It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick coffee. I'm not sure how interesting this is.
Two folks certainly wouldn't find it to be entertaining. But one of the things
we've discussed here recently in regards to college athletics and the big change that's coming
that is the Landmark House Settlement, this lawsuit where the settlement we knew was
going to happen. Well, now that it's happened, we know the amount
of money that schools are going to be able to annually pay athletes. So
this is the latest. Schools can share as much as twenty two million dollars
annually with athletes under this new again Landmark House Settlement. So the collegiate salary
cap is twenty two million dollars per year, which allows universities to pay up
to that amount at their discretion. So they can decide if they're going to
spend that much. That's the limit, and how they decide to divvy it
out is up to them. Now, what I think is a little bit
confusing here is that apparently you can do this but not technically make them employees.
So this doesn't mean they're going to be employees. And there's some obvious
reasons as to why that would be a big kicker. One of them it's
not tax related, by the way, because again, if you're a college
player and you're making a million dollars in nil or your college, you're a
college employee playing and making a million dollars through the school, you still have
to pay taxes on it. I don't know why that's become like a big
talking point, whereas the tax situation is different one or the other. It's
not you're gonna have to pay taxes on I mean, Uncle Sam's gonna get
his cut. There's no way around it if it's an IL or if it's
not. So I'm just curious to see what happens from here, like what
takes place at some of these schools. What decisions did they make right?
What are they prioritize right? Are they Are they going to cut a sport
to save money? Are they going cause again they're not getting like it's not
like they're getting twenty two million, They're going to have to start paying twenty
two million annually to players that they didn't have to pay before. So there's
going to be some cuts. Doesn't mean they're going to cut a program,
but you know, little things like maybe let's just say in a few years,
you end up needing a new oc well because now you're paying players and
you're using the amount of money they're allowing you to use. Twenty two million,
and that's the cap. You know, maybe the new maybe the head
coach when he goes out and look for a new play caller, he didn't
have the budget that he had last time around, because again, like unlimited
amount of money doesn't really exist. And I guess potentially you could, you
know, if you've got money to move around, like, you can find
other ways to compensate your coaches at the highest level. But you know,
twenty two millions a lot. And there are schools that that that's not a
lot of money to them, meaning they have a lot more than that.
But that's a small group of schools. I would say, so, yeah,
twenty two million. And you gotta keep in mind, you know,
there's how many scholarship players in football? I mean I should know this,
but is it one hundred? No, Because you can have you can have
eighty five. I think that's about right. Yeah, because you usually have
about one hundred guys in your roster, and then that makes for roughly eighty
something scholarship guys and then some walk ons. But yeah, I mean,
and I will still exist too. I mean that's not like I mean,
I'll stand corrected if in fact that ends up not being the case. But
I think there are some that believe, well, this is to get rid
of nil, and it's not. I mean, this is just a What
I mean, this is because there was a lawsuit the nce double A was
going to lose right because of the amount of money that they profit from unpaid
work. And I know the conversation that has been had for many years,
and I'm not trying to have the conversation today because it's stale, it's not
even relevant. Yes, they do, in fact get a scholarship, free,
free education, room and board, great access to medical because of their
status as an athlete, and they get a stipend and now they can make
money through name, image and likeness. Like I don't want to paint it
as if every college athlete is just out here roughing it and barely you know,
able to survive with you know, food and their stomach and a roof
over their head. They are taken care of in a major way. That's
a different conversation than looking at the amount of money that the nc DOUBLEA generates
from basketball the NCAA tournament specifically to know that that kind of money is made
and the employees, the talent, the entertainers get no cut of that,
like that that you can't do that, Like that's not legal, and that's
why they were going to lose the lawsuit, and that's why they came to
this settlement. But I'm anxious to see down the line sort of what this,
you know, what this turns into, because it's already professional sports,
right, we know that, but this will be to where I think this
is going to make it to where anybody claiming like that it's not pro sports
and there's still some level of like amateur model to it is just I mean
just wrong. I mean I think they're already wrong now when they say that.
But when you hear salary cap for a college about paying players of different
sports, all sports depending on what they want to do, like this is
pro sports now and I don't care because again it's kind of been that way
for a while now. Like I never sit around and watch college basketball college
football, the two sports I love so much. I don't sit around and
just think, oh, man, this is great because it's wholesome. There's
a purity to it. These guys are playing for the name on the front,
Like, even if that was true, that's not something that I think
of when I consume the product that is college basketball, college fall. It's
entertainment to me. But some people are like that, and I've learned throughout
the last few years that the sport's going to survive without those folks. But
there are some that are just it makes them uncomfortable. Maybe they're jealous.
I don't know what it is, but just knowing that you know a quarterback
for your team he throws an interception and he's walking off the field after the
bad play, you're going to be angry in general, because man, like,
what are you thinking throwing that ball? But knowing that he might have
a nicer car than you in the parking lot. There are some people that
that makes you even more angry than just the interception. I can't relate.
I don't understand that, but I think it's true. So it's a good
question that came in right as soon as we started discussing this, and this
is a longer text that I can't haven't actually read the entire thing, but
what I think you're what you're asking here is that will the booster money like
Rick Keeber at Glow Brands, Planet Fitness and in Senten City, will that
money specifically go towards nil to where like you're not asking fans to donate,
like, collectives are important because you need to raise money. And I think
the five to two Circle has done a really good job. That campaign they
put together where Rick Keeber was gonna match a million dollars once fans contributed a
million dollars like that was a great idea. It worked, and it really
got people like collectively realizing, hey, we're all excited as a fan base
here here we go. Everybody's putting money up to try to go build this
new team. And that's great. But if they could get away from like
asking fans again, fans are going to do it because fans care so much,
they're so passionate, they're going to pay if they can to try to
help support their team and help. In fact, some fans probably feel even
more responsible for said success if they're giving fifty dollars a month and it's helping
to get players, which is cool, but I just still think there's a
level of like, come on now, like you asking fans and again there's
an out for it right now, Right now, you're asking fans to pay
because you can't. Well now you can. So only time will tell as
far as what it really looks like. But the cuts that are made,
the sacrifices schools decide to make to make this work and to compete at the
sports that they realize. Like, let's just be real, if you're really
good in football, or really good in basketball, or maybe really good in
women's basketball, maybe really good in baseball, maybe really good in volleyball,
Like not all of those are gonna make you a ton of money if you're
having success, because you know, it does cost money to run those programs
as well. But like that is better all that is, that is better
for the university than it is if you are good at sports that like just
just costs money. And I hate to say that, but that's just that's
just the reality of it. So what changes are made as far as how
these schools decide to move forward is going to be fascinating. To me,
but I also want to see what NIL looks like once this is in place,
because they're still going to be in il and I just part of me
says it'll be less, It'll be it'll be light, but again maybe not
right like this again, like college sports is something that certain people, the
diehard fans that are so passionate about their school, and there's a lot of
them like they'll find a way to get money if they have access to it,
to help, to help because they care that much. All right,
it's coffee and company. We are feel about Thorton's here on Sports Talk seven
to ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us. I will tell you the
the anonymous quotes. We'll get to that coming up in just a moment.
So the ACC, it's not just the ACC, it's I think I think
every league does it. But Athlon Sports release their accuh annual article where it
shares anonymous quotes from different ACC coaches about each team. And over the years,
these have always been to me on the Louisville side, kind of you
know, fluff, like there's not a whole lot there like it. Rarely
do you read didn't think, man, I can't believe this coach said that
I can't wait to fee I wish I knew who it was. The only
time I could think of that is whenever an anonymous coach talked about like how
bad Lamar Jackson was and how bad he'd be in the NFL, and how
you know all of his weaknesses. And there's no scenario where I will ever
believe it was anybody other than Dave Clawson, because that's just the only coach
that I think it could have been. And that added to like that,
you know, I don't want to call a rivalry because it'd be embarrassing to
claim that your rival is Wake Forest in football, but you know there was
there was some history there and that was that was part of it. But
here's here is what four different coaches had to say about Louisville anonymously. Watch
out for these guys. They were ahead of schedule last season and sneaked up
on a lot of teams in our league. Okay, that's positive comment,
right, not a whole lot there. But this says the offense is good,
but it's not that level brom normally operates at. The quarterback play has
been good and solid, but never really great. So they brought in Shuck
to take over the job. Okay, I mean I would have loved to
have heard more of a comment and a thought on what you think of Shuck,
But look, I think the kids got everything you want. Is you
know, when it comes to quarterbacks that have really succeeded under Jeff Brahmin,
I'm not talking about Jack Plumber, although he did win ten games. Let's
be real. The offense was good enough, and again they were successful.
But you can say this with that without it being an insult. I think
it's just the truth. The quarterback position was probably your weakness on offense.
So usually it's the strength when Jeff Brom's calling the plays and he knows how
to really get the most out of somebody in their ability at that position.
I think Shuck is that guy. It all just comes down to him being
healthy. He's never been able to stay healthy and hopefully that changes this year.
Here's another quote. The defense really carried them at parts of last season.
They are stronger than you think and can play really physical. Last quote
here, they don't get enough national attention. Brom's back home, he knows
the state and can recruit better talent to that place than it Purdue. They
can be just as good this year, especially if the offense opens up more.
I like that. I mean, I think we're getting some good national
attention. But you know, you can never have too much, I guess.
But I mean, last year you won ten games. Your defense really
did carry you. I think that's actually true. Like the defense last year
at times really bailed you out. And you should be better defensively this year,
in all seriousness. You should. I don't know if you're going to
be, but you should be better. You brought back some really proven,
talented players, and you brought in some good transfers. You got MJ.
Griffin off of an injury, and he was apparently the best player in camp
before he got hurt last year. But if Jeff Brom's opening up the playbook
and there's really there's a lot, you know, the offense is really dynamic
like we have typically seen under other Jeff Brom coach teams. You haven't seen
it in Louisville yet. And look, the offense was good. I don't
act as if they know they weren't good offensively. They were, but with
the pieces they've added, especially if Shuck is the real deal, and he
stays healthy. I mean, I mean, you could mean. I don't
want to get ahead of myself here, but I wouldn't be shocked if Louisville
is in a position to where they're right there with a chance to play in
the ACEC Championship game. The schedule is a little bit tougher, but it's
not you know, there's still aren't There are still not games on the schedule
that you look at and say, well, damn, we automatically should just
look at that and consider it to be a loss. I'm not saying you
should expect to go twelve and oh, but you got to go on the
road and play at Clemson. That's a game that you will be big underdogs,
actually if you will be at the time. But like, what was
the line nine and a half? I think Louislle plus nine and a half
was one of the early lines we got from Louisville schedule a few weeks ago
from I think DraftKings, and they'll be dogs. They'll probably lose because it's
hard to win it Clemson. But then again, like we're not We're not
talking about Sat taking the boys down to South Carolina. We're talking about Jeff
Brohm who wins big games. And oh, by the way, Clemson ain't
what they used to be. They're still good. I'm not disrespect them as
if they're bums, but like this, Clemson is not the Clemson that was
making the playoff every year. It's a much different version of them. So
I'm excited, really really excited. All right before we get to our first
break here in the five o'clock hour. You know, I don't have a
strong thought on this, but it is something that has become a talking point
in the NFL, and I imagine people around here have discussed it as well.
That's Lamar Jackson leaving seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars on the table.
He reportedly missed more than eighty percent of the Ravens offseason workouts, which nullified
a major contractual payday. Just to show up to the offseason workouts eighty percent
of them, you get three fourths of a million dollars. I mean,
he's got a lot of money. He's not hurting for it. I can't
like claim, well that means he's not working hard, because I don't.
I don't know that, but it is. It's not a bad look.
But it's certainly not a good look, right, Like he doesn't. He
just won his second MVP. I think at that point you can trust it.
In the offseason, he's shown that he's fully capable of putting in work
to continue to be a really good player. So it'd be different if this
is a guy who you know, was all based off hype rarely ever delivered.
Like that's not Lamar Again. He's now won the MVP Trophy twice.
And I think the Ravens this year, I mean their window, it's not
closing by any means, but I think they got like a couple more years
to where, you know, they break through and make it to the Super
Bowl, which, by the way, they were a game away last year.
And I hate to say this, but it's just the truth. Like,
as long as Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are doing their thing, the
Ravens could be elite in a different era. But if the Chiefs are still
doing the Chiefs Chiefs are still doing Chiefs things, If you know what I'm
saying, you're just you're gonna have a tough time gett past him because they're
that good. But here was my initial thought. This actually might be the
first real, actual piece of evidence of where an agent could help you,
because he didn't have an agent, right, he trusts himself and his mother,
and I'm sure he has like an attorney in some former fashion. But
an agent would who put this deal together for you? Was it last year
when Lamar played? It was last year Lamar's first year on that new contract.
Yes, And I think an agent would make sure that, like,
you don't have to show up to eighty percent of the offseason stuff when you
And again, at the time, he hadn't I mean, he hadn't won
the second MVP yet, but let's be real, at the time he signed
that contract, like that was a humongous investment from the Ravens. May not
have been the guaranteed money that Lamar wanted, but still he got a great
deal. And I just feel like an agent would have paid attention to those
kind of things to make it. Because I don't know this, I could
be totally wrong, but I feel like a lot of players of Lamar's status
are aren't contractually obligated with that level of an incentive based on being there in
the off season. I think a lot of dudes that are superstars in the
league they are probably rarely there in the off season because they've proven they don't
have to be right. They trust themselves, the franchise trusts them to do
whatever they need to do in the off season to keep playing at a high
level and performing at a high level. I just again, I could be
totally wrong. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw that,
is that that's like a fine print kind of thing in your contract to where
an agent would step up and say, no, you know, we can
do other incentive based things if you want. But like, he didn't have
to be here eighty percent of the off season because I don't mean to me
that, you know, it's if it's volunteer workouts, not being there for
eighty percent of the volunteer stuff when you probably don't live in Baltimore during the
year, because you know, I'm sure he's there a lot, but he
lives he's always in Florida, where he's from. IL Like, it's rare
for that type of stipulation to be in there. But then again, Lamar
wasn't a rare situation overall, because, understandably so, the Ravens they wanted
him, They wanted to make him the franchise quarterback and that clearly at this
point looks like it was a great investment. But you know, he had
two years where he got injured and didn't finish the season, and that made
him a little bit weary. So you know, I would think if he's
such a fragile player, like maybe like you know, I I was gonna
saye, they wouldn't want him doing a lot of workouts in the off season
to keep him healthy. But then again, like you can get hurt walking
down the street. But yeah, I feel i'd feel bad. And this
is clearly just me being biased because I love Lamar. I feel like I
feel like it's his stretch. Just say that it is a bad look,
but it's not a good look, you know what I mean. That's that's
the way I see it. But I have no doubt that it will not
have an impact at all on his ability. But also I'm curious how this
became like a story. I mean, is there a writer that like was
is going over like incentive based things and point of that, because that I
mean, that's I mean, that's I think a lot of people are even
surprised that that type of you know, that type of incentive was even in
there. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side.
We got a lot more to get into here before we wrap it up.
One thing I want to remind you guys of on the other side.
You may already know this, but we eight years ago today, something something
major happened around here, and that part of me says, it feels like
it was eighteen years ago. Also kind of feels like it was just the
other day. But we'll talk about that in a lot more. It is
Coffee and Company we are feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety
all right, so we mentioned it at the beginning of the hour here.
The financial I guess require it's not really a requirement. It's really your choice.
But with the settlement in this NCAA antitrust lawsuit, twenty two million dollars
annually is the most that schools can pay college athletes. They're not required to
do that. That's the salary cap. The schools are going to be able
to pay up to that at their discretion. Now, one of the things
that is probably obvious to a lot of people, but I hadn't thought much
about it, is that you can't I mean, can you still bring in
I guess you can, but like if it's a known thing, hey we're
only doing ten million, Like you're gonna get left behind, right, Like
you can't. I mean I guess if you choose to to spend it wisely,
Like if you're if you're a big E school and you don't have a
football team, like maybe you can say like, we don't, like the
reason we're not going to twenty two million is because we don't even have the
athletes that would require that, you know what I mean, Like, no,
no sport has more athletes than football, and a lot of big E
schools don't have football. Some of them have like FCS teams, but some
of them don't even have teams. So I can't imagine that if you're trying
to continue to compete at the top. And what I mean by that is
you don't want to exist in a place where like, we know we'll never
be great, but we're gonna we're gonna have fun, Like we're gonna try
to, you know, be middle of the pack. I mean that may
be the reality, but nobody like sets out to do that. And if
you set out to say, hey, we're not going to pay twenty two
million across the board, We're going to pay twelve like you're probably gonna have
a tough time doing anything substantial. So this is big. I mean,
I don't claim to know the financial situation at any university, including you know,
the local ones. But Eric Crawford earlier today WDRB put together a good
article and I haven't got a chance to read the entire thing here actually just
saw it pop up during the break there, but this is from Eric.
He tweeted this out just a little while ago, the twenty million dollar question.
Louisville isn't the only school trying to figure out where the twenty to twenty
two million for player payments is going to come from in the twenty twenty five
to twenty six budget. Louisville a d. Josh hurt because that's this.
Josh talked with Eric, and again I haven't read the whole article, but
as usual, Eric does a great job, and I'm sure it'll be pretty
informative, and I'm sure there's some good quotes in there from herd, including
this one, which isn't like a great quote. It's just to me this
kind of puts it in perspective as to what this is going to do to
you universities. Quote, we don't have twenty millions sitting around I can promise
you that, which I wonder how many fans just assume we or athletes just
to assume, well, you know, they'll figure it out. I mean
they probably will. But like, if you're an ad, I mean this,
this is probably hell for you. Not because you are somebody that you
know. It's not because you're mad the players are getting paid. But this
just this changes things for you. I mean this, I mean, you
now have twenty two million dollars annually you're gonna be expected to pay. I
don't want to stay required because you're have to pay anything. But if you're
not paying anything and you're paying cheaper than everybody else, you're gonna give it
you pay for So it's one like, it's one thing. If it's twenty
two million dollars one time. This is every year annually you can pay twenty
two million to student athletes. And maybe I'm wrong, but I just have
a hard time thinking that you can as a school, especially again I'm talking
power four level, maybe power five if we throw in basketball, because of
course the Biggie certainly counts as the top end of that sport. If you're
just out there with a much smaller salary cap all the way around, then
for it to not impact you negatively, I think I would just have to
be that, hey, we're not there because we don't have as many sports.
We don't like we cut this sport and that sport and this sport.
So therefore we can keep it at you know, we can keep it.
I mean in fact, schools that have a good amount of money that do
that, do you know that aren't hurting for money, but don't have as
many sports. They're the ones who are going to benefit from this in a
major way because if you want, you can mean, there's not as much
money to spread around if you don't have that many if you don't have that
many sports. And there are some schools let me just give you an example,
and maybe this isn't a good example used because Bellerman is of course brand
new to Division one level, but there are some schools that are Division one
in like, for example, the Missouri Valley. The Missouri Valley, they
have a football league. I think they have football league. It's a it's
different with the it called something different. No, So it's just it's still
in Missouri Valley, but the schools involved in it aren't the same ones necessarily
in basketball, okay, well and in football like a lot of those schools,
like Missouri State, although I think they just got bumped up the Division
one FBS Missouri State. They're FCS in football, but in basketball, and
the Missouri Valley is a mid major league, no doubt about it. But
Drake, and you know, crighton left the Missouri Valley by the way,
But Drake, who else Illinois State when they're good, Like there's some teams
in the Valley, Whichita was there that they make money. They have like
they have, they have really good attendance. People really care about basketball,
Like the Missouri Valley is a basketball that you saw the n I T sold
out with Indiana State there. I mean again, they're not selling out twenty
two thousand like the UMP Center, but like you're not, you know.
So my point is, if you're a basketball player, Let's say Josh Shirts
was still there and he came back to Indiana State and this was taking place
next year, and let's say they you know, they snuck in the tournament.
You've got a football team in any of the state, which is FCS,
and you've got you know, not twenty two million, because that's just
not realistic for a school like that, but you've got I don't know,
ten or maybe less. Wouldn't it just be a foregone conclusion that like football's
not gonna get anything close to basketball because it's it's not it's it's it's a
lower level of play. You can't probably say that to your football players,
but you know what I mean, like if you are different level as far
as D one D two at certain sports, and I know in football they
don't do D one D two they do, I mean they do, but
it's fcs and fbs, like you know that that's where it gets a little
tricky. I mean to me, it's not. It's actually pretty obvious what
you know, where your priorities are gonna lie. But then again, you
know, you can't really I mean, you can if you want, but
it would be viewed as cold heart like sports at big time schools are going
to get cut. It's probably not going to be the most you know,
it's probably going to be sports that you maybe didn't even realized that school had
a team, but that sucks like that's that's unfortunate, it really is.
And there was a good breakdown and I don't want to nerd out too much
on numbers, but now that we're talking about it and see if I can
pull it up here, there is a a good breakdown of what like,
what it what each sport caught, the average of each sport, what it
costs a Power five school just to fund it. Because that's one of the
things that you know in life, people don't realize like, hey, wow,
brought in like this much money. Geez, well, did you ever
consider how much like it cost to to to to operate right to pay people
like it just because you bring in this much of of you know, a
revenue stream. If you spent more to make it happen, then you lost
money. And you know, there's a lot of people surprisingly in business that
learned that the hard way. They just act, you know, I guess
they just assume at time that it's like, you know, unlimited. Yeah,
here we go. So when it comes to how much does each sport
cost? This is from Tony Altimore, who is a strategy and analytic consultant
within college athletics. So power that Power five football the average cost for Power
five schools forty four million dollars. That's what it costs to run your football
program on average. Literally half of that is now twenty two million is now
what some schools will will choose. I mean, theyn't have to, but
they're going to choose to pay that to student athletes. I mean, I
feel like, no matter how successful you are, how much money you make,
that's not a small thing for anybody. Basketball the average cost twelve point
twenty eight million. So yes, forty four million to run football, twelve
point two eight million to run basketball, and then there's a big drop off.
Women's basketball is five point nine million, men's ice hockey four point nine
to three, which is a little bit skewed because I feel like there are
not nearly as many hockey teams as there are a lot of the other Like
there's I mean, nearly everybody has a women's basketball team. Baseball is four
point six million, and then after that, I would have never guessed it.
In fact, I'm not sure what I would have guessed as far as
what comes in as the as the sixth most expensive sport for Power five programs,
but I certainly would not have guessed women's equestrian that's three point Yeah,
I mean, I guess horses are expensive. You know, the cheapest sport
rifle that makes sense, lady's guns. Yeah, fencing is also at the
bottom here, so you know. And I'm sure like the ice maintenance is
why ice hockey is up there so much. I'm sure that's not cheap.
Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. I mean there's and again there's they it
called. I mean, I remember when COVID happened. One of the things
that really became a bigger talking point than it ever will and probably should,
is what it cost these schools to fund other sports. Like the majority of
I mean, look, the vast majority of these college sports don't make money.
They cost a lot of money, and you make so much in football
that it pays for everything else. Now, there are some rare exceptions,
like around here, where the basketball programs around here make money. I mean,
they're big money makers and that helps you. So I don't think we'll
hear anything soon as far as what decisions are going to be made with sacrifices
are going to be made with this now in place moving forward in twenty twenty
five, But it'll trust me, you'll see the effects of this at some
point. All right. So eight years ago today, Muhammad Ali passed away,
which again part of me feels like that was twenty years ago. And
the day he passed away obviously was you know, was a big national store.
But I'll always remember the days after he passed and of course the day
that they had his funeral, because I don't think we'll ever have anything like
that again, meaning where there was that much attention on Louisville and how you
know this larger than I mean, Muhammad Ali is the most famous person that's
ever come out of Louisville, and I don't think as long as I live,
they'll ever be anybody that becomes a more famous person in a bigger figure
within the world I mean Muhammad Ali. But he also was as proud as
anybody to be from here, made it quite clear throughout his career, his
life, and obviously wanted to have his funeral here. And there were so
many people that you know, were a part of you know, coming to
town, the celebrities here to you know, that had met him and or
become friends with him throughout their life, and it was like a I mean,
it was I could be wrong. It was eight years ago, but
I feel like he was on like every station on the planet the live coverage
of his funeral, and all eyes were on the city, and I feel
like we shine in like a major way and Muhammad Ali. I mean,
I know there's some people that maybe don't agree with some of the things he
stood for long ago, and I don't want to get into any of that.
I'm not telling you that you're crazy for that opinion. You can have
whatever opinion you want. But I think Muhammad Ali's awesome. He's the greatest,
and he has a cool factor to him. And it's timeless. Kids
who were you know that probably don't remember. They don't remember anything about his
career because you know, they're like kids who come to visit Louisville. They
don't remember him boxing, they don't remember when he was on top of the
world, but they know who he is, and like they'll go show pictures
of them being taken to his childhood home here in Louisville because it's Muhammed freaking'
Ali. So like not many people who know even a little bit about him.
If you know just a little bit about him, you probably know he's
from Louisville because he he was one as famous as anybody you'll ever see that
that that has come from Louisville, and he wore it proudly. I mean,
it wasn't the only thing he ever talked about, but he he throughout
his like it wasn't just like Louisville claimed him and we let people know,
oh yeah, he's from Louisville. He let everybody know that and a lot
of instance throughout a lot of instances in his life. And uh, I
just remember the live coverage of that and just you know, and this is
this is this is like I don't know how, I don't know how to
preface this, but you know, we live in a very violent city.
I mean a lot of cities our size are dealing with some similar issues.
But like, let's be real, you can't check the news on your phone,
online or the television without there being an updated story of somebody getting killed
and murdered. Like it's crazy, Like it's it's now the norm and it
sucks, but that's just the way it is. After he passed away in
like four three, four five days, however long it was, we were
all kind of like, you know, embracing him and honoring him. Nobody
got killed like that to me, like, I don't know, that's I
don't Again, I don't want to use the wrong word here, but like
that's crazy to me, Like that like that was I don't know. I'll
move on because I don't want to, you know, Oh it is crazy
though, I mean it's I don't think about those I don't think it's a
coincidence that that happened. I think people were more so just like you know,
kind of almost like because it was a surreal experience, yeah, and
carrying them like they were instead of you know, I don't I would never
I will never know what brings someone to live a lifestyle to where they can
kill somebody. But there are people around here. It happens every day.
But like maybe that just maybe that wasn't on their mind because they were in
a different place, because they were like again, honoring the life of somebody
who came from Louisville and came from West Louisville and wore it very proudly.
So, yeah, eight years and there were a lot of celebrities that spoke
at at the service, and again it was across the planet on television and
I don't. I'm not kidding you, like across the entire planet, like
everywhere nationally, I mean not just nationally, but all over the world,
and of all people. Former colleague John ramsay, he spoke very close to
Muhammad Ali and he did better than anybody his speech, I mean what he
it was better than Billy Crystal, who was a close friend Will Smith talked.
I mean John Ramsey's was better. And I know some people may not
be big fans of John. I don't know if you are not. I
think he has a lot of fans clearly, But like whatever he when it
comes to that, like that's got to be the coolest thing he's ever done.
And he's done a lot of cool things. I mean, he's he's
John Ramsey ramslam. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the
other side, wrap things up. Thanks for hanging out right here on sports
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nine, twenty eight hundred. All right, So a lot of folks
reacting to this news about the twenty two million dollars salary cap that schools are
going to have to figure out and you know, I if you are an
athlete that has sacrificed to make it to where you are playing a non revenue
sport at a high level and it's helped you get your education paid for,
and that school just decides they're no longer going to have that sport because of
this this change, like that sucks. I would feel I would that would
be crushed if that was me. That's sad. However, at the end
of the day, if you simply just no longer have the sports that will
never generate money for you and only cost money, I mean that alone,
the savings there could go a long way for this. I mean, that's
that's just I mean, I hope that they don't do that. I hope
they find ways to not cut any sports because again, that would be awful.
But I mean I think you'll see that a lot, because that's the
easiest thing to do when it comes to just boom, there we go.
We know we won't, we know we don't and it won't make money and
it only costs. Therefore we've I mean, you could cut I mean twenty
two millions a lot, but like you could cut a few sports that you
know just cost your money and will never and that alone can make it to
where instead of twenty two million, you're looking at you know, forty to
fifty percent of that. So it sucks. Now how Title nine factors into
this, that's a couple there's a couple couple people that have asked that,
and I don't know the answer to that. And what I mean by that
is, like, you know, I think we all know what Title nine
is, but if you just were to get I mean you can't. I
wouldn't think you'd be able to just get rid of the women's sports, or
just the men's for that matter. But yeah, we don't have a lot
of answers as far as what this looks like down the line, as far
as what decisions each school are going to make, only time will tell.
But this is, honestly, I think the biggest thing that has happened in
recent years that is going to change college athletics in a major way. And
look, let's be real, it's already changed in a major way with NIL
and the portal, but this will just make it to where I mean,
fundamentally, it's just not what it once was. I think it could still
be great. I'm gonna still love it because I don't know how not to.
But it'll be different, no doubt. Are you guys Enjoy your evening.
We're back at it tomorrow right here on Sports Talk seven Indi