too.
Asher Doppel, who was the MVP last year in the state championship, BT, not too surprised to see Hartzell again in the Final Four.
No, Hazel Green is a bit of a surprise.
They've played well.
You know, they won in the top 10 at the end of the regular season, and they've secured a few upsets.
I mean, you know, you get into this time of year, and you get some momentum on your side, and it's hard to stop.
Hartzell, you know, you just always expect them to be there.
They were number five.
They kind of started out a little bit slow this year, but they always play such a tough schedule.
You know, you can't ever take them for granted.
They finished, I think, the regular season number five in the rankings, and here they are again under Brad Phillips, who won it last year,
trying to find another spot in the 6A championship series.
And on the other side, two really good teams as well, Northridge and Spain Park.
That's going to be, I mean, you just look up and down these semifinal series,
and you find one quality team after another, as you would expect at the time of the year.
Ben Thomas, got it all covered there at AL.com.
The final four in 4A, very interesting matchup.
Mike Dubose's old butt, foot stomping grounds.
Op, I remember going to Florida one year and had to stop an alligator across the road.
They're crossing the water at Op.
They take on Beham County.
And the other one, our neighbors, you're talking about a community on fire.
That's Central Florence.
They're taking on Westbrook Christian.
Talk to us about that matchup.
For the folks out at Central Florence, what can they expect out of Westbrook?
Well, Brody Crowell's alma mater.
That's right.
Yeah.
That's what they can expect.
I saw Brody was at the game last week.
But, yeah, Westbrook, you know, is the traditional team that we've seen here a lot of different times.
Central Florida, Florence is kind of a little bit of a newcomer in this round.
So that should be a good series.
They've got to go to Westbrook, which I think will be tough.
But that will be a fun series.
And like I said, OPP, the land of opportunity, and Beham County on the other half.
You know, a lot of the top teams, obviously, that were ranked at the end of the year are not here anymore.
Westbrook was number five.
OPP was number six.
But Nashville, Madison County, Alexandria, and Cordova were the top teams in our last sportswriters poll.
And they're all eliminated now.
So, Beham County was number 10, by the way, in the last ranking.
So we've got three ranked teams remaining there.
But Central Florida kind of surprised some people.
BT, we talked a little bit about softball again in that minute.
But there's some football spring games.
You've had your latest seven must-see games.
One of them is Clay Chalkville at James Clemens at Madison City School Stadium.
Now, a lot of these teams, you can go through spring, have a spring game, or you can have an extra week during the summer.
But you highlighted some of the games.
Hewitt Trussell at Parker, two playoff contenders every year.
McGill Toon at Guff Shores.
Mark Hutspeth, of course, with Guff Shores.
But a lot of games Thursday, Friday, Buckhorn at Hartzell.
Ramsey at May, Jemison in West Morgan, Drew Phillips.
They play Giles County on Monday.
But quite a few Husky games Thursday through Monday.
There are.
And, you know, I was just talking to Greg Sykes about this.
The weeks are a little bit off because usually the baseball championships are this week.
And, actually, it's a week later this year.
So that's kind of throwing me off.
But I actually went to a spring game last week.
Mary G. Montgomery played.
And, obviously, there's some controversy swirling around there, if you haven't heard about it.
A head football coach on administrative leave, AHSAA, investigating that situation.
But these spring games are interesting.
I mean, you know, one of the big ones in my mind is Sarah Land and Fairhope.
Obviously, Sarah Land has an Oklahoma State, Oklahoma commit.
Jemison Roberts at quarterback.
Seems like they always have an SEC commit at quarterback.
That's Sarah Land.
And they're going to play Fairhope.
And that's where Caleb Ross is now.
So, Caleb Ross back in high school coaching after being in college in a year with the AHSAA.
So, you know, a lot of these games are really not typical games like you would see on a Friday night.
You know, and I think there'll be some different rules.
When I was at the Mary G. Montgomery game last week, it was, you know, they did kickoff, but they didn't really cover.
And then they said, well, you know, let's start out at the 40 this time.
You know, they move it back and forth.
And, obviously, in the second half, usually they get a lot of young players involved in the game.
But it'll be fun to wet our tongue a little bit for what's the time of the fall.
And that'll be here before we know it.
Talk to us.
By the way, where's Rush?
Remember the old kid game?
Where's Waldo?
Where's Rush these days?
Rush pros.
Well, last time I talked to Rush, he was working on a business outside of coaching in the Gadsden-Aniston area.
I'd heard some rumors that he might be back in it as an assistant in the north part of the state.
I don't know if that's happened or not.
I'm sure we'll see when it starts.
But I don't think he – we know that he doesn't want to be done coaching.
So, if the opportunity arises that he likes, I'm sure he'll take part in it.
I like Rush's post-game interview.
He says, basically, I'm still in business.
Anybody hiring?
I'm a gun for – remember the old Western have gun for hire?
I think that's Rush when it comes to coaching.
But let's switch gears a little bit.
Brett alluded to it in softball.
Randy Burns and the crew ready to host the north up here in our Shoals area.
But your thoughts just about how popular this sport is at the high school level across the state now
and how much of that can be attributed to folks like Pat Murphy at Alabama
and the success they're having, number one seed overall in the upcoming regionals.
Your thoughts just about the popularity now of girls' softball.
Well, it's a great sport.
I mean, if you've watched it, I mean, it's a little bit quicker than baseball, moves a little bit faster.
You know, a lot should be credited to the transition from – remember, it didn't seem like that.
We all remember when we played slow pitch and they transitioned into fast pitch
because that's what people were playing in college, you know,
and to get these young ladies ready for that, they needed to make that happen.
For a while we had – I don't know if you guys remember – we had a slow pitch tournament
and a fast pitch tournament before everybody transitioned to fast pitch.
So it's really taken hold in Alabama.
I do think probably the success of Alabama, the University of Alabama, as well as, you know,
back in the day – it seemed like a long time ago – but Auburn was having success there for a while,
went to a World Series.
And I think that – South Alabama won a conference championship this year.
Jacksonville State, I mean, if you look at the college programs,
it's kind of natural that that drifts down to the high school programs.
And we've had a lot of stars come out of, you know, Vic Moten,
the star pitcher for Alabama now, played at Daphne High School.
She was in the softball.
So we've got a lot of talent in this state.
The championships are first class.
I mean, they moved them to Oxford.
They have the stadium, you know, the championship stadium now
where they play the championship games for each classification.
So I think the high school's move under Steve Savarese and Alvin Briggs
and now under Keith Harmon to make sure every sport was treated on a championship level
has been a great adjustment to every sport.
But softball certainly is included in that.
BT, DennisVictoryofAL.com had some of the stats for the softball players
throughout the four regions.
Wicksburg, young lady, Ann Lee Wood is a sophomore, 26 home runs.
Arden Breedlove of Austin's got 25 home runs and 90 RBIs.
And we keep talking about the young talent in the state.
I know we talk about that a lot in girls' basketball.
A lady by the name of Bradley Baggett from Brantley.
She's in the seventh grade.
Seventh grade, 17-9, 270 strikeouts, a 2.15 ERA.
Here's the young lady from Madison Academy, Evie Stevenson, a 528 batting average.
Lady from Kaylee Cohen from Huntsville, nine home runs, 56 RBIs.
She's, again, in the eighth grade.
And it just goes on and on and on, BT.
Seventh, eighth, and freshman at how good these kids are.
It is.
And Dennis does a great job.
He posted that on Sunday.
And you can find it on AL.com now.
It's kind of just a preview of what to expect.
And we've got four regionals going on around the state.
They're up there where you guys are in Florence and Albertville, Montgomery,
and down here where I am at Gold Shores.
And we'll have each day we'll have kind of a rundown of, you know,
who qualified for the state tournament and that type thing on AL.com.
It'll be fun to watch as we get ready for next week.
And also, I want to shout out Thomas Ashworth.
He did a great job last week covering the soccer.
You know, the big rain up there on Thursday.
But then they weathered the storm the rest of the weekend.
And he had a good recap today of some of the top players
and all the championships that happened up there in Huntsville.
So, I mean, we've got, you know, golf, state golf going on today
and tomorrow around the state.
So, Harold, it don't stop, man.
No.
You're on a roll.
B.T., where can we get online to get all the great stuff this week?
Yeah, just go to AL.com backslash highschoolsports.
And like I said, we've got softball starting today.
Baseball, we're going to have at least one series every day, you know,
weather permitting it looks like.
And then we'll, you know, we get up there next week starting Monday
for state softball and baseball.
So, it's slowly coming to an end for this academic year and athletic year,
but it won't be long before we're talking football again.
Man, we can't let you go.
You're the only one who can properly pronounce the host site for the situation
there in Gaston.
Go ahead.
The stage is all year.
Pronounce the host stadium coming up for softball.
The host stadium for, oh, for Chakalaka Park.
Yes, that's it.
Chakalaka, that's it.
Yeah, you know, yeah, Oxford.
It's in Oxford, Harold.
The, you know, when you first said Gaston, my first thought was Murphy Stadium.
Not many people probably will know what I'm talking about,
but that is the old stadium that Gaston High School used to play at
when I was back in Gaston.
But Chakalaka Park is where the softball will be in Oxford.
And then Jim Kaye Stadium will host the baseball championships in Jacksonville.
Great.
That's a great place, by the way.
If any of your baseball teams may have you need to go
because it's a great setting for baseball.
Appreciate the pronunciation there, Ben.
Listen, man, thank you so much.
We know you're busy, but thanks so much for taking time out
and joining us today, buddy.
All right, guys, have a good week.
You too, bud.
You too.
Ben Thomas, AL.com.
Coming up, he's got UT covered.
Ben Serrara on deck.
Stay with us.
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The score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in with the comms.
Knowing what's going on in Tennessee.
Just throw out the World Book Encyclopedia.
Vince Ferrara is the source.
He's there on the radio and drives his work on 99.1.
The sports animal in Knoxville.
Also on the Ball Radio Network.
Hey, man.
Welcome in.
Happy Monday to you.
How are you?
I'm good, gentlemen.
How are you doing?
I'm good.
Got a question for you, Vince.
If you were going to spend $4 million, would you rather have Nick Saban or Duke Harris?
What did you say?
Nick Saban or Duke Harris?
Depends on what I'm doing.
Yep.
The folks say, what the heck is he talking about?
Mal Moore was crazy for giving Nick Saban $4 million to come to Alabama.
Tennessee now says, no, no, no, no, no.
We did not pay Duke Harris $5 million to play basketball for Tennessee.
It was only $4 million.
Vince, what is truth?
What is rumor up there?
Well, so much of it is great because you can package these things into side deals, right?
So it depends on where the calculations are.
It wouldn't surprise me if it's in the $4 million range versus the $5 million range.
But, you know, there may be other things that incentivize it.
Like when we heard about the Brendan Swarsby deal at Texas Tech, they first were reporting $5 million.
And then, you know, then they wanted included in that.
And I've heard that this happens a lot.
Travel for the family and extra incentives and hotel stay.
So are you calculating those things or those part of the total dollar figures?
So, you know, then they're like, oh, if you count all that stuff, then it's like north of $7 million.
So it just depends on how you spend the math.
So he was an expensive portal piece, but he was really the only one that they went after in that range.
It's not like Miami in football where every quarterback, they're seemingly, they're trying to get and throwing, you know, top dollar at every single one of them, including Ty Simpson.
So, yeah, they're selective in how they spent their money.
And he's really the only one that I think is anywhere in that ballpark in terms of dollars.
Well, here's the deal of him, man.
Let's say he is the only one.
I don't think this one is going to win games on a regular basis.
He can be a big factor, but unless I'm wrong, this is a team sport.
So what's going to be the reaction to these guys saying he's making this much money, we're making this much money, but the expectations are the same.
And where's Tennessee getting all this money?
For that matter, where are all these schools getting all this money?
Because either they had it and they kept it to themselves all these years, or all of a sudden they have found the door open at Fort Knox.
Yeah, and, you know, with donors, just because they had it doesn't mean UT had it, you know?
So I think it's a combination of things where we talked about this on the TV show a little bit yesterday where Tennessee's gotten to the Elite Eight three consecutive years, so they've been close.
You don't know how much longer Rick Barnes is going to do it, even though I don't think he's on the cusp of retiring or anything.
But he's on the back end, and I think there's this feeling of, hey, we're so close.
Let's get Barnes over the top.
Let's get the school over the top.
And whatever we have to do to help the university, we'll get it done.
So I think that's where those dollars are.
I would not be surprised if there was more money if they needed it, whether it was Nate Amen coming back, whether it was if they didn't get a couple pieces in the portal, that they went the international route, whatever the case may be.
I still think that there would have been more.
But, like, money today doesn't mean money tomorrow, and money yesterday doesn't mean money today, or, you know, just those kind of things.
I don't think it's either we have it in the bank account or we don't, because it's much more than just the schools with their revenue share.
It's NIL.
It's those donors that are willing to step up to cut those deals.
So where is everybody else getting it?
I think probably similar routes.
But I know there are the what's happening is a lot of these kids beyond the money.
Like, I had, I talked to someone that is very connected in NIL for a number of schools, and he said, once you get the dollar figure worked out with the kids, especially the higher-end guys, you're halfway done.
Then they want all the extra stuff.
So, yeah, it's probably a coordinated effort of a bunch of different avenues you've got to go to do all those things.
You would think with all the money, you would need all the extra stuff you could actually pay for it.
But, no, it's like NFL deals.
They want their cake and eat it, too, so to speak.
The other thing is, too, it's almost like in a neighborhood where everybody's trying to keep up with the Joneses.
These boosters seem to have the same blueprint.
If Bob has the big house, I'm getting a bigger one.
And you keep driving down the street, and the guy with real money is one driving a 1980 Plymouth and shots with coupons.
That's fair.
And, look, Tennessee has not overspent in NIL and other sports, which has actually frustrated fans if they haven't been the ones to overpay for a quarterback.
Tennessee really has not been crazy active in the portal until this year in football, where they brought in really a little bit more than three times the number of players that they typically do.
They used to be in the 7-8 range.
This year they were, you know, 21-22.
But, you know what?
Times are changing, and you have to be able to adjust.
And last year is completely different than this year.
So, you know, you mentioned, you know, kidding coming in, Nick Saban.
Nick Saban, when he first took the Alabama job, $4 million, a little bit different price tag than what he would garner today.
So, it is constantly a fluid-changing situation.
Yeah, V, the market's changed a little bit since 2007.
One of the ways that Tennessee can enhance the NIL budget is to play in the Players' Era Tournament in Las Vegas.
Tennessee's going to do that again, along with Alabama.
24 teams, V, and you're playing for literally NIL money.
And I think you're going to begin to see this more and more as we move forward.
There's no doubt.
And, you know, it may be the future of bowl games.
Yeah, I agree.
We're already seeing some of the, in football, this type of thing where teams are canceling the home-and-home to do the non-conference neutral site deals.
But those are involving television networks to where those are individually sold type of deals.
So, yeah, it's what you have to do.
And then everything is about money, which, you know, certainly takes away from the fans.
We hear from, I'm sure you guys do, whether it's on the air or off the air, I do all the time.
It doesn't matter if I'm in the grocery store or doctor's office, wherever the case may be, you run into our listeners.
They're like, gosh, I tell you, this transfer portal and NIL stuff, man, it's just pushed me away.
It is just not enjoyable.
So, you know, but as long as fans watch and or pay their money to go, it's not going to change anytime soon.
So, yeah, it's what we've got to deal with.
V, in about an hour and a half, Kenneth Simon, a four-star linebacker at Brentwood, Tennessee, is going to announce if he's going to Alabama or Tennessee.
Our sources down here are saying Alabama, but you know his dad, Kevin, well, V, your instincts, what is he going to do at 3 o'clock?
You know, a lot of people that have been reporting on this are, you know, recently have started to say Alabama.
I have not bugged his dad, Kevin, about it.
Kevin has not told Kenneth and will not tell him what to do or where to go.
And maybe that's why there's some talk about Alabama.
But I know Jim Knowles was a very positive addition.
He enjoyed the time at Tennessee when he sat down with the coaches and everything, and he liked Tennessee and William Inge, but he also likes Alabama.
He liked all four of those teams that are finalists.
So, it would not surprise me either way, but even though Kevin is a good friend, I know he's getting bombarded.
And he's not going to give it up because he's not going to take away from his son's day.
We've talked about the whole process, but in terms of his decision, I'm not going to put him in a position to try to pull it out of him.
And he wouldn't anyway, out of respect for his son.
So, you know, to me, it's kind of 50-50.
Even though he's a good friend, I don't have intel.
I just want to kind of give them their moment.
Sure.
Great attitude there for both you and he.
A lot of stuff going on.
Tennessee wins the series over Texas.
We're going to be in Hoover next time we turn around with the SEC tournament.
Where can we get online and get your stuff and Daphne's good stuff online, bud?
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Just every time you start to throw dirt on this Tennessee baseball team.
They wake up from the dead.
And they do like the Undertaker.
He just sits up.
It's like they're still alive.
But, yeah, probably want to get at least one more win against Oklahoma to feel secure.
But RPI is 31.
That was Texas' only second series loss of the year.
So, to win, that was big for them.
And then tomorrow is the last regular season home game against Belmont.
So, yeah, follow me on all the socials, Vince Sports, V-I-N-C-E Sports.
And you'll see Daphne, my cute mini-gold and doodle.
And then we'll have, you know, plenty on everything else going on as well.
Sounds great.
I believe Daphne loves underdogs anyway.
Does she not be, man?
She does.
And you know what happened just before you guys called?
The smoke alarm in my apartment started beeping.
So, she was like, I don't love that.
What is going on?
So, I'm actually outside on the patio talking to you guys versus with the smoke alarm beeping during our visit.
But, anyway, great to talk to you guys.
You too.
Thanks, Dad, for having your priorities.
That's right.
The house running down to me, man.
He's a trooper right there still on the phone with us.
Hooking up.
You're talking about a situation that's crazy, man.
Two former major league players who faced each other on the big league diamonds now facing each other in opposing playoff dugouts.
Donovan Hand checking in from Red Bay next.
Stay with us.
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Welcome back in.
It's safe to say, I don't care the sport.
If you make the Final Four, you are doing something right.
If you don't believe me, just ask one of the teams that now is red hot.
And that's Red Bay.
That community on fire.
First, that's Coach Donovan Hand.
Coach, welcome in.
Congratulations.
It's been a while.
It seemed like just yesterday.
But here we go again.
How are you?
I'm doing great.
Thanks for having me on.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Hey, Coach.
Man, we appreciate you.
First of all, before we get into the topic de jure about the upcoming matchup, let's talk about the road back here, Donovan, if you will.
Anytime you take the broom at this point in the season and switch to somebody, that's a pretty good indicator.
It's pretty doggone good.
Your thoughts about the season and the way you got to this point sweeping North Sand Mountain.
Let's face it.
At this point in the season, that's a long trip for high school players either way, there to here or here to there.
But 4-3-13-5, congratulations, Coach, on sweeping North Sand Mountain.
And your thoughts about the season to date.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
It's been a good year.
Kind of going into the season, probably thought it might have been a little bit of a rebuilding year.
I've said that a few times, and losing five starters after last year at a 2A level is definitely a rebuilding.
But we've had some guys that have really stepped up.
We've had some guys that have been here, Jeremiah Thorne, Carson McGee, Aiden Pruitt, Landon Louis,
some guys that's been on the last two teams, the Final Four in 24, and then the Elite Eight last year in 25.
So they know what it takes to get to this point of the year and then give yourself the best opportunity to win.
There's some younger guys, some ninth and 10th graders that have really come into their own,
but they were allowed to do that because of some older guys and good leadership.
So we've had a solid year, played a really good schedule, had a couple trips, went to Rittwood Field and played twice,
and then Toyota Field and played once, also the Northwest Show against Brooks.
So we've played some good opponents and had a good year and honestly just come out on the other end of this thing in a good shape.
And this team loves each other.
The past teams have been really good and really talented and played together.
But this team is just a little bit of a different feel this year, not in a knock towards the last two teams.
But, you know, you just get some team bonding, some continuity about you,
and they believe in each other, and it's just next man up, and nobody's jealous.
If anybody gets a big hit today, it wasn't them, they're just happy that we get the win in the end.
So it's been a really good year, a really satisfaction year for us as a coaching staff and for our team.
I wanted to ask you about your philosophy and the reasons for success.
When you get to the Final Four, you know, everybody would like to hit five home runs a game,
but when you get here, it's pitching and defense.
That's the foundation of winning postseason baseball games, and particularly pitching.
Talk about how these guys have been able to do that.
I know coming into the year, I was reading some of the preseason stories about the team,
and you emphasized that quite a bit.
Harold and I talk about that all the time.
Offense is going to win a lot of games, but pitching and defense wins championships.
That's exactly right.
That's the thing that I have lived by for probably 25 years now, going back to when I played high school through pro ball.
And, you know, if my teams don't pitch well, I'm probably not doing my job in my background,
but high school baseball, especially at our level, it dictates who's on the mound on a given day.
Because you may go up a guy that's 85 on one day, and you can catch the Sultan-Christian series, and no knock on them.
But they had a lefty at 76 the first game.
We're able to win 13-3.
They have a lefty at 82-85 with two very good breaking balls and a good change-up in game two, and we went 2-1.
But if you can pitch it and you can catch it, you can throw strikes and you can catch it consistently,
it gives you a chance to win in different ways.
Timely hitting is going to come.
We're dealing with 15- to 18-year-old young men, kids, whatever you want to call them.
And so, you know, stuff changes throughout the game, throughout a series, throughout a season.
And so, if you can pitch and play defense, it keeps you in every game and gives you a chance to win for that time of hitting to come along.
So, we've been very good at that.
Two guys at top of our rotation that have through a lot of playoff innings, a lot of big innings.
And then our number three is, I mean, we've got five guys that I trust.
Now, two of them take the headlines because they kind of separate themselves, but you can look at our stats this year.
And there's been five guys that's really pitched really, really well.
You know, Aiden Pruitt comes in game three against Westminster and goes seven, gives up one, and we win 5-1.
So, the first two guys, obviously, get the headlines, but we're pretty – I think we're pretty deep to the pitching staff, if need be.
Doesn't matter if you've been pitching here or there.
You're now the head coach at Red Bay.
You took that with the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers.
Talk to us about how, as far as the challenge of being at that level, you don't get to that level.
What would be the percentage?
Very small without a lot of God-given talent.
Sometimes, as you mentioned, these are kids.
How do you balance basically that standard with having to deal with kids?
And we'll get to the other part of that here in a second.
You're not the only one that's going to have to be dealing with that formula.
But, if you will, talk to us just the challenge you face in trying to sit here and have so much God-given talent, but these are kids.
Well, you're right.
And nothing came easy for me.
And I'm very thankful every day that I had very good high school coaches.
I had a very good college coach that didn't abuse me as far as my talent.
I was talented at high school level.
It would have been easy to throw me every third or fourth day and do that thing that way.
Coach Gillespie at Hatton managed me very well and gave me an opportunity to go to college.
And then Coach Case at college managed me very well and gave me a chance to go into pro ball.
And, you know, some things come easy for me.
But, throughout my career, you know, I started in the first few years and made it to the big leagues in Milwaukee.
I was a, you know, 92, 93 guy.
By the time I got finished with the Mets, never made it up to them.
By the time I got finished in 2017, I was 88, 90.
I had logged 1,200 innings in my career, plus bullpens, long toss, you know, all the throwing that goes.
So, I found different ways to pitch.
And so, now as guys come through my program, we have different ways to get people out.
The main goal is to get people out.
And you can do it in so many different ways.
And I think my career allowed me to kind of know and have the philosophy of multiple ways to get somebody out.
I don't believe pitching is a cookie cutter.
I don't believe there's one mechanic.
I don't believe there's one way you hold your slider.
I don't believe in any of that.
I believe it's individually based.
And we try to evaluate our kids on a daily basis.
When we start pre-off-season practice up until today, right now, we try to evaluate our kids on a daily basis and give them the best opportunity to succeed in their own way.
And I think that's big for us.
I remember a guy named Ted Aberneth.
He threw underhanded.
Phil Necro threw knuckleballs.
I think it worked for both of them.
But let's talk a little bit about the uniqueness of this upcoming matchup.
Whatever we said to you, obviously, Donovan, we can say about your opponent in the upcoming game.
And that's Josh Willingham.
You guys, I'm sure you love each other.
But you ain't going to back down.
Your thoughts, how rare is it at any level, but especially at this level, to have that kind of situation where you've got two former Major League Baseball players now coaching at respective teams?
That's right.
Three years in a row now.
So we play each other.
This is the third year, Final Four and 24.
A lead eight last year.
And we go back to the Final Four this year with a chance to go down there.
I mean, I respect Josh.
We talk throughout the season.
We really talk a lot of times.
We probably talk more this time of the year because scouting reports and teams we're playing and different things.
So we have the us both.
Now, we haven't talked as much this past three or four days as we normally do.
But what can you say?
I mean, he's been as good as anybody the last few years with this thing.
And, you know, I took some stuff from him.
I hope he's able to take some stuff from me as we kind of do this thing.
And, I mean, it's just an opportunity to do it again.
At this point of the year, that's what I told our guys yesterday at our post-practice meeting.
You know, yeah, everybody's good, but so are we.
So we've got to just go in and be consistent.
I think the team that is more consistent, that can control the emotions and take the roller coaster and not go too high, not too low,
will have the best chance to win this season.
I mean, we haven't hosted a Final Four here probably ever.
So the atmosphere is going to be electric.
It's going to be fun.
And it's going to be a lot of emotion.
And then, you know, with the last two years with him and us, it's just going to be fun.
It's going to be good.
But, you know, I'm ready to get it going.
Anticipation is what's killing us a little bit.
Just a few days off here and just trying to manage.
You run out of ideas and practice.
But I'm excited for them to come.
I'm excited for it to be here this year in Red Bay instead of having to go to Marseille.
But, I mean, Josh does an outstanding job.
We're preparing the best we can for him.
And, like I said, consistency, I think, will be what the defined siding factor is.
On paper, we're probably pretty similar.
They pitch it very well.
They play outstanding defense.
They have timely hitting.
So you look at the stats, look at kind of the records, look at the schedules, look at a lot of things.
We're probably as close, as similar as two teams to get at this point of the year.
Coach, that's what I was going to ask you.
Being the third year, they know you.
You know them.
The Willis boys, Chris Willis, his two sons.
Bo Willis is really good.
Noah Handback, Luke Fowler.
Again, execution and preparation, I'm sure, is going to be the key.
I think so.
And I try not to get too caught up into that.
Like you said, we do know each other.
And we have some recent history together, especially.
And for our guys, execution.
Just go execute.
If they beat us doing what we do the best, then they deserve to win.
And I said, that's okay.
But I think if we execute and make pitches, and like I said, don't get too excited.
Don't get too high.
Don't get too low.
If we do something really well, well, act like we've done it before.
If we don't do something very well, act like the type of a four and play the next play both ways.
But there is so much familiarity.
That's why I really think the key is going to be who executes and who can just save and kill and let the game play.
Well, you've earned that wisdom.
A lot of folks may not realize it, but you played in Huntsville coming up through the minors of the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds.
And I thought one of the more intriguing teams you played for, Brother Elephants.
Not a lot of folks anywhere, especially in Tennessee Valley, can say they played for the Brother Elephants.
What's the back story there?
Kind of towards the end of my career, I wanted to go to Asia and play.
And Taiwan offered me a pretty nice contract to go over there as a way just to kind of see the world, I guess, and play the game I love.
And plus, I mean, it all boils down to money and the contract.
So I was trying to get to Korea and Japan, and that was kind of having me to do that, realizing completely that wasn't for me.
But yeah, it was the China Trust Brothers Elephants.
I should send you a uniform to put up in your office.
Wonderful.
We look like the Savannah Bananas out there.
There you go.
Sure, yellow pants, yellow jersey, you know, the Chinese letters.
And so it was a cool experience.
My daughter and wife got going for about a month.
So it was a cool experience.
It was well worth it.
Glad I'd done it, but I just realized it wasn't probably the avenue that I needed to go.
So come back to the States and finally hung it up in 18.
But yeah, I don't know.
One of those things, it just happens.
There you go.
Coach, listen, we know you're busy getting ready for the game.
Good luck.
Listen, I hope it is an overflow crowd, and I'm sure it is going to be.
We're delighted you've got two Shoals teams in the Final Four.
And there is a tremendous amount of talent in the Shoals in North Alabama.
As you mentioned, the schedule you played this year got you ready for this.
Listen, good luck starting tomorrow.
God bless you and the coaches and the players.
Wish you the best of luck in the series this week.
Absolutely.
Appreciate the opportunity to be on.
And I look back, May the 7th of 24, we've done this.
So maybe we can be on again next year and be on another one.
There you go.
We're going to book you right now.
Thank you so much, Coach.
Coach Donovan, hand down at Red Bay.
Coming up, BB, will it be the Crimson Red or the Tennessee Orange?
For one, Kenneth Simon II.
Announcement coming up, what, just over an hour or some change now.
Harold, everything I've read this morning, of course, again, you've got different viewpoints from the different sites.
Tennessee, of course, looks at the legacy.
Alabama looks at how many times he's visited, et cetera.
Right now, I'm leaning toward Alabama.
I think the family's probably looking at the NIL offer as well.
So we'll see in just over an hour from now.
That's going to take care of business 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 tomorrow, noon to 2, for the Boomwell Buck Show, back here on Sports Radio 93.9, The Score.