It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now here's Nick coffee. All right, let's get it started. Hour
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you'll be good to go. So I mentioned having a good trip and I'm
not gonna get back into it because i don't know if you care, But
without really trying, I ended up being away from my phone more than I
usually am, in fact a lot more than I usually am. And you
know, I'm always scrolling Instagram, Twitter, not as much Facebook, but
you know, sometimes I'll get lost on Facebook every now and then seeing something
and it just is like a routine for me if if I'm sitting down at
home and you know, there's commercial break on TV, or if I don't
know. I mean, like I'm not the only one, but I feel
like I'm probably worse than I'm not the worst, but I'm sure I'm someone
that gets preoccupied by my phone and the apps that are on it more often
than the average person. So once I'd realized without even really attempting to just
be away from my phone, I mean, I'm like, I haven't checked.
I haven't checked anything in like five hours. This is kind of awesome.
Like I wanted to keep it going. I wanted to keep the streak
alive to see how long I could go. And now I'm sure it'll fade
soon. But even since we got back in town yesterday and today, like
I just haven't been as as you know, consumed by it. It feels
good, doesn't it great? And I don't know, I can't really describe
why it feels great, but it feels great. And I think more than
anything, the payoff is that when you do it long enough, because I
rarely am ever not checking it here and there. I mean, it's very
put it this way, and this is probably not a good thing for me
to admit, but it's just the truth. There's probably not many days where
I go while awake, you know, and up where I go forty five
minutes without looking at Twitter or you know, what's going on on the internet.
And I think I've always told myself, well, I need to be
keeping up with what's going on because every day I got three hours, I
got a fill and I need to know what's I need to know what's going
on. But I think not and I didn't need to do that because I
was on vacation, But I think the payoff is knowing, yeah, you
don't really need to be checking this all the time. And I'm now that
I'm not on vacation. I am, but I feel like I could not
be on Twitter for four hours. And if something's bigger enough deal, like
big story breaking, I'll find out another way somebody. It'll be a text
message, it'll be something like I'll find out. But if I just set
aside time like hey, Because to be honest with you, Twitter, It's
biggest value for me is prepping for this show. I mean, that is
how I see the news cycle and the re I mean, and it's not
sometimes it's not even about like I don't get my opinions from Twitter, but
you can see what people are, you know, discussing among themselves as as
sports fans. But oftentimes I'll see things that really don't have anything to do
with anything local that I you know, I think, hey, that could
be something interesting, interesting to talk about. So I'm going to try to
not be unplugged, but just not be as consumed by the phone because I
think I've kind of and I've always deep down known that my life's not going
to end. It's not the end of the world if I if I just
take a big long break from social media stuff. But you know, now
that I've seen, hey, I don't really need to be doing that,
like it'll it'll give me more, I guess trust in myself, you know,
put the phone down, leave it away. I've gone back and forth
with myself more often than I care to admit about completely eliminating social media from
my phone. Keeping like still being logged in on desktops for whatever. You
know, I'm here at work that kind of stuff, because you do need
Twitter, I think for sports radio and that kind of stuff, no doubt.
But I feel like I am such a happier human being. When I'm
not looking at Twitter, Instagram face, I can totally get it, and
I don't. I don't think I use it as much as you do.
Oh, I'm sure you don't. At the same time, when I find
myself I even get upset when my wife is scrolling for thirty minutes on TikTok,
I'm like, can we just do something else? Yeah? Now I
feel bad because I'm I'm your wife, because i'm and I'm sure my wife.
I mean, if she really needs me and I'm deeping my phone,
she'll just throw something at me, might hit me and think. I think.
The thing I hate most about it is I'll be trying to say something
to her and she just won't respond because she's that consumed by which she's looking
at on her phone. Yeah, and that's rude. I mean, So
I hate to call your wife rude, but I you know, I do
that, and it's rude. So and it's just like there's no scenario that
can be good for you, you know what I mean. No, Like
I can't claim it's going to ruin your life and it's going to cause this
big negative impact in this way or that way. But just being locked in
front of your phone looking at it as much as I do, it's not
good for me and mentally or even in other ways. But also I just
I used to lie to myself and act as if like, well, I
need to I've got look, I've got to stay up, you know,
I've always got to be on, because that's one of the biggest misconceptions about
this. I don't want to act like this is really tough, you know,
manual labor. This is honestly a dream job for me that still times
doesn't seem real. But you do kind of always have to be on and
thinking about things you can bring to the table for conversation that you might find
people can relate to, they would have opinions on, or maybe think that
they would find entertaining. That's just kind of what this is, and I've
always used that crush That's why I'm doing it, when in reality I can
still find all these things to bring to the table each and every day,
at least I hope I can without being glued to my phone like I have
been. So that was one of the many, many reasons why I felt
like my recent trip that I took was really very beneficial and I needed a
trip like that, And now the batteries are recharged and I have no trips
planned for at least a few weeks. We are going to go to Destin
next month, which look forward to that and I'm hoping fingers crossed, although
highly unlikely, it'd be great to work something out to end up in the
Bahamas with Pat Kelsey and his team. Because this news, I guess leaked
out a couple of weeks ago, but it became official last week as UFL
did confirm that they are taking an international trip. They're going to be going
to the Bahamas at the end of July, said July twenty eighth. This's
is Sunday. That's when they're going to arrive in Nassau. They're going to
be staying at the basort and that is where these two games are gonna be
played. So they're gonna play two times. That'll be on Tuesday and on
Thursday. They don't know the exact time of those games, and they don't
know who they're going to be playing, but they will have ten days of
practice as they prepare for that trip, so they get added days to practice,
which is so beneficial. It's I mean it'd be foolish not to take
this trip or to do something, because with a brand new team, you
need all the reps you can get, and this gives them that they're not
only going to have an added ten days of practice they wouldn't get unless they
were taking one of these trips, They're also going to get to play a
couple of games. And I'm not sure what's really going to come from those
games. I'm not sure they're going to play. I mean, they could
be in that they could end up playing teams that are a little similar to
the teams Louisville played when they went to Puerto Rico and was it the Bahama
They go to the Bahamas in the summer one time. All I know is
at one point Russ Smith, I think, was entering his sophomore year and
he was very, very surprised to see that the bell hop that greeted them
at the resort was also having to guard him in the game the next day.
Because you know, there's a few guys that probably played professionally in the
Bahamas, whatever level that is, and then there's guys who you know,
they played in high school and now they're here playing against you know, high
level college basketball players. So even if it is that type of competition,
I don't care. This will be one great for the team to get not
only the camaraderie and the reps a chance to gel, but also to build
chemistry off the floor. I'm sure they're already doing that. They've been at
full go for the last When I say full go, I mean everybody's been
here for at least the last couple of weeks, So I'm sure they're already
doing that. But getting added time is even more beneficial for him. Now.
From a fans perspective, which I am, I just want to see
this team right, like I want to go because it be cool for the
show. It would certainly be awesome experience to be there for four or five
days or whatever it may be. Those are the kind of trips that if
you can make it work, you will absolutely and I don't even mean media,
I mean fans. You're gonna get access nobody else gonna get. And
I don't mean you're gonna be hanging out with the team at the pool every
day, but like, there ain't gonna be that many people there, and
those that do go, I'm sure U of L is gonna make it quite
clear they appreciate them following and supporting them. And it's the look, it's
the first, it's the first thing. I mean, I don't know if
ten years from now, if Pat Kelsey's carved out a great decade or so
at Louisville, we're going to look back to this trip, but this is
your first chance to see him coach this team. And I could be wrong,
but you may have to be there in person. I could easily reach
out and ask the U OFL Basketball media contact Dana Brown, and she may
probably give me, you know, the answer that she's supposed to give me,
and tell me that, you know, to be determined. But the
fact that they did even include that in the press release makes me feel as
if there may not be any plans to have this thing on TV. So
if you want to go, I'm sorry. If you want to see them,
I feel like you're gonna kind of need to be there now. I'm
sure you've el's gonna have highlights, and who knows, maybe they have the
ability to put it up online on a tape, or maybe they can stream
it and have people pay for it. But that's not as easy as it
used to be because of the new grain of rights deals that are in place.
I don't mean new like they were just signed. But the current arrangement
with the ACC is not the way it used to be back in you know,
pre ACC for Louisville. I mean, Louisville does not own their games
the ACC. The ACC Network via ESPN does so I doubt I'll be able
to make it happen, but who knows, maybe I can pull off some
magic. Just for reference, when Indiana went to the Bahamas in the summer
a couple of years ago from Mike Woodson's first season, those games were not
allowed to be broadcast. Yeah, because I think it's the option of it's
the option of the Big ten network probably yeah, to do that. And
I just you know, when you get here's the thing, when you get
to late July, when this trip's taking place, all focuses on football.
I just can't imagine the ACC network having the resources to logistically make that happen
in to where they're going to go there. And I mean, I guess
what they could do like this to me, here's the scenario that you can
watch it online. U of L has their in house production crew, meaning
the people who work at the ACC Network studios here at u of L.
You see it right there on sixty five. You know, you got to
keep in mind a lot of Louisville Athletics events are not on ESPN or the
ACC Network. They're on ESPN Plus, and a lot of the production for
that is done in house internally by people who work for U of L.
Jeremy No runs that department over there. Maybe they could send some of their
own team there to do that. However, you're relying on resources that you
don't I mean, I wouldn't imagine that's as easy to do in the Bahamas
as it is if you're walking down the street at the Yump Center, you
know what I mean. So there's a chance that could happen, because technically,
if it's on ACC, because that's what they do when it's on ESPN
Plus, I mean, that's essentially what it is. But it's also on
what they call ACC Network Extra, that is what they call the sh So
it could end up there. And I don't think that would be the most
difficult thing to pull off in the world from a production standpoint, but I
just you know, if I had to guess, I would say they won't
be live, and they probably won't have the full game broadcast anywhere. But
again, what do I know. Maybe maybe I'm way off, Maybe they
got something planned, and if they do, that'd be awesome. But two
trips to the Bahamas, they're gonna be there next month, and then they're
gonna be back at the end of November for the Battle for Atlantis. So
I knew we'd be talking a lot of basketball during this time, just because
you know, we usually talk basketball for the most part year round. I
mean, obviously it's a lot more of it's it's much more of a talking
point when you get to basketball season. But man, there just seems to
be some really really good vibes surrounding Louisville basketball. And part of it is
just because we know we are over what happened for the last two years.
But it's just, you know, I kind of do a little bit of
a mental roller coaster in my head whenever I think about it, because every
now and then it still hits me that it's weird to be this excited.
But then I'm thinking, like, well, you know, it's because we
care so much, But you're like, well, yeah, this is like
baseline stuff. Well, it's because I mean when you go through what louisvill
basketball fans went through the last few years, not even just Kenny's two seasons,
but the year before that, and even the COVID year, which was
weird where you were the first team left out of the tournament. You know,
nobody wants I mean, I hope we never experienced a four year run
like that ever around here. But when you do the littlest things that give
you excitement when you haven't had legitimate excitement in so long, like it can
it can kind of lose control a little bit. Like find up getting to
watch this team in the Bahamas and they beat you know, the bell Hop
and the Bartenders by fifty. I may start, you know, making reservations
for the Final four, and it would be an overreaction, but it'd be
you know, I'm probably gonna overreact because we haven't had any taste of legitimate
success, and winning in the Bahamas wouldn't be considered like a big accomplishment.
But man, it's just so excited to be excited it again, If that
makes any sense at all, That's the way I feel. All right,
let's go, let's see here. Well, let's go to the text line
five two six five three zero seven nineties the number if you want a text
in on the L and N Federal Credit Union text line. This text says,
Nick, I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't sad to
see one of these Athletic Department goals you referenced is only set to sell ninety
percent of tickets to at least one home basketball game. So yeah, let
me pull that up. And I'm glad you mentioned that, because I don't
know if I would have remembered to get back there. However, the EULA
board last week, there were a lot of takeaways. Big props to Eric
Crawford and Tyler Greevery, who I thought did a good job covering that meeting.
They also talked to Josh Hurd after it wrapped up, and we did
kind of run through some of the some of the numbers that stood out from
the meeting, you know, the unexpected expenses they had, obviously Pat Kelsey's
buyout, Papa John getting two million in his last payout for the settlement for
the naming right. Stuff, just different things that may not interest a lot
of people, but their upcoming revenue goals. I think that's what you're referring
to on the text line that made you sad? You said, I'd be
lying if I said it wasn't sad to see that, only that one of
the athletic department goals you mentioned is to sell ninety percent of tickets to at
least one home basketball game. So I did look at that a little sideways
because to me, that's that that's odd. But yeah, one of the
goals is one men's basketball game at ninety percent capacity, and they have in
parentheses that it's the Tennessee game. So I mean ninety percent capacity, ninety
percent of twenty two thousand. I mean, am I crazy for thinking they'll
have many more than one game where they're I mean, look, I know
Louisville's been bad lately, trust me, I know. And the one thing
that really made it fully hit me that we were in that position was seeing
how empty the um Center was. I mean, look, I'm reminded.
I mean, I I mean, I had to talk about it every day
for two years, like I was well aware, but the visual of the
Young Center being a ghost town really just it it hit me differently than anything
else. And there were countless things that really put in perspective how bad Louisville
was. So like, I know, it could be a gradual thing here
to where it takes time to get to get people back to being accustomed to
making it to you know, two games a month or season tickets every game.
I don't know, but there's this basketball fan base cares man like and
there's a lot of us right, this is a humongous fan base I feel
like when it comes to basketball. So a part of me says, even
if like they're decent in year one, they're gonna have way bigger crowds than
what we were that I mean, look, I don't even want to bring
up like the because again that that's what kind of bothers me a little bit
about this. And I'm sure there's more that goes into it than I'll ever
know, but we can't set the bar. I mean, I guess you
can knock yourself out do what you want. Doesn't impact me as a fan,
but I just feel like it's off to set the goal for I have
one home game at ninety percent capacity based off the fact that nobody came to
games the last two years, Like from like a business standpoint emotion out of
it, Like, I guess it makes sense, But to me, I'm
thinking, let's not reference anything from that era and try to like, you
know, well, hey, Kenny Payne only won four games in his first
year. We won nine the year, Like we can't. We're not doing
that and that I mean, I'm joking. I know they would never do
that, but I don't know. Like I'm someone who has tried to have
the conversation about attendance differently than I usually hear people talk about it, because
I think you could be doing nothing wrong and you're gonna realize people just don't
go to games like they used to. It's just there's not as much of
an incentive as you were there to buy a ticket. People of the younger
generation, and I mean like young adults, people like my age, they
can't justify paying for season tickets because they know they could go to every game
they want to and pay substantially less money and not have to pay the donation
fee that comes with buying season tickets. Now, if you want to do
it because you can afford it and you want to support your university and you
know that money helps them, knock yourself out but there's a lot of people
that will go to every game, but they're not buying season tickets. And
the reality is they won't buy season tickets because they won't go to every game
because they know they're only going to go to like eight, the ones that
really feel like it's going to be great to be there, but like the
ones at nine thirty when you play cop in state, like yeah. So
I've always felt as if the attendance conversation is a really tired, played out
thing because it doesn't always mean this day and age that something's wrong or something
bad happen. Now, if you've got people showing up to basketball games like
Louisville at the last few years, that's a totally different world. But when
it comes to you know, just this new era of I mean again,
and you can't compare it to like the NFL, because that's different. I
mean, the NFL is a monster, but not even every NFL game sells
out. So I don't know, I'm kind of all over the place here,
but I was a little surprised to see that one of the revenue goals
was to have one basketball game at ninety percent capacity. I know how unrealistic
it is to expect there to be every game at eighty percent capacity or more.
But I feel like the fan base is going to be so energized by
beating bumps because we haven't even done that lately. Kenny Payne lost to more
Division two teams than he beat teams on the road, So I think that's
going to lead to people wanting to be around it, wanting to be you
know, at games. All right, some other revenue goals here. Sell
forty thousand football season tickets, that'd be a ten percent increase from last year.
Sell twelve thousand men's basketball season tickets that would be a thirty percent increase
from a year ago. Sell one home football game. That may sound like
a low bar, but let's be honest. You know, Louisville last year
they sold out two games, and they had not had a sell out prior
to that since I mean, they hadn't sold out that stadium before it had
expanded. So it was the first ever sellout with the new expansion, which
really didn't even that new anymore. Now. Obviously the pandemic changed things and
Louisville wasn't as good for the center for the era, but I think they
could do it. I don't know which game it would be, but one
home football game selling out. I think they can get to that goal,
and then some other things here to throw in. The department will use one
point seven million in reserve funds to meet budget, and University will provide three
million dollars in support to the athletic department, so that I know some people
see that and think, like, hey, the school itself shouldn't be paying
the athletic department's bills because you know, somebody was in charge of the athletic
department. It gave Kenny paying an insane contract, which is true. But
it's very common for the give and the take. Schools borrow money from the
athletic department, and the athletic departments borrow money from schools. Happens all the
time. So that's not like, that's not a sign of desperation, you're
broke. It's actually fairly common. To be honest with you, I'll tell
you what's not fairly common. Nevermind, Sorry, John, you ruined it.
I did ruin it. I had a good one, but now we'll
have to wait. Poor timing on mind, It's all good. Hey,
you're just trying to keep this thing on track because of my poor clock management.
You're doing your jobs, what you're doing. I should have been a
little less, you know long. I shouldn't have been as long winded doing
that, you know, talking in circles about the one basketball game at ninety
percent capacity. So it's on me. I'll do better. Don't go anywhere,
keep a lock right here on Sports Talk seven ninety So I ended up
cashing out my the amount of I had a couple hundred bucks or so in
my in my DraftKings account, and I ended up I don't know why,
I guess just to you know, in case. I thought I was going
to bet on something, but it was like two thirteen something and I just
took I just took the two hundred out and put it in my VENMO.
So I've got like thirteen bucks in my account, and I'm thinking about doing
a parlay, just you know, why not Because we've got a couple of
big games tonight. I can't act like I've got any rooting interest or that
I'm going to be plugged in to watch. But we do have game seven
tonight in the NHL for the for the Cup Stanley Cup. It's minus one
and a half the Florida Panthers and obviously this this I feel like this series,
this Stanley Cup Finals has gotten more attention than most in recent years because
of the you know, I mean, it looked like it was going to
be over pretty quick. And then now we have Game seven, right,
you had the Edmonton Oilers, they were down three to zero, and now
it's tied at three apiece. So it you know, as I just mentioned
there they are, they're underdogs, but I kind of want to I kind
of want to take them. I mean because all the all the pressures on
the Panthers, I mean, and obviously you know, they're believed to be
the better team. They are gonna be home, but I don't know,
we'll see what kind of juice that could get here. Edmondton plus one and
a half. And then John helped me out. You think in Tennessee or
Texas A and M. And I don't care who you pick, because I'm
telling you I don't. I'm thinking ut okay, because I don't want them
to win, gotcha? All right? So a let's see, there we
go a thirteen dollars parlay on Edmonton plus one and a half, Tennessee minus
one and a half. That'll pay me out about thirty bucks. So I'm
gonna. I'm gonna do it. Why not. I mean, it won't
have me locked in watching, but it'll at least be keeping up on the
app to see how my BET's doing. And uh and we'll go from there.
So you're anti ut huh yeah, UT fans. I've interacted with a
few, and it was back when Indiana was playing Tennessee in the Gator Bowl.
I think that was in twenty nineteen. And they are some ruthless fans.
Oh yeah, they're I mean they're savages. I think a lot of
people think that because of how things played out with the Greg Ciano stuff,
where they essentially, you know, bullied their athletic department into not hiring him
because they were, you know, that bothered by him potentially being the coach.
But even even before then, and there's been things that you know,
they they don't. I don't know who I would compare the Tennessee fan base
to, but I actually think they're a lot like Kentucky without the success.
Now again, they're way better in football historically, but they don't compare themselves
to Kentucky and football. They compare themselves. I mean, their rival is
Alabama in the SEC outside of outside of I mean, I can think that's
it, right. I Mean, there's a really cool study that we we've
referenced before over the years that you know, maybe it needs to be redone
as far as surveying fan bases once again, but it was a really interesting
look at how many school, like, for example, Louisville fans, if
you pulled a hundred of them and you asked them to, you know,
pick the top rival, they're picking Kentucky. But who they would pick for
two and three is interesting. Well, you know, with Kentucky, they're
the biggest rival in football outside of Louisville. Was Tennessee Like Tennessee never Tennessee
doesn't consider them rival because they're so beneath them. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
And look, Kentucky has I mean they ended that long streak about ten
years ago, and they've knocked him off here and there. But still,
I mean, Tennessee historically has dominated Kentucky and they probably will moving forward.
But Tennessee is one of those fan bases that I think is as big as
is nearly any in college sports. I mean, I mean, I don't
think that's an exaggeration. And they're loud, they pack, I mean they
they They actually have a phenomenal attendance of track record for football even when they
suck, and in basketball, Like it's wild to me that they've never been
to the final four. Like I don't even even mean to the Elite eight.
I could be wrong, maybe the Elite eight. They go to the
Elite eight this year or am my studient? No, they did know they
Yeah, Dalton Connect lost to Purdue. Okay, I say Dalton Connect,
but I mean he was kind of that team. But yeah, no,
So they've never been to a final four in basketball, but they have some
tradition and they care. Like when they're good. That's a really tough place
to play, Like when Louisville goes there in year two of the Pat Kelsey
era. I want to be there because that's going to be a rowdy atmosphere
like the Tennessee fans. I don't want to claim that they're all great,
upstanding citizens and they have high character, but they're great in regards to there's
a bunch of them, and they care as much as almost anybody. But
I think the reason they don't get mentioned as much is because they don't win,
Like, when's the last time Tennessee won a national championship? And I
mean they've never again accomplished anything in basketball outside of an Elite eight the last
time. Yeah, here we go. Their baseball team won. Let's see
year. This says it's been fifteen years since Tennessee's won a national championship in
any sport, with the last being in two thousand and nine when they're women's
indoor track and field team won. So look in look not every team.
I mean, there's great programs out there from an athletic standpoint, meaning like
the overall athletic department, they don't have a bunch of national championships because those
are hard to come by. But like Tennessee, you know, in football,
I mean their last national championship with ninety eight. I think it was
in football, Yeah, their national their last title was ninety eight, but
even before then, they had won one since sixty seven. Well, I
guess you know they can they share one in eighty nine and eighty five.
I'mbout again. We're about to get Tennessee fans calling in and texting in telling
me I'm wrong about their history. Because again, they care like they're passionate,
and tonight maybe they become World Series champs in baseball. But I'm trying
to think of another another big loud Nebraska, and you probably don't interact with
them as much being you know, No, you're right, the fact that
they're in the Big Ten, not the ACC And just because of the connections
I have with people in the Big Ten, I've noticed a lot more Nebraska
fans, specifically on Twitter, so they can be nasty too, not just
like you know, yeah, I do think we're all Nebraska fans are nicer
human beings. Again, it's just people I've interacted with. But if I
were to guess which fan base had nicer human beings, I would just say
Nebraska. But both of them care about football to an extent that a lot
of other fan bases don't, and they haven't been super relevant in years.
It's just Tennessee so well. And another thing is, I Nebraska really can't
claim they care about bascoball, you know what I mean, Tennessee they do.
Yeah, they could pretend to be like, you know, Tennessee.
I feel like put it this way, and this is a compliment to Tennessee.
Any sport, if they're good at it, they're gonna be they're gonna
outnumber most fans, and they're going to be loud, and they may not
even know a whole lot about the sport, but like they're all about the
balls, you know what I'm saying. And there are some other fan bases
out there, and it's really just I guess culture. But like this isn't
a knock on Louisville fans, but Kentucky fans could probably say the same thing
about them. You guys weren't probably really following your baseball season until you got
to the postseason and you realized they were pretty good and they had a chance
to do something specially. I'm sure there are fans that follow a year,
you know, like the invertrees, Yeah, exactly. So like Nebraska,
like I don't know if they were good in basketball that they would have,
you know, any level of support compared to the what they get in football.
They were all horned up for case Tony Naga. But if he's gone,
you like saying that, don't you horned up or case Tony Naga?
Both. I've said horned up a few times. You've been you've been eager
to get that one out today, which I get it. Look it's Monday,
you know, you're you're fresh off the weekend. And I think each
time you've mentioned that it has been it's been a worthy reference given the context
of the conversation. And I don't know about oh Mitaga, but I know
they were good last year with UH. I mean that had a good year,
didn't they. Yeah, I mean they made the NCAA Tournament. I
can't remember if they won their game, but they were an eight nine seed.
It doesn't happen very often. So anyways, UH, there's my parlay.
If you guys want to want to ride. We're taking UH the underdog
in the hockey game, that's the the Oilers, and then we're taking the
favorite Tennessee the Volunteers, and UH in the College World Series matchup. So
two. I mean, rarely do you get a day. I mean I
wouldn't in NHL and college baseball are nowhere near the top three or four as
far as the national attention that we give sports here in America. But I
can't think of many other instances where we've had where championships are being decided on
the same day but that's pretty rare. It's how it played out on the
sports calendar, so so good stuff. All right, real quick, before
we get to our last break here, let's talk about the flight that Mark
Pope took earlier today. I don't want to present this as some like big
deal, meaning like this is a bad sign. Kentucky hired a guy who's
in over his head. He doesn't even realize the optics of being the head
coach of freaking Kentucky basketball and flying coach, because I just that would be
a fake take. I don't believe that I have no clue how Mark Pope's
gonna do, because you know, you don't know until you know. And
I think Kentucky fans are genuinely excited, at least right now about the drastic
difference between this coach and his brand in the last coach in that brand,
Cal Perry, very flashy, right, very very polarizing, a guy who
is not afraid to say, you know, it's Kentucky, we eat first,
will come to your town and beat you. Swaggy Cal as they called
him, and Cal will never be caught dead, flying coach. And I
think there's a part of that fan base that likes that about the guy that's
larger than life. Pope. He's a man of the people. So because
it's the honeymoon and the love fest is still going on, which it should
be. You know, I'm not mocking. I mean Louival fans doing the
same thing with their coach. Kentucky fans some of them are seeing this as
Wow, look at this guy. The humility. We wouldn't see that from
cal And you know, I get it, like I get why they're saying
that. I understand it, I really do, you know. But at
the same point in time, it is just a really odd look something you
rarely see. Take Kentucky out of it. Any coach that's in the Power
five would would probably never be on a flight flying coach in June and July
with recruiting. Some would say that maybe it's a good look on Mark Pope
for not caring. Maybe he's saving the UK Athletic Department some dollars here by
not, you know, getting on a chartered plane or using a private jet
or something like that. But I do think some of the reactions here one
it reminds me of just how intense the Arkansas Kentucky rivalry is going to be
because that storyline itself makes it crazy. But you have to consider. You
also have to consider, you know, like Cal's gonna do cal things to
get them amped up. He's gonna say things to get under their skin in
press conferences. He you know, he's not gonna play nice the whole time,
and I don't think anybody should expect him to, because you know,
it's high level sports, it's competitive. What I am curious to see is
what Pope ends up doing, Like is he going to be back and forth
with Cal, like defending Kentucky because Cal took a shot? Like I hope
we get that because that could be entertaining. But I don't really know what
to expect with Pope. I think I know what we're gonna get with Cal.
But anyways, earlier today, this is a Twitter follower or Twitter.
Somebody on Twitter said, Mark Pope is on my flight from atl to lexis
am. He's not only flying commercial, he's flying coach. He's a man
of the people, unlike Cal, who separated himself from everyone. So Jeff
Goodman shared it and said, Pope looks like he got the emergency exit.
Though that's a win. I'll take the emergency exit row or the emergency exit
window aisle over Delta Comfort Middle any day. So I don't think Jeff's making
fun of Mark Pope, but he is acknowledging that this is just unusual to
see. But anytime you see someone like Goodman, maybe Rothstein, Borsello,
one of those guys, maybe even Trilly that people who follow follow because they
provide information and analysis on college basketball. If there's something said about Cali Perry
by one of those guys, go to the You go to the responses,
and all it is is Arkansas or I'm sorry about Cali Perry. You see
nothing m Kentucky fans like making fun of Cal or taking a shot at Cal.
Not all, not all of them, but you see it. And
then anytime there's something posted about Mark Pope, check the responses. It's all
Arkansas fans just you know, calling Pope a bum. They got BYU's coach.
You know, I think somebody earlier. I'm trying to find the tweets
now, but somebody made a comment about you know, maybe maybe if he's
up for it, maybe Cal let Pope ride on his ride on his private
jet, as long as he agrees to serve drinks to everybody aboard, Like,
I mean, you know, that's that's what the rivalry kind of stuff
is. But what really got me thinking and again just seeing this, knowing
this happen and there's visual evidence that it is, that it is legit.
It's just a reminder of how different they have it now. Cal was a
larger than life, arrogant guy who really talked down to them, didn't really
relate to them, whereas Mark Pope is one of them, and there's so
many benefits to being Mark Pope, you win. I think even when Cal
would struggle, he could be that arrogant Cal and remind them of all that
he's done and they'd forget that, oh that it's been a while, right,
they'd forget they just lost to Saint Peter's or Oakland because Cal could do
that that he's arrogant, he and he has a resume. Let's be real.
I mean again, it's it's a what have you done for me lately?
World? Be living? But still Cal is a Hall of Famer,
so like he could do that and even if things weren't going great, you
could still know in the back of your mind, we don't have to question
if this guy's capable of doing it. We just have to question if he's
going to do it again with Pope. I think with the brand that he
has, the kind of you know, very normal and relatable, which again
I think is actually a quality. I think it's a good thing. It's
a bonus. But if you have that brand and that's how you carry yourself,
not high class and I don't mean like class he as a person,
but you know, flying coach, which is just an unheard of thing for
somebody in your position to do, and then you don't win. Think it's
gonna be weaponized against him because that's just how fans are. That's not a
knock on Kentucky fans. It's just that this is really chummy and cute in
getting you in your feels because he's acknowledging it. I mean, he's one
of you. But then when you realize it, like maybe he can't do
it even close to the level of the guy you just had. I think
that's where you you know, that's where Kentucky fans are going to go through
something that they haven't gone through before. In my opinion, maybe since Billy
Gillespie loisvile, fans louisvill fans went through this with Chris Mack actually, and
that was that when Mack was rolling year one, I think they exceeded expectations.
Year two obviously they were really really good and there was no tournament and
all that. But then the next year they missed the tournament and things weren't
great and didn't look as if things were going to get you know, great
anytime soon. They were really struggling with a lot of things. Then it
hits you, I can't fall back on what this guy's resume is because he's
never been to a final four. When you had Rick and Denny for what
fifty years collectively, you always knew it's not a matter off can they do
it, It's a matter of are they going to do it? With what?
In't a matter of can he do it? It is can he do
it again? So with Pope and with Kelsey too, right, like if
Kelsey, you know, like we were very spoiled as basketball fan bases around
here as far as like just knowing that, hey, it's not a matter
of did we get the right guides? Is he going to do it again?
And that error that's over all. Right, Let's talk about Elin and
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five nine eight hundred. Again, five oh two hundred is the number.
Give film Moffitt a call, he'd be happy to hear from me. Again,
it's Elin and Eland. I'm getting excited for the NBA draft. And
yes, I know I've talked a lot about the weak NBA draft that we
have here, which I mean I can't not only is it all anybody's talked
about. It's actually the biggest talking point and storyline of this draft as far
as you know how weak it is. And if you just look at who's
projected to go where, I mean, it really does put in perspective how
this is just a very flat class when it comes to names, you know
sometimes, I mean, in fact, it's pretty you see it often guys
are not expected to be great in the NBA and maybe become stars. So
maybe that ends up happening with this draft. But either way, I'm still
gonna watch because I love the draft. But I did see that, and
this is you know this, this this is not that surprising if you've watched
Kentucky basketball, because again this is you could be a casual observer and know
that Kentucky had really good shooting last year. But to see that the top
three point shooters in the NBA draft, the top three of them are Reed
Shepherd, Antonio Reeves, and Rob Dillingham, I mean, it really just
makes even more crazy to see that knowing that they underachieved, they didn't get
past Oakland, and even before that they still weren't I mean, they should
have been better with the personnel they had, and I'm curious, and I'm
sure Kentucky fans probably won't know until it gets there. But they're gonna love
Red because you know it's read. And I think they're gonna love Reeves because
of him being a good story. But I feel like this could be the
rare thing where if these guys are really successful, all of them, like,
it'll kill you because you're happy for him. But man, you're thinking,
like, why why couldn't we get past Oakland? What's that guy's name?
Doug Edward was the guy for Saint Peter's. Who was the guy for
Oakland? Who you think, Travis. Let's look like your local All State
Insurance is out there, just dropping threes from ten feet behind the line.
It seemed like, all right, we're out of time, you guys,
enjoy your night. Yes. Three