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Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2020 9:19 am
by MF73-Eleazar
Interview with Russillo. Woody is the last segment.

You see behind the curtain wrt recruiting in the 90s. Also gives an inside look as to why he chose BC over Michigan and UVA.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c ... 0473660323

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 10:20 pm
by ATLeagle
I finally listened to this. Girls and 10k in cash in an envelope.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 11:44 pm
by Dick Rosenthal
He’s full of shit, but whatever. If they were handing out 10k on the regular we would have been a lot better.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 8:19 am
by hansen
ATLeagle {l Wrote}:I finally listened to this. Girls and 10k in cash in an envelope.


I didn't listen. Were the girls students or prostitutes? If it was students, then I believe it. important to get a recruit laid on his recruiting trip.
I do NOT believe the 10k cash.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 10:10 am
by OCs_Inner_Eagle
hansen {l Wrote}:
ATLeagle {l Wrote}:I finally listened to this. Girls and 10k in cash in an envelope.


I didn't listen. Were the girls students or prostitutes? If it was students, then I believe it. important to get a recruit laid on his recruiting trip.
I do NOT believe the 10k cash.


Was he just joking (on the $10k)? I would think so.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 11:38 am
by flyingelvii
He was not. Girls were associated with some New England Patriots he went to a club with during the recruiting trip.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 5:28 pm
by ATLeagle
flyingelvii {l Wrote}:He was not. Girls were associated with some New England Patriots he went to a club with during the recruiting trip.



I didn't take it as a joke. Said it was five-figure, all cash from a booster. Said he had to give some to his mom when they got home. Didn't say if girls were from BC. I took it as they were Patriots groupies.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 8:17 pm
by DomingoOrtiz
MF73-Eleazar {l Wrote}:Interview with Russillo. Woody is the last segment.

You see behind the curtain wrt recruiting in the 90s. Also gives an inside look as to why he chose BC over Michigan and UVA.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c ... 0473660323


Are there regular listeners of this crap? I tried to find to Woody but am not going to suffer through 40mins of nonsense.
Woody was recruited by Henning so who knows but I doubt there was a "booster" that cared so much about a 3star recruit. And who were the BC guys on the PATs at the time?

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 9:04 pm
by flyingelvii
It’s like the 3rd or 4th most popular sports podcast, so yes. Russillo is very good at what he does.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 10:03 pm
by MF73-Eleazar
flyingelvii {l Wrote}:It’s like the 3rd or 4th most popular sports podcast, so yes. Russillo is very good at what he does.


I liked Russillo and SVP when it was on.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 10:39 pm
by twballgame9
Russillo definitely knows how to party, thats for sure.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2020 8:36 am
by Dick Rosenthal
The show is very professionally done, in terms of production value and the like and Russillo is an experienced radio guy, so it sounds good. With that said, like most ESPN guys and sports talk radio in general, you aren’t going to get much in the way of knowledge or penetrating insight from Ryan Russillo. At least he doesn’t combine invincible ignorance with a completely unearned self-regard like Dan LeBetard. So he has that going for him.

As for Woody, his schtick is saying outrageous things. He’s a more intelligent and slightly less windy version of Warren Sapp (and has none of Sapp’s personal baggage). Doesn’t make him a bad guy, but that is the character he plays in all of his ESPN appearances and that is the role he has been filling for the past 8 or 9 years. The story with the girls is potentially plausible—a couple of Coughlin’s guys ended up the Pats for a few years and, back in the day there were a couple of clubs and bars frequented by the various Boston teams where there were clearly groupies waiting to service whatever player they could get an invite from. Duchie and I used to make a habit of harvesting from that particular garden at the old Daisy Buchanan’s, so I am not completely skeptical of that story. With respect to the cash, admittedly, the program got really hinky under Henning and there was some shady shit that went down, but $10K for a 3 star from Ashland High School (Woody’s assertion that he was a Parade All American is utter bullshit) is laughable. The running joke amongst recruits to BC back in that era was the recruiting trip to BC was the same for everyone—steak and lobster dinner, trip to a mobbed up strip club, Mod party and some good, not so clean fun with a Chestnut Hill 8/Tuscaloosa 5.

There was a really good book from that era titled If I Don’t Six, that was written by a guy from Cleveland who ended up playing ball at Michigan that was basically a fictional account of his recruitment to and freshman year at Michigan, and he describes his recruiting trip to BC (I think he omitted the Mod Party). Can’t remember the author’s name, but it’s worth a read. It got a lot of hype from Sport Illustrated when it came out, but I don’t know that the guy ever wrote anything else.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2020 11:56 am
by flyingelvii
Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:The show is very professionally done, in terms of production value and the like and Russillo is an experienced radio guy, so it sounds good. With that said, like most ESPN guys and sports talk radio in general, you aren’t going to get much in the way of knowledge or penetrating insight from Ryan Russillo. At least he doesn’t combine invincible ignorance with a completely unearned self-regard like Dan LeBetard. So he has that going for him.

This is comically far from reality, especially for basketball. He admits his shortcomings on football and relies more on experts to augment or dispel his observations.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2020 12:10 pm
by ATLeagle
Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:The show is very professionally done, in terms of production value and the like and Russillo is an experienced radio guy, so it sounds good. With that said, like most ESPN guys and sports talk radio in general, you aren’t going to get much in the way of knowledge or penetrating insight from Ryan Russillo. At least he doesn’t combine invincible ignorance with a completely unearned self-regard like Dan LeBetard. So he has that going for him.

As for Woody, his schtick is saying outrageous things. He’s a more intelligent and slightly less windy version of Warren Sapp (and has none of Sapp’s personal baggage). Doesn’t make him a bad guy, but that is the character he plays in all of his ESPN appearances and that is the role he has been filling for the past 8 or 9 years. The story with the girls is potentially plausible—a couple of Coughlin’s guys ended up the Pats for a few years and, back in the day there were a couple of clubs and bars frequented by the various Boston teams where there were clearly groupies waiting to service whatever player they could get an invite from. Duchie and I used to make a habit of harvesting from that particular garden at the old Daisy Buchanan’s, so I am not completely skeptical of that story. With respect to the cash, admittedly, the program got really hinky under Henning and there was some shady shit that went down, but $10K for a 3 star from Ashland High School (Woody’s assertion that he was a Parade All American is utter bullshit) is laughable. The running joke amongst recruits to BC back in that era was the recruiting trip to BC was the same for everyone—steak and lobster dinner, trip to a mobbed up strip club, Mod party and some good, not so clean fun with a Chestnut Hill 8/Tuscaloosa 5.

There was a really good book from that era titled If I Don’t Six, that was written by a guy from Cleveland who ended up playing ball at Michigan that was basically a fictional account of his recruitment to and freshman year at Michigan, and he describes his recruiting trip to BC (I think he omitted the Mod Party). Can’t remember the author’s name, but it’s worth a read. It got a lot of hype from Sport Illustrated when it came out, but I don’t know that the guy ever wrote anything else.


I am not saying BC is above cheating or was then. I just don't think cash was exactly free flowing. The boosters of that era were really whale pants types. They hated Henning and were mad at Chet, so I don't see 10K getting slipped to many or any kids on a recruiting trip. If cash was like that then our players of that era would have driven nicer cars.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2020 12:31 pm
by DomingoOrtiz
What year was this? 1994?

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2020 12:32 pm
by flyingelvii
He graduated high school in 1994 so either '94 or '95

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2020 3:39 pm
by Dick Rosenthal
flyingelvii {l Wrote}:
Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:The show is very professionally done, in terms of production value and the like and Russillo is an experienced radio guy, so it sounds good. With that said, like most ESPN guys and sports talk radio in general, you aren’t going to get much in the way of knowledge or penetrating insight from Ryan Russillo. At least he doesn’t combine invincible ignorance with a completely unearned self-regard like Dan LeBetard. So he has that going for him.

This is comically far from reality, especially for basketball. He admits his shortcomings on football and relies more on experts to augment or dispel his observations.


The fact that you think Russillo is a sports genius is almost as unsurprising as you being a Michigan Man. You are a walking, talking caricature--unless you are a parody account in which case I congratulate you on your brilliance.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2020 4:33 pm
by flyingelvii
I didn't say he was a genius. He actually watches the games and isn't a hot take artist. That alone puts him ahead of 75% of his peers. He's not Brian Baldinger breaking down the All 22 but I've found him more knowledgeable on basketball (and actually able to talk about it eloquently) than 99% of the people out there and slightly less on football, let's go 85%. Solid strawman though to fill your odd fetish of yelling at anonymous Internet people that aren't in lockstep with you.

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2020 5:15 pm
by eaglesmith
Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:
There was a really good book from that era titled If I Don’t Six, that was written by a guy from Cleveland who ended up playing ball at Michigan that was basically a fictional account of his recruitment to and freshman year at Michigan, and he describes his recruiting trip to BC (I think he omitted the Mod Party). Can’t remember the author’s name, but it’s worth a read. It got a lot of hype from Sport Illustrated when it came out, but I don’t know that the guy ever wrote anything else.


Looks like a decent read for $2 used...

https://www.amazon.com/If-I-Dont-Six-No ... 376&sr=8-1

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2020 6:13 pm
by Logitano
flyingelvii {l Wrote}:He graduated high school in 1994 so either '94 or '95


Damien Woody graduated from high school in 1995, redshirted in '95 and left a year early for the '99 draft. :ace

Re: Damien Woody's recruiting trip to Chestnut Hill

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2020 6:24 pm
by twballgame9
Sullivan was on the Pats at that time.