It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick Coffee. So for those who you know, know
me well enough to know my birthday when it is, or those who just
you know, remember it coming up on the show, it was let's see
ten days ago, today's at seventeenth. And the reason I'm bringing up is
not because I'm you know, shaming people who didn't tell me happy birthday,
because when you get to be thirty six, it's really just any other day
and it's you know, you don't want to be getting older. But there
are still people sending me comments on Facebook telling me happy birthday, Like how
is their Facebook thinking it's ten days ago? Like I don't know how that
could happen. Like Facebook is if it's good for anything, and it's good
for a lot of stuff, but it's also you know, it's kind of
the worst at times too, but you can keep up with people that you
would never see without Facebook. And also, like, you know, everybody's
birthday because it tells you unless you like hide it, which can you do
that? I guess you can, can't you? I feel like there's probably
an option to hide that, so I'm just curious how that happens. What
I my guess is that like your feed, people are just still and it's
usually people that aren't like old, you know, old old farts. It's
you know, people who are you know, just probably you know, not
technologically savvy with social media to like edit their timeline and all that, which
I'm not even sure if you can do that in Facebook, can you,
because I think you used. Twitter is still the only social media platform that
I'm aware of to where you can actually get a real in a real time,
you know, thread, like a feed. I think Instagram has that
option too. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it was removed maybe Yeah. If
so, I'm I would love to turn that on on Instagram because in fact,
most of what I see now on Instagram is just ads. To be
honest with you, I mean, I'll see, like I think now on
Instagram, the majority of the content that you know, the average user of
Instagram consumes is stories and the reels and just scrolling through because the real section
of Instagram is basically TikTok. Yeah, it's off brand t Yeah, I
mean it's by the way I do. That's that's just where we are.
Technologically, and I guess it's not it's not like that new, but at
one point these competitors in this space just decided any new feature you like.
For example, Facebook is the one that has taken everything that the other apps
social media platforms have like made their thing. Like Twitter was just a big
timeline thing. Well then you know Twitter, and you know, and then
you started to see Facebook kind of have a similar, similar kind of thing.
Instagram. I mean, I don't know when they added video, but
it was probably around the time that TikTok became a thing. And now Facebook
has what do they call them? They're not are they reels? Yeah?
I think it's Facebook reels as well. Yeah, and then you have YouTube
shorts, which is kind of you know, you can open up, you
know, you can click on one of the shorts in your YouTube app and
just scroll like you do on TikTok. So anyways, on Facebook, like
I'll scroll down and I just pulled it up right now. So if I'm
scrolling down here, I don't even know what like my feed says. But
I think most people just have the belief that they're seeing something in order of
it being posted. Yet here I am looking at somebody who I'm friends with,
I'm looking at a post that they posted five days ago, like,
why is that appearing on my timeline? And it's clearly because it's not set
up to be in real time. But you know, I don't know why
the Facebook algorithm thinks that that's relevant to me. So what it could be
is that, like if somebody posted a picture of me for my birthday and
they saw that, they may not look at the date. They may just
assume, oh, it's his birthday. I'm gonna tell them happy birthday.
I mean, you can tell me happy birthday. It's fine, but just
know that it it was, in fact, you know, ten days ago.
Like the other day, I saw a picture of a buddy of mine
and his wife and it was like an album from a trip that they took,
but it just showed one picture, like it didn't show me it was
an album, like I think she'd uploaded, like, you know, a
bunch of pictures from their trip, and for whatever reason, on the feed,
just one of the pictures showed up and it was him and her and
it was from like, you know, a month ago, and I liked
it, and it just I'm thinking, like she's they're thinking, I mean,
I'm stalking and creeping that I'm going through something they posted a month ago
and finding one of the forty pictures and liking that one randomly. It's like,
I didn't do that, it was just it appeared there. It's a
good picture, and I love you guys, so I'm gonna like it.
But they probably think I'm just spending my day scrolling through all their pictures,
which that is, like that's next level creepy, right, yeah, like
it's never happened to me because you know it wouldn't. But like if you
are, if you're single, girl, I guess you could not be single
because that wouldn't matter to some guys. But like, if you're going through
pro the profile picture pictures of chicks and you go like to one that they
had as their profile picture six years ago and you like heart it, like
you're totally like you're sitting a signal, right, Like that's what that is.
You're letting them know what's up, which, you know, maybe it
works for some I'm not sure. I think that would be kind of,
you know, corny, but hey, maybe maybe it works. I don't
know. All right, It is Coffee and Company that's what I know,
and I know we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
So appreciate you guys hanging out with us, and of course we appreciate our
friends over there at Thornton's. If you sign up now to become a member
of the Refreshment Awards program, just know this. You should have done it
long ago, but to finally get you to pull the trigger to do it,
what they're going to do is give you a free red Bull. So
a free red Bull for everybody who signs up, so take advantage. If
you haven't, you can get the app in any app store or go to
refreshman Awards dot com. And just so you know, when it comes to
like the actual like card, I'm sure if you sign actually I'm not even
sure how they do that now, but like, once you sign up,
you just enter your phone number at the checkout or you do it at the
pump, and that's where you get the perks and the savings. So shout
out to to Thornton's. All right, one more reminder, I'm going to
do it each hour. Go buy tickets to the TVT game on Saturday.
I mean, I guess I should. I guess I should encourage you,
like, hey, everybody, but you know, this is a direct order
from me, go buy tickets if you haven't, because I want Louislle to
break the record. Right now, we don't have a number, at least
I don't have a number. Maybe it's out there and I just haven't seen
it. But the record is and two. That's the record for the attendance
at a TVT game. Louisville was in the top five last year. I
think they got between five and six. I think they actually might have got
to six last year at one of the games. But right now they've sold
out the lower Bawl, so all tickets in the one hundred section, in
the two hundred sections are sold out. So if you go to ticket Master
and you look at the tickets that are available, you'll see that, you
know, you can only purchase in the three hundreds and the only sections that
you can purchase the ticket in the upper level in the three hundreds is you
know, straight line within the court right you can get from you know,
I think it's like I don't know the exact number, but it goes from
basically the end will be where the one goal is and the other end will
be on the other side, so you're still up top, but you're not,
you know, like looking at it from a terrible angle. So they've
already seemingly sold a lot of tickets in the three hundreds because if you go
to each section within the ticket Master app, or you do it online like
I'm doing it here, you can double click on a section and it'll show
you which tickets are available in said section, and if the tickets aren't available,
it means somebody's purchased them. So, you know, I don't want
to get ahead of myself here, but just by looking at what I'm looking
at, I feel like they may not be far from that, because the
lower bowl is forty five hundred, So you know, I bet right now
they're probably just again looking at tickets that you cannot purchase because somebody else has
purchased them. I'd say they're close to six right now, and we still
got you know, we still got a few days and there'll be people that
show up and buy tickets there, which you know you can totally do if
you want to do that. So I did see that they are letting folks
know that there are other events going on at the Exposition Center, so arrive
early. I think they're going to open up the doors at eleven thirty,
and I believe that's a change. I think it Previously it was going to
be set to open up at noon with tip off at one. Now they're
gonna open up open it up at eleven thirty and encourage people to get there
early to avoid the crowd. And again, it's not to say that,
hey, traffic in this city is going to be insane because everybody's going to
watch, you know, a TBT game. I mean, I hope that
is the case. I hope it's a great crowd, but there's I think
multiple different events going on at the same you know, in the Kentucky Exposition
Center at the Fairground. So just be you know, be aware. Like
if you see the place crowded, I mean maybe it is because mostly dude.
I mean again, the biggest event I'm sure that's going to be going
on is in fact, this DBT Tournament game. But you know, just
be prepared. You may hit traffic and you don't want to be late,
especially you know when we're gonna be on Fox. I mean I say we
like I'm on the team I'm not playing, but I'm gonna be there and
the game is you know, not on FS one, not on FS two,
not on you know, does Fox have a streaming platform. I'm sure
they do. It's a good question. Actually if they have Fox Sports like
the app that app, Yeah, that app sucks. Actually, I think
it could be wrong. I think the I think Bally somehow like owns that.
I think that was because if you because you remember the Fox Sports South
Fox Sports Ohio channels. Yeah, Bally bought those, so like, I
think that's essentially what Fox's version of that used to be. And you're right,
there is still an FS one app and a Fox app, but you
know, as far as those the digital side of it, I think Bally
is still in some way tied to that. All right, let's uh,
let's do this here. Let's talk hot seat rankings. Now, hot seat
can be a good radio topic if you know you're covering a team and the
coaches on the hot seat, because you know it's it's it's a good I
mean not it can get repetitive, of course, especially when you don't have
any data to analyze to determine if that seat is getting hotter or colder,
But we don't have anything to worry about with hot seats around here. With
these teams. I mean, you've got Jeff Brahm coming off year one where
he won ten games and took Little Over to the ACC Championship game for the
first time ever. And Mark Stoops. You know, last year, they
were they were underwhelming compared to the standard that he had set. I guess
the record was relatively similar, to be honest with you, but you know,
they they last year, they were I feel as down on them on
their program as a football fan base. Not to say they were wanting Stoops
fired or anything like that, but they were down on Stoops as low as
I can remember, you know, other than when he took over, and
they weren't good for the first few years. And it wasn't because you know,
they were going to miss a bowl game. It was because, you
know, they they started to improve and the standard changed and they have different
expectations. So beating Louisville, you know, and getting to seven and and
and five before losing to Clemson in a bowl game, did actually, you
know, I think, kind of change how they viewed that entire season.
I'm not saying the Kentucky fans are claiming they had a phenomenal year last year,
but days of going seven and five and you going three and five in
the se see, like I just kind of feel like that Kentucky fans,
in my opinion, have changed expectations to where like in a previous world,
seven and six overall in a bowl game with a three and five record in
the SEC. I mean, pre Stoops, if that was consistently what you
were doing, it would seem like a dream. It would be it would
seem like something that wasn't possible. But now like he's been proven that,
like that's that that that that can be done. It's been done pretty consistently
by Stoops, and he's had a couple of ten wins season to mix in
there. So you know, I think that but both things can be true.
Right. They are wanting Stoops to not have, you know, seven
and five and three and five in the league just be the norm every year.
They want to be even better, but they also understand like this guy
has the fact that they're even thinking that way has really shown what he's done
to the program. Right, I mean, they like Kentucky football and I
miss it. It was fun when they were so bad, like they were
awful. I mean, the last couple of years of Rich Brooks were you
know, slightly better than what they'd been for a long time. And then
Joker took over. He sucked out loud and Stoops was really bad early on,
and it's time there. I mean he went two and ten, five
and seven, five and seven, So it was a good stretch there where
Kentucky was just trash, and you know, they're the rivals, so I
enjoyed that. And now you know, they're not elite, but they're clearly
in a different spot than they've ever been in. And that makes it to
where even if Stoops goes, you know, six and six this year and
they you know, end up losing a Bowl game so they finished six and
seven, their fans will be disappointed and they'll be saying, hey, he's
got to do better. But any conversation about Mark Stoops being on a hot
seat, I can't see a scenario where that happens, to be honest with
you, I mean you got to keep in mind he just got a huge
new deal. It was it two years ago. I think it was right
after they lost to Vandy. So he's not going to be on any hot
seat ever. At Kentucky, He'll be the coach at Kentucky until he decides
he doesn't want to. And then with our man Signetti sig Daddy up there
in bloomingtonig Daddy like that. Why why do I want him to be good?
I think he's just a very likable human being. I mean not and
he's not like the Tom Allen type of likable. He's like the the old
school like I'm not going to take any trash from you and and I'm better
than you type. He's honestly, this might be this might sound weird.
He kind of has the personality of a w w E wrestler. So far
I've seen so far. I've seen some some clips and heard some things he
said that you know makes it. He's you know, but you're right.
But I don't get that it's for show. Like I kind of think like
that's just how he's wired. He's all business. Yeah, he's standing on
business. And don't you I like that? Well done? I don't.
I don't think that, Like I don't know, I don't know enough about
the the Indiana football history, but I feel like this is the first time
you guys have hired a coach like this, meaning he's not like the biggest
name in the game, he hasn't won a bunch of championships at a high
level of college football, but he's a proven winner. And now it just
comes down to how much that translates at Indiana in the Big Ten. And
not to not to knock Indiana here, but it's not asking a whole lot
for Indiana to be what Kentucky is, meaning where you're going to a bowl
game like every year and then occasionally you have a year where you're going to
do something special for you know, the level of where you are, right,
Like a special season for Indiana would be an eight win regular season,
right and that's it's unheard of for Indiana for the most part, but like
it really wouldn't be that difficult if you think about it. Now, the
league got tougher with the teams that they added, and that's the thing too,
I mean interrupt, but I feel like the administration finally realizes that you
can't get left behind in this era of college athletics where even if with Indiana
basketball will always be number one, you have to prioritize football this day and
age or you'll be irrelevant and you may get left behind eventually. Yeah,
and again I think it sets up good for Signetti because man, the bar
is not so like he's not there with the pressure to go do something unthinkable
for Indiana. I mean, like he is. He has created expectations like
there is. But that's a good sign. I yes, yeah, you
don't want to be like, oh six and six is fine, But I
feel like the floor for him is gonna be nothing compared to the down bad
years that Alan had, you know what I mean, Yes, And I
think that's why he acts that way, and it's and it's it's healthy for
you all as a fan base. I think to you know, realize,
hey, you know, we've not been good historically, and we've seemingly never
really cared a whole lot about football. But this guy does. And he's
got some confidence. So if this guy thinks he can, you know,
give us some life, I'm gonna get behind him and support him. I
mean, f IU, Western Illinois and Charlotte those are three wins right there.
Absolutely, and then poke any way. Yeah, and by the way,
he lost a lot of momentum since last year. In fact, I
think he was one of those teams that the numbers of the formula from our
my sports betting guy who I can't think of his name almost said Bart Torvik,
but that's the NCAA stuff that. Yeah, that's a basketball guy and
he's great too. This is Brad Powers, I mean, I think he
had. Charlotte is only being favored in maybe two games this year, so
they're probably gonna be bad. Look, Indiana, the new coach coming off
a terrible season. Once again, y'all can play four terrible teams and if
you win, it's still gonna be good because you just need to win and
you want to win. You don't matter how you do it. Now,
maybe once expectations have changed after a few years, you know, maybe you'll
want to hammer these teams. But you should win those three games, and
you're halfway to ball eligibility and beating a team like Purdue that honestly has the
lowest win total of anybody in the Big Ten. You got to you got
them at home, like you should be able to win that game. Speaking
at home, you have eight total home games in general. And then I
guess it comes down to can you can you know, can you beat Northwestern
at their place. It won't even be their real football stadium because they're going
through because some construction they're playing on, Like I don't think it's a practice
field, but it's something real weird and it and it it's it sounds weird
to say because they always have pretty good talent level, but if you look
at the way things played out at UCLA with Chip Kelly leaving, and you
know, UCLA could be really bad this year. So like that, that's
not to say that's kind of the turning point game for Indiana for how their
season may go. Because if you win that game four, you're four and
oh you're staring out and I believe Maryland in your fifth week and you could
be potentially Bowl eligible as early as they've ever been. Yeah, I mean
that's as much as that just sounds kind of crazy because we're talking about Indiana.
When you really just look at what you're being asked to do, it's
not crazy. That's fy like totally different situation. But like last year,
because Louisville really hadn't had like a good like Louisville under Scott's Saderfield, they'd
never won more than seven regular season games and they usually won their seventh game,
like in week ten or eleven, so like you know, and they
had gears where they didn't win seven games. So you know, last year
before Jeff coached a game, and you know, entirely new team built off
the transfer portal, and we really didn't know what to expect. Like saying
out loud that Louisville has a good chance and probably should be undefeated when they
play Notre Dame. It sounded crazy because Louisville hadn't started five and oh and
how long, right been forever? But if you again just look at it
from the respective, not five and oh for the first time and however many
years, but just looking at what you're asked to do in each of those
five games, it's not to say it's probable, but you know it's far
from unlikely. So anyways, the reason I bring all this up is because
we'll get to the list a little later on if anybody really cares about it,
Because some of the guys who are on the hot seat, like at
a high level, I mean, they're they're not at great jobs. However,
Scott Siderfield is listed at number three, and that means pressure's mounting.
So CBS Sports Dennis Dodd puts this together every year and he's got different ranges.
So the five is the hottest and it's winner be fired. And there's
only one coach that's actually in in that in that spot, and that's uh,
let's see, let me see here. We'll get to that later.
I just wanted to get to this specific thing about Saderfield because Cincinnati fans are
starting to like convince themselves, oh, he wasn't that bad. It'll be
okay. Fickle left him a mess, and it's because they know they can't
afford to fire him if he sucks again, and they're trying to just you
know, believe in believing in an unrealistic thing that Scott Saderfeld is going to
be a highly successful coach. So Saderfield's in the three, which is pressures
mounting. Number four is in between of course three and five, and that's
starting or start improving. Now. Two is all good for now. H
Safe and secure is number one, and then zero is untouchable, which we
will get into this later because I think it's interesting to see which, you
know, which coaches are in that untouchable. But for what it's worth,
when it comes to the to the local schools here. Uh, Jeff Brahm
is at number one, which you know means he's safe and secured. No
surprise there, Mark Stoops, let's see. I imagine it's the same thing,
Mark Stuops. I bet he's a two. Uh. Let's see here,
Mark Stoops is where's he? Ye here? Okay? Mark Stoops is
A is A? What's it's? It? Was it not showing me what
it's got for some reason. On some of these they have a number and
then another one in parentheses, So like, I guess he's a one and
a half. I think it's what they're saying here. So you know that
that makes total sense. But with Sadderfield, here's what here's what I find
to be. You know, fast and as far as coaches buyouts, we
all know these guys can lose every game and technically not be fired for calls
and get every dome of their contract, which is still blows my mind even
though it's been that way for many, many years. With Sat going three
and nine last year at Cincinnati, you know, if he goes three and
nine, four and eight, like I think a lot of their fans would
say, Okay, we've seen enough this guy needs to go, but it'd
be an eight million dollar buyout, and he could go three and nine,
four and eight the following year if he gets a third year, and it's
a four million dollar buyout. So you know, that amount of money is
a lot for any school for a buyout, or at least you know significant.
I guess it's not a lot for some of them. However, when
you now have to pay twenty two million dollars to student athletes across your athletic
department, it's not gonna be as easy to make a decision to get rid
of a guy and pay them eight million dollars. And obviously you can stretch
that out with the terms and whatnot. But I just think seeing this hot
seat ranking list from it made me realize that if you are a fan of
a program where you are either Okay, I want this guy to be really
good and break through our one and just sucks, we can fire him.
He may suck, and they still won't be able to fire him because you
just can't make those kind of financial decisions as lightly as you used to be
able. To the world's changing man. And not only did they give SAT
that contract with those buyout arrangements. But they paid louis for three million dollars
to take him off our hands. Unbelievable that Cincinnati did that, all right,
Kendrick Haskins, He's unbelievable too, and he's going to join us coming
up here on the other side. Stick around right here on Sports Talk seven
ninety. That's right, we're about halfway through a Wednesday edition of Coffee and
Company, fueled by Thornton's appreciate you guys hanging out with us. Don't forget
you can take us with you wherever you go. Listen live on the iHeartRadio
app Listen live. It's seven ninety Louisville dot com. And we now bring
in a guest making his return here when Coffee and Company, mister Kendrick Haskins
of Way three. Kendrick, how we doing, brother? How your summer
going good? Good? I was sure I was gonna hear I see dead
people when I came under that. Why was That's like, oh okay,
yeah, you're referencing the Kendrick mar or Kendrick Lamar Drake stuff, which that
would have been a nice touch. I'm sure John might have been asleep at
the will. Maybe he just assumed you were gonna stick with the same Kendrick
Lamar that you've always got. But yeah, is that over yet? Like,
is it is it ended? I mean, it seems like it was
never gonna end. But it seems also like the last the last blow from
Kendrick Lamar might have made Drake just reconsidered. I mean, I think that
that's that's the gist I got. It feels I mean, you haven't heard
anything from either one of them. Now they're constituous, they have not let
it go on either side, but you haven't heard anything from the actual two
people involved in a while. And it feels like it's it's had more longevity
than most of these back and forth that we've seen in you know, I
guess what is considered modern hip hop. But it's certainly been entertaining, no
doubt about it. Now, speaking of entertainment, are you somebody that is
entertained by video games? That's one of the biggest talking points in the country
right now, this new EA Sports video game, the College Football Return.
You know, I gotta be honest with you. I've played the game whenever
I was younger, and I used to have a PlayStation two. But after
that gaming was never really something I was into, and I kind of have
a little you know, I'm kind of jealous that that that there's there's something
that is that is that awesome that people enjoy so much. It's all anybody's
talking about. But I just I feel left out. I'm very much into
it. I I right at that age range when the games would really start
to come on, because I was like Atari twenty six hundred when that came
out and all that stuff. So, oh, You've always been a part
of my life. Yeah and so, and College the college football game was
always my favorite game from the moment it first started coming online, and so
yeah, I was super excited. I was so into it that when when
COVID happened, I went and bought an old Xbox three sixty off eBay.
That's awesome still, and I still had the NCAA Football Game twelve, So
I was still playing up playing that game until last week when the new game
came out. So have you gotten a chance to play the newest one yet?
Oh? Yeah, Oh yeah, I'm playing a Dynasty with Western Kentucky.
Nice. How the top's looking their offense is ridiculous. I put up
four hundred and fifty yards at Alabama. But the defense can't stop anything.
So which again, I think that's what I've heard nothing about. I've heard
nothing but how realistic this thing is, and I've seen examples of it.
It's crazy. You might get lost in the game thinking you really are,
in fact a kid that's in college playing football. You know, you got
you got temptations to do things you're not supposed to do and hope the coach
doesn't catch you. It's it's a wild world. But that that's pretty realistic
as far as Western Kentucky, given the fact that you know, they they've
not really been known for defense lately, and they put up a ton of
points and even since Jeff Brown left, they've still been able to light up
the score bird. But when it comes to EA Sports, obviously, you
know, Madden is what they've been known for for so long. Why is
it that the college football game seems to be I wouldn't. I mean,
Madden is clearly a very very popular game, and I know one of the
big reasons why there's so much excitement anticipation about this college football game is because
it went away for ten years and now it's back. But I still feel
like there's just something different about the college game, despite EA Sports making both
of them, that just makes people really prefer the college football side of it.
Maybe it's because you know, you can do different seasons, you know,
you can recruit players, you can do all that kind of stuff,
and I'm sure there's levels to that in Madden. But I just I find
it weird that the NFL is the most dominant sport in this country and it's
not even close, doesn't even really have any competition yet when it comes to
EA Sports and these video games, I feel like the college side is a
little more popular. I think it's multiple two things. One first and foremost,
for me, the gameplay has always been better on the college game,
and it has matten just the gameplay itself. I don't know what it is,
but it's just better. It's always just run smoother. It's just been
a better experience just from a gameplay aspect. But I think part of it
too is, you know, especially in places like here in Louisville, we
don't have a pro team, and you can go on there and you can
play with UO L or UK and you can play with your favorite team no
matter where you are like if you're in Boise, Idaho, or you don't
really have an NFL team that you want to play with on Madden, but
it's a trade with Boise to day, and so I think that's part of
it. You have so many options, and it is cool seeing all the
different stadiums around the country because you know, Madness only what thirty two stadiums,
and college football is one hundred and one hundred plus. And so I
think that's part of it. And we're seeing it if you really watch,
if we'ren't really watching football, The especially on the offensive side, the offensive
playbook in college football has always been more adventurous for a lack of better term,
than the NFL anyway in real life. And you get that on college
football too. You know, all the read options and all that stuff,
and that's which I'm still trying to figure out how to do that on the
new college games, the read option and the RPOs and all that stuff.
But you just have so many more options on the college game than you do
on mad Max Olsen works for The Athletic and he put together an article and
it has quotes from different coaches that you know, guys who are you know,
forty or you know, a little older, a little younger that are
now. I mean, last time this game came out, they probably didn't
think they'd be, you know, defensive coordinators places like Ohio State or something
like that, you know what I mean. And they're they're there. They
grew up on the game just like anybody else, and it was a big
part of it. And they're they're as excited as some of their own players
that it has come back. But in the article it it threw out something
that I hadn't thought of. But it's so obvious that if you really are
spending a lot of time playing this game and you're not, you know,
and when I understand, you can't make like changes to the to the real
players that are on it that like you know, the real names and whatnot.
Like you can really educate yourself about a lot of different teams throughout college
football just by playing this game. And I guess, you know, because
eleven years ago the last time it came out, clearly technologies changed, Like
this is this could be a really good educational thing for people. It sounds
weird because it's a video game, but I feel like if you really spend
a lot of time. You could learn about college football programs in a way
you never had before. Oh, it goes so in depth on what you
can do, and like, I mean, you could call a cover two
man and you're disguised, and the cover one, you know, saying zone.
And so it's like the depth that it goes to and what you can
do. I mean, because I was worried because I saw all this stuff
that you can do, and I'm like, I hope this is not way
past my my area expertise. I mean, I know football, but I
don't know that much of the intricacies of ins and outs and stuff like that.
But but it's if they do a great job of balancing between being that
technical but still making it fun for somebody who doesn't know the difference between a
four to three and a three four and stuff like that. Last question I've
got on this EA Sports game and then we'll talk TVT Is it as hard
to kick field goals in this new game as everybody's saying it is, Yes,
it is. I've heard it's impossible, stupid, stupid. I can
make extra points and that's it. My punts barely moved. My punts go
about fifteen yards Is that a flaw or do you think they just wanted to
make it super challenging, Like maybe that actually is a flaw. I think
they've made it super challenging, that like more challenging than it really needs.
So you'll put some more respect on the kickers' names right now. We're gonna
have to. We're gonna we're gonna make sure we we realize how difficult that
job is to kick. Yeah, there had to be a kicker in the
room when they were developing the game. Yeah, I would if it's as
difficult as everybody says it is, I would. I would totally totally believe
it. All Right, So the TBT coming up here in a few days.
This is the second year Louisvill's had a team, and last year,
man, it was I didn't nobody. I think anybody really knew what to
expect because obviously it's it's you know, it's not real, it's not U
of L basketball, but it's guys who have previously played here and one won
at a high level, and you know that alone is exciting. But you
know, years ago, when I was a little kid, you would have
the occasional uh charity game or like the barn Storming Tour where you could go
watch former players and it was cool. But you know, I think there's
some people that just had that mindset of that's what this was. Because I've
watched the TVT for years. I think it's really good basketball. I'd watch
it even if Loivell didn't have a team, because it's really competitive. These
guys, you know what, they're livelihoods on the line, right, They're
gonna they're gonna play hard. This isn't just some run around pickup game.
Because they want to win. They want to win, they want to share
that million dollar prize. So I think last year fans were really really you
know, it's almost like that unexpected nostalgia and just excitement. I mean,
people reacting to that loss at the end like it was a real game,
like UFL was playing in March, which actually left. Yeah, it is
off because you know, you and I've talked about it before, because we
both have talked about we watched the TV the TVT before the Louisville team came
online, and because especially during COVID, because I mean, the TV team
is the first live sports that's right. I forgot about that, right,
I remember ryanmick Man. I think yes, it was. He he ended
up playings right after he didn't they didn't have a tournament that year, and
that ended his career and he ended up playing with one of the teams.
I think that made a deep run. Yeah, and it is fun.
And I think that is one of the things that the Wolves team learned last
year, and I think it's gonna be a little bit of an awakening for
the Kentucky team this year, is that these dudes are playing for real.
This is not some glorified you know, saying, uh, celebrity game or
nostalgia game. Now they're out there, they're they're out there to win that
money, and so they are playing as hard as they can. And I
think it took a little bit and for the Louis team last year when they
first got out there to realize that, and I think that's gonna be a
little bit of a thing for the Kentucky team this year. I think the
first year teams don't get a real they don't realize how serious they take it
until they actually get after that. Well, because you'll end up playing a
team that that you know has a random name, that isn't just made up
of former players, mostly from one school. It's guys who played you know,
mid level D one or maybe even low D one. Some guys played
D two. But then they've been playing for five six years professionally. And
just because you haven't heard of you you might not think that there's anything to
worry about. But I've seen some of the best teams that that feature guys
that I don't. I've never heard most of them never I've never heard of
So yeah, it'll if you're not ready, you'll be you'll, you'll you'll
be checked pretty early that these guys are here to compete and that and that's
why to me, like you know, I was listening to an interview the
tvts dine a great job, I think promoting the event and really just educating
fans on other teams and whatnot. But there was an interview with one of
the players I can't think of which team he played for, but he really
gave me an example of how important this could be because he's played professionally overseas
for the last four or five years, and that's because the money is better
for him than if he was in the G League because on a G League
standard contract, the money's just not as you know, there's just not as
much money there as if you're going to go play in Europe or somewhere.
So if he's able to win a share of this million dollar prize and you
know, he get his cut, that didn't make it to where he could
stay back in the G League and you know, still make money doing that
and be with his family for a year instead of being in Romania or something
like that. So just hearing those stories makes me realize why these guys take
it so serious, because it's their livelihood. Man, this is this they're
now They're now trying to you know, put food on the table for their
family, right. And I guess if I were building a team, to
be honest with you, those are the guys I would go out and get.
Oh yeah, I'm not so sure about the NBA guys who have made
millions upon millions of dollars. It's not don mean as much to them,
you know. I mean, and now if they have teammates that they want
to win for their teammates and win that money for them. Yet, So
if you have a team full of those, those guys are gonna go out
there and they're going to give it there all, and I think those are
the teams that usually win this thing. Is the team that don't have as
many of the guys that have played in the upper you know, in the
NBGA and stuff like that. It's the guys that's still trying to make make
some money and they need that, they need they need this money to put
some food on the table and all that type of stuff. It's got to
make I know, it makes me feel old. I'm sure it makes you
feel old too to look at guys like Peyton and Russ and even Shane and
know that, like, hey, they're kind of the older guys in this
event. And I'm sure there's older players for other teams, but you know,
these guys have been away from college for you know, for over ten
years now. So I was I was really happy to see they added David
Johnson. He's still a very young guy, still playing at a really high
level, you know, Montrez Harrold. I'm not sure there's gonna be many
guys that have the NBA hardware in their trophy case that he does. So
I'm bummed to see Kyle Kirk couldn't couldn't participate this year. But I actually
feel like this team in a way. You know, it's mostly the same
team from last year, but I think when you look at Chris Jones and
David Johnson and I'll tres like, I think this team could should be even
better than last year's group. I felt old yesterday. Always. I already
felt old with them last year watching them last year, but I really felt
old yesterday when David Johnson was like, yeah, I was in like six
or seventh grade when they were playing here. Gosh, man, how about
you don't say that kind of stuff. DJ, come on right, right?
But I think he's going to be a great addition because they need some
young legs out there. That's why Mayo that played for him last year's back
out there with them this year. And Chris Dow were big for them too
because they were a little bit younger guys. And so yeah, I think
David Johnson is an excellent addition to this team. What about Kentucky's guys.
Obviously, they lost a few players here recently because of some contract stipulations with
their professional teams that they're playing for. But I feel like, you know,
again, I haven't kept up with with those guys, like the Harrison
Twins and Bledsoe as much in the last year or two. But obviously,
I think if you're a Kentucky fan, you probably feel pretty good abot your
rosters. Well, Willie cary Stein, I mean, he's not that far
removed from the NBA. They've got they've got a good squad as well.
Yeah, I think Willie was just in the league no more than two years
ago, because he was with the Maverick. Yeah. I remember the last
time he was in the league. I think it was Dallas. He's not
too far removed from the NBA. Eric Blessoe is not that far removed from
the NBA. He looked pretty good and I was at practice the other day.
Yeah, he was one of the highest paid players in China, I
believe just a year ago. So's if you're making that kind of money over
there, you're still playing at a high level. And he played in the
league forever too. Yeah, he played. I think he was last with
the Bucks. I believe he may have been on that Milwaukee championship team.
I can't remember. I could have that run, but it feels like he
was. But he's one of the nicer guys people because you know, we
get you get away, you forget. But Eric Blessoe is one of the
nicer guys that you'll meet. He's just a country boy from Mississippi. He's
from the South, so Birmingham, and he's just just a nice guy.
And he just laughing. He was just so happy to be back around the
guys. And Willie kyley Stein made a good point. He's like, you
know, the hardest part is that last game. He's like, yeah,
the losing part sucks, but it's that you'll never play with this group of
guys again. He's like, now here I am ten years later and I'm
playing with five guys I played with the three years I was there, and
so that that's that part. They all all the players loved that part of
getting back with their own teammates. I think you're spot on as far as
when it's when when you're doing it for the first time in this event,
like it's I would. I don't know if it's awkward or if it's just
weird, but I do think like it there's something attached to it that just
kind of makes it seem like it's not real, because who would have ever
thought you'd be in this situation. But yeah, once you. Once you
get out there and start competing, I guess it is just like playing any
other game. But I think, you know, I wouldn't call it nerves,
But when that Kentucky team takes the floor, it rup. I don't
know what their attendants is going to look like, but I mean, I
bet it takes them a little while to get acclimated. As you mentioned,
yeah, because you're you're caught up in the nostalgia. Yeah, it's like
you're hearing that crowd that you thought you'd never hear again for you, right
because and Willie again, because Willie was always one of the more introspective athletes
we ever covered, and he was like, yeah, it's not the same.
You don't have the same love once you leave college. It's it's never
the same again, especially like when you're at a blue blood like Tucky and
so, yeah, you walk out there, you hear the crowd, everybody
knows who you are again, and you mean so much to these people,
They're like, this is it? Getting past that part I think is the
hardest part, especially in that very first game. I think you do get
over it when somebody hits you in the face, But I think that is
part of it that you have to get over when you first get out there.
Kendrick, I appreciate you's always making time for us. Great to catch
up. Let's do it again soon, brother, Yeah, let's do it.
Take care. That's Kendrick Haskins' way. Three sports. Always appreciate his
time. Always a good conversation. So we'll keep doing that, probably have
him on each week if we can, if his schedule will allow it,
because uh, you know we're gonna get a regular rotating guest back in here
once we get closer to football season, and you know, we basketball to
talk about like we just did, so stick around. We'll come back and
wrap up four o'clock hour right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. It was
great to catch up with Kendrick Haskins, but because we just got lost in
the conversation, I once again messed up with the clock. So apologies,
not a lot of time left here before we wrap up the four o'clock hour,
but I'll use the time we do have to once again talk to you
about my friends over at the Louis of Men's Clinic. If you are someone
out there that maybe you feel like you've lost your edge a little bit,
you're lethargic more so than you used to be. You know, have the
same energy during workouts. You know, maybe if you do back to back
days in the gym, you're really really hurting the following day. You know,
some people just chalk that up to getting old or blame it on father
time, And there's certainly a part of it that makes it. I mean,
that's true to an extent. But also, you know, it could
be that you're losing testosterone. Now if you're somebody that is thirties, maybe
even you know, late twenties, anywhere in your thirties, maybe even early
forties. You know, you aren't you know, getting up there to where
you're elderly, but you know you're also not super young, So it may
be to the point to you where you're just like, well, hey,
you know what, I didn't realize my thirties were going to hit me this
hard. But it's it could It may not be because your age specifically,
it could be because of your testosterone levels. And if you don't know what
low T is, you may not have a clue that you have all these
symptoms, right, I mean again, maybe your workouts are struggling, maybe
you've lost your sex drive a little bit, which which is something you've never
experienced before, and you would you know, you don't know what would cause
that. It could be low t so get your levels checked. I wouldn't
be shocked if your levels are not where they are supposed to be for someone
your age, and that's highly common. To be honest with you, it
doesn't mean something's wrong. It just means that you know you're like everybody else
and that the level of testosterone just is not producing like it was when you
were much younger, So do something about it. You may feel like you're
okay, but I'm telling you, if your levels aren't where they're supposed to
be and you get testosterone treatment like I am, I bet you feel better
than you ever thought you could. So give them a call. FABO two
four four four four thousand. Check them out online at Louisville Men's Clinic dot
com. Alright, five o'clock hours coming up next, and we'll try to
finish strong like we do every day. So hang out, don't go anywhere,
keep it locked right here. On Sports Talk seven ninety