It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick Coffee. Look, I absolutely expected this. I
expected that whenever I shared information that I know to be true that Louisville reached
out to Coleman Hawkins earlier today and told him we're not gonna host you on
a visit, We're no longer going to, you know, go in that
direction. I'm not sure what they said. I'm sure they were nice and
kind, but it was Louisville that ended this. And again I know that
to be true, but I know what it sounds like to some, so
I expected Kentucky fans to, you know, act like, oh wow,
you just just take the l which. Look, both things can be true.
Louisville would have been better with a talented player like Coleman Hawkins as far
as just overall talent, they would have gotten a big bump I think from
those that you know are trying to project who's going to really be a factor
next year in college basketball. I doubt there would have been anybody penciling them
into a Final four, but he would have been in big addition, and
if he would have come to Louisville. I would have said, hell,
yeah, that's huge. But I think the situation is pretty easy to understand
bringing him in, not because of anything wrong with him, but it would
have made some others look to leave. And I think they got as much
of a confirmation about that as you can from one player. And I don't
know who it is. If I did, I probably wouldn't tell you.
But I don't know who it is. And there might have been another player
I was told that that one would have left, or at least really you
know, maybe they would have had a change of heart, but they would
have probably tried to go elsewhere just because maybe it would have been too crowded.
I mean, I assume that was that would be what led to them
doing that. And there's another that might have considered moving on just because again,
their role probably you know, changes if you add Coleman Hawkins. So
I think when it came down to is Pat Kelsey really weigh in the options
here right, Like, Hey, I've got a pretty good situation going here.
I like what I've what I have as far as personnel, which I
know that they do, and it sounds like chemistry is in a good spot
and for those like mocking that, like that's fine, Like I don't mean,
I'm not surprised. And if you think that's nonsense that chemistry can even
be developed this quickly, then like that's your opinion, that's I don't.
I do not. I don't have an issue with you having that opinion.
Don't really care. I mean, I think you can have chemistry before you
play together. Like when I say chemistry, I don't mean because they're really
gelling on the floor. I mean that they they're getting along, getting to
know each other. And some may think that's corny, but like having a
collective buy in from a from a team is important. And maybe the UFL
staff got to feel that Hawkins was somebody that could potentially disrupt some chemistry,
or maybe they just felt like it's not about him, it's just about,
hey, we kind of like where we are. Let's keep it that way,
and you know, not potentially disrupt chemistry, but also not lose anybody
that's already on board. So again, both things can be true. Louisville
clearly like they're not disinterested in Coleman Hawkins because they don't think he's good.
It's just a matter of balancing your roster. In managing your roster, that
is that's such. I mean, we talk about how different college basketball in
college football is now because of the portal and nil, but really what it
comes down to is managing your roster, right, Like, you have to
make sure you're keeping the guys you want to keep, letting them know.
I guess delicately that you want to keep them, but you are also going
to go after other players and you don't want them to be bothered by that.
Like you got to, you got to, you got a massage,
egos, You got to make sure guys feel like they're being taken care of.
And I think you've always had to do that to an extent, But
previously there was no like what are you gonna do? Cry about it?
You couldn't leave, and if you did, you'd have to sit out,
and most wouldn't do that. So the fact that players can just up and
leave puts coaches in a spot to where, yeah, you can. You
know, you could think to yourself, well, hey, if you're if
you're bothered by me bringing somebody else in here because you don't want to compete,
then you're not built for this. You don't you don't you're not worthy
of being a part of my program. It's it's all fine and and you
know, and and cool to say that, right, but at the end
of the day, coaches need to win. So like, if four dudes
transfer that are really good players because they're bothered by the way you're managing the
roster and by the way you're bringing in players, yeah, that might be
a bad look on them, but you know what, you probably need them
to win, and you need to win or you won't have a job.
So like it's this is professional sports now. It is. And Coleman Hawkins
was gonna come to the Louisville was going to visit today and they told him
thanks, but no thanks. I'm sure they didn't say that, but you
know what I mean. And if he was honest, he would tell you
that he would He would absolutely confirm, if he was honest, that it
was them that ended this whole thing. In fact, he kind of did
with his tweet and then he deleted it, which was, you know,
everything happens for a reason, like disappointed, Like that doesn't prove I guess
that they that they backed off, but I mean they did, and who
knows, maybe we'll look back and think, man, that was a bad
idea, Like maybe they'll be underwhelming in the front court, and Coleman Hawkins
goes on to Kansas State, which is where, which is where he's now
going to visit. And you know, we'll regret that they didn't make it
happen and didn't find a way to make it work. But this was a
Louisville Pat Kelsey his staff decision, and you know, we'll see if it
ends up panning out for him. I've said since I got back from vacation.
When I was gone, they added the thirteenth player, Big Frank Frank
Anselom, and I think this is a tournament caliber roster. I really like
the personnel. We have no clue how it's all going to work out.
It's a big unknown, but I think fans can be justifiably excited and not
feel like they're just realizing it's gonna be better than Kenny Payne and just you
know, being homers, Like I think, on paper, you've got a
team that you really like. And I don't think I did a good job
of really laying out what I was trying to to to say when describing sort
of the makeup of a lot of these guys. But you know, and
this is nothing to do with Colemenhawkins, but you've got dudes like Corn Johnson,
who you know has been at Washington, was a pretty highly ranked recruit
who you know hasn't been able to find a starting spot at Washington. You
know, he's got a chip on his shoulder, he's motivated and it's probably
why he left Washington. You know, you've got Javon Hadley, who played
at junior college after a unsuccessful first year of D one basketball at Northeastern University,
Well then he goes to Colorado, had two really good years there.
Like he's he's a guy who really had to grind and work his ass off
to get to where he is. You know, these aren't gonna like I
don't think you're gonna have any like Prima Donna divas. I think these are
guys that are going to appreciate what they have here at Louisville. And I
know Louisville's been terrible the last few years, right, not many wins any
time. Louisville basketball has been discussed in recent years when it comes to national
conversations about the sport. It's about like how bad they were, and it's
shocking for folks to see Louisville go through what they went through the last few
years. But fan excitement is up. There's going to be I think,
really big crowds at the young and I think this is a group of these
I think you have a group of players here that are going to be fueled
by that and really, like you know, like I know how bad it
was in recent years, and trust me, I know nobody went to games.
But even if you got sixteen to seventeen thousand at the YOUM Center night
in and night out next season, that's going to be a lot more fans
than any of these guys have played in front of. And I think that'll
make it to where, you know, it's good to fuel them. So
Colemenhawkin's not visiting, and will they try to move on and get another player?
I don't know. Again, I don't know what they were gonna do
anyways to try to make it work, but apparently they had a plan but
decided not to Follele through with it. I still think if you were going
to add one more player, like if you could like that, there was
some type of a I don't know some type of a hardship thing you could
do with scholarships to get an extra one because the guys are hurt. I
don't know if that exists, but I think if you really had a spot
you would add somebody. It would be point guard. I think I think
adding a backup point guard would be you know, if you could add one
guy, I think that at that spot would be would would make the most
sense because Chucky hepburn. You know he can. He's going to be your
point guard, He's going to be your leader. He started every game at
point guard at what Wisconsin during his entire career there. But and Korin Johnson
can play the point. I mean, I think even Terrence Edwards Junior can
run the point if need be. So you know, I'm not really bummed
or bitter because, to be honest with you, and again, it's not
just because I don't think coleman Augus is good. He is, trust me,
he would have. He would have absolutely made this team more talented,
more dangerous because he's he's a good player. But I guess I never really
got my hopes up because for some reason, I just never felt like it
was gonna happen. Even when the visit was scheduled and Louisville was reported to
be the leader and really the only legit option for him. I still just
never felt like it was gonna happen. And you know now it's not gonna
happen. All right. It is Coffee and Company we are feel about Forden's
sire on Sports Talk seven ninety nit coffee. That is me the company man,
mister John All on the alongside writing shotgun this afternoon as we take you
up till six o'clock and gets you set for the weekend. Let's go to
the text line. Five oh two sixty five three zero seven ninety is the
lln N Federal Credit Union tax line. And if you'd like to give us
a call, you can do that too. Five O two five seven one
seventy nine hundred is the number. All right. This text says Nick,
if guys are getting paid, do you think they have a right to protest?
Another teammate being added, this is business. Now put feelings aside.
Do they have Do they have a right to protest? I don't know if
anybody protested, but and it's not I don't know that's a good question.
I mean, they can express concerns about their role and about their playing time
with their coach if they see that they're being potentially recruited over. But you
know, it all comes down to action, meaning are you actually like you
know, coaches have to either realize that there's certain players they might need to
babysit a little bit and kind of pump up their ego and like, you
know, gass them up a little bit and say, hey, no we're
not working, we still have big plans for you, you know. Or
there's some guys who they may just call their bluff and say, look,
if you don't like it, you can leave. So I think it really
depends on each each you know, every play different and honestly, every player
probably has a different level of value to you, right. I mean there
may be somebody that doesn't put up twenty points a night, but you realize,
hey, this guy fills a role that nobody else on this team could
and we need that. So again, it comes down to roster management.
But yeah, I mean, if they're getting paid, it doesn't mean they're
not going to still want to play. Like, guys want to get paid
and they want to play, and I think honestly both are important but the
dudes who get who are going to get paid good money or are getting paid
good money because they're expected to play, So it didn't happen all that often
at least I don't think. I mean, if somebody's on a million dollar
INIL deal and then their role like diminishes, I mean, they're probably upset
because they want to play, but you know they're still getting paid. So
I mean, even if everything you said is true, right, this is
business, put feelings aside. That's what the end of that tech said.
They still have the ability to just walk away. And as a coach,
you now have to make an educate guests. Are they really going to do
that? And if they do, are you cool with it? Are is
that something that would be detrimental to your team? Could you move on from
that? Like everybody's replaceable to an extent for the most part. But you
know, if you tell a player, hey, it's business now, you're
being taken care of within ile put your feelings aside. Like if a coach
said that to a player, I don't think a coach now in twenty twenty
four could be surprised at that player left. And you just got to have
you got to figure out how to balance that, right, you got to
call their bluff at times, or you got to realize, hey, no
matter what, this guy's always going to be wanting more, and I hope
he does leave, all right? How this tick? Says Nick, what
do you think about the UK fans acting like Barnhardt was savvy in hiring Pope
instead of Hurley. I've seen a little bit of that on on on Twitter,
meaning Kentucky fans saying they dodged a bullet like with Hurley, which again,
I think it really depends on I mean, if you're giving Mitch Barnhart
like credit, then you're you're I think you're mistaken, because that would insinuate
that Mitch Barnhart decided not to go after Danny Hurley and that he wanted Mark
Pope because Mitch Barnhart was well aware that he was that Hurley was going to
be in the mix for the Lakers like that. That's not real, that's
not that's not true, Like that didn't happen. So I would say,
if you're somebody who looks at it as a Kentucky fan and says to yourself,
well, you know what we could have offered him a ton of money,
and he might have had a he might have been really forced to say
yes to Kentucky because it was an offer he couldn't refuse because it was crazy
money. But then the Lakers called and then he decided to go. Yeah,
I mean, that would have been an un That would have been an
unfortunate situation because you know, he probably would have put a roster together by
now, and then he's bailing, and then you'd have to start over.
And I'm not really sure who they would hire at that point. I mean,
it is Kentucky. You would think that they'd be able to go get
a good coach, but you know, the first two guys they were in
on and wanted they didn't get, so again, it would have been the
ultimate. I mean, let's be real if that happened, Like if they
did get Hurley because they threw the bag at him and he couldn't say no,
and he's here for what six weeks, and then he leaves for the
Lakers and they got to start all over and they lose all the players.
Like let's say he brought all the Yukon guys with him, you know,
brought all you know, God Jaden Quaint's to commit. I mean, let's
Leah McNeely. Of course, who's at Yukon now. Like if that roster
was in place for the last few weeks and then we find out yesterday that
he's leaving to go to the Lakers, I probably would still be on a
bender right now that started yesterday morning, because I would have been celebrating that.
That would have been funny as hell, that would have been great.
But you know, it didn't happen because he wasn't gonna come to Kentucky.
And again, that whole thing, like Kentucky's search, it really played out
the way that Louisville's did as far as just thinking bigger and bigger and then
just realizing no, like they're going to go in a different direction. But
I think both Louisville and Kentucky despite really, you know, Louisville was humbled
in a way. Kentucky it was different because they watched Louisville's search. No
Dusty May, no Scott Drew. They botched the whole thing with the guy
from Indiana States his name shirts yeah, Josh Shirtz. So then the ended
up with Pat Kelsey, which, by the way, hell yeah, I'm
excited to tell about Pat Kelsey being here, and I, you know,
it all worked out at least for what I can tell right now. We'll
see how you know, It's gonna take some time before we know if it
really was the right hire, But so far, so good. But Louisville,
I think their shock wore off pretty quickly because and I guess I should
only just speak for myself, you know, once I realized they were going
the mid major route, you know, it was tough to I just assumed
they would want to get a very experienced coach, given how important this hire
was, based off the fact that, like, you've had two hires now
that haven't worked out, and you really need to get back up off the
mat and get some life back in this program. And Pat Kelsey has experience,
But I was just thinking somebody with proven like Power five experience. But
that's not really the direction that a lot of programs are going right now.
And the ones you did go try to get Scott Drew, he didn't,
you know, he wasn't gonna happen. And the Dusty May isn't even like
that experience and that and he isn't even that successful, to be honest,
with you, So Louisville shock wore off. Kentucky watched that happened with Louisville
and felt like, oh wow, you know, sit back and watch how
a real search goes. We're about to go get whatever coach we want.
And they were humbled to know that they couldn't get whatever coach they wanted and
their athletic director ended up going in a different direction. I think both fan
bases are really excited and optimistic about where their programs are going. So you
know, we love this stuff so much, meaning these programs here in this
state, this city especially, there's so many Louisville fans in so many Kentucky
fans here as well. But no matter who they hired, we were eventually
gonna support it because what are we gonna do not be fans of these teams?
And I think both coaches, to be fair, did a really good
job right out of the gate of selling themselves to their fan base to get
excited about the future. But I think you know the way it played out,
being surprised by who the coach was in the end, and people turning
you down that you didn't expect to turn you down. It really doesn't mean
that Kentucky isn't the program that like everybody knows that it is. And with
Louisville, you know, they've got some clear rebuilding to do, given what's
happened recently. But I don't think that Dusty May Scott Drew. I don't
think those two guys didn't want to come to Louisville because Louisville isn't a good
program. It's just situation timing. I mean Scott Drew, I mean he
didn't go to Kentucky he had that offer, And with Dusty May, he
didn't want to be in Louisville and he doesn't like me. He doesn't want
to be at a place where you have lunatics like us. And I appreciate
the fact that he was that he knew that and wasn't going to take it
just because it's Louisville. He took Michigan instead, and then Josh Shurtz wanted
the job and was off with the job. But after he was off with
the job, he had already signed with Saint Louis, so it all worked
out. But yeah, I mean, it's you know, if you believe
that Mitch Barnhardt decided not to throw the ultimate contract at Danny Hurley because he
knew he was going to be in the NBA. God bless you, God
bless you. All Right, let's see here. I feel like this segment
just started, but we are already at four to twenty one here. All
right, let's do this before we get to Actually, let's go ahead and
take a break because I want to make sure we save some time for these
next few items. I want to discuss with you guys. Corporate logos are
coming to college football fields. I'm curious what would something like that cost.
And obviously we can discuss which corporate logos would make sense for these local schools
here. And this is not surprising, but Ohio State is charging fifty bucks
for fans to show up up and watch a practice and I bet they sell
out. Just fascinates me that people will pay that much. But it's another
example and another sign of how much people are obsessed with their college programs.
It's just different than pro sports. Man. Not to say it's better,
but it's just different. And we now know the entertainment lineup, which musical
acts are going to be coming to the Kentucky State Fair. Got to be
honest, I'm a little underwhelmed. So we got a lot to get to
here on a Friday, stick with us. We'll get yourself for the weekend.
It's coffee and company. Feel buy Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven
ninety it's Lone Star. It is I like some Lone Star. It's a
good era of country music that guess they had their they were in their prime.
I feel like in like the early two thousands, are they still around
They're coming to the fair? Okay, they must be like buried in what
I saw, because I don't remember seeing them as a part of something one
of the first days. If I'm not missing I like Lone Star, so
mister Mom as well, So clearly they're still around, right, Yeah,
this one and mister Mom like really corny, hokey country songs, but they
had enough other good stuff. I mean, these are I mean, this
isn't a bad song, but they're like they're slow, kind of sad songs
or you know what I remember them for. But yeah, shout out Lone
Star. And yes, if they're coming to the fair, then they're clearly
still around. We're going to talk about which musical acts are coming to the
State Fair in just a second here, But it does look as if now
that photos of the pants and the the boo boos from officer Officer Gillis who
arrested or had Scotti Scheffler arrested, I mean this might need to maybe this
is just a recency biased thing here, but I kind of feel like this
is the like, we don't we have one video that shows that the actual
charges that they brought on Scottie Scheffler were not necessary and that this officer,
as far as what was in his report from from what we can see,
exaggerated and didn't de escalate. In fact, he made it something that it
had no business being. As far as that, you know, that's severe.
But now that you see his little booboos and his little hole in his
pants, I actually feel like this might be like the most embarrassing part of
it all because it confirms when he needed ems attention. Like what so if
you haven't seen it, they're all it's all over the internet. The photos
that were released earlier today from LMPD that show a little cut on his wrist,
and then the cut on his wrist is actually I mean it's it's it's
minor. Imagine like I just thought of this. Imagine going and calling nine
to one one and requesting EMS and showing them your knee in your arm and
your hole in your pants. They would arrest you for whatever that is.
You know, I don't know if you with the actual charges, but you
know, wasting resources and taking EMS away from people who like might actually be
in harm's way, might be dead. What a man? I mean,
just an absolute clown. And there's also audio because he turned his body came
on after the incident and there's audio from that. Maybe his video portion just
wasn't relevant to share. I don't know that for sure, but yeah,
I mean just insane. So the audio. We'll play that for you guys
in the five o'clock hour if you missed it earlier, we did play it
earlier in the show. But anyways, it's coffee and company. We are
feel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Thank you so much for
hanging out with us. About halfway through here, and then we'll get out
of here for the weekend. Looking forward to it, and John's going to
be out of here for an entire week. You're getting more and more excited.
I am bring it. You drive the whole way, don't you.
I do. My wife does not like to drive, and you don't like
not to drive, right correct, So it's in perfect marriage right there,
makes perfect sense, makes perfect sense, all right. So the Kentucky State
Fair will be here before you know it, in fact, in just a
just a couple of months here. And I love the State Fair, great
people watching atmosphere, and you know, I don't know. I really can't
put into word why I'm somebody that just loves the State Fair, but I
do. But I haven't gone to a concert at the State Fair. Rather
it be the free ones they do or the ticketed ones, if they even
still do ticketed concerts, I think they do those anymore. I haven't been
to one of those in a long long time, and I'm not really it's
not because they're at the acts they bring in are lousy or just not my
tape. I'm not. I don't go to many concerts at all for that
matter, but I'm I'm I don't know, like I kind of feel like
they used to get bigger names, and I kind of feel like states that
maybe aren't you know, as great as our state, get way better musical
acts for their for their Fair So on Thursday Lone Star, which John just
played. I know why I don't remember because I was so I was so
excited to see Eddie Montgomery. I love Eddie Montgomery. Montgomery gentry. That's
Kentucky country right there. And yeah, I know, like when I say
Kentucky and just mentioned the state people. Although true a Louisville fan, like
I guess I'm guilty, throw me in prison. I'm somebody that does,
in fact love you of El Diard louis Of fan, been that way my
whole life. But I do still like the state that I live in.
Has nothing to do with Big Blue Nation or can UK. It's just you
know, I you know, this is my home. I have my family,
you know, my dad's side of the family all from here in the
state, you know, not local, but you know Greensburg area, if
you guys know where that is, That's where my dad's family grew up.
So you know, I love Eddie Montgomery. I probably won't go. I'm
not gonna lie and act like yeah, I'm going to be there, but
you know, maybe because I like Eddie Montgomery and I like Lone Star.
So Friday, August sixteenth, you've got this Sugar Hill Gang with Melly Mel
and Scorpio, who I guess is of Furious five. Do you know who
Furious five is? I don't either, But the special guest for that act
is actually, I think the best act that we have coming to the State
Fair, and that's the ying Yang Twins, Ying Yang in this Thang ying
Yang Twins that is, I mean, talk about my high school era ying
Yang Twins. They had a lot of a lot of hits. I mean
maybe some wouldn't call them hits, but I'm a big Yin Yang's fan guy
or Yin Yang Twins guy, and I didn't realize they were still touring,
so should be the one to introduce them. Well, what we should do
is I think vibe check at the Yin Yang Twins concert could be could be
of epic proportion. I mean, that could be something something special there,
So have to keep that in mind. Saturday, Stephen Piercy of Rat with
special guest Queen Riot. No Quiet Riot, Okay, what I say,
Queen right? Oh? Quiet right? Yeah? I know, quiet right
is. I don't know a lot about them, but I've heard him at
least do you know anything about that? That's no Rat is an eighties rock
band. Gotcha that could be cool? Sunday the oak Ridge Boys with special
guests of the Country Gold Tour including le Leroy, Van Dyke, Linda Davis,
Jimmy Fortune, Rockland Road. Uh, and that's it and the Oakridge
Boys. I feel like I have been coming to the Kentucky State Fair for
fifty years, maybe longer. There the mainstays, I mean they this is
I don't know if they one gig booked a year, which I'm sure they
get more, but if they only get one, I know it's going to
be the Kentucky State Fair. All right. Cain will be on Monday with
special guests Katie Nicole. No, I'm not familiar. How about you?
Their Christian group Okay, Tuesday, August twentieth, Happy Together, including The
Turtles, the Cowcils, Bad Finger, the Vogues, the Association, Jay
and the Americans. I'll let you use the first one. I'm not familiar.
Okay, Yeah, I don't know. I mean the Turtles, the
Cowcles, Bad Finger. I would assume this is like alternative music. No,
yeah, completely unaware of any of those acts, but congrats to them
for getting booked to the Kentucky State Fair Wednesday, Justin Moore with special guest
Alex Miller. Don't know who Alex Miller is. I know Justin Moore,
well, I've seen him many times in concert. I'm a fan of Justin
Moore. Not sure if I'm going to go, but yeah, that you
know, that's somebody I at least have heard of. I'm sure you have
as well. Yes, and yeah, I'm a big fan. In fact,
I think he's think he's coming to Fourth Street before too long, So
maybe he'll have two shows here in Louisville this summer, or maybe he just
recently came to four Street. I'm not sure, but yeah, that's somebody
I'm familiar with. On Thursday, August twenty second, Ever Clear with special
guest Marcy Playground. I've heard of Everclear? Alt rock? Yeah, so
are you fan? You know anything about him? They're They're good. I
guess I don't know a ton of their songs, but I know of them.
Friday, August twenty third, thirty eight special was special guest Exile.
Assuming that's a rock band, rock band from the South. Saturday August twenty
fourth, Laura and Elena with special guest Mackenzie Porter and Kelsey Hart. I've
heard of Laura and Elena. I know she's country music, but I don't
believe she was a runner up on American Idol. That makes Scotty McCreary,
that makes sense. Yeah, so I know of her, but not familiar.
And then on Sunday, the last day, Torn Wells was special guest
consumed by Fire another Christian act. Okay, yeah, so you know,
shout out to all those musicians that are booked. Some of them, I've
heard of. Some of them I don't know anything about. But I feel
like we used to have like a better lineup, and maybe I just you
know, maybe I'm wrong and I just dreamed that. But let me give
you like a comparison here. I think the state of Kentucky is I don't
know. I'm sure there's things we do well and there's things we don't do
well. Right, So, I don't really know where we rank among all
the states as far as you know, popularity that kind of stuff. But
one state that I've been to and I probably will never go back to that
I have a hard time thinking that they're you know, they deserve better acts
than us. The Iowa State Fair. Iowa, like what do you know
about Iowa? Like you ever been in Iowa, never been to Iowa,
and you probably never will because there's no destination in Iowa unless I go see
Indiana play in Iowa. Yeably the only reason I go there. But if
you're picking a big ten road trip, you ain't go in Iowa unless you
have to, right, Like you'll you'll go elsewhere, Like what's there to
do in Iowa. So I've drove to Iowa to Des Moines, and it
was one was actually decent city, and it was a decent trip. But
you know, I remember thinking, yeah, I'll probably never be back here
unless you know, I have to be or unless I travel through here,
Like there's just no reason to be there. But if I was going to
go back, it might be because of the insanely awesome lineup they have every
year at the Iowa State Fair. Just a few years ago, this is
who they had at their state Fair. The Chainsmokers, Slip Knot, Zach
Brown Band, Toby Keith, r Ip Dan and Shay Foreigner, The Pentatonics,
Hoodie and the Blowfish. That's like a festival. I'm not Yeah,
I'm not a big fan of some of those, but like those are all
big acts. They're not not from Iowa, so they probably gets a little
hometown right there for them. You could have had me guess thirty states that
Slipknot was from, it would have never guessed Iowa. I don't know what
I would have guessed, but I would not have guessed that that Iowa produced.
So, I mean, like, how's that happen? Like that's a
that's a hell of a I mean that's insane. Like again, if you're
gonna go to Iowa, maybe that's maybe that's why you're going to go the
fair and maybe see these acts again. Like I don't like the Zach Brown
band a whole lot, Dan and Shaye, don't like Luke Bryant, but
like those are big acts. I'm sure Toby Keith was a banger of a
night. Yeah, I mean Hoody in the Blowfish, come on. So
I don't know who I got. I mean, I'm not somebody that would
go to a lot of concerts regardless of who who's there. It's not really
my thing, but I feel like Kentuckians deserve a little better than what we've
been given. No offense to the other I mean, it's not their fault
they got booked, but I feel like we deserve better. But maybe I'm
wrong, Maybe they're Maybe they have a bigger budget in Iowa to pay because
it does cost. You know, it's there's a big there's a budget for
the State Fair every year and they got to pick and choose how they use
that budget. And this is what they could this is what they could give
us. Do we know why they stopped doing the ticketed acts in the Freedom
Hall because that's part of the problem. Those used to be the big names
of the Yeah, the fair. Yeah, I remember there was at least
one or two concerts throughout the fair every year that were in Freedom Hall.
And my guess would be that it guess that venue maybe can't be used for
that kind of stuff anymore. Maybe No, I mean, if there's not
a concert going on in Freedom Hall in the actual arena, then there's they've
got like the horse show and stuff like there's all kinds of like it's used
at all times if there's not a concert. So maybe logistically it just became
too big of a challenge to have to tear it down and then have a
concert and then have it, you know, have the pigs running around the
next day or something or whatever it is they do, or it could have
and this actually wouldn't surprise me. It could have been like a revenue sharing
dispute or something because you know, freedom Hall. I guess it's just the
State Fairboard own the Freedom Hall. I mean they do. But I'm just
thinking, like, because that could have been a big money maker too,
right, Like that's a separate ticket than your fair ticket, So like you
could make money if you if you end up bringing, you know, a
big act that people would pay for. So yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I don't know why they stopped doing that, but that probably
got you a chance to get bigger acts. That would be they would they
would fit more in a because there's some acts that like where they have the
State Fair concerts. Now, like some acts like the ones I just mentioned
that went to Iowa, they wouldn't come if that's like where they had to
play, because it it would look as if like they're desperate to get booked
or something. So anyways, so let's get to a quick break. We'll
come back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. What I
want to get to on the other side, let's talk about the the corporate
logos that are now going to be allowed to be on football fields in college
football. Clearly, this is going to be an opportunity for these schools to
add more revenue, and they need to add more money because they got to
pay more money now each and every year. But I'm curious, can you
like put ten of them on your field? And how much does it cost?
Like, I you know, how much money can can they actually make
here? I mean anything helps because again some schools are going to have to
come up with twenty two million dollars annually, which is not easy to do.
All right, keep it lock right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
So this is very weird. But this song, which by the way,
came out when I was in high school and it hit. It was a
hit, not just you know, I mean it was a top ten US
airplay song back in the day two thousand and three, so you know it
had a good run. This is actually from what I can tell here on
Wikipedia, this is the this is their most successful song when it comes to
radio play. Salt Shaker by Ying Yang Twins featuring Little John and the East
Side Boys. What ever happened to the East Side Boys? Well, John
always thought them and the Ying Yang twins were the same thing. Don't say
that. Come on, John, show some respect to the Ying Yang twins.
But I think you're dead right about that being a good vibe. Check
yeah, you kidding me? Just hearing that, I can tell. But
in a weird way. This gonna sound weird. That song reminds me of
one of my best friend's mothers, and I can explain. So whenever my
like three of my closest friends, they all went to UK together and I
would occasionally go up and hang out with them. It was later when they
were about to finish school, when they had they had a house, and
we partied a lot up there. I think my wife and I would go
once every few weeks and have a good old time. Well during football season
and they would go to the football games, and their parents would sometimes come
up and go with them, and you know, we tailgate at their house
and I wouldn't go to the game. We'd just stay there and party and
really, you know, do what twenty one twenty two year old people do,
you know, just party and act foolish. I mean we'd never got
in trouble or anything like that, but a lot of those those days in
Lexington when I would go and visit friends are kind of a blur, but
well, what I do remember it was a great time. But one of
my buddies' moms came back from the game with everybody and we were playing beer
pong and that song was on, and you know, I'd never seen her
that intoxicated. I mean, she wasn't like, you know, acting a
fool, but you know, she was feeling good, if you know what
I'm saying. And she was dancing to this song and it was just a
visual that like I couldn't believe what I was seeing. You know, she's
she's she's somebody that like, if she heard us listening to when we were
growing up, I feel like she would have told us to turn it off.
And here she is getting loose to it, shaking like a yeah,
shake it like assault shager. So yeah, shout out to the yin Yank
Twins. All right, So the decision I guess by the NCUBLEA was announced
earlier this week that they're going to allow schools to put logos sponsorships essentially on
their field. So it says the NCAA has approved a policy change to allow
schools to place the corporate logo in the middle of their football field of development
in direct response to the need to find new revenue streams in the aftermath of
the House versus NCAA settlement agreement. So if they're only going to let them
do it in the middle of the field, that limit that, you know,
that limits you to to you know, space. But I don't know,
like maybe that's not the only place to let you do it. It
doesn't, I mean, that's what this says specifically here by Eric prisbell At
on three sports. But that matters, right, Like if you can have
you know, if you could have four of them, like one at each,
like one on the twenty five yard line on each side of the field,
like that, that could be four sponsorships. So I would love to
know what you pay for that. And also this is kind of getting too
deep into the weeds. But lear Field owns the rights to that stuff,
right, So like lear Field, like when you see a like lear Field
is U of L's partner, and you know, for example, they own
like they own the broadcast rights, they own you know, for the radio
and whatnot. Like whenever we would have games here that are on that we're
on our family of stations. It was you know, lear Field's broadcast,
like lear Field owned it, and obviously U of L and Learfield are partners
together. But Learfield pays a lot of money in order to have the rights
to the broadcast, the logo, like all the all the copywritten stuff,
and they can monetize it, and I would assume that they're able to.
Well, again, I don't want to get too deep into the weeds,
but the deal that companies like Learfield gave some of these schools many years ago
doesn't look like it was a good one because it's become harder to monetize because
of the amount of money that you that you pay the schools to do that.
But anyways, you know they own that, So is that money going
to lear Field and then lear Field, Like, I don't know how that
works. I would assume that maybe on the field that is not something lear
Field but on. But for example, if you see an advertisement in the
Young Center or at ellen n Stadium, you know around like you know,
on the video board or just there's all there're sponsors everywhere, right like for
example the tunnel at the YOUM Center. When you see the players, the
Louisville players run into the locker room. That tunnel there on top of it,
there's a black like a black you know, it covers the tunnel.
And on top of that, there's a huge Thornton's logo. Well that's Thornton's.
That is, that's an advertisement that Thornton's purchases through lear Field. So
I don't really know how that works, but either way, schools need more
money now because they're gonna have to start paying players themselves, and anything helps
says here that their schools are now hoping for other opportunities to sell sponsorships that
they previously weren't alive out and that is jersey patches, much like we've seen
in professional sports, right, like every NBA team has a corporate sponsor logo
and those are like those are pretty in fact, those are pretty discreet,
right, Like you know you can see it. You can you can clear
like the advertiser the sponsors getting a clear visibility. Right if you see a
player at the free throw line, they don't have to do a close up
on him. You can probably tell what logo is there, Like I know
is at and T Boston. I feel like it might be maybe a dream
that I know, like the Bucks are Harley Davidson, so like it's not
it's it doesn't look like you're you're a big walking infomercial, right, And
I think because in professional sports across across the pond in Europe, like basketball
specifically, even like soccer, right, aren't a lot of European soccer jerseys
John like corporate sponsors. I mean, I bet they pay a lot of
money for that. So I know in professional sports they've often time like they
don't want that to be the case. But the NBA, I think,
showed that you can do it pretty discreetly to where it doesn't look like,
you know, you're just pimping your self out at every turn. But in
college you might have to start pimping yourself out at every turn to as many
sponsors as you can get because you have to be able to generate money revenue
to pay these players. And I probably shouldn't keep saying that you have to,
because here's the thing, you don't have to. But if you want
to compete and win, you're gonna have a tough time doing it. If
you're not competing with the best of the best. When it comes to what
you're allowed to pay, and the cap is twenty two million annually for universities
to pay everyone. And that's not just football basketball, it's everybody. And
I'm curious who makes the decision as far as how that gets dispersed. It's
probably not one person. I'm sure it's going to be a committee. Maybe
it's just the athletic department, the athletic director and his staff or her staff,
depending on you know which school that that'll be. That'll be tough to
figure out. So locally here, like, there's certain there's certain companies that
I think are spot Like they sponsor enough right like you've got llen n Stadium,
You've got the Planet Fitness, Purple Lot, and those are big corporations
that have the means to make that kind of a marketing spend. But there
may be some that wouldn't have that. But now maybe they can afford to
put a little logo, you know, at the twenty five yard line or
maybe it's I mean, actually think in a way, if your logo is
on the middle of the field during a college football game, like, would
that be worth more than the naming rights of the stadium? Probably not,
But I feel like there's a lot of value there, like it's going to
be seen at all times. I am curious to see what other revenue streams
end up end up becoming available for these schools, because they're gonna have to
get really creative. All right, quick break, We got another hour to
go, five o'clock hours next right here on Sports Talk seven ninety