It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's nick coffee. All right, let's do it five o'clock
here on a Monday afternoon. It does not feel like a Monday, at
least it doesn't to me because we have a short week, only three days
this week for us, because we're going to celebrate the fourth of July.
We're off on Thursday and Friday, which very happy to be off. So
I feel like when you have weeks like this, maybe you guys are are
able to still be as productive right in the same work ethic every day,
regardless of what the week looks like. But I know there's others like myself
that kind of you know, just you feel like a part timer a little
bit, Right's what this week feels like. I wasn't dreading Monday as much
because we've got a short week, and I never really dread, you know.
I think you can really like your job and enjoy working, which I
do, but just you know, when the weekends come to an end,
like it's just a feeling that is usually a sad one. I mean,
it's not going to put it in tears or anything. Like that, but
yeah, Monday, but it didn't feel like a Monday. So on Friday,
they're like doctoring a comp day for us, right, Yeah, so
at least for me they're taking at least this is what they told me a
couple of weeks ago. Maybe they've changed it, but they were originally taking
June teenth for everybody who worked and sticking it right after fourth of July because
we're not supposed to be off on Friday. Yeah, there was a one
of the holidays earlier this year. It might have been President's Day, a
MLK day. I use my comp day for that on Juneteenth or no,
I'm using that for this upcoming right, so it probably is the same thing.
Yeah, And man, the way the holiday falls this year, if
you don't get off work on that Friday, man, that's it. Isn't
that such a throwaway to day sucks? I'm curious how many people won't show
up to work if they're supposed to be there on Friday. I mean,
I mean like call in, like just like no no, I mean no
call, no show. I'm not encouraging that, but there'll be plenty of
call in so surprised, Like I kind of feel like that's like, that's
justifiable unless there's an emergency that like led to it. If you literally just
don't tell anybody and don't come to work, I have a hard I don't
know what job you could have to where that wouldn't lead to you being fired.
Probably a job where they just don't have anybody else to replace you with,
or a union can protect you, and you'd have to be like written
up a certain amount, like you know, just not showing up and not
telling anybody. I feel like, no matter what you do, that would
be something that would be hard to come back from, unless again, you
know, there's an understandable excuse for that. But again, it's July first
today, which means as of as of today, Louisville has has been in
the ACC for ten years. And I'm happy that Louisville ended up in the
ACC. I'm grateful that they used that open spot when Maryland bolted for the
Big ten and they chose Louisville. But I'm also not afraid to say that
I just don't like, I don't I feel underwhelmed. That's a me thing.
Maybe I had expectations that weren't realistic. I just felt like Louisville would
kind of feel as if they were in the upper echelont of college sports,
and at times, I guess it's felt like that, But I don't know,
I just I guess I had unrealistic expectations as far as you know,
being in a Power five league. That is, to be fair, all
the leagues' level has been in from top to bottom, you know, the
two major sports, basketball and football. I mean, the ACC is the
best league level has been and it's not close. Obviously the Big East in
basketball all had a hell of a run there. But football, you know,
not a whole lot, not a whole lot there as far as historically,
and of course now the league doesn't exist in football. But here is
Tom Jurich ten years ago when Louisville was In fact, this was actually before
they joined the league. I think this is when they you know, got
invited and they knew they were going to the league. Well, we've enjoyed
a lot of success, but we know in this business it's all cyclical.
So we we spent a lot of time making sure that we keep working and
pointing forward that hopefully we could duplicate this again sometime. But you know,
to wake up in December and be able to win a Sugar Bowl and go
win a national title in men's basketball, be a national runner up for women's
basketball. It's just a dream come true. But you know, we don't
take anything for granted. We appreciate everything that's happened to us, but we're
just we're so excited about what our future looks like. When Louisville does join
the ACC a year from now, there will be all this talk we've already
had about an ACC channel and a year from now, who knows where those
toxsic go. Where would you like to see the Well, obviously I think
you'd love to see it go there. But that's smarter people than me.
They're gonna be making those decisions. But you know, I think anytime that
you can continue to brand yourself and remake yourself, I think it's just it's
it's an incredible asset for everybody Louisville that made it kind of said, I
didn't plan on playing the rest of that, but I thought, but the
hell of it, what the hell, let's let let's see what Tom said
eleven years ago. And I shouldn't say sad, but like that level of
success. He just threw out there like casually. I mean god, I
mean that was the yearly cardinal right, something that you'll never see again anywhere,
not just at Louisville, I would assume. But VCS ball win against
Florida football, National Championship, basketball runner up in women's basketball, and then
a College World Series appearance like that's that's insane, and it made me sad
that it's been that long since it happened and we really haven't had a whole
lot of anything close to that success since. But you know, hopefully that
changes soon. But the network, that was all anybody talked about. ACC
network. We need an ACC network. The SEC has one and it's crushed
it. The Big ten was mocked when they launched their own network, and
it gave them an insane amount of wealth for those universities in their athletic department.
So the ACC network it's here. And I think you can make the
case that the reason that the ACC is currently in the situation it's in now
adding teams that you don't need to add. You've got two schools suing the
league, and the league suing these two schools because you know, the only
thing keeping Clemson in Florida state in the league. Is this humongous buyout that
they don't that they can't pay and nobody would want to pay. But the
network is what caused all this because Jim Swafford is that his name, James
Swafford, smish Er, Swafford, whatever Hell's first name was. You know,
he was trying to keep up with the Joneses. He knew that everybody
wanted a network, and you know, a couple of years in there wasn
one and then you know, sure enough they finally got it together. But
they must have rushed it and Swatford is gone, so it didn't matter.
But like he's the one that probably killed the acc if it does in fact
implode because twenty thirty six, I mean, under any grand of rights for
these conferences that has taken place, these contracts, right, the new TV
deal for this league and that league, who what sense does it make to
lock in for that amount of time without being able Like just think of inflation.
Think about you know, that amount of money in two thousand and thirteen
is not the same as two thousand and thirty six, which is when the
grand of rights comes to an end. And that's why you've got Florida State,
Clemson. At least they're the ones publicly saying it. Others haven't said
it as far as you know ads that I'm aware of. But all these
other schools, indifferently leagues are already making more money and they're going to re
up three times before you can do it once. And that's why they're that's
why they feel is if their hand is being forced to sue and try to
get out because they just can't accept that, you know, schools that they
feel inferior to are going to be making way more money than them. And
I mean, that's that's that's really the root of the ACC, in the
uncertainty of the league that's out there. But the one thing that you know,
begin what could potentially kill it is also what could potentially save it in
that deal because it's apparently so ironclad to where you can't get out, Like
we're all stuck together. We can complain, but this is it. So
with the ACC, you know, ten years in for Louisville, I I
don't feel like, you know, I don't feel like there's been anything that's
happened for Louisville Athletics, any big moment, any big accomplishment really anything specifically,
to be honest with you, that you couldn't have unless you were in
the ACC. Now you do get annual football games that you typically wouldn't get,
right, like more often than not, Clemson or Florida State's really good,
So you get a chance to play a really, really good team that
if you're in the Big East or the American or even you know, Conference
USA, you're not getting that opportunity. So that that certainly puts you in
in a different spot. And yes, clearly, if you didn't get to
the ACC, you'd have been playing on Thursday nights against you know, South
Florida with nobody there at that stadium down in Tampas. So like, obviously
you're much better off than what you would have been had you not got invited.
But I can't think of what the league as provided that. That has
been a big moment where you feel like, well, thank God for the
ACC. I mean the Florida State win when Lamar Jackson was in his Heisman
season, like that's I mean, I don't know if Louisville was that good
because of the ACC, but clearly that opportunity present itself because you're in the
ACC and Florida State at the time was rolling with Jimbo Fisher and that was
a huge game, which again Louisville really had to fight, like for example,
to play Florida in the Sugar Bowl like you did in twenty twelve.
I still actually believe it's the biggest win of Louisville for louisvill football in my
lifetime that I remember, and I can't imagine there's one that was in my
lifetime where I don't remember that was bigger than that. But you think of
what you had to do to get that. You had to win ten games
I think it was ten games that year you had to win, and you
had Teddy on one leg up there at Rutgers in that last game because you
had to win your league. You didn't win your league, then you didn't
get to go to the BCS Bowl Game. So you had to fight for
those opportunities in Louisville. I think for the most part, when they get
those opportunities, you know here and there, they've really taken advantage of it,
and that was one of them. Now, you know, you have
those kind of opportunities that are just on your schedule because of what the league
that you're in. But I will give credit to somebody on the text line
who kind of called me out earlier and said, Nick, hey, maybe
you feel a little underwhelmed with the ACC because Louisville's yet to really have a
monumental moment and they've been there, and you're may be right, Like Louisville
has never beat Clemson. Louisville has beat Florida State, but it typically hasn't
really been when it mattered. I hate to say that. Now, they
did beat them in twenty sixteen. That game I just mentioned that was great.
In fact, I don't know if people remember, Florida State end up
having a really good season the rest of the way, like they end up
beating Harball in Michigan in the Sugar Bowl. I think it was. So
you know, those are things that stand out. But even with all that,
I just still, you know, like if Louisville ended up getting out
of the ACC because of let's just say this scenario happens. Somebody has the
cheat code and they can break the grain of rights deal and there's an exit
strategy, and that leads to Clemson and Florida State and Virginia North Carolina.
They're going to the Big Ten, and then the SEC adds Miami they add
I don't know who else they would add. I'm trying to think of schools
that are, like, you know, of value, and Louisville has value.
But what the scenario I was trying to present was Louisville ends up in
the Big Twelve because they didn't get an invite to the SEC or the or
the Big Ten because they only added like two schools and Louisville was like fifth
in line, and they ended up in the Big twelve. I wouldn't at
all care, Like I wouldn't feel like, oh man, the ACC is
dead. I'm sad. Part of it is because we're still kind of new,
you know, in Louisville. In my lifetime as a fan, we've
bounced around enough leagues. I don't have any league a field. I mean
I don't. I mean we've been we've been getting around, if you know
what I'm saying, Like, there's not any league that I feel a loyalty
to because we've been bouncing around literally since I've been long enough to remember being
a fan. So you know, I don't hate the ACC. I just
you know, it's kind of whatever to me, But I will say this,
that's a good point on the text line. We'll never know for sure,
but one of the biggest things that's ever happened to the University of Louisville
in any sport is having a Heisman Trophy winner. That is something that I
never thought would happen. Most people didn't never think would happen. You could
even really see a scenario where that would happen, and it did. And
I have a hard time seeing Lamar Jackson come to Louisville if they're not in
the ACC and they're in the American Conference with Cincinnati, with Central Florida,
he had Florida. I mean, Florida was a school that offered him.
I mean that was the real worries when he showed up on signing day.
I think he had like an orange backpack, and everybody thought that meant like
he was going to show up and sign with Florida because they offered and they
came in late Nebraska, if I remember correctly, was was heavily on him.
But they didn't they didn't tell him if he could play quarterback or not.
So you know, he clearly wanted to play quarterback, and obviously he
is a quarterback. So like, maybe that's the real big prize that the
ACC has given us is because being in that league, you know, you
get to play teams like Miami, you play Florida State that could be attracted
for a recruit who's from Florida like Lamar. So maybe that is the real
benefit, because Lamar winning the Heisman is something Louisville can still. I mean,
look, he just won the MVP for the second time in the NFL.
That has value. It's really difficult to truly know the exact amount of
value that it has. But having that guy, two time NFL MVP,
former Heisman Trophy winner, a guy who seemingly has the cool factor in professional
sports, that helps you. And I'm not sure if any recruit has ever
said I came to Louisville because I watched Lamar Jackson and I saw how awesome
it could be. But I'm sure whenever kids are being recruited now, just
keep in mind Lamar played here. His last season was twenty seventeen, So
you know, kids that are just entering college or maybe being recruited right now,
when they think of Louisville football, they think of Lamar Jackson, Now,
I would say most people who don't have any connection to Louisville don't,
you know, they don't know much about Like they don't people on the West
Coast, and they think of louis they probably think, yeah, that's Allamar
Jackson played if they're thinking football. So I'd say that's probably the biggest,
you know, gift. Maybe I don't know if you call it a gift
or not, because Louisville did just like for example, when Lamar got here,
he did say that one of the reasons that he came to Louisville was
because Teddy Bridgewater and what Teddy did when they knocked off Florida and like that
clearly got a lot of attention down there, especially when Charlie's going into Florida
and taking all their players. So maybe he still would have come to Louisville
regardless of what conference they were in. But they were in the Big East
at that time, and college football was different. You could still find yourself
in a position to be in a BCS bowl game. In those bowl games,
man, they weren't national championships. But I feel like in the two
team era, where it's just two teams that were decided as far as who's
gonna play for it all, I think because there were only two, a
lot of programs fans just understood like, hey, there's only two, but
hey, we're at least in one of these big bowl games, the BCS
games. So happy anniversary for the ACC. And I haven't talked about this
yet and I've never really I've never really felt it, but it's there.
We are not treated the same in the ACC because we're not one of the
ogs. It will never be with any league because again we bounced around.
But yeah, I mean like when it comes to like all league votes and
all that, like the Carolina media, and I don't mean just North Carolina,
I mean just that region. Like you you aren't you know, you're
not put it this way. I think Louisville and the ACC is viewed as
like a second class citizen outside of do Carolina, NC State, Clemson,
even Virginia at times, you know, Florida State, those are the ogs.
And maybe that's you know, maybe that's expected. But you know,
the one thing recently that comes to mind is when Quincy Riley was left off
of the All ACC first, second and third team like that that that wouldn't
happen if he's at Clemson, Florida State, NC State, even North Carolina.
Who you know who wasn't great last year? All right, Uh,
we have an update on the Paris poop? John Oh? Do we do
an update on the Paris poop? So for those who missed this story,
it seems like something you'd see on the internet that's clearly made up, but
it's not. The Olympics are going to start later this month on the twenty
sixth, and they've got they've got a poop problem in the Seon River where
the Olympics open water swimming events are going to happen. So it says here
this is It says the newest water samples taken by monitoring a monitoring group found
that bacteria level levels are still ten times above what is considered acceptable limits by
bacteria were specifically talking E. Coli. As far as Olympic organizers, they
remained confident that the summer sun and heat will help deteriorate bacteria levels and everything
will still go on as planned. So the poop protest I still really never
I have still never really understood what that would accomplish, meaning, you know,
taking a dump in this river where the Olympics Water Games are going to
take place. But the best explanation I got it still doesn't make a whole
lot of sense, is that they were so bothered by real issues in their
country that needed money, resources and resources went to cleaning this dirty water that
has poop in it, and it was a waste of money and they're upset
that the country wasted the money because they're just so you know, gung ho
about hosting the Olympics. Is that what is that? Is that the gist
of it from what you've gathered, Yeah, that's that's what they're fighting for,
apparently. Yeah. And I mean again, this this is like,
this isn't fake news. This isn't you know, just a random this is
this is real. Like the the I don't know if they cause it,
the mayor or the politicians with power right those in office essentially in Paris initially
agreed to do it with the citizens and then backed out because they realized it
would in fact probably play out poorly for them in the next election. Because
I don't know, if I mean, we've we've got a guy running for
president that you know, doesn't know what planet is on. We got another
guy running for President's now convicted felon So you know, we don't have a
whole lot of room to talk. But like if you like, if you're
going to the voting the you know, you're going to fill out your ballot
and you're thinking of the guy and you're like, yeah, that guy he
pooped in He pooped in public last year in the river like that. You
know, just very odd, very odd situation in uh in Paris. I'm
trying to see if there's any because the last week they they called off the
the the pro was it a protest? I guess which was the poop?
Yeah, they were all supposed to go out to these yeah, these toilets
that they put out by the river and just you know, automatically dumping into
the water. I'm not sure who's taken ownership as far as leading this event,
but initially, whenever they decided to hold off, they said it would
be postponed and they're gonna do it at some point. So maybe they're gonna
wait till everybody gets there and then really, you know, it seems even
less productive. Yeah, it's who knows, though, I mean, I
don't know a whole lot about Paris, but you know this story has led
to me reading articles that I would never typically read. But you know,
maybe I'm childish. When I hear about citizens wanting to poop in the river
to make a statement to their country. That's it's gonna get my attention.
It's not a normal story. But apparently Paris is like a really gross place,
like dirty city. They don't like what's the stereotype that they don't they
don't like us. They don't shave their armpits or something. I don't know
about that. I don't know if that's a I mean, I know that's
there's certain places that that's not a big thing to you know, maybe it
is Paris. I'm not sure. Now you got me guessing. All right,
let's get to our first break here in the five o'clock hour. We'll
come back on the other side. I do want to get to some more
of the more that came in from the text line, because I was asking
people when it comes to fireworks, what am I missing? What makes you
aroused to light off a firecracker or to you know, light off a firework
that'll go twenty feet in the air and give you a brief brief you know,
maybe one to two seconds of colorful explosion, like I just I don't
get it, and some of you have given me an answer. So we'll
get to that in a lot more. Lastly, crazy day in NBA Free
Agency, a lot of big names moving, including Klay Thompson. He's no
longer a Golden State Warrior, so we'll try to get to all that before
we run out of time. Here it's Coffee and Company feil Bet Thornton's on
Sports Talk seven to ninety. Well done, John. I don't think I
know this song. This is Josh Turner, great deep country voice, good
stuff. Uh. What I think of fireworks, I think of one how
much I don't like them. But also I think of this great scene from
from Joe Dirt whenever he encounters the I haven't seen that movie in so long.
I forget the guy's name who who was selling fireworks, but only selling
the snakes and sparklers. Of course that you know aren't high level. So
you're gonna tell me that you don't have no black cats, no Roman candles
or screaming memis. No, Oh come on, man, you don't got
no lady fingers, buzz butterles, snicker bombs, church burners, finger blasters,
gut busters, zibbity do dies or crab flappers. No, I don't
You're gonna stand there owning a fireworks stand and tell me you don't have no
whistling bungholes, no spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey riders, hoosker doos
does cherry bombs, nips and dazers with without the scooter stick, or one
single whistling kiddy chaser? No, because snakes and sparklers are the only ones.
I like, what about the whistling kiddy chaser? I heard the church
burner and I was like, that's what people were going across the river for.
I really really like the creative names or fireworks. That's the best part
of them. So I'm not acting as if you've you know you, there's
something wrong with you, or I'm judging you if you love fireworks, because
again, I love things I'm sure people think are stupid. Everybody has their
own preferences and whatnot, But I just don't understand the appeal of like what
kind of entertainment value do you get with fireworks? Now, this is a
good point on the text line. Earlier somebody said that when it comes to
like just the explosions, if you light it off yourself, which I did
admit earlier, I've never done that, but I guess if I was to
light like, I don't know, something that doesn't give us any visual,
but it makes an explosion so loud, like maybe I would feel something there,
you know what I mean, and it would be like, oh,
that was cool as hell. Something so loud it'll set the car alarms off.
Yeah, because because this person says, I like lighting off the explosives,
but you know, if I'm not doing the lighting, I don't care
for them, and they annoy me because I'm not involved, And that makes
total sense. That's I think that's a pretty pretty expected reaction. But when
it comes to the ones that you know, do give you a visual,
you know, exploding in the sky and they're colorful and all that. You
know, two people have said they never got into fireworks, and now their
kids are a little older and they really love it and that's what makes it
fun. So maybe that'll be how I, you know, become firework guy.
I still don't see it happening, but that would be the only scenario
where my kids love it. So you know, but I don't have to
buy them and light them off like I feel like in most neighborhoods you can.
You can mooch right like you can. You can stroll down some where
in your street, may be a street over and get something meaning like somebody's
doing something where you can at least say and you can tell your kids,
Hey, we're going to watch some fireworks tonight. Right, that's pretty common.
Yeah, I mean, and I get the sense that I've lived in,
I guess, a few different neighborhoods now and I've always felt like those
who do go out and do it big, they they want you to come
see it. They want you to see that they have the best stuff around.
Like they're not going to be like, nope, you got you better
get back in your house and shut your blinds. I've paid for these fireworks,
damn it, Like you're not gonna see that. It's like the Christmas
vacation for Fourth of July. People are going all out for it. Yeah.
So look again, I never want to make it sound as if like
I'm saying people who like fireworks are boring. It's you know, and I
don't see how they could get entertainment out of it. It's just I can't
relate. I don't really understand. I feel like there's there's got to be
something that I'm missing that makes them. You know, maybe it's like the
sense of danger that like, you have something that goes wrong. You know
it's a problem, but you want to do it right. You're absolutely right,
and that's and that's what that's what leads me back to what we talked
about in the three o'clock hour. There used to be a whole lot more
messaging within the marketing of fireworks that if you've got this, man, you
this is this, you better be careful because this is illegal in your state.
But we went across state lines and we brought it back from you know,
Tennessee, and you know you better. You know, there was some
level of like feeling as if you had something, you know, you weren't
supposed to have, even though probably you weren't breaking any laws. But uh
but yeah, shout out to everybody who you know likes fireworks. Uh,
thank you to somebody who just sent this in. All right, so can
you name any types of fireworks? I don't mean brands, because I know
like sparklers, that's not a brand. That's just the type of thing,
right, Yeah. Firecracker yep? Is that a brand or is that just
a I think that's a generico. Okay, I'm gonna give you. I've
got the answers here. Thank you to this person who sent this in.
Is a brocade of firework A brocade? I don't think so? Am I
incorrect? It is? It is a fire type of firework. Cake a
cake. I'm gonna say no to that one too. Cake is a firework
man whack job. I'm none of these sound like fireworks. I'm staying with
No, you're correct, it's not one. Okay, cross set that sounds
like a real term, so we'll go with yes, there, you got
that right. Okay, fish is it spelled like a regular fish like the
animal? Were go with? No, it is? It is a firework,
okay, light flairy on, a light flairy on. I'm gonna say
that is a firework. It is not. Okay, they just made that
sound pretty cute, so I thought that was gonna be it twur billion,
Sure it is. It is blinder box that sounds like a firework. It's
not. It should be so like, let me look this up because because
because I mean, tour billion is a type of firework, and I put
it in a quick a quick Google search here, this is great live radio.
I'm sure, like, yeah, I guess you know, it's it's
a firework type effect. So I guess it's. Yeah, it's like it's
not a brand, but it's a kind of firework. Would have never known
to me. I just the call. I call them all fireworks. I
even call the ones that don't like to me an explosive that doesn't actually give
you a visual. I still just throw it under the umbrella of being being
a firework, all right. So, uh, NBA free agency has been
has been pretty crazy, and that's become the norm here this time. I
mean, once you get to July, that's when these guys can actually sign
these new contracts. And uh, you know, a lot of money,
man, the NBA. It is. It is insane how much money these
guys are making in the NBA compared to other leagues. Like, you know,
you could be one of the best players on an NFL team and be
making good money, a lot more money than someone like myself, but you'll
be You'll go, look at the eleventh guy on the bench in the NBA
he might be doubling your salary. I mean, that could be you know,
an extreme, an extreme example here. But yeah, so so far,
here's what we have. Klay Thompson has made the move from Golden State
to Dallas. Paul George has agreed on a four year deal two hundred and
twelve million to go to the Philadelphia seventy six ers. That was sort of
the that was it was brewing that that's where he was going to end up.
He was going to opt out of his deal with the Clippers. We
also have Chris Paul who has agreed to a one year deal to go to
the San Antonio Spurs. That's a good move by Chris Paul because that I
mean, they were terrible last year the Spurs, and I don't know how
great they're gonna be. An extra Chris Paul clearly doesn't have you know,
doesn't have a lot of years left, and who knows, maybe you know,
he'll be I mean I doubt he'll be a bench player there. But
Chris Paul's at the age that if he just kind of if the wheels kind
of fell off here, you'd understand just because he's getting up there, uh,
in age, But He's played with a really young team, which you
know can only help him. I mean, obviously Wimby, he's he's the
franchise player there. But if you look at you know, if you look
at other you know, some other young guys on that team that that Yeah,
I'm sure a lot of people remember this name, Kelton Johnson. He's
actually turned out to be a pretty good pro. Who else is it.
I feel like there's one other dude on their team that's like a very well
known young player that you know, actually, never mind. I guess maybe
that's why, uh, maybe that's why the Spurs sucked, because I'm looking
at the roster and like, Wimby's like the only he's like the only,
like real notable name. There's other names I recognize, but I don't think
these guys are like great players, like Zach Collins, Charles Bassie so yeah,
Devin Vessel so yeah. Maybe I was under the impression they had a
bunch of young players and that's why they stunk last year. They have one
really good young player in Wimby, and now they have a veteran in Chris
Paul who's old as hell, and the rest of the roster is very underwhelming.
So I just playing in Golden State, coming off the bench was not
something Chris Paul was happy doing, clearly, And I don't think there's any
concern in San Antonio if he's going to be able to be to be a
starter there. Who is any other other Yeah, this is not a big
name, but it's a lot of money. Kntavious Colwell Pope sent a three
year deal with the Orlando Magic. James Harden plans to sign a two year,
seventy million dollar contract to return to the Clippers, which is weird.
I mean, I know he was there recently, but seventy million, So
that's thirty five million per season for James Harden. Is he still worth that?
I mean, if somebody's going to pay him, then by definition he's
worth it. But I kind of feel like things have fallen off for James
Harden where he wouldn't be able to get that kind of money anymore. I'm
trying to see there's any other big names out there. The rest of these
names I'm seeing are guys that, to be honest with some of them I'm
not familiar with at all. Others are just like role players like Jonas Balencinuous
val valentiunis, thank you. He agreed to a three year, thirty million
dollar deal with the Wizards. So yeah, a lot of guys moving around
when this was new Whenever, I don't know, like right after I guess
roughly about ten years ago it started to really you know, it was often
like you didn't used to see guys jump out of contracts because they could,
And to be honest with you, it's probably because they couldn't. Right if
you go look at like the NBA fifteen twenty years ago, I don't think
there were this many contracts that had the opt out because a guy will sign
a five to six year deal but can opt out after the second year.
And I just feel like they didn't used to be a thing. And it's
led to these guys going and playing wherever they want. And you know,
it's not illegal, right, They're not doing something they shouldn't be doing.
But I don't think this is great for the NBA because I think, again,
the most exciting thing people see in the NBA is not the product the
games themselves. It is all the blockbuster trades and free agency signings and the
drama that comes with it. So it's good for business for the NBA because
they stay, you know, talked about nearly year round. And you know,
there's clearly a humongous amount of money within that TV deal, which is
how you know, the CBA, the Collective Bargaining Agreement. I mean,
these guys, I mean, there's a ton of money in the NBA.
But I just I got to tell you, I've had very little interest in
watching any NBA in the last couple of years. Maybe it's just because I'm
you know, I'm changed, but dudes jumping around from team to team all
the time. It's just I don't know, they're not do anything wrong,
but it just I don't know. That's what we're doing in college now though,
right, you're right, absolutely, But with college it's different because you
know, my pacers are you know, they're my team, but it's not
to the level of Louisville, you know what I mean. And you know,
I feel like if you're complaining of like if you're a small market NBA
team, it's almost like being a mid major college team, right, because
you could have a really good player, but he now has the ability to
opt out, essentially meeting hit the portal and go play at a bigger market,
bigger school, and you just they're kind of left. So sol it
hasn't happened yet at Louisville. Maybe it does down the line, but I
feel like both Louisville and Kentucky for the most part of the early era Indiana
as well, in the early era of college sports, things haven't been great.
Clearly Louisville sucked out loud in basketball the last couple of years. But
we're not losing momentum as programs because nobody wants to play here and they're coming
and taking our players. The only example I could think of, and it's
really an exception, is is the move from the quarterback in Indiana who went
to Washington. Oh yeah, Penix, Yeah, Penix like that. You
know, he clearly left Indiana because you know he could play better in a
better program, you know what I mean. Like, so it'll happen.
I'm sure at some point where there'll be a player here that's really good in
football or basketball maybe and they end up, you know, hitting the portal
because they just realized they can get more money somewhere else. But I do
it, and look, other guys have done that, like for example,
in football. Jalen Alderman, who I thought had a good year last year,
really kind of emerged as a reliable guy at linebacker for for Louisville football.
He was gonna play this year. They wanted him to stay and he
was gonna be I think an effective player, but he was behind stan Kuon
Clark. He got jumped in the depth chart by a kid who was a
true freshman last year. So you know, he knows, hey, they're
not gonna you know, I can play more and Miami'll give me money,
more money than Louibill gave me, because again in Louisville, he was good.
They wanted him, but they couldn't pay him that premium price because that
was going to probably guys that were that are you know, ahead of him
as far as priority. All right, quick break, we'll come back on
the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. In fact, we won't
keep it rolling along for that long because we we got to get out of
here at six o'clock. So we'll come back and you know, wrap things
up right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. So just within that last break
there, we have some more NBA free agency news that not real surprising,
but it is the largest deal in NBA history, and one that I would
imagine even though it's day one of free agency, we're meaning where you can
actually sign these contracts. I don't I don't think there'll be a bigger deal
announced to this offseason. Jason Tatum finalizing a five year, three hundred and
fourteen million dollars super Max contract that'll extend him to the end of the twenty
twenty nine thirty season. So that is is roughly. I mean, let's
see here, that's about sixty two and a half million a year. I
mean, think about that. What do you do a year money a year?
I mean generational wealth. I mean he already had it. He's already
on I think this is his third contract I could believe. I mean he
already got a new deal before his rookie deal came. I mean, yeah,
he's been in the league for seven years now. So man, is
that is a lot of money. Somebody asked me on the text line what
it looks like for Donovan Mitchell. I don't. I haven't seen anything lately,
and you never really know what to believe. But there was a lot
of noise during the playoffs whenever he was balling out against the Celtics and had
no help and then you know, he got hurt and they got killed because
he couldn't play, And there was noise that he wasn't happy and wanted to
be moved, wanted to play for the Knicks, wanted to play for the
Nets or something thing, and you know, I think he kind of shot
that down. But yeah, I'm not sure what his what his what his
future is. But you know, I can't claim that I'm just gonna be
a big old, a big fan of wherever he ends up, unless it
was the Pacers, But you know, I hope he ends up with a
good team that can you know, can contend and and you know he can
make a deep run in in the in the postseason. So I'm sure they're
trying to sign him in Cleveland. But you know, we'll see, we'll
see what happens, all right. Uh yeah, just not much time you
know left left here at all before we before we wrap it up and say
goodbye. But something I haven't mentioned yet here in the five o'clock hour for
those that missed it at the start of the show. Uh, today is
the first day where the ACC is welcomed in s m u Cal and Stanford
and it's the first day for Oklahoma and Texas in the SEC. And uh,
you know, I I'm not sure if this this is something that should
be viewed as like, Wow, this is surprising, or this is this
guy he's he's full of himself. But Quinn Ewers gonna be one of the
better quarterbacks in the country once again this year, coming back from Texas after
they had that breakthrough win for Sarkesian, I should say breakthrough season where they
finally made it to the to the College Football Playoff. This is what he
said earlier today in an interview that We're going to be everybody's biggest game for
sure. So I'm not surprised Texas views themselves that way, John, But
I don't think the SEC views it that way. No. I mean,
it'll be big because it's new and it's exciting, but I don't think that
playing Texas. I mean, look the SEC, it I mean, the
history, the tradition, the amount of the size of their fan base is
like, no way Alabama's gonna look at Texas as a bigger game than when
they played Georgia or when they play Auburn or even Tennessee probably. I just
you know, Texas, let's be real, they broke through last year and
they may be really good once again this year. But they were irrelevant for
a long time and they're going to have a target on their back for sure.
But until they either win the league or even win the College Football National
Championship, they're still always going to be second fiddle in the SEC to Georgia
and Alabama in those types. Yeah, and look, the Big Twelve.
Let's be real. We know it's not the SEC, right, but the
Big Twelve. I mean, they just want put it this way. They're
entering that league at a really good time because I actually think they're going to
Texas is going to be really really good this year and they'll be really competitive.
But prior to this current situation they're in with Sarkejian and this great quarterback
Quin Yours, they hadn't won the Big Twelve since two thousand and nine,
so they went what fifteen years, essentially fourteen years without without winning that league
that is clearly nowhere near as good as the league they're entering now. So
again, Tommy's on their side in Texas at any moment could be great because
of the recent and just because you know it's Texas. But yeah, I
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they're cocky. It's Texas, right,
Even when they lose, they're like, well, we'll throw more money at
something and it'll work out. All right, Everybody, have a good night.
We'll be back at it tomorrow for a Tuesday edition. Doesn't feel like
won't feel like Tuesday, which is a good thing. So I hope you'll
join us right here on Sports Talk seven ninety