It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's nit coffee. Hey, welcome back on Scott Fitzgerald.
It is John Alden filling in our final hour taking you home. Appreciate everybody
coming along for the ride on your way home. And we've been trying to
cover just about everything in the last two days we've spent together. Always a
pleasure to sit in this chair. I just saw Terry Miners there. Johnny
was getting something to eat in our our little makeshift snack bar that we have
out here that the good management here at iHeart feeds us. We'll put it
that way. And so Terry was out there and goes, you like doing
this, and I said, I love doing this, Terry. It's nice
to be able to come out and have conversations with people. It's like you
can't ever have a conversation with anybody in the morning. Everything's go, go
go, you got three minutes go do this. You can't like Also,
some people who aren't awake, like mentally awake. That's exactly right, dude.
And I mean, you know, everything's like moving like people think I'm
crazy when I say this. But I say, thirty seconds is a lifetime
in the morning, and thirty seconds. I look at the clock and I
go, I got thirty seconds. Oh man, I got time. I
can chill. And it's like, but now when I come in and sit
down and do this and you get to talk about fun stuff, and you
know, it's so weird because I was, you know, I was telling
my wife and my kids, and you know, I literally do not see
anybody all day. I work here and I sit down in studio. I
can't remember which one is again, D yeah, D I sit in studio
D. I can't. Cruise has to have we have cameras that are on.
So when John and I are doing long form, it's nice to have
the camera because it's like John and I are just having a conversation with each
other. Cruise has to have the camera on. I can't talk to Cruise,
do sports, produce a show, call somebody halfway around the world and
stare at Cruise. So in the morning, I don't listen to any I
don't see anybody. You're flying the mother ship in the morning. Yeah,
I don't talk about and you know, offense to John Shannon, our news
guy, had to tell him. He's a talker and he liked to come
in one day and just likes to have a conversation. And I'm like,
dude, I can't talk to you right now, Bro, I got of
stuff I got going on. So it's nice when I can come in here
and sit down and John, you make it so easy to have a conversation
with. Well, I appreciate it because you get it. I mean,
you get it, dude. N made it easy for me. Oh,
Nick's a great person to have a conversation with. Bro. I mean you,
Like I said, I talked to him at Derby and we even got
to I swear to god. We talked for well over two hours standing in
the same spot and it turned out was like one of those things, Hey,
how are you doing? How you doing? And then we just started
talking and we are. We are blessed with good people here. They can
do it like Terry. You know, when I sit in and do sports
with Terry, it's fun because Terry and I can just kind of talk and
you're on your way. And I've even sat in with Vinetti and Do White
a couple of times and talk to them. But you know, you're moving
in the morning. Then I go to my other job and I really don't
talk to anybody there, which I'm not complaining. Look, I am blessed.
If you follow me on social media, you're probably nauseated by how many
times I posted I'm blessed on a number of levels. I'm blessed with two
good jobs that I've done for quite a while that I enjoy thoroughly. I
love the fact that that I can go to my other gig and everybody leaves
me alone and I can just do my job. But when I get a
chance to come in and sit down with people and talk to you and talk
to Michael Lyons and yesterday talking to Matt Melosovich and you know Tom Hellman with
the helmet guy, that's fine. I'm like, okay, I can still
do the conversation thing. All right, We're winning. That's good. So
it's nice. So it's been a great couple of days hanging out with you
guys, And especially when I get to do this on a Thursday and Friday,
because what we like to say, Thursday is the new Friday. So
when I got done last night, I went to the gym, called up
the game, watched that I was so chill got home, had bowl berries,
pet the dog, went to bed tonight. I'm gonna do the same
washerin's repeat. I'm gonna stay up, probably end up standing. What if
Edmonton can hang in there in this game done. I'm probably gonna be tired
in the morning when I get on with Joe and John Shannon, but I
do the same thing. It's Friday, it's chill, so anyway, just
my obligatory Appreciate you guys, Appreciate you John, Appreciate our boss, Gus
Allen, and of course Jim Finn, the programming director here at Sports Talk
seven ninety for allowing me the opportunity and reaching out and allow me to do
this, all right, boss, Women's college sport or women's sports period,
kind of a big deal. There are some forecasts that say, in twenty
twenty four, for the first time, women's elite sports will generate a revenue
that surpasses one billion dollars one billion that's in women's sports. That's a three
hundred percent increase from the industry's evaluation in twenty twenty one. So I know
a lot of you did not agree with Mega Murpino because of our politics.
I understand if you're a person that you know you don't like it when people
don't stand for the flag or disrespect the country. I can I can respect
that. I'm not gonna hold you against that, and I can certainly understand
why there's that jealousy part there. But you got to admit she got one
thing right, and when she said it's time to start paying women, it's
time to start paying women. And that's what they're starting to see. And
you're starting to see that now, and that is amazing, And it was,
you know, one of the things. I was born kind of where
I get that mentality. I was born my mom was a public school teacher,
and I'm seven years older than my two younger brothers. They were born
as twins. The old man left right after my brothers were born, and
my mom was She was a victim of spousal abuse. So I watched my
mom buster her hump as a public school teacher and work retail on the weekends
and provide for us kids so we could still be here today. I told
my daughter, I don't care what you do in life, whatever you do,
do not become dependent on one man or someone else's source of income.
Go out and make a life for yourself. So she did. She graduated
from Mercy, she got her master's degree in teaching from Bellamant and now she's
a teacher and she's going along. And I couldn't be more pleased. So
to see women getting paid what they are due. I got no problem with
Megan Rapino. I think she was a trailblazer. I think she'll go down
in history as a trailblazer. I think you know, she got it right.
She was onto something. And I love watching people. I love watching
the ladies get paid because they deserve it. That said, of course,
the Indiana Fever are back in action tonight. They're looking to extend their winning
streak to four games. They're gonna be taking on former Kentucky wild Cat Ryan
Howard in the Atlanta Dream. They're in the atl tonight. It's the second
season. It's the second meeting of the season between the two teams. And
you know, when everybody was, you know, bashing Caitlyn Clark and bashing
the Fever and they they weren't winning well, suddenly lo and behold on on
the verge of winning four straight. Even Caitlyn Clark admits that they're finally starting
to hit the groove. I mean, I think it's just this group is,
you know, starting to click and build some chemistry, and it's one
day at a time. But like I said, everybody loves it and satisfaction.
But sure we would have probably loved that too, but I think we
all kept a good perspective on knowing we just need to get better at one
step at a time, and that's where we're going to continue to do.
Even though we've won, you know, three in a row at home here,
so you see that Caitlin Clark's finally starting to make her do and now
and now her chief rivaling. Look don't I don't know if this was scripted
to come out this way or it just happened to go this way, but
the Clark de Reese rivalry is turning into a big deal. In fact,
Angel Reese seven straight double doubles a rookie record, are you kidding me?
Good straight double doubles. No other rookie in WNBA history has done that.
So let us get your initial reactions into making history here today. Man,
I'm just happy we finally won. I'm at home. It's super exciting obviously
for myself and I try to get myself some grace and tell myself I'm doing
a good job, but I have so much more to grow. And I'm
I'm just excited to be in this league and just be excited to win.
Somewhere, Angel, your name is being mentioned with some of these great post
players that have played for the Chicago Sky, Candice Parker, uh Elena Dela
Don, Sylvia Files. You're on pace to break Sylvia Files single season franchise
offensive rebounding record. What does that mean to you? I love Sylvia.
She was a She was a great person to me and a great mental to
me. When I was at LSU, man I would have had that relationship
with LSU, so I know she's gonna be super proud of me. I
mean, obviously, I just want to do whatever it takes to win,
and rebound is but I do to win. Yeah, And you know,
and I play that sound bite because John you mentioned this yesterday and I think
you're you're you were spot on. There are times when Reice gets a little
carried away behind the mic and you got to kind of reel that in a
little bit. But she's young, Yes, she's young, and Kate have
had to grow up very fast. That's right, that's right. But I
think you're I think your argument is valid, and I think she will get
the hang of That's kind of what Gino Rima was talking about Caitlyn Clark.
He said, she's going to get the hang of this game. It's just
these these crazy fans have put I mean they were there were wagers being put
on whether Kaitlyn Clark when she was gonna win the m VP this year.
And Arima is like, slow the role, beat this, stop dropping these
expectations on these players. And then they get frustrated because they've got all these
expectations and they physically just can't meet them right now. And and so I
think, but I wanted to play that sound bite from Reese because she does
have a humble side to her, she does have a human side. And
and I think the Caitlin Clark angel res Robberry is fantastic. I mean,
let's be honest. I mean, when Bird and Magic would go at it,
you know, everybody thought that was the greatest thing since Cantuna Fish.
Now, maybe I'm comparing apples to oranges here, I understand, but kind
of same church, different pew. And let this play out because it's great
for women's sports. It's great for sports. Are you kidding me? And
now, not only is the WNBA seeing increase TV ratings, they're expected to
get the highest priced ticket for a WNBA game coming up when the two tangled
this weekend. That'll be Sunday in Chicago. They're gonna meet it Win Trust
Arena. So I'm looking right now on sea geek. I just logged in.
I logged in earlier this afternoon. Now I just logged in, So
I'm looking right now in the cheapest seat I can find right now, John
is one hundred and fifty two dollars. And that's crazy. You said.
That's from the corner that's up in the corner you need then, and that's
that's a couple of rolls down one hundred and fifty seven dollars in the other
corner. Now if you want, somebody's trying to unload. I'm gonna click
on this right here. If you know Wind Trust Arena for those of you
that know Win Trust arenas, Oh is it? Yeah? That's right,
that's right, that's right. Thank you the old Roseman horizon. Yes,
And so they go, okay, thank you. Court side to row one.
That's right down the court thanks to the visitors bench three thousand, five
hundred and twenty six dollars each. Wow, is what now you got to
You gotta keep this in perspective too, that this is what people are asking.
Are they going to get it? I don't know. If Jeff Bezos
wants to come to town, maybe yeah, move over. Let's move over
and take it down to courtside on the other end, court side seven row
two, two thousand, one hundred and sixty six dollars each. So women
are getting paid. I think it's a happy medium. I think when it
comes down to it, as you get closer to game time, you'll start
to see some of these come down. Or if the hype continues to increase,
there's always somebody out there that'll pay for it. Though, there's always
somebody that says, I just want to be at this game. In fact,
my son had one of his friends like that. His parents were loaded
with money. So if the hot item came out or the hot event came
out, the parents were there to buy it. I'll be interested. I'm
going to watch these and see if somebody picks up these seats and see what
they go for. So again, the most expensive seat right now is thirty
five hundred dollars, just over thirty five hundred dollars qurt side two road one
to be right on the court for this you look at, you know.
And here's where I feel bad is players like Asia Wilson and she played for
South Carolina and she kind of and this is where some of the resentments coming
towards or came early on, at least towards Caitlin Clark. Yeah, players
like Asia Wilson who just blazed that trail. I mean, they were the
ones that were playing when nobody was given him a love. In fact,
I heard I heard a couple of folks in embarrassing moment, a couple of
folks in our media about this was about ten fifteen years ago, that referred
to women's basketball players as nags. And I actually saw a graphic for the
WNBA that had like a herd of horses running and it was embarrassing. It
was absolutely embarrassing. And I'm not going to call that person out in sports
media who did that, but I was listening to them just the other day
and they're not local, mind you, it's not local. It's a national
host and total change of tune when it came to women's basketball, and I
was embarrassed for them more than anything else. But you take a player like
Asia Wilson who played when that stuff was going on, and they were They're
like, look, we paid our dues, and I think they're mature enough
now to say, okay, it happens. Look we did this, we
know we did this. Well. Asia Wilson put this in perspective. A
player as great as Asia Wilson, the WNBA's leading score Her and Caitlin Clark
lead in the first voting returns for the All Star Game. Wilson leads all
players with more than two hundred and seventeen thousand votes. Well, Clark sits
at number two with just over two hundred and sixteen thousand. What's that tell
you about the sport? Longtime? Asia Wilson two hundred and seventeen thousand,
Clark just one thousand less, not even in the league a few months the
game. By the way, we played ju July twentieth in Phoenix. You'll
see Team USA take on Team WNBA. Players in the top ten when voting
ends on June twenty ninth and aren't also a member of Team USA we'll make
the team WNBA roster. Other players currently in the votings top ten included Leah
Boston of The Fever, New York Liberty Is Beyonna Stewart, and of course
Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese. All Star rosters by the way, Gonna announced
July second. And you know what's interesting, John, when I do sports
on has and I hope that I do a good enough job at at splitting
it down the middle. We were following a former Assumption softball player this year.
She played at the University of Indianapolis, the Greyhounds's All World Player,
All World player. We kept talking, we were following her story, and
I kept getting people texting me emailing me. When Eastern Kentucky's volleyball team came
here to play Bellerman, I would always try to mention some of the players
who are coming home, as I did. And I got a call from
a dad and the dad left me a voicemail. I don't even know how
we answer our voicemail here, but he left me a voicemail and it comes
to our email. And he was so appreciative of the fact that someone was
finally talking about women's sports in the right light in this town. And he
said, they just they don't do He said, these girls they go out
and they play, and they work just as hard as the guys. And
yet somehow that you don't hear them complaining. You don't hear them. You
know, they're not saying why me, Why are you not talking about me?
They're just going out and there getting it done. And and you know,
yeah, there's the Clark Reese back and forth in the media, but
you know, you gotta admit someone like Caitlyn Clark, she could be really
vocal if she wanted to. If somebody's got a legitimate gripe, it's probably
she could have pushed back on the media, and she didn't, and she
kept her wits about her. And as you know, Arima said, it
shall grow into that role. Now here's where I think women's college basketball is
going to have it over men. And we'll see if it stays depending because
now that it appears that the WNBA is beating very popular right now. But
Gino said, the best thing about our sport is these girls stay. They
they're not jumping ship after a year, and that's how fans develop relationships.
So Diana Tarazzi's I mean you walk around you kin Diana Tarazzi's, and I
mean they're just household names and fans would show up to see them play.
You saw it around here in Louisville with yes, Yes, exactly a great
point. I mean, and I can only imagine had Hayley van Litz stayed
at Louisville, she became public enemy number one when she did. I know,
had she stayed, the fans loved her. She was the first real
instance of a women's college player taking advantage of nil to go to a different
program. Yeah, that's right, That's that's exactly right. And you know
the thing that I love most about this town, and this is where Louisville
gets it right and Kentucky gets it right as well. After talking with Darren
Headrick, who calls Kentucky women's basketball games, Louisville fans know Jeff Walls,
Jeff Walls. Louisville fans no players. If I say the name Emily Inksler
in this town, she was only here one year from Syracuse, people know
Emily Inksler. If I say Ryan Howard, people know Ryan Howard because she
was such a player people love. I've been to the Kentucky Lovo women's basketball
game, fans show out and it's I just I can't say enough. And
I'm not saying it just for women's athletics as a revenue generator. I'm saying
what this does to young ladies is the father of a young lady who grew
up and made something of herself and was not dependent on one guy. Was
on the She was on the Irish Dance World Champion stage twice, once in
Dublin, ones in Scotland. I know, because she almost broke our bank
doing it. I'm like, you couldn't. You couldn't just play softball in
school, right and go to a public school. But it was money that
I don't regret spending at all, because what happened was Irish dance became her
life and that drove her to do what she wanted. She never went to
prom. In fact, just now she just now met a guy long after
I mean, she's twenty five years old and he's amazing and she just now
met a guy. And I've told her on a number of occasions just how
absolutely proud I was of her that she did not become dependent on that one
man. She was never worried about what she looked like she was never worried
about the feedback she got. She's a very independent woman, and I don't
think there's a dad or a mom out there who's listening right now who doesn't
say, that's all I want for my child. Have that sense of independence.
And that's why I think people like Angel Reese, yeah the comments aside,
and indefinitely Caitlin Clark bring to the table. They're inspiring these young ladies
to be their own woman and be that woman. And that's what Megan Rapino
was getting at. She's like, just pay us what we're due. That's
all they want. It doesn't matter whether you're straight, by lesbian, gay,
whatever. Meghan Rapino performed on the field and she just wanted to be
appreciated for it. If others were too. We do the same thing.
We did the same thing in our workplace. If you're busting your hump and
somebody's just skating by and they're getting paid all the money, you got a
problem with that. And that's what Megran Repino was getting at. So you
can't sit there and say you want to empower women and then get on somebody
like megranm Repino when she speaks out just because she didn't stand for the flag.
That's not doing anybody any favors at all. That's that's helped promoting your
own personal agenda. So I just it's it's one of those things that it
has been so much fun to cover doing sports here in the media. Is
watching the emergence of women's sports. You know, you watched look at the
dude, look at the Nebraska volleyball game, ninety the football stadium, ninety
two thousand fans, and let's get well, we're doing that. Let's give
a big tip of the hat to Danny bus Boom Kelly for putting Louisville volleyball
into MAP. I mean, they're putting people in the YOUM Center women's sports
that nobody watched more of them. You're talking about the championship in the WNBA
drew the biggest crowd in history, and then of course the twenty twenty three
FIFA Women's World Cup champions in soccer. It's just it's an amazing time to
be like in this and I know we got a break and I'll get out
of here, but it's an amazing time to be alive and going back to
what we opened the show with listening to what people like Reggie Jackson and Willie
Mays had to live with and to see where we are now. And if
you're getting upset because of Pride Fest, somebody wants to say they have pride
that makes you mad, well, nobody can help you there. But please
don't rate people because we're living in a day and age now where we're more
accepting of people than we ever have been. That's a problem. I don't
get society. Sometimes it's a great time to be alive, that's for sure.
It's a Friday, all right. We're gonna have a little fun wrap
things up here with John when we come back. Thanks for letting me get
on my soapbox for just a bit, and again, best of luck to
all you lady athletes out there. You deserve it for sure. We're back
after this on Sports Talk seven ninety always that my man JT. It is
just got busted for DUI unfortunate. You know he's coming to Lexington and Louisville.
Is he coming Louisville too? November? Oh, Lexington's in July?
I believe Yeah, it's two weeks from Sunday. He's a guilty pleasure of
mine. He is. There's nothing wrong with JT, dude, and nothing
wrong with him at all. Funny dude, you watch you. By the
way, I'm Scott Fitzgerald, He's John Alden. I'm in for the vacationing
Nick coffee. He will be back with you on Monday. Thank you again
to Nick for letting me sit in this chair, and thank you all for
putting up with me, that's for sure. And by the way, you're
talking about JT. There, John, Hey, have you seen his Saturday
Night Live skit where you bring it on down to Olmaville. No, that
sounds funny though. Oh dude, you got to see that. Just look
up justin Timberlake and the Olmeletville skit. It is the funniest thing out there.
You can give that a watch. It is John Alden, I'm Scott
Fitzgerald, and we're talking all things, of course, sports and about everything
in between it. And when I love about sitting in with you for these
forty eight hours is sees we can talk a little bit more sometimes in this
town, be honest with you, sometimes in this town we get a little
too. It's little basketball happy right, well, yeah, it's it's Louisville,
it's Kentucky. And and you know, again, no offense. I
know that's what breads the butter here, or what butters the bread here.
Okay, So please don't hear me say that, Please, please please,
because when those when those programs are in action, they are my a story.
When I go to sports that I look read the room, fellas read
the room. So and I also do my sports for Kentucky News Network.
I hear from folks all around the state, and trust me, I get
it. I understand. But it is nice sometimes when we have a lull
in this this season that we're in. Now we've come out of the busy
part of the Spring crossover. We're gonna get ready to enter into the Fall
crossover. It is nice to bring to lights some other sports, and that's
what we hope we did here. You know, I used to be,
you know, a two sport kind of guy, and you know, somebody
took time to introduce me to other sports, and I was glad they did
so. But along those lines, let's do talk some college basketball here,
because we did get some breaking news there John earlier today, and we found
out that the Louisville Cardinals are going to play some summer ball. They're going
to the Bahamas, so traditionally saved. This is traditionally you know, Bahamas
are for Thanksgiving and whatnot. They were selected to play the Baja Mar Hoops
Summer League. They're going to play four other teams. We do not know
who those teams are yet. I'm actually at Bambajamar hoops dot com and it
looks like the Cardinals are going to play July twenty eighth through August second.
Their games are going to be on July thirtieth and August first. They'll have
tickets will go on sale soon, So I expect we'll see another announcement from
some of the other teams coming up as to who they will play with.
Because I know that fans are very excited for Pat Kelsey, at least what
they've seen what he's done out of the transfer portal into john It really is
a new dayah for Kentucky and Louisville and these college teams. They're allowed to
take these summer trips abroad, if you will, once every four years.
Louisville hasn't been on one of even nearly ten years, because I think their
window to go on one most recently landed during the COVID season, so for
obvious reasons, they didn't do one during that year. So it's been a
while since Louisville's taken advantage of doing stuff like this. Obviously, Kentucky last
season went over to Canada. Indiana did their turn down to the Bahamas during
Mike Woodson's first season, So this will be really really valuable experience for this
brand new thirteen man roster for Pat Kelsey. I mean, there are so
many things when Nick and I talk about college basketball that are going to be
extra exciting for this season. In particular, when you think about Louisville and
Kentucky, you have the two brand new head coaches. Yeah, you have
two virtually I think for both teams, brand new faces, roster members for
both teams, and so there's a level of intrigue that both the UFL and
Kentucky fan bases are both going to be experiencing at the same time. And
it's again it adds. It's a boosted level of excitement for college basketball around
here. I feel like, oh, well, I agree one hundred percent.
I mean, okay, so remember when there were the days when you
know you had the Peyton Sibas. Oh yeah, the Terrence Williams. You
remember these names, just household nmes. You could rally these names. There
were days where you could rattle off a Louisville basketball roster and I think twice
about it. Same for Kentucky. Let me read you some of these names.
Frank Islam I Insulam, thank you, thank you very much. You
can help me with these. Dude. Oh, by the way, thank
you Louisville Athletic Department for putting that little ear symbol next to their name with
the pronunciation guide. That's my pet. Peeves schools that don't do that,
and then you can't get an Salem eBay, Terrence Edwards Junior, Javon Hadley,
Chucky Hepburn, Korn Johnson, Ali Khalifa, Aiden McCool, Cason Pryor,
Kobe Rogers, Connie Rous, James Scott, rain Smith, Abu Carr,
Abubakar Traire thank you and Noah Waterman. Tell me you had them on
your radar, right, and it's just to your point. And then when
you look at you know, Kentucky, we can do the same thing.
Kentucky fans. You know there were days you could go through and just just
recite the lineups Ansley Almoner and correct me. Step that's somebody I'm not familiar
with. The Kentucky's right, Joe does this all the time. With Joe
does this all till now. Now, look, let me let me disclaim
her here. Let me say this. Those of you who live, breathe,
and eat Kentucky basketball and listen to KSR on the station and listen to
Nick, You're probably going, dude, who doesn't know these people? Come
on, man, get with it, Scott. I understand that. I'm
just saying from an average fan standpoint. You look at Kobe Bray, Lamara
Bria, thank you, Lamon Butler, Andrew Carr, Colin Chandler, Grant
Darbyshire, Brendan Garrison, Walker Horn Kerr. And I'll get this one wrong.
I know I will. Carissa, that's me, Crisa. See I
told you Trent Noah. No, I didn't know Trent Noah. I didn't
know that as a local guy. Yeah, he's a local guy. Otega
owah is how he say it? That's a tough on. I'm not sure
how to say his name. Okay, Travis Perry, Jackson Robinson and Amari
Williams, Travis Perry another local guy. Yes, he is so so what
you know, I guess maybe I was too spoiled when it was real easy
to do the You know, Tyrese, Maxis, Karl, Anthony Towns,
you knew those names and just like I rattled off for Louisville. So but
now to your point, John, I'm actually really looking forward to this.
In fact, I saw the two coaches were together earlier today. Y'all have
to forgive me the it's the Titans basketball tournament that's going on, I'll get
it straight which one it was, but both coaches were there, and it
was Mark Pope and Kelsey were both there. It's a different day and age,
and to be honest with you, it was. And I think John
Cala Perry said it best. He goes, I think it's just time to
and I'm paraphrasing for him, but he just basically said it's time to move
on, it's time for change. And what's so much different too about Kentucky
specifically is that. And I think it became all the more clear when I'm
about ready to say after Cali Perry left. But with Caliperry at Kentucky,
it was always about him. It wasn't about I mean, yes, Kentucky
was attached to him, but without Cali Perry, you don't get all of
these five star All American type players. Because now you bring in Mark Pope
and it's more about Kentucky again and you're not focused on Oh, I'm going
to bring in all of these guys. There are gonna be one year guys
going to the NBA right after they play for their freshman season. To Kentucky,
it's going to be more about development. I feel like with the Wildcats,
now, yeah, you're gonna get some talented guys who probably gonna stick
around for a little bit. And even with the transfer portal, it's even
hard to tell how long some of these players will stick around. But I
definitely think with Mark Pope and his program specifically, it's gonna be a lot
more on the traditional side of things when it comes to college basketball compared to
what we got with Cali Perry the last ten fit nearly fifteen years. I
would tend to agree, and it's gonna be because we are in a new
day and age of college basketball, and you know, for people like my
son and Pops, if you're out there listening. Dad, you are,
and you got younger kids, and you know, we're all having the same
conversations our dads had with our moms had with us. That is, oh,
back in my day. Back in my day, we just we played
every team in the conference. Well, I didn't grow up with that.
I mean, we had non conference games. I didn't grow up with the
Big eight. I don't know what the Big eight is, you know.
And so, and that's why when I talk with my son about sports,
I sit back and I just listen, because I remind myself that he doesn't
know life like I knew it like he He will never know a Rose Bowl
between the Pac ten and the Big ten when they legitimately ten teams in the
conference. I mean I went through the years where where Michigan played Washington every
year, and you knew when you saw that game that was a big deal.
So it was almost sacrilegious. I will never forget the first time a
Big ten team and a Pac ten team did not play in the Rose Bowl.
I mean I went kicking and screaming into that bad boy. I was
like, are you kidding me? This is ridiculous. But for my son,
it was no big deal. We sat there and watched Michigan Alabama playing
the Rose Bowl. That matchup was unheard of when I was a kid.
You never get those teams because that was when you had the writers picked the
number one team and the number two team. In fact, nineteen eighty six
they split, Michigan and Nebraska still arguing over the national championship, and now
they're in the same conference together. And I want to ask you something,
Scott, since you grew up in that era. Yeah, as somebody who
never experience a college football season where there wasn't a definitive national champion because to
me, and I know you got ties and soccer and that's something I understand,
that kind of thing. I cannot imagine sharing a national championship in any
collegiate sport. Yeah, because you now you play for it, right,
it would have had Nebraska and in Michigan. Is Miami or Michigan you were
talking about? It was Michigan in Michigan because Michigan and Nebraska split in ninety
seven. And that's insane to me, right, And it makes it even
weirder when you talk to somebody who didn't know that. The way things were
then, my son and all he knows is Michigan and Nebraska played in the
same conference. In Nebraska has a pretty bad football team. Oh yeah,
I know anything about that. That's so as we transcend sports, and this
is where on the cusp of seeing the NCAA tournament expanded, not just in
football but in basketball, this is what people are gonna know. And as
I remind mister Cruse every morning, who you know, everybody wants to coach,
but nobody's coaching. There's people for the in the NC DOUBLEA that paid
a lot more money than we do in our privy to a lot more data
than we have to make these decisions. There's something that's telling the NC DOUBLEA.
Hey, if we expand this thing by six more teams, I'm talking
about the men's basketball tournament, we'll get this, this and this in return.
This is our cash Coyle right now. Now? Do they always get
it right? Of course, not not at all. I mean, expanding
a college football team is not gonna be a different than when we had four
teams. We argued about the fifth, we'll argue about the thirteenth. But
you made the point eloquently last yesterday, and that is by the time is
yours. Maybe it was my daughter's boyfriend. But once you start getting down
to like eleven or twelve, it's not as critical as opposed to say a
fifth team not making it in what we saw out of Florida State this year.
So people, I'm trying to say is people aren't as worried about,
say, the thirteenth team is much as they're worried about a Florida State not
getting in because of injury. And as it turns out, it probably was
the right call because Florida State would have got drilled had they had you put
them in there with the with the injury, I'm saying, with the injury,
they would have got drilled. So as things change, you can do
one or two things. And this applies to life, and this is kind
of where I live. You can either embrace it or you can go kicking
and screaming into it and you'll just be miserable every day of the week.
And I had to learn that the hard way. I did. And so
when sports changes. For example, I was a college football guy mentioned on
the show yesterday. I did a show for nine years, a college football
show here. I lived eating, I just everything was college football with me.
But when it got to a magical point with me inside where it's the
college football started looking like the NFL, I walked more and leaned heavily into
the NFL. And that's where I'm living now. But that doesn't make me
right or wrong. That doesn't make that's just me and John. You said
you like the college game, and it's interesting you mentioned how it seems more
like the NFL. I think to me that makes college football more attractive because
these players have like they want to be treated like their professionals. That's the
way it comes across when you have all this in I own transferportal of that
kind of stuff. Do I wish there was more regulation, absolutely, But
when it comes down to it, it is still amateur sports. They're still
playing for schools, for institutions. Yeah, and do with that what you
will, But that's why there will. You'll never be it'll never purely be
like the NFL. But this is as close as it can get to it
at this point. I feel like, do you think too, that age
plays a part in this? That you know, my son is in college
now, so I think he relates more to the college game. Yeah,
And that's so I grew up. Maybe it's because this the air we don't
really have a dominant NFL fan base. Yeah, people who are Bengals fans,
people in Bowling Green area, more Titans fans. You have Steelers fans
everywhere obviously, but there was never a definitive fan base around here. So
a lot of people they always go to uvl UK or in my instance,
in Deana. I grew up in Jeffersonville, so that's kind of where I've
always been with the Hoosiers and that kind of stuff and the kind of it's
not really a tr rivalry, but you know, the three local schools.
Like we always talk about college football, college basketball, and as long as
as long as there, as long as the game stays palatable, no matter
what changes the NCAA or the playoff committee, that kind of stuff, no
matter what changes they make, people are still going to come back to it.
It doesn't matter what they do to the game. Yeah. I think
you're right, and it's bigger than ever. And when we saw that with
Louisville fans. And what also what I noticed too is when your product is
taken away from you, you're starved. And we're saying and we're going to
see that with Louisville basket if things work out the way they should for coach
Kelsey. We're going to see that with Cardinal basketball fans. I mean,
I was my son and I were big time and we went to every game
we could get to during the Peyton Siva era. And when that's taken away
from you, you come back and you're you're like a rabbit Doug and it
had Nayton in a month. And you're seeing that in Louisville football now.
And unfortunately, I think I told Tony, I said, this bowl gaming'll
be the best thing for him. And I'm not talking about playing on the
field. I'm just talking about it's played in the baseball stadium against the USC
team. It's half their starters aren't even playing in the bowl game anymore.
And they still spanked him, and they still spanked him. And so I
think for I told Tony that bowl game is going to do them no favors.
But what did do them? Pay? Wellus? It didn't help that
you lost to your rival too at home. We were at that Kentucky game
and that stadium was just deflated except for the Kentucky fans, mind't you,
But there is still that hope and I think that that coach Brahm and the
Cards will get there. And when they do, and they we we saw
to Kentucky and Kentucky had that nice run. Kentucky put a bunch of players
in the NFL because they had that good run. Now they fall and off
a bit that's yet to be seen. I mean winning changes everything. You
win. People look at what lou City's going through right now. Had lou
City not had those very successful years early on and been like, say what
Miami is right now, I mean they're horrible. They have seven points in
the table. If you don't win out of the gate, it's hard for
people to get on board. We talked about the USFL yesterday. I still
was a fan, why because they won right out of the gate. Everybody
loves a winner, but you gotta win unless unless you're able to stand on
your laurels Louisville. Schools like Louisville and Kentucky can buy time during the down
years because they've been around so long. So it is the changing face of
sports. We love it. That's why we're here. And when it comes
to the nuts and bolts, I'm gonna leave you in the hands of Nick
Coffee and John Alden because they can get tighter into that than I ever could.
But it's fun to be a sports fan. It's fun to be a
sports fan here in Louisville. It's fun to be able to talk about it
on the radio. Hey, we're gonna come back to wrap things up after
this, Scott Fitzgerald. He's John Alden, We're back after this on Sports
Talk seven ninety. Yeah. That is Dylan Marlow. He is in concert
on four Street Live tonight. I was just coming in from back there.
You can you can hear them doing sound checks out there, John, and
it's like vibrating like that about where we're at. Yeah. Then I was
they were doing sound checks and you can feel it vibrating here in the studio
and we're in the back here, and I'll be back here in about eight
hours and getting ready for the show on Saturday, and I guarantee you folks
will still be out there party and you got to walk in amongst them.
So we're gonna get out of here. And John is always thank you so
much, my friend. I appreciate you. If you look forward to the
next time. Yeah, same here and Nick will be back with you Monday.
Look, I know a lot of people don't always agree with me,
and sometimes my takes don't make sense, and I totally understand that, but
I that's why we're here. I appreciate you at least listening to me,
and I'm grateful that you're able to allow me to do it. So have
a great weekend, everybody. I'll be on radio Study Hall starts tomorrow morning
at six o'clock I News Radio forty WHS. Have a great weekend.