It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
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O two sixty five to three zero seven ninety. So I'm gonna wait until
a little bit later in the show to uh to look at some of the
you know, likely selections tonight in the second and third round of the NFL
Draft. And trust me, we're gonna get back into the little the Kentucky
stuff because I do believe I've you know, a lot of Kentucky fans are
are you know, I guess seeing this side of me for the first time
or hearing this side of me for the first time. You know, they
you got to keep in mind for if you're new to this show, like
if you you know, you just joined in the last couple of years or
something, or maybe you were somebody that joined the show when we made the
move to afternoons. I mean, I've never had you know, whenever I
was talking about Cali Perry and you know, rarely what I have a rivalry
because Louisville's been pretty lifeless in this basketball rivalry for the last couple of years,
certainly during the Kenny Payne era. So you you didn't hear me,
you know, And I'm not even really you know, it's trust me.
It's not like I'm already saying louis is going to beat Kentucky next year in
the first ever Mark Pope versus Pat Kelsey battle. But yeah, there's some
life about the Louisville basketball fan base, and you know, I'm part of
it, like I have life too, Like it's you know, it feels
good to be excited, feels good to look at the guys that he's brought
in and know that they're still working on some others and I have no clue
of who they're going to be. Nobody does, but I know it's not
what we just had and that has me excited. And when I would talk
Kentucky and Poke fun at cal and really highlight his shortfall or you know,
his shortcomings and just the dynamic there and how you know the fan base is
over him. They're tired of him, you know, and it's it's a
loveless marriage. You know, they're stuck together because of the lifetime contract.
And he's so like all if you agreed, so like, there wasn't a
whole lot of you know, I mean, I think you all maybe not,
you know, maybe there were some that you know, agreed but didn't
want to hear Louisville fans say it. But deep Dan, you agreed.
Well, now that's a little bit different. You know. I'm still gonna
be fair like if. And that's why whenever I started talking about, you
know, the hilarious inability to acknowledge that Mark Pope might miss on some guys.
Yet if somebody doesn't end up going to Kentucky, if somebody picks another
school, somebody decides to stay at BYU, if somebody decides to go to
Louisville instead of going to Kentucky to follow Mark Pope, like it's always something.
There's no scenario that, like they just lost a guy. It's hilarious
to me. So when they do get players, I'll acknowledge it. And
they already have a good player, you know, a Marii Williams I think
it's his name, who transferre from Drexel. Yes, I mean he's a
good player. He's good. He's certainly a good player. He'll probably be
a guy that plays a lot of minutes for him. And you know,
he's top fifty ish, top forty ish depending on where you look, and
that was I mean that's but he's the only guy they have right now that
has ever played college basketball. So you know, if they end up getting
osor Bor or Osibor or the the other guys that are you know, the
kid from Saint Mary's, I mean, I don't think he's a guy that
you feel like you're gonna make a deep run with, but he's certainly a
good piece. He's considering Yukon and Kentucky, which those are. You know,
if Hyukon wants him, then that means everybody should want him. So
you know they're gonna get good players and they may end up having a roster
that you know, at the end of the summer we say, wow,
you know, he did a pretty good job. But you know, so
far, they're off to a slow start. Despite you know, Pope starting
a little bit later than other coaches, including Kelsey, they're still off to
a slow start, and they've lost players and you know, guys they wanted
that didn't want to go there, and the inability to just acknowledge that as
a rious to me. But again, I'll be fair, I always am.
I'm a Louisville fan. I'm gonna have fun with us. Was it
two three weeks ago? But I guess two weeks ago. Whenever, it
feels like it was a year ago when both these coaches were hired for some
reason, doesn't it, John, feels like it was so long ago,
a totally different realm. Yeah, so, you know, I'm always gonna
be fair, but I now am having fun with it more than I've been
able to do in a long time. That's why, you know, when
when once we knew that, you know, first we knew Kelsey was in
the mix, and then Pope, despite nobody thinking it was possible, he
ended up being the coach, and he won the fan base over and again,
it felt like there was life back in his rivalry. And that's what
Louisville fans are bringing to the you know, to the table here and when
we do you know, the rivalrying for lack of a better word, I
mean, so I think some people are genuinely telling the truth when they say
it's nice to see Louisville you know, back into it and you know,
being you know, just trolling and you know, talking back and just engaging
in rivalry banter. But there's some little like you know, like you know,
offended by which you know that's the case, you know, chill out,
all right. So the NFL draft last night, again we talked a
lot about the obvious big reaction, which is Michael Pennock Junior going to the
Falcons when they just had signed Kirk Cousins to a lucrative four year deal.
The explanation that I heard from Schefter was, I mean, it made sense,
but it's you know, it still just doesn't make sense though, to
take him at eight. And what Schefter said was they did let kirk Cousins
know, like you know, I guess a few minutes before they made the
pick, and he was not you know, not surprised. I'm sorry he
was surprised, and was he bothered. I'm not sure. You know,
he's not a guy that I think you'd ever see publicly like you know,
air out his team and you know claim he's and he's not that kind of
guy. In fact, Mark kirk Cousins at one point kind of became like
the punching back of the NFL, I think because he got all that money
from Washington and he never delivered in the postseason. But he's a good quarterback.
And that show on Netflix that I've still not seen, called Quarterback,
they profiled Patrick Mahomes Kirk Cousins, and I believe was it Marcus Mariota,
which is super random. It sounds like kirk Cousins was like the most likable,
relatable dude in the NFL. So I think that won him some points
where you know, people just won't go out of their way to talk crap
about him anymore. And he's a good quarterback. He's not elite, but
he's certainly better than a lot of guys. Like whenever the Falcons signed him
to that deal, I don't remember there being like, Wow, you're giving
kirk Cousins that I think people realize, look, you get what you pay
for in the NFL. And he's not you know, he's not Lamar Jackson,
he's not Patrick Mahomes, he's not Josh Allen, he's not Aaron Rodgers.
But he's good and you can win with him. So to see them
make that pick, you know, it just it's a head scratcher. But
what Schefter said was that they had gone through a really dysfunctional time with the
quarterback position as soon as the Matt Ryan era ended. And I guess when
Matt Ryan, you know, was there, you know, when he left
and went to the Colts for a while. I guess Matt Ryan's been gone
with three years now, maybe from from the Falcons. So you know,
he was their guy forever, like for what I mean fifteen years roughly,
he was the guy in Atlanta, took him to the Super Bowl, won
an MVP. So life after Matt Ryan was not great for them. They
ended up drafting Desmond Ritter. No offense to the local kid from Saint X,
but like he ain't it. And I think they wanted stability at quarterback
to where whenever they do in fact move on from a guy that is a
veteran that did some good things. And who knows if Kirk Cousins does that,
but that at least made sense of it. Like they don't just they
never want to be in the position they were in. I guess the last
two years. I think that's the best. Like, who was the quarterback
for the Falcons as soon as as soon as Matt Ryan left, because it
wasn't Ritter, Ritter sat and was was it Mariota? Now you know,
see if you can't look that up John, because it's somebody that like was
a journeyman that probably just got the gig, got the got the opportunity,
and it wasn't He wasn't good. So then they moved on to Ritter and
those were failed experiments, so they went. You know, they had two
guys on their roster at quarterback and both were bums essentially no offense. Again,
I mean, hard to call somebody a bum and not expecting them to
be offended. But like Desmen, Ridy wasn't was not good as their starter.
And whoever that you know the guy was, it was Mariota. Yeah,
I mean he wasn't good either. In fact, he and another fact,
Mariota was kind of a. He was kind of a problem for them,
Like he once he realized he wasn't going to be the guy anymore,
you know, he started they claim, you know, saying he couldn't go
and practice. And their coach, who I think is already know he's already
been replaced because they've got Rhee Morris now believe is that who is Raheem Morris
as their coach. Either way, the coach at the time was pretty public
about how like, you know, he wasn't going to say that Mariota wasn't
injured, but like clearly he was just kind of poutent. So they had
a very dysfunctional quarterback situation. So then they signed Kirk Cousins, and I
think they just want to know that if they ever end up losing Cousins to
an injury or maybe Cousin falls off the that they can go to a guy
like Pinnix, who whomever. Know, you never know how any of these
guys are going to project in the NFL, but he is somebody that they
believe could step in if in whenever Kirk Cousins is done. To do it
at the eighth pick is wild, but I think it means that then not
only are they thinking about having some long term stability. And I'm sure they
watched what happened with Jordan Love this year with the Packers. You know,
he sat behind far forever or not far Rogers, and when he did get
to play, initially he didn't look good. Well then you know, sure
enough he became his team this year this past season, I should say,
and he was good, you know, blew out Dallas in the playoffs.
And you know, I mean he looks secific. He looks like he's a
guy that will have a long future and a successful future in Green Bay.
So maybe they're just trying to mimic that. But also what it tells you
is that they love Michael Pennock stunor Like, they don't do that unless they
love that quarterback. So I guess good on him. But like he can't
be happy there, right, he can't be happy to be I mean,
Michael Pennox juer is twenty four years old, doesn't mean that he's you know,
actually people mention that, and I just did too, Like that's not
ideal. You'd rather have a guy that you know, you feel like,
can you know, can really grow, like he could be heck, he
could be, you know, in his third year as your starter and be
thirty, which is just unusual. But the way they protect quarterbacks now and
the way quarterbacks take care of their body, I mean, like Aaron Rodgers,
there's no doubt in my mind that once he's completely healed from his achilles
injury, the way he plays and the way that he's protected and should be
protected, he could play forever. I mean it would take probably like a
show, some kind of an injury to your arm to make it to where
you can't or your shoulder to where you can't. You can't, Like,
no doubt in my mind, Tom Brady could still play today. He's in
phenomenal shape. I mean, he's throwing the football. Guys, he's not
you know, it's not he's not there taking hits. He's not running the
ball. So his age is not as big of an issue. But I
do understand why people bring it up. But what is in I mean,
I'm not making fun here, John, but Indiana like they still claim him
and it actually kind of think that's cool. I mean yeah, because I
mean, for the most part, Indiana fans haven't had a lot to cheer
about outside of the seasons where Michael Pennix was doing good for the Hoosiers,
and so when he went to Washington and had success there, they kind of
adopted Washington at least I did as their team for that year. Yeah,
and so now, at least for me, if Pennix is able to do
something with Atlanta or some other team in the future, that's too. I'm
going to form the NFL. He's a pretty likable guy anyway. Yeah,
it seems that way. So what I think really is going to be the
tell here is what Kirk Cousins does, because I actually have actually think that
if he wanted, if he wanted to force his way out, there are
teams that don't feel good about their quarterback position that would take him. Now,
I don't know if I doubt the Falcons would, would you know?
I guess at this day and age, you can get what you want,
right like if you hold out the only the only position in the NFL.
Unfortunately I shouldn't laugh when I say it, because it is unfortunate for these
guys. But the quarterbacks can hold out and get what they want. They
can running backs can receives usually can I guess depends, you know? I
still go back to Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell with the Steelers because at the
time that they held out and wanted more money, you could make the case,
and I think it was actually the case. I don't think it was
just somebody having to really work hard to manufacture this. This to be,
you know, believable, it was. I think it was true. Leveon
Bell and Antonio Brown were the two best players at their position at the time
all that was going on, which is why they wanted more money. But
they were in position to be the highest paid guys in the league at their
position and still didn't think it was enough money. So the Pittsburgh Steelers,
they didn't they didn't flinch. They let them hold out, you know,
they didn't pay them, and those guys, I mean Leveon Bell sat for
a year. I don't remember exactly what happened with Brown, but we all
know Bell and Brown their careers after that. Nothing I mean, Brown did
play for Was he on that Super Bowl team with Tampa. I think he
was, but he still, you know, he was like his best days
were in Pittsburgh and his his career never was the same after that. So
he ended up being a really wise choice by Pittsburgh to do that, however,
also makes me appreciate Mike Tomlin because he may be the only coach that
could kind of, you know, get the most out of those guys.
And I'm not even kidding you, like this is kind of sad. You
know what Le'Veon Bell does now to make money only fans? Are you serious?
I would have never guessed that he does porn. I mean it's independently
produced by himself. But like that that tells you like he's he's I'm not
laughing to make fun. I just never would have guessed. I mean,
you can make fun. I mean that's I mean, that's Does he have
a name? I wonder, like a separate name? I mean, no,
it's him, Like it's mean though, that's why people are signing up,
Like you know, if people do sign up, it's you know,
well, I say separate name for sometimes they have like a stage name.
Yeah, I don't know what would Le'Veon Bell's only fans stage name be.
I'm gonna google Le'Veon Bell only fans and I want it on the record.
It is on the record here. We're gonna make sure we keep this audio
because if I ever get like flagged by HR for looking up porn at work,
like it's part of the just part's content. Yeah, yeh right now
if you go to so it's just Leveon bell and he has two hundred and
forty four pieces of content. His last post was two days ago, and
yeah, I mean I can't see it because but yeah, thirty five dollars
per month and you can get I guess you know, X rated content from
free plug from from Leveon Bells. It doesn't show me how many people have
like are have paid for it. But you know he has posted a lot
of content. I can't it is you know, I gotta pay for it
to see it, which I don't want to. But two days ago he
said, who trying to join me a lot? You know? You know
you can, you can let your imagination maybe see what I mean. As
soon as you get a dose of me, I'm gonna keep you coming back.
That's what one of the pieces of content says. As far as the
title, ooh, no workout today? So I got energy for that,
he's insinuating he has the energy for oral Oh yeah, so I mean again,
like that's what a wild road we just went down talking about not even
sure what, but he's proven you can have life after the NFL, but
it doesn't work out for you. Who says the life after the NFL,
you know, can't be fun and lucrative. But I was just saying,
guys like holding out, they they usually get what they want because it just
becomes a headache. Now, maybe they don't end up where they want to
go as far as a trade destination all that kind of stuff. But Kirk
Cousins, if he wanted out, he could get out of Atlanta. But
I'm not sure, you know, to me, he seems like somebody that
would you know, would probably handle it maturely. And and you know he's
not gonna, I mean, he's not gonna not be the starter like he's
their guy. And and to be fair, like, I think the you
know, knowing that they're taking the quarterback with the eighth pick after they just
signed you, it would make you, you know, raise your eyebrown and
think like, what are you guys doing? But if you know, I
think you could trust the Falcons if they told you this has nothing to do
with what we think of you, and we are we don't have any plans
for you to not be our guy for you know, the foreseeable future,
and then you go out there and play, and if you get results then
then then you know, heck, maybe if he kills it in Atlanta,
maybe they trade Pinnix or something because they realize, you know, they've got
a guy that can still play it a high cause. Again, I think
quarterbacks, you know, especially guys like Cousins, I mean, maybe you
just kind of lose your edge, right, your arm is not as strong
as it once was. But I just think old age, you know it.
I mean, look at look at Joe Flacco. I mean, he
came back last year for the Browns. He was phenomenal in that role.
You know, he wasn't like the best quarterback in the NFL. But like
you know, I just I think physical ability is going to be there when
these guys get older. It's just about, you know, no team's going
to want to make you the franchise quarterback when you're forty five. But if
you're already the franchise quarterback and you're playing well, and you're getting up there
in age and you can keep performing, I think they will keep you around,
all right. So real quick, before we get to this next break
I wanted to mention this, so David Tepper, he is the owner of
the of the Carolina Panthers, and he's believed to be, you know,
a real a hole and he's shown that. I mean, this is a
guy who last season was fined three hundred thousand dollars by the NFL because when
he was in his his suite at a home game I'm sorry it was.
It was in the Jacksonville Stadium at Jacksonville, so the Jaguars Panthers game.
He was in the you know, the suite that I guess the opposing owners
get when they travel, very nice. Obviously, there were fans below him,
below the suite that knew he was up there, and I guess they
were heckling him or whatever. And I don't even know if it was a
fan of Jacksonville fan of Carolina, but he threw his drink on that fan.
As the owner of the of a team like that is unbelievably unbelievable behavior
from somebody who owns an NFL team. So that to me showed this guy
was really thin skinned. Well check this out. This is something that like,
I'm surprised it's not become a bigger story. Like again, I don't
know what you know, I don't know what people will do about it.
But David Tepper when he was either he drove by it or he saw it.
There was a restaurant in Charlotte that had a sign up outside yesterday leading
up to the draft that said, let the coach and GM make the draft
picks this year. It just said that, like, you know, instead
of happy Hour four to six or you know wings, you know, fifty
nine cents, they just said, let the coach and GM make the picks
this year, you know, kind of having some fun because the Panthers don't
feel like they've drafted well in recent years meeting their fans, and Temper is
one of those guys that gets in the way of the football people that he
hires and pays a lot of money to handle the football stuff. So this
a hole showed up to the restaurant who put the sign up and walked in
and they ended up shaking hands as they left. But he showed up,
walked in, you know, like the hostess standing there where like they've got
like the where they write your name down. Yeah, there's a host there.
And then I guess the guy to the right of him is the owner.
He's wearing Carolina Panthers hat and Tepper walks in and takes the hat off
of the guy and you can't hear what's being said, and the owner is
kind of like, you know, like lifting his like raising his hand.
Actually I don't know if it may not be the owner, but it's somebody
who works there. But he takes the hat off of his head, sets
it down, and you know, I guess it's just giving the guy a
hard time for what has been said. A lot of a lot of layers
here. One what a loser? Like are you that thin skinned? Like
that's you're the owner of the team, and that level of criticism, which
again is kind of in fun. It's not even I mean, I guess
it is about you, but like it it's nobody. It didn't say fire
David Tepper, which again you can't he owns the team, but he showed
up, pulled his hat off his head, and initially is you know,
being you know, in alpha, pretty aggressive, you know, probably just
trying to intimidate this guy because you know, David Tepper, the owner of
the Carolina Panthers, just walked into his bar. But what a loser.
I mean in another thing, I feel like taking somebody's hat off there,
taking another man's hat off his head when you approach him to address something you're
unhappy with, you can get punched in the face. You're crossing the line
that, yeah, taking another man's hat off his head, Like I kind
of you know, I've been watching a lot of tiktoks where you know,
like cop stuff. Have you ever seen like the the you know, people
getting arrested and you know, like they love to like just antagonize police officers
thinking that they know like what line they can it can't cross, and then
they do something to where like you know, nope, yeah that's it.
You're now you're getting arrested. Like they just love to do it, and
they video everything. Oh wan's your badge number? Or like just you know
the people who are you know, just the worst and anytime like you make
contact like that, like it's I mean technically if I've got my phone out
and i'm and I'm filming you John because I'm you know, you're you're doing
something you shouldn't be doing, and you like grab my phone from me.
Like people get arrested for that and they call it some level of assault.
I know nothing about you know, charges or anything like that, but like
if the dude knocked him out after he took his hat off his head,
Like I'm curious, would he be facing charges or would it be seen as
like you're defending yourself because the man took his took your hat off your head.
All right, don't go anywhere, keep it locked right here. Coffee
and Company Filbeth Thornon's on Sports Talk seven to ninety. We're about halfway to,
you know, getting out here for the weekend. Halfway through. Maybe
your weekend's already started. If so, cheers, maybe happy hour has started
for you. Fridays have turned into the most low key day of the week
for us, and I really like that, which is, you know,
I guess it's a good thing, but it's just so unusual. Every Friday,
for you know, the majority of my adult life, I have you
know, not every time I've done the same thing, but it's usually Okay,
it's Friday, so let's go get dinner somewhere, let's connect with some
friends. Even when we had kids, we'd go meet up with other friends
who have kids and just do something. And I'd say, in the last
few months. More often than not, on a Friday, John, I
get home from work, my wife and the kids are already there, you
know, they're and they used to be waiting for me to like go somewhere,
and now we just kind of hang out at the house and it's kind
of awesome. Awesome. Well, I mean you're just saying that to be
nice. I mean, that's what I'm gonna do tonight. I'm I'm a
loser though, what I'm a loser for somebody my age? What would you
say that if I had friends, Like I'm more than if I had friends
ask me to do something, I'm more than likely to say no, especially
last minute, and to go out and do something on a Friday night.
If I have something planned, it's a different story. But if you need
you need something planned right, like you're not like you're not the guy that's
like you know, like if you don't know ahead of time, you don't
want to be hit. You know, if if somebody asks you to do
something with like you know, an hour or two hours notice, like you
don't feel bad about saying no because they just told you, right, yeah,
not at all. Yeah, So we you know, when we don't
have plans. We usually just like, you know, okay, let's go
let's go to elm Apauling at dinner, Let's go to roosters. Uh,
you know, let's you know, let's go somewhere and just be out of
the house. And you know, now we kind of stay at home and
I kind of like it. We save money. You can start having fires
in your backyard, so I did last night. Yeah, I think,
Uh, we don't have a fire pit, but we do have a backyard
we don't utilize. We've got a nice back porch, you know, with
you know, TV, and it's covered, and we have a big enough
backyard for the kids to run around and you know, do anything they want.
We got a trampoline. Uh. So yeah, I it's a good
thing. But it's just different for me. Like I feel a little underwhelmed
knowing I don't have anything in the works tonight. But I shouldn't feel that
way, right, I Mean, my day was made earlier whenever I had
the first field trip experiences as a parent. I talked about at the beginning
of the show. I went to the zoo with my my daughter Maya and
her classmates, and it was I mean that my weekend. I mean,
my weekend is only going to go down from there because that was that was
a heck heck of an experience. So tomorrow full day getting like this is,
this is me getting older, John right in front of your eyes.
Fridays are now kind of nothing. I mean not to say I want to
enjoy being home with my family, but like we don't do anything, we
know, any plans. We just kind of low key. I'll watch the
draft at home and probably you know, go back and forth and troll Kentucky
fans on Twitter. I mean that's probably going to be the evening and then
tomorrow full day of baseball. Maya's got her game at the Miracle League Moose,
He's got team pictures, so that's another day at the ballpark that'll be
later. So you know, that's that's life now. Sunday, you know,
we usually end up going to watch my nephew play in his game.
So I'm just an all around family man, which you know, nothing better
than that, right, you're in your mid thirties, got too just the
way to do it. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's others that
are listening that are older, maybe my age, maybe younger They're like,
man, this guy sounds boring as hell. I'm gonna make sure it never
get married and have kids because that life is not fun. And it is
fun, I promise you. All right, let's go to the text line.
Five O two six five three zero seven ninety is the number if you
want to shoot us a text again. It's the llen N Federal Credit Union
text line. This text says, Nick, do you worry about the amount
of transfers that come in it? I think what you're trying to say is
is it like will they work to will they work well together? I mean,
that's that's the risk. And then the same person ended up texting a
little bit later on in the show about like nil stuff, and I think
what you're I think what you're putting together here in the text line that I'm
trying to interpret without reading the whole thing. You know, is there a
worry that all these guys from all these different places that have never played together
will will it all work? Will they gell? Is there gonna be chemistry?
And I think another part of that question was about, like nil,
are people going to get jealous over somebody making more money than the other?
I mean those are all legitimate questions that you just there's no way to know
until until you know, right, guys that come from the portal, and
then this may just this may sound like me doing some mental gymnastics on my
end, kind of like Kentucky fans are doing about players who just you know,
And again doesn't mean anything's wrong with Kentucky, but they will they just
cannot accept that somebody just didn't want to come there. They didn't want to
go to Kentucky play for Mark Pope. Like it happens, it's normal.
What you guys had with Caliperry for fifteen years was not normal. But anyways,
this could be a reach here, but I'm just gonna I'm just gonna
share it. And if you think it's a reach and you want to clown
me and call me cardboy, that's fine. His cardboy was gone for a
while. He's back now. I mean, John, you can feel it
too, right, I can definitely feel it. Am I ready to see
the full yeah evolution. I mean you saw it with Brahm, but now
with basketball. I mean it's it's it's about to be back. For those
who don't know, I mean they were for a couple of years when I
was on in the mornings, you know Kentucky fans that would call in or
text in that you just want to do, you know, call me a
homer. They just what I did was I made a mistake. I read
one text where somebody called me cardboy, and that was just an invitation for
everybody to call me cardboy. So you know, you live and you learn.
And now I've just mentioned it again, but I'm fine with it.
I'll wear it for Pat Kelsey if that's what he wants. But bringing in
three to four veterans in the portal that are joining a nucleus that's already together
with returning players and a couple of freshmen that can work. But I think
that actually may in fact be a little bit of a different process. The
fact that everybody's new. You know, nobody's going to I mean, I
don't feel like there's going to be a sense of entitlement from any of these
guys, right, I mean, certainly some players are better than the others,
and certainly there's going to be a couple guys. Who knows, maybe
there's ends up being a big time edition that quite literally is the best player
on this team and it's not even a debate. We don't know, but
I think it being completely brand new with a brand new coach that none of
these guys have played for. Some would say, well, that's just there's
no way that could work early on because it's a working Why not. I
mean, I actually think there's not a whole I mean there's there being an
adjustment for everybody involved. Making the same level of adjustment. I think actually
gives it a better chance to work out than when you have three to four
guys that are joining something that's already in place. Everybody's having to adapt.
It's a collective thing here. Doesn't mean that. I mean, I'm not
saying I'm not spinning it as that's a positive, but I'm just saying like
that, you don't have to worry about, you know, because there is
guy for example, I'll give you a name. There's a guy who transferred
in that you know, he was a I don't know if it as a
person, but you know, he didn't really he didn't fit and he didn't
he couldn't really adjust to what was going on at Louisville. And that was
Tony Hicks. If you remember that name, transfer from Penn was I believe
on Rick Patino's last team, uh here, maybe second to last team.
And he was a fine player at Penn and occasionally he got in did some
things, but like he he went from being the man at Penn and he'd
all have been, you know, kind of dismissed from Penn to where he
came to Louisville. And you know, it's Rip Patino different than whoever you
play for Penn and Donovan Mitchell's there and Dgadel and Race Baulding and I mean
it was a different world and he just didn't you know, that's an adjustment
period all these I mean, everybody's adjusting now. And as far as the
NIL stuff, I mean, that is something that I think will always be
there and you just have to manage it, right. It's not I mean,
you can do everything, you know you can. There are folks that
are working for the fundraising side of you know, I mean folks that left
the fundraising side of UFL Athletics to go work for the FABO two circle that
are talking to you know, people at u of L to makes you know,
arranging what makes the most sense for these guys to be paid, How
it's going to be divvied out and covering themselves from guys getting paid and leaving.
So it's a it's a you know, it's a full process here.
But the worry about guys yapping about what they're being paid, like bragging or
maybe lying to you know that you just that that's probably gonna happen. In
fact, you know a lot of those guys that left in the portal,
you know they were doing that. You know, they I don't you know,
I don't know what their intent was, but they came here, they
got n I all money, and they were creating trouble in the locker room.
They were they were trying to for whatever reason, maybe because they knew
they were on their way out, they were trying to damage the environment in
the locker room and in the camaraderie, the morale, and Jeff Bram is
not going to stand for that, which is why he essentially told them to
get out and you know, quite literally like forced them to leave. Now
they were already gona leave anyway, So it's not as if, you know,
he didn't want them on the team, but once he realized what was
going on, like they're out of here, and what these guys don't realize
is excuse me. If you're going to be pursued in the portal after you've
left the school, they're going to contact like, you know, unless the
coach feels like you've tampered. Coaches talk so like there are dudes who've burned
bridges when they leave and they'll end up elsewhere, but it's not where they
want it, not where they thought they'd be. Because you bring in a
bad apple and he gets it. You know, he has influence, meaning
he's a player that you know, players you know kind of gravitate towards.
But if he's a bad apple, he can ruin your locker room and that
can make a team that has a lot of potential be bad. So those
are just things throughout this new world of NIL that you wait and you see
right and and when if there is something that that's that you know appears to
be funky, meaning like you know, somebody maybe being a bad apple and
trying to create drama for whatever reason, you know, lying about how much
money they're getting in NIL, and then other players hear about that and they
believe it and they get jealous. Like those are just things that are probably
gonna happen, and you know, you got to deal with it. You
got to handle it. I mean, I would hope that that Kelsey you
know, knows the players he's bringing in are high quality guys, but you
don't know. I mean, you never know until you know you're actually they're
actually here. So dates your question. I don't worry as much about that,
but not because I'm telling you that, like it won't be a bit.
It's just something you can't control until it happens, and then you got
to you gotta nip it in the bud, like like Jeff Brohm did.
But I'm curious. I wonder how, I mean, I wonder how much
like I'm weird like this, I don't want to know what anybody makes.
I don't want anybody knowing what I make, Like you know, I just
have always It's been my nature to finances in every aspect. I just just
I think that should be private from everybody, meaning like I you know,
I don't want my mom knowing my finances. It's not because I'm hiding something
from her, and really it's not her business and I think she knows that.
And I don't know why I'm bringing up my mom. But like that's
somebody who's close to me that knows probably everything about me more than anybody else
in the world. But like, I've just always felt like, like salary
expenses. I mean, there's certain things you can find out if you look
hard enough, because you know, the Internet, but I've just always been
very private about that, and I've learned that, like some are just like
me, but others are the opposite. Like I'll be having dinner with friends
and you know, acquaintances, and they'll just start yapping about their salary.
And sometimes I think it's probably exaggerated to brag. And sometimes I'm like,
damn, why would you tell people that, Like, you know, I
just but it's just it's probably it's just a difference in personalities, Like I've
I've worked with people here who and what we do for the most part,
like it ranges as far as how much you know, how much money you
make and all that kind of stuff. We're all on contracts and how we
make money and how we actually you know, are able to do well for
ourselves depends upon which companies want to work with us. But you know,
you never really know, like unless you're somebody that works internally and you know,
puts that stuff together as far as endorsement piece and all that. But
like nine out of ten people I've worked with here, it's just a known
thing. Like it doesn't come up because what happens. And I actually think
this is this is probably what would happen. Like if I knew, you
know, what a guy down the hall and I'm not talking about Terry Minors
because obviously you know he's he's a legend, but just if I knew,
you know, sports radio Derek was you know, on it on mid days
and he was making twice as much as I was making. First of all,
I'd be pissed, right, but it would also consume me, like
it would it would? It would? It would? It would? It
would take it? Would it would make me? Maybe it would. It
wouldn't be good for me. I don't want to know, because you know,
first of all, I probably can't control it, and also it would
it would mess with me. So I've always just kept stuff private. I
feel like if you are a player, I guess it just depends on your
personality. But like I would assume a lot of these guys aren't super public
about what money they're making. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe maybe I'm the
one who's in the minority and everybody talks about that kind of stuff. What
do you think, John, you think in the Indiana locker room those players
are public about what money they're making. That's a good question because I mean
they're kids. I mean, they may not really think much about trying not
to be abrasive and braggy about it. So that's a tough question. Yeah,
I just I mean even if you had them sign like an NDA to
where they were not allowed to be public, like they were not allowed to
disclose it, which those things exist in you know, professional life. But
you know, they're college athletes, like they'll probably they're gonna talk, you
know what I mean actually like roommates. I bet they known each other,
ye think. So that hasn't been something I've thought about a whole lot because
this is still relatively brand new, to be honest with you, meaning players
being able to get paid and all that, but like how it all works
right, how it comes together, how the money is dispersed and all that.
Like, I mean, I've never once thought about, like, do
you think they all know what they make? I would imagine that they probably
have. I mean, they've probably heard something, but they're probably not showing
like their deposits, right, Like I wouldn't think so are you do you
do you think people are more my side of that or more the other way.
As far as just finances salary expenses, like I worth, like,
I just think that's always something that it should be private. The unwritten rule
of when you're asking any man in question is don't ask their salary. Yeah,
I mean, I just think it's and that's not to say because you're
arist of what you make. It's just because like it's just you know,
I don't think that's anybody's business. Yeah, And it's something that I actually
think people will judge you on, which you know, maybe I don't know.
There are certain jobs like that are public government jobs, like you can
look it up and all that, but I think even that shouldn't be allowed.
But I guess if it's you know, taxpayer money that's going towards it,
then I guess it makes a little more sense. But anyways, as
I just said, it's still brand news. So there may be some things
that arise from the Anile world in a year or two or maybe in a
few months that like we never would have thought of him. Were like,
oh yeah, I could see where that that could be a problem paying these
college athletes. I mean, it's it's that it's just a different world than
what we were used to. All right, quick break, we'll come back
on the other side. Wrap up the four o'clock hour right here on Sports
Talk seven ninety. All right, so Mark Pope landed a player. John
did you see this? I didn't. Who do we got here, Lamont
Butler? You ever heard of him? I don't think so. San Diego
State. So he has committed to Tucky. He looks like is he a
cute little three star? He is ranked as the seventy third best player in
the portal, behind him Maury Williams. And he was a four year guyt
San Diego State average nine points a game last year and was played twenty six
minutes per game for the San Diego State team that played in the National Championship
against Yukon. So a veteran guy, probably a good depth guy. I
mean, maybe he ends up being your starter. I mean again, I
know he played for San Diego State whenever they went all the way to the
championship. But you know, San Diego State's in the Mountain West. Kentucky's
a different level. He never averaged double figures in his time. But you
know that's in all seriousness, and I mean this, this is the kind
of guy you need, like just because if he's your third guard, like
that's a good place to be in because he's good means good enough. Now
he's like your main guy, I think you'd be in trouble. But I
don't think he'll be Kentucky's main guy. I would imagine they'll have, you
know, other players that would have I guess more of a prominent role.
But uh yeah, Lamont Butler, a six to two combo guard, has
committed to I was about to say John Keller Perry committed to Bark Pope and
Kentucky. And for those that didn't get you know John John's reference to the
you know, cute little three stars because you know they're and this is something
you should do as a fan, like you should be excited when you get
a player. You should, you know, I mean that's what fans do,
right, Like, there's no scenario where you should you know. I
mean, I guess if like your roster's filled with dudes who you like,
No aren't good then you know that's not ideal. But honestly, it's your
it would be your coach's fault, not these players fault, right, it's
I mean, he's the guy who would won them. But you know the
reaction when they would land you know, five McDonald's all Americans. You know,
there was a level of like excitement that was you know, justified.
The same level of and I think is there with some of these guys.
And again, like what are you gonna do like not be excited? Like
and you need players like this is a good sign. They landed one,
they needed one. They now have two guys that you know, have some
experience. The other two that are in the fold. One is a transfer
from Byu who's never played, and then obviously Travis Perry who's a true freshman.
So you know it, this was a good pickup for Mark Pope in
every aspect. But seeing them celebrate getting players that for fourteen years they would
mock Louisville and other fan bases for celebrating these players, it's just it's just
so different, you know what I mean, It's just different. But you
know it'll be an adjustment. And again they needed this, like they needed
another guy just to give them a little bit more of a foundation to kind
of build with. And I think the ideal for a lot of coaches here
is you know, and again I say a lot, not many are doing
what Louis's doing here. I would say Louisville, Kentucky, or I mean
Louis l Kentucky. Louis Kentucky, Arkansas and and USC actually think is the
other example of a team that kind of was starting completely over. And I
think USC and Eric Musselman have done a pretty good job. I think he's
added quite a few transfers, and I know he brought at least one or
two freshmen that he had signed with him at Arkansas. So it's rare to
have this many open spots that you got to go fill. So I think
the idea in this spot would be let's go, let's go lock in starters
and then try to build depth. But once you have to start adding guys
who quite clearly can see that you are that second tier, that second wave
because they've already kind of got the core together, that's where it becomes more
difficult to land, you know, players, because a lot of players don't
want that. And I would imagine Lamont Butler probably feels confident enough that he
could have a big role there. But also, you know, I wouldn't
be shocked if they go get players that are just better than him to where
he's still gonna play. But maybe he's not, you know, maybe he's
your sixth man or seventh man or something like that. But again, the
kind of player he is, I think is the guy that oftentimes in this
situation I would assume would be harder to get. But he's committed to Kentucky.
Lamont Butler six to senior combo guard from San Diego State. All right,
let's take top of the hour break. We'll come back one more hour
to go finish strong. Five o'clock on a Friday. Let's party